Michelle, I was wondering what the Bella Online Launch manager's job is. I know you are writing for the Spirituality part, but do you manage all of the sites here? What exactly is your job description. Just curious. Thanks.

I actually write for both the Spirituality site (my heart site) and the scifi/fantasy movies site (my fun site)

But as the Launch manager, what I do is help train our new editors who are just getting started with BellaOnline.

They go through an initial training phase with a training editor, then 3 months of "Launch" which is basically a transitional phase where they still get help and guidance.

The forums are actually a small (but very important) part of BellaOnline. Each editor has a set of standards she/he must adhere to.

And then less officially, I try to put out fires before they get too big here on the forums. I love a good debate, but I don't like when they turn ugly and people start getting hurt. I like exchanging ideas - because I think we all can learn from each other, if we will only listen.

Whew! Are you sorry you asked me now, LOL!

Very interesting. Do you actually know Bella? How did you get this job? You don't have to answer immediately. I am just being a little nosey...:)

BellaOnline.com is owned by a wonderful woman named Lisa. She owns Minerva WebWorks LLC, which then owns BellaOnline. We don't call the site Bella because there is a Bella.com out there and we wouldn't want to infringe on their rights.

I have been here 4.5 years now. Michelle has been here forever. like her, I have written for many different sites and it is a wonderful thing we have here. It helps us develop our writing skills and also helps us grow as people. We are not paid here. This is all done voluntarily. The ads on the site are used to help cover the expenses of having the site and the rest goes to charity.

I moved this over here because it didn't have much to do with the Republican forum, but I thought it was a neat ubject to talk about.

It kind of hit me that we never really talk about what BellaOnline.com IS. And some people that frequent the forums might not make it over to our web-magazine side of things, which is where an editor's 1st priorities lie.

The website BellaOnline was originally started in 1999, but went bankrupt and had to shut down in 2001. Lisa Shea at that time was a hired writer for the site, not the owner.

But when the site went dead, Lisa got the rights to it, and built it back up from scratch. Instead of hiring writers, she brought on editors as volunteers. We get great training and experience here (as well as being part of a wonderful community). Many of our editors have goen on to be published authors - newspapers, magazines, even some novels. And some of the editors have been with Lisa since the very beginning.

Like Jase said, Lisa does a TON of community service projects and donates a tremendous amount to charity. Here is a list of Charities Supported by BellaOnline.com

If anyone is ever interested in becoming an editor for BellaOnline.com, then check out these two articles for how to apply, and to see what topics are open for applications. Becoming an Editor for BellaOnline.com
Available Topics at BellaOnline.com

As to the name "BellaOnline.com"- "bella" means beautiful [woman implied] in Italian. I am assuming that is where the original name came from.