RE: How I got involved with Mozilla (and why that wouldn’t work today)

Okay, Mr David Boswell,

It was roughly 7 years ago when I got involved with Mozilla (yup, been doing Mozilla stuff almost half my life). I started out on a mission to do well at a piece of homework all about making websites. So I did a LOT of research online. There was one word that kept showing its face and so I went along and did a search for it. That word, was “Firefox”.

Back when I downloaded Firefox for the first time the start run page had a nice little link with ways to get involved so I did as I thought best and followed that little link off to Spread Firefox (now non-existent). It was that site that got me involved. I started out by reading threads in the forums on a wide range of topics then soon found myself contributing to them. Not long after that I was one of the people creating threads and giving ideas, not just helping refine others.

Since then things just sort of rollercoastered into creating fun activities for the community online to engaging with people at events. Not only does Spread Firefox no longer exist but the whole, “being mentored” (in my case by the people on the forums) just does not seem to be as easy to find. Loosing Spread Firefox, though needed, has removed one of the good ways of getting people involved. This needs to be replaced with something better, but what I can’t say.

I thank everyone who helped mentor me in the ways of the open web, and Mozilla in those early days, and hope that I too can help someone in the same way that I was helped when I was young and starting out.

– William Duyck (FuzzyFox)