Interview with darkside

1. Tell us a little about yourself. I live in Australia. Born here actually. Though my parents aren't from here. I have a metal engineering trades background but before that I wanted to get into Graphic Design. As a result I would do courses at night acquiring the various design skills. Then in 2000 I went and done a full time course in Digital Arts and Media. Since then I've worked as a Graphic Designer and a Web Designer at a few different places as well as doing freelance work.
2. What brought you to HubPages? I'm a Star Wars fan and I came here to publish an ezine series I wrote a while back. I didn't expect to do more than that but HubPages had this addicting charm and I've stuck around.
3. What do you like Hubbing on, with respect to topics? I'm still feeling my way around. Currently I've got an eclectic bunch of topics, as I started to experiment with different stuff. I've found that the big meaty topics work best at HubPages. Between 1995 and 1999 while I was still working in the metal engineering trade (programming and running CNC machines) I'd write a lot of creative fiction. I'd send it in to magazines and more often than not it was rejected, but the ones that were accepted made it worth the time and effort in that fuzzy warm feeling you feel inside for seeing your name in print as well as the cheques that turned up in the mail. So in the last year I've seen myself drawn more and more towards writing again.
4. What has been your best Hub so far (in your opinion)? Why? I like my How HubPages Works which is geared more towards being information like a sales pitch for a new car with a list of benefits. How To Hub is taking that car for a test drive so you can check out the features.
5. What is your favorite Hub by another Hubber? I'm going to cheat and say that the Flagship Hubs page is my favourite page by far!
6. What is one nice thing about HubPages (the site) that many might not know? Definitely the Referral/Tracking system that you guys have in place. Rewarding hubbers who refer new authors but also sending traffic is a fantastic initiative and incentive. I was so impressed with it I wrote a hub on it!
7. Name one thing you learned about from another Hubber's Hub that you didn't know about before. I can't recall the exact hub, but it was by Relache. I had been looking at HubPages as a place to publish content and up until seeing her hub all I saw was an uninspiring collection of vanilla flavoured hubs. The content of the hubs were fine, but the layout was uninteresting. Then I saw relache's hub and the combination of text wrapping around images (toggle-width photo capsules) and Amazon products blended in seamlessly so it becomes an interesting part of the content. It opened my eyes to a while new world of opportunity.
8. What kind of Hubber do you typically join the Fan Club of? Someone who dishes up a combination of the following: Original content. Innovative ideas. Thought provoking insights. An opinion that I can respect (I don't necessarily have to agree with it, but if it's communicated intelligently I will respect it).
9. If you could impart one piece of advice to a new Hubber, what would that be? Write great content. Even if you're new, and not yet approved to create Flagship Hubs, follow the instructions given on this page and you'll make hubs that stand out not just here at HubPages.com but on the whole World Wide Web.
10. Tell us something that we'd never guess about you—surprise us! I used to work at a weapons engineering facility which made the assault rifles for the Australian and New Zealand Defence forces. Prior to that I had never owned, shot or even held a firearm. One day I may write a hub on it. Or maybe not. We've recently moved out to the country and we're surrounded by so many interesting things that I can hub about. In fact I've already taken a tonne of notes.