a few months shy of not being 30 something
When did you start your site?
September 13, 2001
Marital Status?
Married with Children
Occupation - What kind of work do you do?
Security Officer/Customer Relations
Hobbies - What do you like to do, besides keep this site?
You mean there is life outside Virtual Reality?
Location - Where are you from? Where are you now?
Canton, Ohio - Home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Why did you start writing your Web site?
For two days I watched, in shock and horror, as the story of the September 11th attacks unfolded. I felt a need to absorb as much information as I could, though I don't really know why. I then decided I wanted to document the event so others in the future might look back and remember, figuring that the news sites would not keep the infomation for a extended period of time.
Do you communicate with readers of your site?
Yes. Some just sign the guestbook, some ask questions, some ask for awards, and some have given me awards. In each case, I have had some personal contact with many of the readers/visitors.
How much email feedback to you receive from your site? Is it mainly positive or negative?
It varies. In the first two months, it was very intense. Then it dropped off for a couple of months. Now it is picking up again. 99% of the email I receive is positive, the remaining 1% isn't really negative but more of a suggestive or corrective type.
Have you met any new friends because of the site?
Yes, various visitors have kept up correspondence and several of them would now be considered friends, though I have never met them. At some point, I would like to.
Has your motivation changed over time?
Not really. Though, I recently underwent my second eye surgery in the last 8 months and lost contact for nearly 2 months with visitors and updating the website. Just recently returning to cyberspace, I have found a resurgance of energy to continue my original goal from numerous comments by visitors.
How has it changed your life?
That in some way, one person can make a difference. Several visitors have emailed me with some very positive and unique comments about the website.
Do your friends and family know you keep this site/read it? If so have you had any really negative experiences as a result? If not why?
Many of them have visited. Some have told me and others have emailed me or signed the guestbook. Nothing negative yet, except my wife thinks I spend too much time on the computer.
It has benefitted me to have an outlet for the feelings that I had. It has also been very rewarding to see the wonderful comments from people literally all over the world. A majority of the visitors, are people I have never met. I can only go by the positive feedback that I receive on how it may have helped them.
If you had to do it over again from the beginning, what would you change?
Learned a great deal more about web design and purchased a more intricate web editor and learned to author in Flash.
What are your favorite things on your site?
That's easy, the emails, comments and awards from visitors.
When looking at other people's Web sites what do you look for as a viewer?
Having eye defects from birth, one that is easy to read against the background. Clear and easy navigation. Content relative to the theme of the website. Seeing pages the author took time and care to create.
What is "one word" that would describe your site?
Tribute
Because of your site do you consider yourself a Web celebrity, an exhibitionist, a public figure, a writer, an innovator, or something different?
How do you tackle the mechanics of Web design and how do you deal with your frustrations when you can't do what you envision.
Mechanics, what mechanics? I use a text editor and Front Page Expresss. I first learned to write HTML from an online tutorial 5 years ago. I have tinkered with web pages ever since. While the technology has rocketed ahead, I am still pretty much limited to what I learned in the tutorial. Though I have learned to appreciate the generosity of other authors who share ideas and technology so that I could take advantage of some of the more recent innovations.
What compels you to design beautiful pages and to write from the heart (beyond just the usual question of "why write a Web site")?
My original goal was to document the events of September 11th and the aftermath. It started out as 3-4 page site totaling 100 KB on a free server to its present state of over 80 pages and 1100 support files totaling 77 MB. It became clear in just a few weeks that I need to have my own webspace in order to emcompass my objective.
