There is probably no term tossed about with such reckless abandon on StumbleUpon as “spam.” If one Stumbler does not like another, for whatever reason, the reason for that dislike will almost invariably include the term “spam” or “spammer.” To make it worse, there may not be a term where there is less agreement on the definition, either. So what is spam, really? I suppose if you want an internet definition, you should go to an internet authority, so here is the definition from Wikipedia:

Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages.

That would be a reasonable definition for general use, and would certainly include SU. However, the prevailing usage on StumbleUpon would seem to be that spam is whatever stuff the person speaking doesn’t like. Inevitably, this means that what is spam to one user is not spam to someone else. Or, sometimes, is not spam to anybody else. And that just as inevitably leads to disputes of one kind or another.

One of the more common disagreements is over whether or not a Stumbler should be submitting his or her own stuff. Although there is a certain Stumbler contingent that says such submissions are always wrong, the truth is that if no one ever submitted their own material there would not be a lot in StumbleUpon to look at. The don’t-submit-your-own-material Stumblers are making the following statement: “If what you are submitting is something you wrote, it sucks.”

Well, sorry, no, that’s very dim thinking. Quite obviously, the item being submitted is of equal value no matter who submitted it. We should not care who discovers it, period. Random discovery is not better that any other kind of discovery. What we should care about is whether the content is any good. What we should be looking for is original content, something where the writer has added value to some discussion. Obviously, some self-discovered items do indeed absolutely suck, while others are brilliant. Most are somewhere in between. It is the content that matters, not the methodology.

Of course, there is even going to be controversy on that front, because all people don’t like the same things. StumbleUpon solves part of this problem for us by allowing us to define what categories and topics we are interested in. That’s good because we don’t have to look at a lot of stuff we don’t care about at all. But that is not to say we are going to agree with the content of an item in a preferred category.

If you’re a McCain fan, you’re not going to agree with a lot of the pro-Obama posts, even though they all could be in “Politics.” That does not mean they are bad. That just means you don’t agree with them. If you can manage to be open-minded, which is to say non-bigoted, reading opinions from the another viewpoint may actually help you learn something, whether they change your mind or not. Either way, you’re ahead of the game. You are smarter after than before.

So, what is StumbleUpon spam? I have my definition(s). Spam is the fourth time you read the same posting, using the same words and pictures, about the same widget or product. Spam is the third time you see the same lolcat graphic that was not funny the first time. Spam is any bigoted, hurtful, profane, vulgar statement, all venom and no thought. Spam is comments that can be described by the preceding sentence. Spam is anything not original. The list could. and does, go on.

What do you think spam is?

StumbleUpon is full of questions, contradictions, and philosophical differences. That is one of the things that makes it a wonderful and interesting place. Everybody has a different definition of spam, none of which seem to correspond to the (probably semi-) official definition of the term. SU has rules which often don’t make any sense, are counter-intuitive, and often seem self-defeating. People are often at odds about etiquette and procedure. SU is evolving, and that is fun to be involved in.

I am sometimes amazed at the amount of rancor and false information that can be generated around the simplest issues. Then again, I was amazed at the same feelings in 1981, when I joined CompuServe and discovered the CB Simulator, the mother of all chat programs, and in truth the mother of all social media. That’s correct, I have been doing this for 27 years, longer than some of you have been alive. That amazes me, too.  Perhaps I am too easily amazed.

Social networking / bookmarking started way back then and I have been watching it with interest the whole time, as well as being up to my neck in it. StumbleUpon is one of the more interesting variations, which is to say that it has a lot going for it and not a lot to detract from the basic attractions, although it is certainly not perfect.

I started this blog because there was an idea in the back of my mind that there was a lot to say about SU and the people that use it. Almost all of that is good. Although I am most certainly still learning about SU and the entire social bookmarking universe, I think that I have finally learned enough to start really writing about StumbleUpon. I’m sure that a lot of you will help me learn even more as I go, through comments and in other ways.

We will keep on doing interviews. People seem to love them and we love doing them. I am not nearly as happy about the “Tips and Tricks” sort of posts. I don’t enjoy writing them. They don’t really add much to the more interesting conversation that we should be having about SU as a life-enhancing tool. If you have a “How do I…” sort of question, just ask it either in comments or by using the “Contact Us” link at the top of any page and we will get you the answer. If you have a really interesting answer, write it up and we’ll run it on this blog under your name.

