View and vote on the article here: Interview with General adtrace
Interview with General adtrace| Category | | | Summary | | "General adtrace is the current commanding officer of the CyberArmy University. Please sit back and relax as you read through an indepth and interesting interview with the big man behind the scenes." |
| | Body | Hello adtrace, thank-you for agreeing to be interviewed by zZine. I'd like to start with getting your account of your history with CyberArmy, from when you joined to now. Could you share that with us?
I needed a place to record it, so I wrote it all down on my CA Mapping profile. If anyone is incredibly bored, well...I still wouldn't recommend reading it, but it's here: http://sas.cyberarmy.net/project/mapping/user.php?user=adtrace
I joined CA on May 20, 2001 and by the 23 I had already hit Lieutenant. I had a number of droughts where I basically gave up on the challenges, then went back and tried, failed, tried, failed. That was just how it went. I got a field promo for 'hacking the planet!' which I find mildly bemusing as anyone in CAU knows I'm a technological idiot. Flukes happen I guess. After having run CAU for 7 months I got knocked up to where I am now. Brigades history is even less interesting. I started my career here as a translator, went into Morale, got kicked out and had a bit of a war with a few folks who tried to ban me. Ended up in CAU in Class Delivery and have since stayed in this brigade.
2. Could you tell us the story behind your nickname, "adtrace"?
It's not too interesting. It's sort of a mashing of my name, but I thought the "trace" was somewhat catchy as I'd been screwing about with proxies, proxy hunters, network scanners, etc. for quite some time before joining.
3. Tell us a little about the "Avril Lavigne Fan Club"?
That's not my brainchild, just my obsession. I'm still upset at this engagement of hers...what was she thinking? Tough love I guess...she likes to give me the runaround. I think it was Sieco maybe who started it. Basically I stumbled across a little group of CA Euros who had developed an obsession with Avril. I considered myself to be the Canadian link and after consulting with the Avril picture on my wall, decided to join and set my forum picture to one of Avril saying "I love adtrace." Disclaimer: the picture may or may not be doctored.
4. Okay, onto some more serious questions now - Tell us about SHEPHERD, Socrat and how CAU came to be in your capable hands?
SHEPHERD and Socrat are both great guys, and incredibly able. Time and time again, SHEPHERD really kept the group together while he was C/O. His X/Os were generally nice people, but not too reliable (hopefully Socrat, Pixieluv and I were an exception to this rule) so it basically always fell on him. He didn't pick around, he just knew what he needed to do and did it. Socrat is very much the same, well, aside from that fact that he knows more about computers than Shep and I combined and is really quite a master coder. Socrat (like myself) had some runins with the staff group, and a combination of that and his ridiculously busy life was largely what resulted in him stepping down. The reasons for Shep's resignation still were outstanding though, so he needed to find someone to again run the group. I think he had run out of other folk to pick, so he was forced to choose me.
5. A lot of people say that the Zebulun Armoury really made CyberArmy University what it is today. What do you have to say about this?
They do? How strange....CAU actually had nothing to do with the Zebulun Armoury while it was in existance. The only association we've ever had was when we volunteered to host it on our site after it had been removed from CA. CAU engaged in drastically different projects from the Armoury (it was basically just a hacking/phreaking/zine/exploit database) as we tried to educate people through classes and testing, host learning-oriented tutorials, FAQs, etc.
6. Are there plans to bring back the Armoury at any stage?
CAU never forgets about the Armoury. It's online, just restricted to CAU members while we finish coding up some sort of presentable framework to store and display all of the info. Right now it's basically just a functioning directory listing. Don't worry, it's not lost. If you beg, I may even leak the link.
7. Recently the CAU has publically released its 'Testing Center', allowing all members of the CAU site to study class logs and sit for exams. What are your thoughts on how this has been received by the general community? and what plans does CAU have for the future of the 'Testing Center'?
