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Where
Have All the Good Sites Gone? Concerned about the sudden lack of sites that are out there? So is Mark Newbold, and he’s investigating the reasons why…
I’m
beginning to feel like a bit of an old hand at this website game… It
doesn’t take a genius to notice that Star Wars sites are disappearing
with worrying speed these days.
Compared to what will be viewed as a Golden Age four years ago,
with countdowns running on thousands of sites, eagerly waiting for The
Phantom Menace to rip through cinemas everywhere, September 2002 is
looking more and more sparse.
Surprising, given the critical and commercial acclaim given to Attack
of the Clones, and the huge expansion of story and plot that the movie
afforded us long-time fans. So,
why the decline in fan sites? Is it
due to lack of interest, lack of time, difficult hosts, technical problems, a
surfeit of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Spider-Man
sites, or a natural drop off in interest in the greatest space fantasy of
all? Or is it a combination of all of
the above? The
Star Wars internet universe is a very different place to what it was
when Star Wars-Lightsabre premiered in July 1999. Back then, Wattos Junkyard was a
new and hot site, Bantha Tracks was THE place to get your site
ranked and rated (which we concentrated on with zeal for many months) Galactic
Empire was a hot news site with the very latest information, T-Bone
Fender, JediNet, the Force.net, all names we’re familiar
with, only some of which are still with us today. The official site was very different, nowhere near as
involved with the fans as it is today but in a way more in touch with
them (like comparing old copies of Bantha Tracks with newer issues of
the Insider), even ain’t-it-cool was radically different, more
grass roots. With
what we do at Lightsabre we have a slightly different situation. This is fan fiction, and is simply part of
an ongoing work that began back in 1982. Currently the medium we’re utilising is the internet, and as
such the volume of information we have amassed has grown exponentially. But during the fifteen years before Lightsabre
was born the Setnin Sector resided on paper, audiotapes and
sketches. The ability for us to
cross-reference information, work together as a unit of writers and see at
the touch of a button what else is out there has assisted us immensely, and
because what we do is so unique and apart from the larger Star Wars
universe (for example, new movies being released have little bearing on what
we write because Setnin is, by specific design, so self-contained)
But
compare that with other news sites out there, many of which are duplicating
information that hundreds of other sites, some of which are not even Star
Wars sites (Cinescape, Box Office Mojo, Dark Horizons, ain’t-it-cool,
Empire, etc) are. After a while
the individuality is diminished, and what’s left is a batch of sites doing
much the same work and offering links to the same locations. That, along with fewer hits on Star
Wars sites and increasing problems with hosts and servers, amounts to
problems and the inevitable dropouts. Now, people ending their sites due to lack of time, passion, cash, whatever, I can well understand. Running a website is a time consuming endeavour and sometimes it’s just too much to make the Monday front-page update, or the Wednesday Setnin Select, or Thursdays Chancai Express Newsletter. So, I tried to make it looser, make some of those bi-weekly. But, there’s nothing worse than hitting on a site and seeing that it hasn’t been updated for weeks or even months. It’s frustrating if the site takes an age to load, and it makes you less likely to return to that site in the future. And that seems to be happening more and more. But at least these sites are still in the game. Some just disappear without warning. When
the excellent wallpaper site The Korriban Experiment (TKE)
decided to close, webmaster Electro at least had the good grace to
mail all his affiliates and friends and tell us. The same goes for the brilliant Guy Lagace and his
sites. But many closed without
warning (Wattos Junkyard, Bantha Tracks, The Holonet), and when
those sites are affiliates (step forward Watto) then it can come as a
shock when, browsing through your own affiliates section, you find that a
number of those sites have gone… Or
take you to pornographic sites.
Please stand up SithOnline and the
Southern Underground. Okay,
I admit I initially found it pretty funny when I clicked on those two sites
and found what I found, but I’m a 31-year-old man and not offended by stuff
like that. But this is a Star Wars
website, anyone in the universe could look through Lightsabre
freely and not find questionable material.
Granted, I wouldn’t recommend the site to parents of under sevens, but
anyone and everyone else I would like to think would have a fun time while
they were here. But imagine, little
Suzy, Star Wars fan, adores Padme, flicks through our crazy British
website and hits on the News Links section, scrolls down to Southern
Underground, clicks… And
finds a hardcore porn site.
NOT GOOD. As
a consequence I get a mail from an angry parent, and from there things start
to get silly. But who’s to
blame? Perhaps it’s me for not
keeping a better eye on the site, or maybe it’s the host for not spotting
it. Or perhaps whoever allowed the now
dead Southern Underground/SithOnline addresses to link through to porn
sites? Or is it the respective
webmasters, for not informing us that their sites were dead. Whichever it is, things aren’t working. As
well as this, the events of September 11th in the US had a massive
effect on the internet community.
