Current mood:

Musing

personal websites
I remember when everyone had one of these things! Well, I realized last night that a couple of my old Geocities pages from 2001 still exist, and wow, are they painful to look at now! Part of me is tempted to try redoing it (somewhere other than Geocities), and part of me thinks it's too much effort for too little gain and I should just channel that energy into LJ.

So here's my question-- who still has one and keeps it updated? Do you visit others' personal sites, or do you pretty much not stray off the LJ/JF reservation? Do you visit personal sites for some things (non-fandom) but not for fandom, or vice versa? What's "in" for personal site design now, and what is guaranteed to make you say something like "1999 called, it wants your rollover buttons back!"? What makes you more or less likely to read fic or essays off LJ, and is there anything that you think personal websites do better than LJ?

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evilsqueakers
2007-03-28 09:08 pm UTC (link)

I have my own domain, which I use to collect everything I'm interested in. I can host pics that I want to share, without worrying about bandwidth limits, and as my tastes change, so can my site. I've been on everything from Geocities and Tripod to Envy.nu (Stupid thing failed and gave us no warning, so I lost all that. It was a damn nice Nsync website too.).

I've been on my own domain (various ones through the years), or several (sometimes I split my fandom love away, so I can use my space just for me, and not just hosting) since I was like 19. It's just easier because I'm not begging people for space, though at one point I did. I was hosted on Kirkpatrick.nu, for my Chris site, but transferred it over when I lost interest. I remember that Geo and Tripod were good to use in order to get hosted. That was about the only thing they were really useful for.

My site is an extension of who I am online. It gives me the chance to be creative when I want. I always forget to update, though. I went like two years without updating last year. Oops.

I usually don't visit personal sites since I'm lazy and LJ gives instant feedback. I used to visit them a lot. And had a blog on my domain before I went back to LJ, instead of splitting my time updating both. It was a fun experience but it required so much knowledge and upkeep. I'd rather use LJ, where I can update with less work. But I do miss the freedom I had to say whatever I wanted because I wasn't connected to everyone else, so there was no need of a TOS.

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	eilisliana 2007-03-28 09:43 pm UTC (link)
	I remember Envy.nu! Actually I remember all the .nu domains that became the "it" thing in the NSYNC fandom. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

evilsqueakers
2007-03-28 09:49 pm UTC (link)

It was the explosion of Nsync, wasn't it? Everyone had them, especially the slash domains. I always thought they were crazy to pay 35 a year for them. I looked into them and was just boggled. I mean, that's a lot for a name, and to pay yearly. Especially when they had to pay hosting too. And that Hosting4less was like 24 a month.

Envy.nu was where I learned to make frames. I was so proud of myself because of the no banners or popups.

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eilisliana
2007-03-28 10:00 pm UTC (link)

Yea, I remember reading how much NSYNCStudio paid out for hosting and the domain every year. As a broke 15 year old, it seemed crazy to pay money for all that when Geocities existed for free... oh and then Kiwipages came around.

Even now paying $325 a year for one site seems insane. At least not active ones and then you can do products on CafePress and such for revenue. (I have multi-domain hosting so it is $18 a month for about 15 different sites)

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evilsqueakers
2007-03-28 10:08 pm UTC (link)

Oh, it's totally insane. I couldn't - no, wouldn't do that. It's not worth it. I could never convince myself that it was a good idea, and I'm like financially challenged. Remember when Lyn moved over to the Studio? Eesh, that had to kill the site's bandwidth alone.

I pay 10 bucks a year per domain (so 20), and 3.75 a month for two domains being hosted. I think I have a better deal. I'm cheap like that. I don't need a lot, and if I did, I would be looking for a group effort. I'm not spending 325 a year for a hobby. That'd buy me a lot books, which is more important than a fansite, in my opinion.

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redina
2007-03-28 10:14 pm UTC (link)

Actually I remember all the .nu domains that became the "it" thing in the NSYNC fandom.

Never was in that fandom.

However, back in... 1997, I think, I bought a .nu domain because they were about the same price as .com/.net/etc. Nowadays, *ugh*, .Nu domain has me by the figurative balls. I've had archive.nu for a decade and... too many years. I don't want to change the name at this point, so I end up paying ~$35/year (they make you pay in *Euros* and the US dollar is worth less by comparison) versus something like GoDaddy's ~$8/domain. Damn! What a rip off each year.

As to websites and journals, I upload files to the website and link them to community lists/journals. My own site and journal aren't updated that much.

Dina

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