SquidU - School or Cafe?

Well, I took Party Animal's advice, and stopped by SquidU for the first time in a while. I browsed through the Critique Me section for a bit. A lot of the lenses looking for input were quite religious, and I don't trust myself to give a proper review of them. I had to pass those by, but I did find a few gems.
My favorite was "How to Set Up a Snake Cage", something I wish I had read when I was snake-sitting for a friend a few years back. The lensmaster, RoundTrip, has written a lot of great tips and advice for snake owners. I was very impressed with the way he presented his Amazon modules. Instead of feeling like I was being sold something, I felt like I was being shown my options, should I ever decide to keep a pet snake.
A badly put together lens can feel like a high pressure retail shop. You can just tell that the staff are desperate to make a sale, and you can't enjoy shopping while they pester you with suggestions. I couldn't stand trying to sell things to people when I worked in retail, because I like to assume that people are generally smart, and I always felt like they were on to me. This feeling has followed me to Squidoo - I don't even list prices on my Amazon/eBay modules. So when I read something that seems to use Amazon like an image picker, not a sales pitch, I really appreciate it. RoundTrip did a great job of this - I learned something from every part of the lens.

On another note, I was pleased to discover that my latest lens Movie Classics: Hallowe'en Marathon was accepted into the group Horror Movies Central. I came across this excellent film group while looking for a home for Hallowe'en Marathon, but I hesitated to join. It's a pretty serious horror fan group, and I wasn't sure if my review of The Great Pumpkin would be a turn off. It turns out that not only did the group master like my lens, but thought it should be featured as the group lens of the week! It just goes to show that taking a chance can certainly pay off! After all, it's just the internet. Getting denied for a group request isn't nearly as terrible as bombing at karaoke or a job interview, is it? As a huge zombie lover, I'm thrilled to be a member of HMC - there's a lot of great lenses there for fright fans.