Your horn, to toot or not to toot

I have a problem internet. Well, that's not quite right. Maybe. Gah!

Here is the skinny. I have done some really crazy things in my professional and volunteer careers. Stuff that has benefited you, greatly. You just don't know it, because I don't talk about it. I have no interest in doing so, since it always feels like bragging and I am not really that type of person. I would rather look forward and talk about what I am going to do, as opposed to what I have done.

Which seems fine right? I always thought so, but apparently we are all wrong. Dead wrong. It's more than mildly aggravating. So in the spirit of horn tooting, here are some things I have done that benefited you dear reader, directly.

• Ever used a website? 75% of You're welcome, since I worked for 10+ years with the Apache Software Foundation.
• Ever used the dashboard in WordPress? You're welcome. I built and committed to WP core the first dashboard.
• Enjoying that less spammy experience on WordPress? You're welcome, the first spam plugin was based in part on my plugin CJD Spam Nuker. Evidence, since people love to be dumb: CJD Spam Nuker, Akismet is Loose.
• As a dev, have you ever used the function file in your theme? You're welcome. That feature was inspired by the work I did on K2, the spiritual follow up to the most popular WordPress theme ever released, Kubrick from Michael Heilemann.
• I've authored books, articles and tutorials on WordPress that have been seen by millions of humans over the last 20 years. I have been told, frequently, that those articles and tutorials were what started people's path into a career in engineering or development. This is what I am the most proud of.

And here is a list of things I have done that probably don't directly affect you, but are fricking cool none the less.

• I was on a team that created an exploration of the future of the WordPress admin. While our designs, etc weren't completely adopted, a lot of the colors, usability and design thinking behind our work made it into core.
• I built (code wise), from scratch, all by my lonesome, the first commercially viable web3 app built around EOS, with mass adoption.
• I built (code and design!), all by my lonesome a full featured mobile device prototype system that used HTML, CSS and JS to allow UX designers to create full fidelity, scripted tests and presentations of their work, using tools they already knew. This predated Figma, etc by at least 5 years. The company patented it.

Okay I think I have reached my limit for talking about myself. I might do another one of these in the future, since this is no where near exhaustive. I have always found this sort of thing silly. The people that constantly promote themselves have always seemed to me, the people who have done the least interesting or important things. The really important things are done quietly, with little to no fanfare.

They are done by those who are driven not by ego or praise, but the need to create, improve and push things forward. I have always seen myself as one of those folks. Not in accomplishments, since as important as some of the things I have done or been involved in are, it's not like I'm curing cancer or creating technologies that save lives.

I make weird shit on the internet and for the internet.