~So tell us Sultan, when did you first start using the internet?

In mid 1998, in Edinburgh during my language course.

~What skills/knowledge did you have before starting your first website?

I had a fairly close relationship with my computer before sailing the net. I grew in love with Quick Basic and the early editions of Visual Basic. By the time I stared surfing, I had already assembled, disassembled and reassembled my computer several times and knew it inside out. I did not however know much about the net other than what I read in computer magazines and always thought of it as something happening in a different planet that I will never have to deal with. I had never known what terms like HTML, CGI, PHP meant and thought they were way beyond my reach.

~Ok, how did you gain the right skills/knowledge afterwards?

The most useful resource that I use is the net itself. There is an immense amount of knowledge dealing with every subject to the very minute details. Most of what I know about the internet I learnt from the internet. I also used some books to assist me with things I can not get my head around. But even those, I later found available on the net and realized that I did not need to buy them. When I learn a new thing, I would try it over and over again. It is only rarely that I get something right first time. Sometimes I’d spend hours after hours looking at few lines of code trying to figure out what is wrong with them only to realize it is something trivial that is stopping it from working. Frustrating, but it make things work for me.

~What programs do you use in your website, and how did you learn how to use these programs?

I use simple and straight forward programs. Homesite is my favourite HTML editor. I also use UltraEdit for various code editing. Photoshop for GFX. Flash sometimes. CuteFTP and ActiveWin Perl editor. Pretty much basic stuff.

~So tell us, what is the best thing about being a webmaster and what things did you benefit from having your own website?

The best thing about being a webmaster is the interaction you get. It is dead easy to exhibit anything you did from your seat to the whole world to look at and then to tell you how you could make it better. The amount of feedback you get is very pleasing. You also get to learn how to deal with different kinds of people. There is much in the virtual world that is not as easily encountered within the physical world. Being a webmaster is a great privilege I think. 

~Your website has many interesting sections..*mashallah*.. can you tell us more about them and how you developed them?

Thank you for the compliment kitten. I am certain you were here when my current website first went on line. There was not really much in it other than the simple main page. The way I thought of it and still do is that any website can start as small and tinny as could be, as long as it is on the web. Then you can add to it along the way. I am not too fond of the “if you want to start then start big” saying. You keep telling yourself this and you will never do anything in life.
 

~You also have 2 very busy forums *mashallah*.. Tell us more about them? (e.g how you manage them? Update them?..ect)  

The forums on my website have a life of their own. I really am very grateful for a lot of the members who manage the forums alongside with me – they probably have more direct input on what is going on.  I am especially grateful for the admins LoVe and ICE and for every other member of the moderator teams who make life a lot easier for me and give the forum a family-like atmosphere. There is still much to be done in the forums. We have a large pool of ideas for improvements, most of which are great. Time however is a critical factor and I try to pick the best more feasible ones to apply.

~Mashallah 3alaik.. you also had several successful projects (e.g. PEN) and upcoming ones (eTips).. can you tell us more about them?

PEN was a very definite example of what I like to see coming out of our discussion places. It again was a team project. The idea of which started in the forum where a discussion followed and a group of people to work on it was assembled. We then made a sort of base for the project for the work to pool around. I am very proud of the success PEN was. And I am very proud of the members who took part of it. Again, I can never be thankful enough for Surrealist for the amount of effort she put into it.

E-Tips is an other project currently in the make. Similarly we discussed it in the forum and I am trying to implement a website for it. I’m facing slight difficulties with certain aspects of this project but I believe that it is going to be fruitful at the end.

There is no secret recipe. Much energy, and time, is being wasted on the internet. I try to help directing the energy of young uae’s into useful stuff. Talent, enthusiasm, technical requirements and ways to achieve the objective are some of the different factors that interlink and the tricky thing is to be able to gauge the balance between those to make our projects work.

~Being the computer illiterate that I am, you were one of the people who saved me from alot of trouble and helped in alot of web-related, computer stuff that I was stuck in.. You also helped alot of people.. and never of seemed to say no to a cry of help.. *lol*.. what is one thing that motivates you to help others? When, if ever, would you refuse to help a certain person.. and why?

Helping others make me happy. I can not bring myself to believe that there are people who intrinsically don’t have this property. Working with others gives me a chance to put what I know about computers into practical application and it helps me practice it. I understand there are people who like to crumple their talents into their own peaceful little world. I am not one of them. I like to present my work and face the criticism that comes back then use it for the next thing I do.

One thing that frustrates me though, is that sometimes you take somebody hassle and you agree to help with their website, and then you find that they really are not very keep and interested and they can not be bothered to work on their stuff themselves. They just want to spend their internet time chatting to their friends while you do the whole thing and give it to them hoping that they will like it. When this is the case I tend to apologize and stop helping them.

~(e3ashig)--> Implies romantic guy for a 1st timer.. why this nick? ;P

This wont be the smartest thing I say today LOL. I used different nicknames on the internet. Then I came to settle on (3ashig) for quite some time. Then as everything around was turning electronic (eBusiness, eCommerce, banking) I thought, why not. I should follow the trend too. And 3ashig transformed into e3ashig.

~Who do you look up to in your life? and what thing motivated you to get to where you are today?

We do not have much time to spend alive when you think about it. Over 6,000,000,000 people are alive on the planet at any one time for the past whatever thousands of years we’ve been around. Only a small portion of those are the ones we remember. And we remember them because they achieved. And they made a change. Achievements sometimes come early in ones life, but sometimes late. Mine has not yet come. I await it patiently as I, hopefully, overcome all the milestones that come across in the way, including my degree exams. I am motivated by certain figures I read about in history books. I think of motivation as a bank of energy. It is not endless. The more you take from it the less is left unless you top it up. My way of toping up my energy bank is by looking at what I want to be when I am 40, looking at what I am now, and sorting out the differences.

~Inshallah there is a bright future ahead of you.. what are your plans for it? Any upcoming projects? Need to spill some beans in here with us? ;D

There is the E-Tips project ongoing at the moment – that anybody can join. There are few things for the forum in the make currently but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprises.

~Any advice you would like to give for those who want to follow the same path that you followed..?

Keep your eyes open for chances and be ready for them when they come. After all luck only happens when “Preparations meet opportunity”. Life is very much different from books and films. The sequence of events is real life is frequently interrupted.

~That was such a fruitful interview, I am sure the readers would find something valuable to learn from you.. It has been a pleasure having you under the spotlight. Finally, any last thing would you would like to add?

I’d like to thank you and compliment you on your website. I am a regular visitor and I adore your GFX work. It has a simple appealing thing about it. And thanks a bunch for interviewing me. :)

[Visitors Interact]

~Share your opinion.. add your comment here!

Need to find out more about e3ashig, then read some articles that were published previously about him:

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3 

Also available:

Radio Interview

"He uses his heart to create.. and their love
as an inspiration for him.. you would never
find someone who would risk going too far.. as much as Sultan does… he just loves experiencing new things… he even doesn't take the chance to say that he's tired… since he is busy
getting ready for more new surprises.."

                              -ICE

"E3ashig is a medical student with a great deal of impressive computer skills, and that makes him special. Very few people can do two things at a time."

                            -LoVe