Practically every site had memorials, banners, flags, articles about
the event, and many sites closed down for a while as a mark of respect. It’s noticeable that after that, many
sites began to disappear from the web, never to return. In the aftermath of 9/11 Star Wars
just didn’t seem that important. For
ourselves, we were about to introduce our 150th story, Chancai
Falls, about an attack on the Chancai Trade Centre, created in the
1983 story Lydon Legacy and familiar to any regular readers as the
prime trade location in the Setnin Sector. It was to be the culmination of a two-year story arc, but out
of respect we held the story back until 2002.
But
surely it’s a sign that the Star Wars internet bandwagon is gradually
slowing when Lord of the Rings gets more hits for its trailer than a Star
Wars epic, or when previously top sites like Wattos Junkyard (and
don’t get me wrong, I
KNOW
that the Riddler
is in the U.S. Navy and has more important things to think about, like
his nations security, than fret over a web site) can fade out of existence so
easily. Perhaps, despite its stellar
box office, the bad feelings over Phantom Menace (which I believe has
improved immensely with age) hurt Star Wars more than we realised,
because Attack of the Clones has been greeted with almost universal
praise and warmth. Despite almost
every fan having a few niggles about the movie (too much CGI, Haden
not convincing, love story too twee, etc) Attack hasn’t set the box office
alight as expected. While many were
positing a US tally of upwards of $400 million, Attack struggled
to just over $300, and even though this is amazing, the genuinely amazing
figures were racked up by Spider-Man, who for the first year out of
five beat out a Star Wars movie at the US box office. And while Attack may still beat out
Spidey in the worldwide box office race, it’s already clear to see
that other studios won’t be afraid in putting their top drawer, marquee
movies up against Episode III in 2005. Despite that movie being the last Star Wars film,
EVER. And
perhaps there you have some of the reasons why our internet community is
beginning to look a little bare.
Certainly, we’ve had some new sites arrive. Jangofett.com, cloudcity, but for the most part we’re
looking at more departures than arrivals. But
for those who enjoy your daily dose of madness from Lightsabre Towers,
never fear. We’re not going anywhere. Yet… Listed below are just a few examples of sites that are either gone, in trouble or having difficulty updating, all taken from a brief browse through our links section. And if I have made any erroneous assumptions about any sites, I apologise profusely. Closed Down
Access Denied/Forbidden
(All webmasters of the Force
sites)
Hosting/Update
Problems
Sebulbas Shack (problems with hosting)
SithOnline (now a porn site)
Southern Underground (now a porn site)
No Ordinary Love (updates resume Christmas 2002)
Rebel Dream (no update since 4th September 2001)
Jedi Council (computer problems)
Dark Lair (irregular updates)
Prequel Spoilers (no updates since January 2002)
Star Wars Herald (no updates since 2000)
Alternate Universe (offline, back soon)
Newsdroid (work in progress)
Galactic Empire.net (returning soon)
Update
After this
article was posted to the site I received a number of emails from webmasters
concerning the article, some of which explain what happened to their
sites. Here are those mails now,
reproduced with their express permission. First off, Andrew Gregory, formally of Trooper HQ/TK421
Hi
there. I must say that "Where Have All The
Good Sites Gone"
was a good article and you're probably wondering what happened? Well to
be honest I never really considered
Trooper HQ/TK421 to be a great site, but rather an
online folder for my wallpapers and stuff. When
WOTF went
down, Rob never gave me any notification of further hosting, so I just let
the site slip away. I've considered re-opening, but with school and a
new baby on the way (should I name him Luke?) I haven't had the time to
search for new web space.... or make wallpapers for that matter. Maybe
in the new year we'll see something new open up. Attached is my last
wallpaper before the site went down. It never saw the internet so If
you know anyone who'd like it for their collection, fell free to pass it
on. Keep the newsletters coming and keep up the great work at
Lightsabre. Formally
http://thq.wotf.net Next up we have Don J Bar of The Expanded Universe
Hey Mark long time no talk.
I just finished reading your article on the "where have all the good sites gone" and
have to agree with you wholeheartedly. When I came into this galaxy called
the internet in 99, I couldn't believe my luck in finding such a close-knit
community sharing the same passion as mine. I was completely in my glory. I
first started posting regularly in the big forums, which it seemed every site
had, and then progressed to helping out with news and stuff at a few big
sites, trying my hand at fan fiction, and eventually starting my own site.
