Interview with Matt Rogowski (MyBB Support Team Lead)

Its been months since we had an interview, so I decided to spice things up and Interview Matt Rogowski of the MyBB Group. Anyone who is an active member over at the MyBB Forums is surely familiar with Matt Rogowski. He has been apart of the MyBB Team for a long time and has a lot of experience behind his belt. I thought it would be interesting to find out more about Matt, and he has kindly agreed to do this interview with Admin-Talk.
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Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm 19 and live in the UK, in the countryside where it's nice and quiet. I've been interested in web development for about two years now, after I started using MyBB and became interested in how it worked, and I currently work for a creative digital agency where we create some awesome bespoke websites.

What's a typical day in the life of Matt Rogowski?
Since I got my job, every day is more or less the same; up by 7:30, out of the house by 8, on the bus into the city by 8:30, into work by 8:50. I leave work some time between 5:30 and 6, back on the bus, and I'm back home between 6:30 and 7. Then after I've had my dinner etc I spend some of my evening on MyBB and some on person projects, watching TV or spending time with my family. Then I try and get to bed at a reasonable time and repeat the process the next day

How did you get involved with MyBB, and soon with the MyBB Group?
I was a moderator on a forum that used MyBB 1.2 and I liked the look of it and wanted to start my own forum. I began using MyBB on a site that I closed down after not too long as it sucked, but I was getting more familiar with the software and knew I really liked it. After 1.4 was released I started posting a lot in support which improved my knowledge even more, and when some team openings came up, I sent off my application and was successful.

Has it ever been frustrating being the Support Team Leader? You always carry a lot on your shoulders, how do you manage it?
It can be very frustrating; myself and the rest of the support team are the part of the team that deal with the end users the most, and that means we're the ones that deal with the abuse and complaints, as well as disgruntled users who are having some problems or don't like something. The main thing to try and do is just stay calm and try and talk things through with people.

How well do you think MyBB has improved from 1.2 to 1.6?
Very well indeed; I started off using 1.2 and the difference is plain to see. Not only was the new ACP a massive leap forward, but the default feature set contains things that really make MyBB great. You only have to use 1.2 for a short amount of time to begin to miss things from 1.6.

There is a lot of buzz about MyBB 2.0, how is it coming along? What are some things we can expect with MyBB 2.0?
It's coming along nicely. The main thing people will notice and that people are looking forward to is an all new theme, including a new profile. We think you'll all love it. As well as that, 2.0 will use a much more modern codebase than what we currently have, using an MVC structure that will make integration with large 3rd party software (shopping carts, galleries etc) much easier, as well as being much more efficient and easy to manage. As well as that there will be a host of new features but I'm afraid I have to be a bit more secretive about that for the moment.

What would you say is your biggest MyBB accomplishment so far?
I think I'd have to say joining the team, even more so becoming Support Team Lead. When I first started using MyBB I never in a million years thought I'd be on the team, and even after I joined the team I never thought becoming a team leader was something that was going to happen. What I like though is how much I've learnt in a relatively short space of time, having gone from knowing nothing to being on the support team within about 6 months, which is proof that anybody can go as far as they want no matter how confusing and bewildering everything may seem when you start your first forum.

Im sure you have heard of XenForo, one of the newest kids on the block, how well doing you think its doing compared to IPB, and vBulletin?
I have indeed heard of it, I even have a licence; it's certainly done something to change the way people think about forums and will inevitably change how future forum software is developed. The reception it got shows that people like it but, and although the more stripped down approach appeals to some people, it lacks some features that other software has (although you would probably be able to do without), and that people will probably want to keep. It's certainly a very strong contendor though and will be here to stay.

What are some forums that you are an active member on and enjoy besides MyBB?
Right now the only one I really frequent is one that used to be about the TV show Lost, but has now turned into a more general forum; this is in fact the same forum that ran MyBB which I mentioned before, however it now runs on vB (boo!!). It's a fairly quiet forum these days but there's a nice little community of old regulars still knocking about.

Where do you see the world of forums headed five years from now?
Social networking is no doubt the way things are headed. These days a lot of people are using social networks to interact more than forums, but forums will always be the best way to build communities. We at MyBB don't want to go all-out on the social stuff, so much so that it detracts from the original point of forums, but we have some things planned that we hope people will like.

Last but not least I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do an interview with us.
No problem