I would love for this to be an actual conversation, if you wish to join into it. If you have something to say about StumbleUpon and don’t have a platform to stand on to say it, contact me and we’ll work out a guest post arrangement. It does not really matter to me what side of the discussion you are coming from. There’s room for a lot of opinions. All you need to be able to do is state your case well and not be hostile or vulgar about it, to use StumbleUpon’s words. We’ll be happy to give you some space to say your piece.

Sara is a woman from San Francisco, California, USA.

Likes 3,418 pages, 48 videos, 74 photos • 338 fans • Received 33 reviews

Member since Apr 19, 2007

Hi, I’m Sara. I am the editor of EcoSalon.
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1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

Early last year I was looking for a social network that fit my curious nature and wasn’t frivolous. I like them all for different reasons, but SU is my favorite. If social networks were people, SU would be the Renaissance Man. Irresistible.

2. Your magazine EcoSalon is quite impressive. How did that come about?

In the funny way that one thing leads to another if you hang out and work online. We have a great team of writers and phenomenal support. The whole experience thus far has been so much fun - there is something very rewarding about the challenge of building something new and following where it leads.

3. You seem quite busy! How do you fit everything in?

My friends joke that I am a type A+. With blogging you can always do more, so I try to be aware of that. This year, I am finding ways to make more time for exercise and *real* reading (you know, books). I do have a few loose little systems in place. I make time for meaningful phone calls or dinner with friends most nights of the week. I sort of rotate things online. If I’m really active on social networks one week, I try to tone it down the next. I’ll write a lot one week, focus on marketing the next. But about once a month it will happen that I’ve been doing waaaaay too much and attitude ensues. When that happens I give myself a lazy weekend where brushing my teeth is the big event of the day. It’s just like yoga!

4. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

Anything to do with ideas or philosophy. Oddities, humor, and all things geek-related. The world and science. Marketing and psychology. Stumbleupon suits the way I learn - incrementally, independently and through creative connections between different topics or disciplines. I was home-schooled for much of my education, so there is probably some link there. Either that or I’m just a raging nerd.

5. How often do you Stumble? Do you keep track of about how much time you spend Stumbling every day?

I have no idea, but probably too much if I’m being asked!

6. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

I follow Digg, I’m active on Reddit, and I have the obligatory Facebook page, but I draw the line at the tweet.

7. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

Stumble has all the elements of other social networks I like, mashed together. Reviews; friends; blogging. It’s not as timely as Digg or Reddit, but there is a lot of depth.

8. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

I like cats and dogs equally.

9. What would you say are the best ways to guarantee that users have a really wonderful StumbleUpon experience?

I guess it depends what your purposes are. Something I didn’t do much of when I started out was to review; I would just thumb. I was using Stumble like a bookmarking site, rather than contributing to the community, so I try to do that more now, even if it’s just a passage from the page I think is worth noting. I personally love seeing what people have to say about a page.

BuzzDiggity is a 23 year old guy from Los Angeles, California, USA.

Likes 1,473 pages, 56 videos, 22 photos • 162 fans • Received 25 reviews

Member since Dec 26, 2007

In the words of Andre 300 “Heya!” With each passing day, I am becoming a bigger social media nerd, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I stumble naked. Anyway, if you ever are looking for any support in the social media realm, or just want to rap/chat/schmooz, hit me on aim/ gtalk. My screenname there is also BuzzDiggity. Also, check out my blog please. And tell your mothers and babies about it. It is not-not-not bad. www.shitamericaneeds.com

1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

One night, some of the top stumblers, such as Brian Reeder, Muhammed Saleem, Liam Victor and God (sorry, no link available), broke into my bedroom and told me to start stumbling. I was kinda weirded out first, but they were pretty insistent, so I signed up for SU in the morning.

2. What gave you the idea for your new site, ShitAmericaNeeds?

I just wanted people to like me, you know? I’m sick of being a nobody. I figured that if I bashed America, a popular hobby amongst the blogosphere and social media elite, then I might make some friends. So far, I’ve been moderately successful. Three friends and counting. Plus a hamster.

3. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

Basically, I just like to stumble everything with pictures of boobies and/or mentions of boobies. I also like stumbling pictures of old-fashioned automobiles. As a general rule of thumb (pun intended), however, if the article has more than two sentences, I usually skip over it or write a review that looks something like this: “Blah blah blah. Come on! Let’s see some boobies.”

