Melissa Martin (Sinoed) - Moderator SEF/GHT

For a person like myself who has literally written thousands of answers helping people out, it is an unusual experience to feel such a loss for words. I find it very difficult to express how much Jim meant to me since nothing seems to come out just right. I think it is adequate to say that there are few words to describe a man like Jim, and fewer still that reflect the impact he had on so many lives.

I met Jim by chance, or perhaps as fate would have it for very good reasons. I was surfing the internet aimlessly in November of 2000 looking for scripts when I happened to stumble across Jimworld, and more importantly the Get High Traffic Forums. It was a revelation to discover a whole new world filled with conversation and it didn't take long before I posted a question. It took even less time to become addicted to the constant supply of new information. Shortly after becoming a regular contributor to Jimworld I took over moderating the Young Webmasters forum and I haven't looked back since. As I came to know Jim better, it was easy to understand why so many people respected him so much.

If you knew Jim, he would tell you that "Content is King" and this theory helped him to build some of the most successful search engine and marketing forums on the internet. However despite the obvious success of the forums it wasn't their existence that drew people to him. Jim was a visionary and a leader and accomplished his goals with single minded determination using the resources at his disposal. Many of our older members will remember the battle with "Scumware" that Jim felt so strongly about, and it was at this time that I really came to know Jim well. In the beginning Jim enlisted my help to get the Scumware site up and running so I came up with a basic design and Alex contributed the graphics. After that we worked on the site periodically, helping Jim when the demands for radio and newspaper interviews began to pile up. I conversed with Jim on a regular basis through email during that fight and I'll never forget that even at the height of the media frenzy when Jim was averaging less than four hours of sleep he stopped long enough to ask me if I was ok.

Perhaps one of the most endearing qualities about Jim was his selfless purpose in life, and his sole goal, to help everyone that he could succeed. In my life, I have met very few people like Jim and the world is a better place for having known him. I am even luckier for having had the chance to get to know him on a more personal level. Without his hard work and tenacity it is possible that a community like Jimworld would not exist today. As we continue, its survival helps us remember the vision that Jim shared and serves as a reminder that you can achieve your goals, whatever they may be.