First and foremost, we need to iron out a prevailing bug. Because of the huge complexity of the TC, this bug seems to have gotten buried and disappeared. We didn't encounter any problems throughout beta testing, but lo and behold, one has appeared. Once that's fixed, that'll be great. The TC has been well received, and hopefully people appreciate the incredible amounts of work that went into this both on the coding and test-compilation side. Plans? To check my cMS. Icydemon has sent me a few about the direction of the TC that I've not yet opened (don't tell him), so I should get around to that. Other than that, we'll plough on with test compilation and link all of the relevant KB articles and class logs to the tests. You may have already noticed this function on a few tests...
8. As the commander or, 'Principal' if you will of the CAU. Tell us what your position is like? A typical day in the life of adtrace.
Busy as all hell. We've got so many things on the go, that it's hard to track. Folk from KB, CD, and CAAHP are all writing/editing/collecting articles so there's often a lot of work to keep on top of our editing queue and get the articles online. I try to pitch my hand in wherever I can, but I've been pretty stretched for time lately.
9. What is the worst mistake you have ever made at the CAU that you learned from?
You weren't lying, these were tough questions...the one that really sticks out in my mind is when I went toe to toe with dimplesx. She had some issues with the way CAU did things, and Shep, Socrat and myself all ended up having problems with her on some levels. We just weren't compatible. Anyway, I duked it out with her on a forum one time and thought I was pretty king shit. I was under Shep and doing associate mod work so I emailed Shep and DigitalDemon to warn them about any fallout and asked them to back me up. They both responded back and told me I had been an idiot, and suggested I apologize. That you shouldn't fight an executive member of staff, and definitely not in public. I'm a lot more careful when I make a post now. Sometimes I read, re-read, then word and reword something 8 or 9 times. It's too prone to start flames and fights.
10. What things satisfy you the most in your position?
Seeing how far we have come. I can't take credit for a lot of aspects of CAU, but the one that is sort of my flagstone was Class Delivery. Tulkas has done a great job as a successor, but when I stepped into that C/O slot there was nothing to step into. I had to build it all up, and I consider it to be vastly successful now. When I search on the internet and see sites, articles and forums referencing material from CAU I get really proud. I'm proud of everything. All of the writers, editors. If Certifications ever launch (and I still believe this project will get off the ground), we'll really make a mark on the internet. We've got the skills here in CA to run this project.
11. Is there a basic philosophy in the CAU and, if so, what is it?
I'd say there's a few underlying principles to CAU. Obviously, we aim to educate. Having a bank of tutorials doesn't cut it. We want to actually piece things together and be there to teach people, help people along their learning path, and answer their questions. Second, it all has to be open and free. Since its earliest days, we've upheld that information must be free. Why should teaching it be any different? Last, we're here to train people in larger life issues. One of the pride stories of CAU, is snarkles. She began teaching here, and has since moved on to real teaching. I think teaching or writing articles is a great way to establish yourself here and get you on a great track in life.
12. Any major frustrations?
Certifications. I can't code so my hands are tied. I write pages and pages of plans and material for Certs, but I can't implement any of it so my conception largely remains on paper. I also was a little more than irritated when a past member of CAU told me that he had actually created the idea, but that I was doing great work on it.
13. What are the typical "entry level" positions for a newcomer to CyberArmy joining the CAU?
All of our positions are basically entry level. With absolutely no experience or knowledge, you could begin in KB Collecting, KB Editing. If you fit that bracket but are willing to research, you could join KB-writing or CAAHP. Even if you don't know the topic when you begin an article, trust me, you'll know it through and through by the time you're done.
14. Do you have any advice or words for the members of CyberArmy?
Don't get disheartened. This isn't the CA many of us are used to, it's constantly evolving and for a while now we've been in a bit of a slump insofar as expanding and getting new members. We'll get back to where we were in terms of membership but with one huge change. We'll be respectable and mature with a lot of things to offer to the internet community.
15. What is next for adtrace?
Finishing off this BA I'm doing. Then likely a Masters in Conflict Resolution and I'll get my ass out in the field. Seeing Certifications through to completion as far as CAU goes.
On behalf of the zZine Media Group, thank-you for taking the time to be interviewed for the zZine Magazine.
- craytonic |
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This article was imported from zZine. (original author: craytonic)
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