4. Is there any feature that you think SU is missing?

I’m not sure if you could consider this a feature, per se, but I think it would be cool if you could stumble by licking the computer, rather than using a mouse.

5. How often do you Stumble? Do you keep track of about how much time you spend Stumbling every day?

To be honest, I am high pretty much every day, so I’d just be guessing. Probably over three hours though. But it could be closer to 10 minutes. I don’t know. Sorry. Next question?

6. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

Yeah. I belong to Darwin Dating, which is a dating site exclusively for really, really attractive people. Membership into the site is granted by other people voting on whether you’re attractive enough to join, so I had to spend about $25.00 on elance, paying freelancers to come to the site and give me a high enough rating. It was a pain in the ass, and unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to convince any of the women on the site to meet me in person. However, when one of them turns me down, I typically submit their profile page to SU and give them a rather scathing review. It’s not much consolation, but it gives me a chuckle.

I also use Digg, Mixx, and Reddit. My profiles on the latter two kinda suck, but I’m trying harder now. I promise.

7. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

I am pretty sure there are more ladies on StumbleUpon. But I might just be saying that because you can stumble pictures of boobies.

8. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

Sure, I just want to state for the record that I’m actually really a good guy.

9. What would you say are the best ways to guarantee that you have a really wonderful StumbleUpon experience?

I don’t know. I guess being high helps. I’d also recommend friending lots of random people, and then when they ask how you know them, you just say, “look behind you.”

10. If you could say one thing to the rest of the Stumbling universe, what would it be?

You’re only as cool as the sites you stumble. Don’t mess up.

Leena is a married woman from Turku, Finland.

Likes 3,005 pages, 61 videos, 238 photos • 178 fans • Received 47 reviews

Member since Jul 05, 2007

I am a math’s teacher in a high school for adults and seriously addicted to Japanese puzzles.

1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

I am addicted to Japanese puzzles and I am a member of Conceptis puzzles, which creates the best of them. I followed closely the forums and someone had found out that Conceptis puzzles had been reviewed in SU. Of course I had to check and give my own review. When I found the stumble button and the web games it lead me to, I was hooked. This happened in the beginning of July 2007.

2. How do you select your SU friends?

It has changed over times. At first I added people who had interesting blogs and followed what they were stumbling. Now I have had to start removing some of them because I reached 200 a couple of months ago. At first I was the one who added people and now my visitors add me. I try to check all the visitors’ blogs and I add people whom I know from other connections or who have really interesting stumbles.

3. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

My absolute favourite is mathematics. I fell hopelessly in love with maths when I was 14 and it also became my profession. I want to show my students the beauty in mathematics and I try to get them overcome the fear for it. The next ones are puzzles and online puzzle games. I have been addicted to them since I got my first computer at home. After I found the Japanese puzzles I came to the conclusion that no game can beat solving them, but I occasionally try new games, too. I also love arts and photography.

4. Is there any feature that you think SU is missing?

The only feature I am really missing is the ability to blog posts straight to my main blog. If I want to do that, I have to Digg the article or use Clipmarks.

5. How often do you Stumble? Do you keep track of about how much time you spend Stumbling every day?

I stumble every day. At first I spent really too many hours Stumbling but nowadays that is not a problem. Every morning I have pages waiting from my friends and also when I get home from work. I check them and also my visitors. I don’t really use the stumble button any more. Interesting stuff keeps coming to me anyway

6. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

Yes! I think too many For social bookmarking I use also Digg, Mixx, Del.icio.us and Clipmarks. I also have accounts in Reddit, Subbit and a couple more, but I rarely use them. I also have connections through MyBlogLog , BlogCatalog and Facebook.

7. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

First of all the beauty I can create around my content. I remember things visually much better than verbally and that is why I try to photoblog even the logo or something from every site. From Digg I can’t actually find any old stories I have Dugg. Del.icio.us is fast and good but I have learned that I should have organized my tags better. Too many tags are just confusing.

8. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

I never revealed my age in the profile I am 52 years old, have two grown-up children who don’t live at home anymore, husband and a one-year-old Welsh Corgi Pembroke. My job a maths teacher is somewhat peculiar: I work from 4 pm to 9 pm and teach adults. Part of my students have left high school or have not even started it and want to do it now. Some of them have chosen the short course in mathematics and have noticed that they need the long courses for their future education. There are almost as many reasons as there are students. I love teaching them because they know the value of education. I am very passionate in my teaching and some of the students probably regard me as crazy at first, but when they finally get my point, they actually grow an interest in it. The main thing is that I am able to wipe out fears. I know that sometimes evil mathematics teachers have originally caused some of them to leave school in the first place.

