by Patrick O'Keefe (Patrick)
phpBBHacks.com Administrator/Webmaster
Marc Philpott, known as McPhilly on the phpBBHacks.com Support Forums, was the 37th person to to join the forums back on June 12, 2001. An early member of the staff, he has accumulated 2,028 posts during his time at the site, which is 12th among all members. As a hack author, he was responsible for the popular Sidebar - Login and Quick Register and phpBB easyCMS.
Through his high quality contributions and kind and helpful demeanor, Marc has helped tens of thousands of people, if not more. He works as the marketing director for an international examination board and has managed phpBB-powered boarding and riding community eryc for many years.
Interview
People in this community might know you for your contributions to it. Can you tell us more about who you are, beyond that, personally and professionally?
I recently wrote a mini autobiography which I'm tempted to paste, but it was quite a big document, so probably best not. My name is Marc and I'm from England. I've been working in web and graphic design for 11 years. I'm a marketing director for an international examination board and a director of two other companies (ecommerce related).
Not sure why I ended up doing what I do, as I'm an outdoors person, always after an adrenalin rush. Whenever I can, I'm out longboarding, skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, jumping out of aeroplanes, etc. (you get the picture). This is hugely helped by the fact I live by the beach (in a very nice penthouse apartment overlooking the ocean - I'm showing off).
I'm a problem solver and knowledge junkie. If I get interested in something, I have to learn everything I can about it. I read far too much and don't sleep enough.
How did you get involved with phpBB?
Back when I was first discovering the internet and started building websites, I was skateboarding with a large group of friends one day and decided it would be a good idea to setup a website for us to arrange meet-ups, discuss life in general and share pictures. These were the days when only the rich had mobile phones. I had no prior experience in PHP development, but after testing some different packages, I found phpBB was the easiest to install and manage (even back when it was version 1). I still to this day use phpBB and, after sitting in dark rooms for months on end, have learnt most of code inside and out.
What led you to visit phpBBHacks.com?
Like I suspect most people do when they have setup a new community, I came to phpBBHacks.com for 3 reasons. In no particular order:
1. To get constructive criticism on the site and design.
2.
Promote the site.
3. To find ways of extending the site which you couldn't find elsewhere.
What did you take away from your time on staff and your active time with the community?
Many things. I am a self taught designer and developer and working with the phpBBHacks.com community was amazingly beneficial to my PHP development. On the one hand, I was a moderator which helped me to learn how to properly interact with the community - which has been very useful for future projects.
And on the other, I was a hack author, which was great a learning experience. Getting feedback and troubleshooting with the people who used the hacks was invaluable. Also, I was able to work together with some great people, like FB-ke on our "phpBBHacks.com award winning" phpBB easyCMS (I actually can't remember if it did win, but we were definitely nominated, so that's like a win).
[Ed. note: it was nominated in the Hack of the Year category in the phpBBHacks.com Awards 2003. The File Attachment Hack by Acyd Burn took home the honors.]
Depending on your perspective, whether you are a phpBB user, an author or someone else, phpBBHacks.com may hold a different meaning and offer something different to each individual person. When you think about this site and community, what comes to mind for you personally?
Oh, wow. I think I've seen and used phpBBHacks.com from every perspective. What comes to mind when I think about phpBBHacks.com? Endless sleep deprived hours answering questions or finding the answers to questions. That might sound a bit negative, but it's really not. Without phpBBHacks.com, I would definitely not be where I am today! I really enjoyed my time working with phpBBHacks.com and everything I learnt or did has helped me both personally and professionally.
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