Each year we give awards to individuals and organizations whose extraordinary contributions benefit the entire Windows Mobile community. Past winners include Dale Coffing, Jason Dunn, and Chris De Herrera for their outstanding Web sitesl Microsoft's Derek Brown and Beth Goza; Mark Winstanley and John Tidwell of Pocket PC Summit; Nathan Clevenger for his work evangelizing Windows Mobile development; and Handango, PocketGear, and Mobile Planet, online stores that support the Windows Mobile community by offering great software and accessories for the Pocket PC and Smartphone. Last year, we honored the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Board of Experts for their work reviewing hundreds of products and sharing their opinions about them.
This year we honor the moderators of the various sections of Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's online forums (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/forum). Why honor our own? Because our forums are open to all Windows Mobile users whether they are newbies or experts. Material from these forums is so consistently useful and excellent that last year we expanded the magazine to include a tips section based on their posts.
An elite group of on-line experts often post many times a day. They help users answer an endless variety of Pocket PC and Smartphone questions. These helpers deserve recognition and appreciation from all of us who make better use of our devices because of them.
When forum administrator, New Products Editor, Diane Dumas, convinced me to open a forum, I insisted that we have a knowledgeable volunteer already lined up to help. Bob Katayama of technobrains.com for over two years has filled that role with over 4000 posts! Shortly after opening the forums David Hettel joined Bob and formed an incredible superhelper duo. In the past year Werner Ruotsalainen (“Menneisyys”) of Finland has dazzled us all with an amazing array of answers, tips, and reviews, many of which we have captured in the Forum tips section of this magazine. (Werner's posts inspired us to start Smartphone & Pocket PC blogs at www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs, but that's another story.)
Shawna Kelly supports and inspires users in our GPS forum. John Ottini, Richard Hawley, "cmonex", and Perry Esposito ("perryinva") make our forum a top place on the net for Handheld PC discussion. We have other great helpers such as Caleb Schmerge, Tim Branyen (“Hobolooter”), “Sooner Al”, Randy Stairs (“Yankee Jeep”), “Airbrushed” , “Handheld user2”, Jack Turner (“jckrenrut”), Frank Garcia (“ctitanic”), GPS afficionado Gary Garland, and Games Editor, Allen Gall.
Of course, there are other folks who may have only responded to one or two people. However, the great news is that replying to one person's query means potentially helping the many hundreds of visitors that read each post. Thanks again to everyone that shares their knowledge and experience to make it easier on others.
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