StumbleUpon has had a whopping 4 million downloads, and to celebrate we have a world exclusive interview with the top 30 users of Stumbleupon.comToday we are speaking with Stumbleupon top user: CodeBender

How long have you been an active user of StumbleUpon?

Around 4 years.

What makes you use StumbleUpon more than the other social sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us etc…?

I use SU and Reddit about the same amount. Both are great sources of things I find interesting, there’s really no more to it than that.

If you could make one positive change to the current Stumbeupon platform, what would it be?

Some way to control duplicate submissions, where the same content is available on multiple or many sites.

What don’t you like about the current StumbleUpon platform?

It’s gone a little too far the “social” route. I know that’s all the rage with MySpace and FaceBook and all that, but I don’t like it. Everyone knows that People over 25 don’t belong on FaceBook, right? Aparently not…

What are the main factors you look for in content that you feel is worth stumbling?

Business-type sites: a Professional look, an interesting offering
Political sites: a well-stated and reasoned opinion
Blogs: Something *interesting*. I don’t find random people’s personal lives nearly as interesting as they seem to.
Most everything else, just some entertainment value

Is there anything that puts you off stumbling an article?

The “MySpace look”, garish backgrounds, unreadable text, etc.
The “Conspiracy Theory” feel, wild accusations and suppositions, crazy unrelated rants

What sort of topics interest you the most?

Technology, politics, money

What advice would you give to a brand new user of Stumbleupon?

Get to bed, 500 stumbles is enough for your first day.

Do you ever get thanked by the site owners after you stumble their content?

It’s happened, but for every one of those I get 100 messages asking me to review someone’s new page.

Has anyone ever tried to bribe you into stumbling their content?

Definitely. Just last week:
“Basically, we want to talk to you about paying you to stumble some of our videos.”

Do you own a website? And if so, what have been your biggest StumbleUpon successes from your site?

No site.

What are your thoughts on stumbling your own content?

As long as you’re honest about your opinion and don’t pretend to be an unbiased observer, I don’t care.

What are your thoughts on Linkbait and people creating content with the sole aim of getting traffic from sites like Stumbleupon?

Annoying, and deserving of a down-vote and a negative review. I try to discourage all such anti-social behavior whenever I get the chance.

Are you influenced by factors like authority of the website, design of the website etc? And if so, what sort of things do you specifically look for?

For informational sites, a good design and consistent references are key. Any site with text has to be reasonably well-written, I can’t stand barely-literate writing.

Why do you feel you are in the top 30 most powerful users of StumbeUpon?

Probably because I spend way too much time stumbling. I also thumb up only good sites, and make my reviews topical and meaningful.

What advice would you give to anyone who wanted to get into the top 30?

Stumbling more is not enough. Find new sites other places that aren’t already in the SU database.

Thanks for your time, is there anything else you would like to add?

It’s been great to see SU grow and become successful. I wish there had been stock options four years ago.

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