Technology user groups are awesome. That’s why OpenDNS is announcing a new program dedicated to celebrating the innovation and education taking place at user groups everywhere, and making life a little more delicious for their members. Even though programmers, engineers, IT professionals and SysAdmins are notoriously over worked and under appreciated, many still somehow find time to gather together, share insight and explore new tech tips on a regular basis. There are thousands of user groups around the world that are independently organized and run where people join to share hard-won knowledge and experiences and have a blast doing it.

Each month, OpenDNS wants to buy dinner for a different user group that’s focused on technology. It makes no difference to us whether your group discusses hardware or hacking, speaks JAVA, PHP or Ruby, prefers servers or the cloud, or is a Mac or a PC (or Linux/Unix/Other for that matter). All we care about is that you’re well-fed while you’re talking tech and that you’ve got plenty of caffeine to keep the discussions lively. And, we’ll provide plenty of sought-after OpenDNS stickers to pass around and a few t-shirts to give away!

If you’d like OpenDNS to help feed the hungry crew at your next meeting, just give us the basic details - how often you meet, how many members, focus for the group, helpful links, etc. – and we’ll take care of the rest. In addition to providing some hearty chow, we also want to feature your user group in an upcoming issue of the OpenDNS newsletter, so we can highlight your awesomeness for the masses. This is your chance to share details of your group with millions of OpenDNS users so go ahead and boast.

OpenDNS moderators are Internet security superheroes that make sure our Web filtering is the safest and most useful it can be for millions of people around the world, and they are invaluable to Internet safety and the safety of our users. It’s a huge badge of honor to wear. So who are they and what do they do?

To better explain what a moderator does, let’s quickly revisit the process for how domain categorization works. First, someone submits a domain (or website) to be classified into the most appropriate of OpenDNS’s 57 categories. Users then vote on how the domain should be categorized.  After a certain voting threshold is reached, which varies from category to category, the moderator steps onto the scene.  Moderators thoughtfully review the websites, with their keen eyes and Internet prowess, and make a final decision on categorization. The domain is then “tagged” in the appropriate categories and blocked for anyone who has chosen to enable filtering of that category.

So what does it take to be a moderator? Well, you don’t necessarily need a Ph.D. in computer science, a job at NASA or fluency in HTML. Our current team of moderators is made up of people from nearly every profession, including (but not limited to) OpenDNS staff members, SysAdmins, software engineers and even stay-at-home parents. And OpenDNS moderators live in places all over the world, including India, Brazil, Italy, Canada, Switzerland and more. What they all have in common is a single passion for making the Internet safer by working together to ensure speed and accuracy in the domain tagging process.

If you think you’re a good fit, and want to have a vested interest in making the Internet a safer place, simply fill out the form below and we’ll contact you soon. It’s that easy

Last week I traveled to Oregon for an annual event that brings together CIOs from colleges and universities around the country. I gave a talk about network security, specifically on blocking malware at the DNS level. Standing before a packed house, I first asked the crowd: “How many of you have heard of OpenDNS?” Roughly 75% of the audience raised their hands. Not bad. Next: “How many of you are using OpenDNS today?” A solid half put their hands in the air. That was powerful. On the one hand, I’d never met any of the people in the audience, but 3/4 of them had heard of us and 1/2 were using the service today. On the other hand, it meant that half the room either hadn’t heard of us, or wasn’t convinced they should be using us… yet.

I tell the above story to illustrate the way OpenDNS has grown — by building a great product, listening to customers, and having our customers tell their friends and colleagues.

OpenDNS will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. We’ve come a long way, and it’s largely thanks to you. Today 1 in 3 public K-12 schools in the US is using OpenDNS (with over 40,000 schools using us world-wide.). And so are more than 20 million people in homes and businesses, from small mom and pop shops to Fortune 100 companies with offices and stores all over the world.

Every day we see people spreading the word about OpenDNS. Whether it’s simply through our tell-a-friend email, a post on their Facebook wall or a presentation at a community center, school, church or company.

I want to do more to support those of you who speak about OpenDNS, so here’s the deal:

If you’re part of a user group, or have an event where you’d like to give a presentation about OpenDNS, we want to support you. Email success at opendns dot com and tell us about your user group or presentation. We will send you presentation materials and mail out a bunch of stickers to hand out. If it makes sense, we will help reimburse you for snacks and sodas and even send you some free OpenDNS clothing to give away.

Hopefully this helps all those who speak about OpenDNS on our behalf. We’re thankful for it, and we want to help you in any way we can.

OpenDNS Moderators. Let’s talk about them. Who are they? Are they ninjas? Do they ever sleep? Well, I can’t tell about the Moderators without first explaining the Domain Tagging system. Please allow me…

The Domain Tagging system, as it stands, is set up somewhat like an assembly line. First, domains are submitted by you and thousands of people like you, to be grouped in one of our 56 different categories. Once submitted, other people (but you can do this too) then vote whether or not it belongs in the category to which it’s been submitted. Once the domain reaches a vote threshold it’s moved into moderation.

This is where the OpenDNS Moderators come in.

Once the domain reaches the moderation queue, moderators are responsible for reviewing and making the final say about whether or not the domain belongs in the category. They very carefully review the voting results, use their sound judgement and Internet excellency, and of course, visit the website itself before making a final call. If approved, the domain is then added to the category and blocked for all OpenDNS users who’ve enabled filtering of that category.

So who are these moderators and how do I become one?