Now I am at a cross roads, with all the big sites closing (and I am staff at
several of those) and the trouble getting worthwhile hosting, I am in danger
of closing down myself. I just wonder if it is worth all the time and effort.
I think it comes down to needing to get a few positive comments every now and
then, just to make it worthwhile, ya know? I don't even get any emails
anymore. Last year I averaged about 15 messages a day. Now I am lucky to get
2 a week. I think these comments perhaps may explain a little about what is
happening to our community.
Don
And next, Brendan, formally Webmaster of Watto’s Junkyard
Hi there Mark
Can
I call you marky mark? Probably not, but I don’t meet many people called Mark
and have been looking for the opportunity to call someone Marky Mark. No
matter
I
am
Phony Jedi, or PJ, or Loki, or whatever, from
Watto’s.
Anyhoo, I would expect (or at least hope) that you've talked to
Catherine
at some point about
Watto’s Junkyard, but since I was the last
remaining webmaster, and in case you haven’t talked to her, I think I should
tell you what happened.
Added
to that I had lots of uni stuff. Those people expecting me to do work, and
learn, and things like that. Didn’t they realise I had a website to save?
Obviously not. Well I eventually just lost the enthusiasm and the time for
the site, and gave up on it.
But
in regards to the future...
Riddler
moved the site to his old domain at
www.riddlersdomain.com, but I wouldn’t suggest
putting a link up to it, because he has been talking of either killing
it or selling it to me, completely ignorant of the fact that the amount he's
asking is more than twice I could give to him if I didn’t need food
or petrol. If I can manage to get him to realise that I'm poor, and it would
be better to sell the rights to me for a small price, so it can at least
exist in a smaller, more cost efficient way (I'm mainly interested in the
fanart and fiction, things that I think were our sites main strength, as
opposed to Riddler who thought the
Natalie Collection was), then perhaps Watto’s will
still exist, although in a slightly different way, as a part of a
Star Wars
site the
Junkyard Junkies (well some of us anyway) are
planning on creating, called the separatist movement, led by
Devron Zal.
If
he won’t use his brain, and realise some things
Then
I'm afraid Watto’s will be no more, until the person that currently runs the
domain name makes something new. And
either way, the
Anti Jar Jar Army will live on (despite boring
people with no creativity stealing its content and audience), because
everyone has to have something to strive for, and the
AJJA is my
project. That’s all.
And Brendan’s follow up letter
Marky Mark (since you didn’t say yea or nae) Its quite all right, like I said, meaning to
email affiliates for a while. But I don’t think Watto’s has much chance of
living on. Pity really, cause I really liked the place. I think if Devron and
the team manage to get the separatists completed, we should try and get
Catherine (who doesn’t want anything to do with the site, because of her other
commitments) to do her cool announcements of the
Setnin Select and the attached emails you send out (because I think she would
love to keep that up, as much as she says you loved reading them (Yes, that’s
right, people talk about you. You're famous and stuff. (Not that often
though. Sorry))). So yeah, I have to go to bed now, all tired from
seeing the opening night of the
magic of myth tour in Australia (gloat
gloat gloat) and talking to
Anthony Daniels again (gloat gloat
gloat). *grins* And this from one Lightsabres best pals, Catherine, formally of Watto’s Junkyard
Heya,
Well,
I can tell you where the Junkyard went to. The Riddler
(hereafter referred to as "Gitboy") didn't listen when it was
mentioned to him that the bill for the domain names
www.wattosjunkyard.com,
www.wattosjunkshop.com
and
www.wattosjunk.com
needed paying. So, amazingly
enough, the domain names expired and someone else snapped them up while
Gitboy was procrastinating. Now they belong to some Italian chika.
So
for many months the Junkyard was secretly hiding at
wattosjunkyard.cjb.net, (and is still accessible that way) and then recently
Gitboy finally bought a new domain name for his baby
www.riddlersdomain.com. However, Gitboy has secretly
been harbouring thoughts of selling off the site, so I have no idea what
happens next. But yeah, I thought that when Gitboy said he'd mail
the affiliates, he would have mailed the affiliates. Still, the Junkyard is
no real concern of mine and hasn't been since he first showed himself to be
such a prick. And I'm going to stop with that train of thought, since it's
rude and all that, but yeah. No one much likes Gitboy at the moment and I
just sent you a friendly email to let you know what's going on.
Anyway,
I thought that was a great rant. Keep up the good work.
Catherine
- SC
And a follow up, once again from Don
Mark And a letter from Wizard at The Dark Lair
Mark
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