8pril.com

When did you start your site?
I started this particular site last year, but recently moved the same content into its current domain.

Marital Status?
I'm in a serious relationship with plans to move in together by the end of 2001.

Occupation - What kind of work do you do?
Subcontract website designer, my official title doesn't include the 'subcontract' part, but legally that's what I am.

Location - Where are you from? Where are you now?
I was born in Mississippi, but moved after I was born to California. I currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area and plan to stay here for as long as I can.

Why did you start writing your Web site?
Honestly? Vanity. Why else would I post photos of myself on a website all about me? Beyond that I like to update my weblog/journal so that my friends can read up on me.

Why do you write a site about you?
Vanity ;) ... I also want to share my photos with people.

Do you communicate with readers of your site?
I don't get very many personal emails, but the ones I do get I do respond back to them, even if it takes a while.

How much email feedback do you receive from your site? Is it mainly positive or negative?
With email feedback, it's almost always positive. I often get the negative comments after I've done something positive.

Have you met any new friends because of the site?
Over the years and the personal sites that I've had, I've met some very cool people. Some I'm closer to.

How has it changed your life?
I think the Internet is a very big part of my life and updating a website on a regular basis is just part of my routine.

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?
My family doesn't know about the current site I keep. They know I have a journal, but no longer bookmark it or visit it.

Last year they read my journal and found out I went somewhere else other than what I had told them. That's about the only weird thing about keeping the journal/site.

I don't post anything I would be ashamed of.

How has your Web site benefited you? Your friends? Or total strangers?
The satisfaction I get out of maintaining a personal website is somewhat of an ego trip, but it's mainly a place where my friends and Internet acquaintences/strangers can see how I'm doing.

If you had to do it over again from the beginning, what would you change?
Nothing.

What are your favorite things on your site?
I like my photo galleries the best, but I find that looking back on past months I wonder, 'what in the world was I thinking back then?'

When looking at other people's Web sites what do you look for as a viewer?
I look for how fresh the content is, whether it be text or photos.

What is "one word" that would describe your site?
simple.

Because of your site do you consider yourself a Web celebrity, an exhibitionist, a public figure, a writer, an innovator, or something different?
I've had some people call me an exhibitionist. They meant it in a positive way, but the word has always had a negative connotation with me. I don't think my personal site makes me any more special or unique than anyone else who puts up a personal site.

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.
If I can't do what I envision, I beat it like a dead horse, or I take out elements that aren't needed or necessary.

Why do you think people are interested in you and what you have to say?
Negative: People may visit me or read me and think, "I'm so glad I'm not her, what a trainwreck, this will keep me coming back."

Positive: I think more people think positively (or at least I hope so) "She seems pretty cool, she has some photos I like more than others, I'll come back to see if she posts more that I like."

What compels you to design beautiful pages and to write from the heart (beyond just the usual question of "why write a Web site")?
I think it's the challenge of putting something new together that makes me go through five designs before settling on one.

As for the writing on my website, I say what I feel. Sometimes what I feel isn't the happy-go-lucky attitude that people may come to expect, it's often an overly critical analysis of what went on.