OpenDNS Moderators are invaluable to our users, and invaluable to Internet safety and security. They work in academia, as IT technicians, software engineers and as security researchers and some are even stay-at-home moms turned Internet security superheroes. There are OpenDNS Moderators in nearly every country, from Kenya to India to Canada to Brazil to Switzerland. The volunteers work together to ensure speed and accuracy in domain categorization and ensure OpenDNS content filtering is the absolute most useful it can possibly be to millions of Internet users around the world. They’re identified throughout the community by a badge that’s located next to their OpenDNS username.

You don’t have to be a security expert to be an OpenDNS moderator. All that’s absolutely required is a desire to help make the Internet better. An enjoyment of exploring the deluge of new websites continuously emerging on the Internet doesn’t hurt, either.

If this sounds like you, we’d love for you to join the team. Do you have what it takes? The application process is easy and open-ended. Just let us know why you’d make a great addition.

Your seat in the OpenDNS Moderator’s chair awaits.

Vinny LaRiza is the community moderator at OpenDNS, where he works with mods around the world to ensure speed and accuracy in OpenDNS Domain Tagging. Contact him at vinny@opendns.com.

Hey, do you like the idea of helping out while helping out? We do too, which is why throughout the month of April, OpenDNS will be donating 2 cents for every valid vote in Domain Tagging to the American Red Cross!

Domain tagging is an important part of OpenDNS’ Web content filtering feature. The domain tagging vote system gives the OpenDNS community a simple and easy way to collectively vote on what belongs in a category and what doesn’t.

How simple you ask? Very. Sign in to your OpenDNS account, click on the Community link and then choose the Domain Tagging section. Once there, you can vote Yes, No or Not Sure for each of the listed domains. If you don’t recognize the domain in question, clicking the blue link (left hand side of the list) will open the domain in a new window for you to review. From there, you can either vote from within the frame of the new window or you can close the window and vote from the original list.

You can track your number of votes via your OpenDNS profile page (ex: http://www.opendns.com/community/user/100000). With just a little work on your side, you can help the entire OpenDNS community as well as donate to a valued nonprofit organization. We’ll be tracking votes starting tomorrow through April 30. We can’t wait to send a big check to the American Red Cross!

We pride ourselves at OpenDNS on listening to your ideas, feedback and suggestions. After all, much of our success can be attributed to users like you telling your friends about us, setting up OpenDNS on your family member’s routers and suggesting OpenDNS to network admins at your work. The Support Center and Idea Bank are two places where we take feedback about how we’re doing, but we know we can do more to listen to the people who use our service every day.

That’s why we’ve launched a new quarterly online survey. Some of you may have seen an invitation in the past day or two to participate in a brief questionnaire. The four-question survey is a way for us to measure how we’re doing in our goal of providing you with the best DNS service on the planet.

With your feedback, we’ll identify the places we’re doing well — and work on making them even better — and we’ll also take a critical look at which areas you think we may not be performing in quite as well. We’ll be surveying a different group of OpenDNS users every quarter, so keep your eyes open for an invite in your email. Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

UPDATE: And the winning haiku is:

Click malicious link?
OpenDNS says, “No.”
Surf on friends! Surf on.

-Christopher Manar

Two runners up:

208
67222
222

-David Desmond

The morning is slow
OpenDNS is fast
A world on my desk

-Commenter PatMa33

Thanks to everyone for their submissions. We’ll be in touch with the winners shortly!

***

What a 2010 it’s been! We’ve announced that more than 1 percent of the world’s Internet is using OpenDNS, discovered that 1 out of 3 schools in the U.S. is using our service, launched FamilyShield, celebrated our fourth birthday, been featured in the NYT, logged our biggest week of growth ever, were named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, introduced OpenDNS for Managed Service Providers and opened up our new Singapore datacenter. And there are still three weeks in the year left!

It’s difficult to sum up everything that’s happened this year, but we want you to give it a shot — in 17 syllables. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: Describe OpenDNS in 2010 with a traditional haiku. You can read more about what makes a haiku a haiku here, but essentially it’s a three-line poem with the first line having five syllables, second having seven and third having five as well.

To enter, post your haiku in the comments below or on our Facebook page. The writer of the winning submission will receive an a free year of OpenDNS Deluxe, and an OpenDNS gift pack, complete with a bottle opener, stickers and funny holiday card. Two runners up will also receive prizes.

May the best haiku win!

Earlier this month, we asked you to come up with your favorite OpenDNS slogan. We like to say OpenDNS makes networks safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, but we wanted to hear how you describe us, too.

When we closed the contest on Sept. 15, there were hundreds and hundreds of submissions — 617, to be exact. What was so interesting in looking through your suggestions were the variety of reasons people use OpenDNS, and where they find the value in the service.

Some of you described how OpenDNS protects you from phishing websites. Others came up with slogans that highlighted how OpenDNS makes your Internet faster. And some contributions celebrated our malware protection. It’s clear that there are many reasons people love to set up OpenDNS on their networks!

After reading through all 617 submissions, picking our favorite ten, and putting them up for a vote on our Facebook page, here are the five winning fan-generated OpenDNS slogans.

• OpenDNS: Saving the Internet… one millisecond at a time (Jeremy Roman)
• OpenDNS: Get it. Set it. Forget it. Or you’ll regret it! (Kevin Broadey)
• Open up a world of Internet safety, reliability and flexibility. OpenDNS. (Kent Nemenzo)
• My DNS can beat up your DNS …. OpenDNS (Jeremy Roman)
• OpenDNS: Because the tubes won’t navigate themselves (Jordan Finnigan)

We’ll be getting in touch with all the winners shortly so that we can mail them OpenDNS t-shirts. Thanks to everyone who suggested a new slogan or tagline. It was so much fun to read and debate your submissions. Stay tuned for more contests and promotions, coming up in the next couple of months.