Friends. What is the Internet without "friends"? In the short time that I've been "caught in the Net", I've made some wonderful friends. Some have become closer to me than others, but ALL are friends. In this particular section of "Caught in the Net", I will be displaying photos of my friends, and relating how we met. These photos have been re-printed with the permission of my friends (thanks, guys!).
Come. Meet my friends....
This is Kim. I met Kim around March (1997). She had joined the WEBTV "gang" in February, and according to her, the "Soose" site was one of the first homepages that she visited. She found "Soose" as a link on the Andresen's site, and had signed the guestbook ("soosebook") with her opinions on my fictional character, "Agent Hugo". I e-mailed her back and thanked her for signing the guestbook and for the "compliments" regarding the column. Thus, began our friendship.
Kim has been a loyal reader of the "Soose" columns. Every month since that first communication I received from her, she always lets me know what she has thought of the column.
In June (1997), Kim stood by me (along with Jamie, and numerous others) when my "Soose" newsletter was spammed. It seems that whenever you have something that kinda works, SOMEONE just has to ruin it. And ruin it, they did.
At that time, I had approximately 70 to 80 people on my mailing list for the monthly newsletter. After sending out the June edition, some "genius" thought it would be "fun" to reply to it in the "reply all" mode. Soon, everyone was replying in the "reply all" mode. Some people thought it was funny, and alot of fun. Some didn't. I sat looking at the e-mail in horror.
Kim tried to stop the fiasco, but the ones that were having "fun", called her a "wet blanket". I stepped in and out of desperation, announced that the newsletter would be no more.
By this time, I was getting the dreaded hate mail from the ones who didn't think it was "fun". They blamed ME. For four days after that, I was writing apology notes for something that someone else thought was "fun". I paid for their "fun". I think Kim also paid some, as I believe that she also received a few unpleasant messages for having the courage of stepping in and trying to stop it.
Needless to say, the newsletter ceased to exist. I DID have many people tell me not to discontinue it, and offer suggestions on how to do it so that the problem wouldn't happen again. But, after having had to write SO many apologetic letters, I declined. "Soose" is retired from the newsletter business now.
Also in June (1997), Angelfire's computers crashed. Almost anyone who had a site with them, lost it forever. Kim's site was one of the casualties.
When I had heard the news about Kim's site being destroyed, I felt "funny" inside. Its hard to explain, unless you actually have a site or homepage, but its like its part of you. You bring it to life by inventing it. You keep it alive by developing it. If you put alot of time into it, it glows. If you don't, it withers. It reflects you. So, when I heard about her site no longer being in existance, I felt great remorse.
I e-mailed Kim and told her to move to GeoCities, and that I would help her re-build her site and make it even BETTER than the Angelfire site. She e-mailed back and said that she had kept notes on almost everything from her site and that she was going to re-build at GeoCities. She said that she had wished that she had someone trustworthy to do her downloading and uploading for her, as she hated pulling from other sites. I immediately thought of my buddy, Linda.
I contacted Linda, and explained the situation to her. She, too, felt bad, and agreed to do Kim's downloading and uploading, just as she had been doing Susan's and mine.
Today, Kim's site looks exactly as it did when it was with Angelfire--and BETTER, as she is not pulling her graphics or music from other sites like when she was with Angelfire. Her site loads more quickly now, too!
Right now (October, 1997), Kim is somewhere in Texas training with Continental Airlines to be a flight attendant (I think). Hopefully, someday she'll fly in my direction and we'll meet in person. I hope so.