Wishes Do Come True (Pt 2)!!! Thanks Gary Gilbert!

So I go out to my front door and what do I spy? Another box from Amazon! Now, I know that Ben Nadel showed me some love last week and picked me up the awesome book "PPK on JavaScript" for my work on GotCFM.com but I was sure Ben doesn't like me THAT much! LOL!

So I open it and BAM! another book off of my Amazon wishlist! It was the book Web Analytics: An Hour a Day which I really wanted to help me improve my skills on determining site metrics! And I have Gary Gilbert to thank for this book. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I really appreciate Gary! :D

GotCFM.com 1000 Sites Contest - The Winners!!!

First I want to thank everyone that submitted a site during the contest. We had an incredible number of site submissions since I first announced the contest on 8/10/2007. Since that time, we have had 543 sites submitted to GotCFM.com bringing the list total to 1,533 sites!!!!! As many of you know, GotCFM.com was built to help promote CF-based technologies and is currently aggregating a sizeable list of CFML-Powered sites to show off to the the development community. Every new site submissions helps further that cause and I really appreciate those who took the time to submit a site.

Next, onto the winners:

Site #1005 http://www.laurieskitchen.com was submitted by info@laurieskitchen.com. They will be getting a "What Would Ben Do" tshirt.

Site #1004 http://www.HotelBook.com was submitted by Alan Rother. Alan will be getting a "Got ColdFusion?" tshirt.

Site #1003 http://www.machinerynetwork.com was submitted by Jim Wright. Jim will be getting a "What Would Ben Do" tshirt.

Site #1002 http://www.techsoup.org was submitted by Michael Wright. Michael will be getting a "Got ColdFusion?" tshirt.

Site #1001 http://www.fitnessblog.it/fitnessblog/index.cfm was submitted by Luca Unti. Luca will be getting a "Got ColdFusion?" tshirt and a "Got ColdFusion?" coffee mug.

and the grand prize winner for site #1000 is Steve "Cutter" Blades for the site http://www.apposchooldistrict.com/. Steve will be getting an Adobe laptop-ready backpack filled with Adobe goodness (small promo items, t-shirts, etc...) and a GotColdFusion? coffee mug.

I've been in contact with all of the winners and they're all thrilled. I would like to congratulate all of them and thank them for their efforts.

On a final note, I would like to encourage everyone to continue to submit sites to GotCFM.com as it will help to show how pervasive CF-based technologies really are.

Wishes Do Come True!!! Thanks Ben Nadel!

Trying to make GotCFM.com something useful to the ColdFusion community has been a bit of an effort. While the site looks very simple, there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes from testing URLs to contacting submitters who are trying to game the site.

So following the lead of other bloggers that I've seen, I put up my Amazon Wishlist in the hopes that someone might find my efforts of value and get me something from my wishlist. I wasn't expecting anything but if it happened, it would be really cool.

Well, today I get a package from Amazon which was a bit of a surprise. When I opened it up, one of the books from wishlist was there!!!! I had added PPK on JavaScript to the list and now I had it in my hands!!!

When I looked at the receipt, whom do I find as the sender? Noneother than my good friend Ben Nadel and a little note that said: "Rey, Kick ass on GotCFM.com :) I think it's really a great thing".

Ben man, you made my day and I really appreciate it. Thanks for valuing my efforts bud! :)

GotCFM.com Approaching 1000 Sites - Contest/Prizes

I'm very happy to announce that GotCFM.com, the site dedicated to promotion CF-based technology, is just 10 sites shy of reaching 1000 CFML-Powered sites. This is really an awesome achievement and helps to show that CF-technologies are very relevant in today's Internet development efforts.

To commemorate the 1000th site submission, Adobe has generously donated a Adobe laptop-ready backpack filled with Adobe goodness (small promo items, t-shirts, etc...). Also, Will Tomlinson of ColdFusionGear has graciously donated Got ColdFusion? mugs and tshirts.

So here's the way this will work:

  • The submitter for site 1,000 will get the Adobe backpack and a GotColdFusion? coffee mug

I will then give prizes to the next five "unique" submitters irregardless of site position. By unique submitters, I mean five different people.

The prizes for that will be as follows:

  • Submitter #1 will get a Got ColdFusion? tshirt and a Got ColdFusion? coffee mug
  • Submitter #2 will get a Got ColdFusion? tshirt
  • Submitter #3 will get a "What Would Ben Do" tshirt
  • Submitter #4 will get a Got ColdFusion? tshirt
  • Submitter #5 will get a "What Would Ben Do" tshirt

The rules:

  • The submission must be for a "CFML-powered" site which is not already on the list
  • The site MUST be predominantly CFML-powered. If it has one CFM page in it with the rest powered by another technology, then it won't qualify.
  • It must follow the guidelines listed here: http://www.gotcfm.com/thelist.cfm
  • You MUST provide your email address when submitting so I can get a hold of you. If you don't enter your email address, you will not be eligible.
  • When contacted, you have 5 days to reply with a shipping address. If no reply is received, a new winner will be chosen for the respective prize
  • Employees of Adobe, New Atlanta, Railo, the Smith Project, and any CF application server project/maker are not eligible.

The winners will be announced on CF-Talk on Friday, August 17th, 2007.

The prizes will be shipped anywhere in the world via standard postal service.

I want to thank everyone for their support and look forward to continuing the effort of promoting CF-technologies to the development community.

GotCFM.com - CF Evangelism Site a HUGE Success

Its funny to think that I built GotCFM.com over a week ago and I still haven't had a chance to blog about it. Well, between the massive and positive response towards the site, work and a trip to California, blogging has been the last thing on my mind. Now I get to discuss it.

For those that don't know about GotCFM.com, I built the site as a vehicle for promoting ColdFusion-related technologies. It will be a site for CFML evangelism and knowledge. It will be a site that will let people understand why the CF community loves this engine and why ColdFusion-centric technologies *ARE* an amazing choice for building scalable and engaging websites. To get a real detailed explanation of how the site came about, go here:

About Gotcfm.com

Since launching GotCFM.com on 2/26/2007, the site has had quite a number of people visiting. This shows that CF is alive and well. That makes me VERY happy. Some quick stats since the site started:

Hits: 35,456 Page views: 6,472 Visitors: 1,313

The "list of sites" has grown from 0 to 555 sites in just 8 days and continues to grow at a nice clip. Again, this is VERY exciting since it provides further evidence that CF is being actively used to build web prescences.

There's still more work to do, though, as I want to include the following:

  • Information on how to position CF within your company
  • Information on specific features that make CF better than other technologies
  • Case studies on successful implementations of CF
  • More "Powered by" buttons
  • Banner ads that can be added to your site to promote your favorite CF engine

I really need the help of the community though. If you have any of the information above and would like to contibute to it to the effort, please email me at rey [at] reybango [*dot*] com. Even links pointing to these types of resources are useful so please take a couple of minutes to help out.

One other VERY IMPORTANT thing that I need is Adobe's involvement. I've sent numerous emails out and haven't received a reply. I'm a little perplexed by this. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt but its a little disconcerting not to have received some type of feedback from them. Adobe???

I have received official support from New Atlanta and Railo, to which I am VERY grateful.

I want to specifically thank Andy Matthews for his GREAT assistance while I was out. He's the one that built the grouping functionality and row coloring on the site list while I was away. He also moderated the ever growing site list. Many thanks Andy!!!

BlogCFC was created by Raymond Camden. This blog is running version 5.8.001.