People's Choice For January 2007!

Wow, it was a tight race! EVERY VOTE MADE A DIFFERENCE! We have a winner in our People's Choice contest, I'm delighted to announce, and it is boredofeducation, Damon Hedman, who has been our favorite helper and adviser in January! One of the excellent things about Damon's help is his attention to detail. He finds our broken links. He offers helpful suggestions about our pictures, or heavy modules that are too hard to read. He knows what we need.

For example, see this: "Just built my first lens yesterday. Looks like I've only had a few visitors to it so far and none of them bothered to rate it " "Damon: Great start on your site! There are several people with similar sites who might want to exchange links. If they don't respond... track them down."

It was an interesting month in the forum with Damon, as he was the first person to really PURCHASE a top performing lens by a top lensmaster. Many of us watched that bidding, the transaction and all the details with great interest. According to his normal level of genius, he has decided to make a 'pedigree' for that lens, which is a great idea for any of us who may want to sell a good lens in the future. Once that's finished, we have a great pedigree to model our own on! Damon leads the way!

He's funny too! "Welcome and hi! Feel free to ask Jeffry any questions...Damon" or "Welcome! Squidoo is a lot of fun and NOT addicting! I can quit anytime..." or "Darn! Jeffry got here first to welcome you! Anyway, welcome to Squidoo and feel free to ask Jeffry any questions. Damon" and this: "I just gave it five stars. It looks like it helped. BORK, BORK, BORK. Damon" "What is a farrier? Is it like a terrier?"


We thank you, Damon, for everything. Your patient help and advice sure makes things a lot easier, and our lenses much better for your help. Your willingness to try things and cut a new path is very encouraging.



The winning lens was also Damon's; Severus Snape, the Good, the Bad and the Bizarre. This too, was a tight race.

The first thing I notice on this lens is his GREAT PICTURES. Not too many, but just right to make the page visually interesting and focusing on the information he's giving. His introduction is very tight and clean. He also did something a little unusual in Squidoo intros, he made it a place to post relevant news about his topic.

His first module highlights the conflict and really draws you into the content, even if you've not read Harry Potter before! That's a tough act to follow, but what a wonderful example to all of us about how to write compelling modules step-by-step. He also combined his first module with what looks like a text/write module with the plexo, and he announced the plexo's ability to take html and a photo in the lounge. If we were paying attention, we just learned a great technique!

We can also learn from this lens that a module with just ONE LITTLE POINT, can be a very powerful transition from one train of thought into another. We don't HAVE to fill up every module, though the temptation is there! Damon shows us that sometimes brevity SAYS THE MOST, ACCOMPLISHES THE MOST!

The next module is a book suggestion, which offers the fuller story of the mystery Damon has created up to now. Then he moves into another interactive html plexo with an awesome picture and interesting links that are inviting to vote on. He wants our opinion at JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT, and LOOK! He has lots of comments that are clearly involved in the question he posed!

He moves on from there to the third aspect and again uses an html plexo, looking for readers suggestion on this barely there concept. Then, he offers some really neat cafepress things that engaged participants are sure to want and to value.

Underneath he gives his fans some additional and very interesting things to think about for further exploration; lists his related lenses so they can continue, and ends with a beautiful tribute to a beloved sister.

Five stars simply aren't enough for this extraordinary lens. We can all learn so much from Damon's mastery and his thought processes, that its no wonder he was voted January's favorite squidizen of squidoo lensmasters!

Damon will be entered in our contest:
MASTER LENSMASTERS/GRANDMASTER LENSMASTER!