I started my blog www.conceptisaddict.blogspot.com in August to share also the wonderful experience of Japanese puzzles. Almost all people know Sudoku, but the picture logic puzzles are unfamiliar to many people. My blogging led to the socializing and I have enjoyed every moment. In addition to the normal bloggers I have found many contacts with teachers who use all the technologies Web 2.0 can offer. I already started a Finnish blog targeted to my students but I have not had time to update it very actively. I also started a blog for our school in order to develop discussions between students and teachers but all of it is very new to most of the people and I still have lots to do to make it work like it should.

9. What would you say are the best ways to guarantee that you have a really wonderful StumbleUpon experience?

Make friends, be friendly, send messages and keep a positive attitude. I got the advice long ago from a friend in the net: remember that there are so many good people in the world. I did change my attitude; I have always had a great deal of the Finnish pessimism, but remembering that advice and keeping an open mind I have had wonderful experiences and found a great amount of those good people. I also would like to point out that people who concentrate only on promoting their own content will never succeed in being popular.

10. If you could say one thing to the rest of the Stumbling universe, what would it be?

Try to find the good side of everything. I have noticed that even though I don’t like the content I stumble into, it may have the best web design I have seen. Giving very many thumbs down will not benefit you, on the contrary. If I don’t like something, I just leave. There are very few occasions when I have met something which makes me really mad but I have learned in real life that it is better to count to suitable powers of ten before exploding.

tamar is a 27 year old married woman from New York, New York, USA.

Likes 14,065 pages, 179 videos, 1,201 photos • 663 fans • Received 99 reviews

Member since Apr 10, 2005

I’m a female blogger and tech enthusiast and I love photography. I enjoy social media very much, and I blog about it at techipedia.com. You may have also seen my blogging on Lifehacker and Mashable.

Feel free to introduce yourself. I’m a big stumbler and love making new friends. Say hello anytime!

1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

I joined in April 2005. I believe I joined because a friend of mine wanted to thumbs up one of his sites way back then; of course, the online word of mouth contributed to its continued growth.

2. How do you select your SU friends?

Typically, I look for a few things: similar interests, an interesting blog, and whether they’re active stumblers or not. I believe being an active stumbler is most important–they get the fresh content quickly and are usually heavily networked. It makes no sense to be an active stumbler and not be social!

3. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

My interests vary. I love a mixture of great photography (preferably photography never seen before; there’s a lot of redundancy out there) and bizarre stories. I also love informational pages on topics related to productivity, lifestyle, and software.

4. Is there any feature that you think SU is missing?

I think they could do things better. For example, the 200 friend limit is a bit of a frustration, especially if you’re really active. Sending pages to friends is also annoying with the drop-down menu, especially if you max out on the number of friends that you choose. However, besides that, I’m pretty much satisfied with how StumbleUpon is evolving.

5. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

Yup. I’m all over. I think I have accounts on every social network that exists (well, close!).

6. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

StumbleUpon really connects you to interesting information that you typically can’t find anywhere else. Additionally, the content there is timeless (for the most part).

7. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

For one thing, I love my avatar, but I’m not a goat. StumbleUpon is the only place I use that avatar, and I like it because it’s unique and funny.

8. What would you say are the best tips for StumbleUpon success?

Stumble often and review pages. Add photos to your blog. Your success comes with dedication — contribute and people will take notice.

9. If you could say one thing to the rest of the Stumbling universe, what would it be?

Add me as a friend.

Jonathan is a 42 year old guy from New York, USA.

Likes 899 pages, 18 videos, 4 photos • 154 fans • Received 30 reviews

Member since May 25, 2007

Hey gang! I’m a NYC husband and dad, former mega-firm lawyer turned serial-entrepreneur in the wellness industry (currently own a yoga studio and teach yoga), writer, copywriter, career-coach, blogger, marketer, speaker and author. Would love to connect with anyone with similar interests. For tips and advice, stop by my blog at: Jonathan Fields | Awake At The Wheel.

1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

I’ve been stumbling for about 6 months. Before really knowing anything about any social-media communities, I first joined as a way to market myself, but SU has quickly turned into a wonderful source of information, insight and friendship.

2. How do you select your SU friends?

I often end up connecting with people who share common interests. It usually begins by one of us stumbling the others’ submissions, then checking out profiles and, if available, blogs. I also look for people who are active on a regular basis, it’s easier to develop friendships when you know the people are available, active and invested in the community.

3. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

My stumble topics tend to mimic what I write about on my blog at JonathanFields.com. Major areas of interest are blogging, entrepreneurship, marketing and innovation, writing, personal-development (with a real-world bent), health and lifestyles.

4. Is there any feature that you think SU is missing?

I really like the new additions to the “send to” feature, but would love the ability to send to multiple people at once. The risk, of course, is that this feature would get seriously abused, like shouting on Digg.com. Maybe the ability to respond to e-mail from my own e-mail client, too.

5. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

I belong to a bunch, but SU is where I spend most of my time. I am 42, a family-guy and the SU community seems to fit best with who I am and what I am interested in.

6. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

I like the ability to create friends and I believe it is easier to find great content on SU than on some others.

7. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

I am all about creation and compassion. I am pretty much always actively pursuing either or both. It starts with family and expands to friends and then business. And, I am passionate about writing. I was a lawyer in a past life, so I know how to write in a very rigid, grammatically correct way…and now, as a writer and copywriter, I love that I can break all the rules in the name of being human and telling a story.

I am also just now finishing up a book for Random House’s Broadway Books on the intersection between passion and prosperity that’ll be out in January 2009.

8. What would you say are the best tips for StumbleUpon success?

Contribute to the community. Give more than you get. Discover or create great content, pass it on and help promote great content from others. It’s really just a karma thing, but it also makes for a great experience in the SU community. Also, if you are going to send pages to others, rather than just sending every page to every person on your friend list, take the time to try to make sure the people you are sending to have some shared interest in the content you are asking them to look at.

9. If you could say one thing to the rest of the Stumbling universe, what would it be?

StumbleUpon is a great place to spend some time online, just make sure you are playing with people offline, too. If you spend more time playing online than off, you may want to take a step back and reallocate a bit of your energy.

10. If you have any other thoughts about StumbleUpon and Stumbling, please add those here.

In the end, life is about relationships and experiences. So, to the extent you can tap StumbleUpon as a resource to deepen all these, dive in.

Bogdan is a 22 year old guy from Bucharest, Romania.

Likes 7,015 pages, 68 videos, 503 photos • 349 fans • Received 55 reviews

Member since Jun 05, 2007

On Stumble for finding anything interesting or learning new stuff. Show me any note-worthy stuff I might have missed anytime, I’d be glad to help. Feel free to visit my blog, maxyRO for stuff about me, social media, tips and tools. Send me a message, I always like to chat and share some knowledge of the web.

1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

I have joined StumbleUpon in June 2007, after seeing one of my articles get a huge amount of traffic from the website. Naturally curious, I made an account and started stumbling. I got addicted to it and now I can’t go without stumbling at least 20 pages a day. Like all others, I’m completely hooked. Out of all the communities, StumbleUpon became and still is my favorite one.

2. How do you select your SU friends?

I tend to choose active Stumblers I have something in common with. I’m also friends on SU with people I know from other communities. I go for funny stuff, SEO articles, everything related to blogs and of course food. Over time, I managed to figure out who is an valuable member for the SU community.

3. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

I’m more likely to thumb up posts about topics which I blog about: funny stuff, environmental news, search engine optimization or articles about blogging or arts. I use StumbleUpon for inspiration for my articles, when I have writer’s block or for a little relaxation when work gets crowded.

4. Is there any feature that you think SU is missing?

I thought before StumbleUpon needed a button to send a page to all your friends at once. But know I’m not so sure about it. Good thing they removed Captcha, that was annoying. They should probably make the buzz page more popular and link it all over the site so that people get a clear idea of what is hot at the moment. Also, I’d enjoy if we were able to add more than 200 friends. Wishful thinking…

5. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

I belong to many communities, but I’m not an active user in all of them.
digg, twitter, reddit, social news central or anywhere else you might see the maxyRO nickname.

6. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

I think StumbleUpon is more focused on the user and communicating more easily with other. Users here are friendly, willing to give positive feedback and always trying to help out. It’s my oldest community and the place where I feel most comfortable.

7. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

I work for the web so my participation in the communities is somewhat natural. I started my own blog, maxyRO.com, about the social media trend, search engine optimization and general thoughts about the web trends. In my spare time I blog, of course, go to where my favorite music, trance, is played and go out with my friends. I also enjoy talking on a daily basis with friends around the world and meeting new people.

8. What would you say are the best tips for StumbleUpon success?

For once, try to bring something valuable to the community, finds things you think will be interesting and discover them for others. Engage in conversations, help others and you will be acknowledged as a true Stumbler.

9. If you could say one thing to the rest of the Stumbling universe, what would it be?

Send me a message, add me on IM, I always love to meet new people.

Kathy is a 26 year old married woman from Gray, Maine, USA.

Likes 4,234 pages, 143 videos, 140 photos • 232 fans • Received 60 reviews

Member since Aug 29, 2007

I live in a little town in Maine with my husband and some furred and feathered friends. I write for a website dedicated to good news and profiles of inspiring people and organizations called Gimundo. (Sign up for the RSS feed here, if you’re so inclined.) I share some of our stories here, along with tons of other interesting stuff I come across while looking for material. If you’re in the mood for good news, just check out the “gimundo” or “good news” tags on my page - you’ll feel better, promise.

1. What caused you to join StumbleUpon and how long have you been Stumbling?

I don’t remember exactly how I found StumbleUpon in the first place. According to my profile, I’ve been a member since August, but at the start, I only used it to occasionally bookmark links and do random stumbles without focusing on the community aspect. In December, I finally figured out how it was supposed to work, started my Stumble blog, and began adding friends. Now, I’m completely and utterly hooked – I even wrote an ode to SU on Gimundo a couple of months ago.

The coolest thing is, since my job involves spending hours online looking for interesting material to write about, StumbleUpon actually helps me. It’s so nice when something I’d do for fun anyway actually serves a productive purpose!

2. How did you come up with the idea for the Gimundo good news site?

Unfortunately, I can claim no credit whatsoever for the idea behind Gimundo. For that, you can thank the site’s founders, Chris Case and Keith Cohn, who’ve graciously allowed me to take on this incredible project.

A more thorough explanation is available on the site’s About Us page but in a nutshell, they got fed up with all the negativity and fear-mongering they saw in the mainstream media, and went looking for an alternative news source that spotlighted all the great stuff going on in the world. Since they couldn’t find one, they decided to create their own: Gimundo, a site that features only good news and positive, inspirational stories.

It’s not a replacement for the news – of course, it’s important for all of us to stay informed about what’s going on in the world – but it does help to know that good things ARE happening out there. Gimundo just helps shed a little light on all the great stories that don’t get the attention they deserve.

3. Do you have anything else in the works, or does Gimundo keep you busy enough?

Gimundo keeps me pretty busy, so I’m not doing much in the way of outside writing projects at the moment.

4. What are your favorite StumbleUpon topics, and why?

It’s always fun to look at other Stumblers’ pages and see what cool stuff they’re discovering – I try to stop in on my friends’ pages on a regular basis, and like to check out random Stumblers and friends-of-friends as well. I find lots of fun and quirky stuff in the “bizarre” topic, and I’m crazy about animals, so that’s definitely a favorite, too. Health, science, environmental, activism, journalism, photography, humor – it’s hard to pick, with so much great stuff out there. I also enjoy the StumbleThru feature – I use it most often for Wired and BBC News, so I can keep up on cool technological developments and international news stories.

5. Is there any feature that you think SU is missing?

I would love it if StumbleUpon could aggregate your friends’ latest finds by category, so instead of just looking at a general “What’s New” page on all topics, you could see a list of everything your friends have stumbled sorted out by topic, whether you’re looking for news, photography, videos, or anything else. It would also be great if SU got rid of the 200 friends limit – I’ve already reached mine, and don’t like having to take people off my list to add someone new.

6. Do you belong to any other social networking sites?

I’m also a member of Digg (also under the screenname miranda622), and have been using it fairly often lately – I’m always happy to connect there too, so please add me to your friends list if you like. Care2 is a smaller site, but it’s also great for finding about political news, petitions, and activism, so I stop by there every so often, too.

7. If so, in what ways does StumbleUpon compare favorably with the others?

I really love the random stumble feature. So often, I have no idea what I’m actually looking for, so it’s nice to be surprised and see pages that I wouldn’t have necessarily visited if I’d only seen the headline. “Send to a friend” is cool, too – I always love when people stumble me stuff, and I try to pass along stories and links that I think will interest people in my friends group from time to time. I also think that StumbleUpon has much more of a community spirit than the rest of the social news sites out there – I’ve found so many friendly, helpful, and intelligent people to talk to since I’ve started Stumbling.

8. Would you like to tell us a little more about yourself than is in your profile?

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, but moved to Maine with my husband Jeff (thehawk78) just over a year ago. We’re avid animal lovers, with 2 Shih Tzus and 2 cockatiels. Since we both work from home, we get to spend all day with them, which is one of the coolest things in the world – it’s always fun to take puppy play breaks during the workday. My SU screenname is my middle name and birthday (Miranda comes from The Tempest – my father was a big Shakespeare buff.). I did an MFA in creative writing a couple of years ago, and did some freelance writing before I started working with Gimundo – if anyone’s interested in seeing some of those pieces, they can check out my portfolio at kathrynhawkins.com.

9. What would you say are the best tips for Stumbling success?

I probably have an unfair advantage over most people when it comes to Stumbling, since I have hundreds of RSS feeds set up for various sites, and spend time each day scouring through them all, looking for interesting material to cover for Gimundo. Whenever I find cool stuff that doesn’t work for Gimundo, I share it on my StumbleUpon blog instead.

The stuff I like to Stumble is usually a bit on the quirky side, generally fairly upbeat – though I’m interested in politics, it’s a pretty divisive subject, so I tend to leave it out of my blog. I do think that StumbleUpon is an amazing tool for getting the word out, though, so if there is a particular issue I’m concerned about, especially if there’s a simple way to get involved, I like to share it on my blog in hopes that others will take action too. Essentially, though, what I post is based on the premise that if it interests me, it’ll probably interest other people too. So far, that seems to be true!

It’s time for another easy tip. Gmalonzo hinted at this one in a comment to our Tips and Tricks post on dressing up the reviews on pages that you liked. For those of you that blog on your SU favorites page, I hope that you have noticed the line above the posting text box that reads “Normal | Visual Editor.” If you click on “Visual Editor”, it brings up a set of icons that you can use to add a variety of formatting to your blog entry. As Gmalonzo said, since this feature also appears when you edit one of your reviews, you can also use it to clean up and dress up your reviews after the fact.

When you click on the “Visual Editor” link, it brings up an icon menu with formatting features similar to that of a word processor. This menu looks like the following graphic. I have added a number for each function and will use those numbers to explain each function in the area below the graphic.

1. Hide Visual Editor - This small triangle hides and exposes the visual editor controls. If you click it with the editor icons showing, it hides them, leaving just the triangle. Clicking the triangle again will expose the controls.
2. Source – When only the formatted text is displayed, clicking on source will expose the code that controls the formatting. Clicking on it when the code is exposed will hide the code. Note that the functionality of the visual editor is not available when viewing the code window.
3. Bold – Select the text that you want to format and click on this control to make the text bold. Can be combined with 4, 5 and 6.
4. Italics - Select the text that you want to format and click on this control to italicize the text. Can be Combined with 3, 5, and 6.
5. Underline - Select the text that you want to format and click on this control to underline the text. This option should be used sparingly, if at all, since underlined text looks very much like a link and might be confusing. Can be combined with 3, 4, and 6.
6. Strikethrough - Select the text that you want to format and click on this control to show a strikethrough line through the text. Can be combined with 3, 4, and 5.
7. Numbered List - Select all of the text in lines that you want to be a bulleted list and click on this control to add numbers and an indent.
8. Bulleted List - Select all of the text in lines that you want to be a bulleted list and click on this control to add bullets and an indent.
9. Font – Click on the triangle at the right of this box to drop down a list of fonts to use for text that you have highlighted. With the list showing, click on a font to select it.
10. Size - Click on the triangle at the right of this box to drop down a list of font sizes to use for text that you have highlighted. With the list showing, click on a size to select it.
11. Font Color – Highlight some text and then click on this box to change the color that is used to display it. Don’t choose the same color as the background of your page, or the highlighted text will effectively disappear.
12. Background Color – Highlight some or all of the text in your post, then click on this icon to change the color of the background against which the text is displayed. This can be used to avoid the disappearing font issue noted in the item above.

The visual editor gives you a lot of control over the appearance of your blog posts and reviews. You should probably avoid going totally crazy, since most people are not all that thrilled about over-the-top formatting. It is probably better to go for subdued rather than crazy.