[WEB4LIB] Library webmasters on the "other side"

[Lee Jaffe]

>I would be very interested in knowing about others who are library
>webmasters by day, dot-commers by night (or in my case, early morning).

I guess I'm another.  I registered jaffebros.com in 1997.   I wanted some
form of jaffe but someone already had jaffe.com and my ISP, who handled
the domain registration for me, didn't think I was eligible for .org, .edu, or
.net.  So jaffebros.com it was.

Part of the initial purpose of my Web site was to help my then-non-tech
brother promote his photography.  He has since ceased and then
revived that line, having become a proficient and successful Web designer
in the meantime and now has his own Web site via geocities.

Around that time, I was developing an online edition of Gulliver's Travels
using my account on a campus computer and talk about policies and
ownership of information residing on university systems made me think
it would be a good idea to migrate to my own domain.  Thus, the main
product at http://www.jaffebros.com/ is the Gulliver's Travels Web site.

The .com designation is sometimes a problem.  Participating in academic
discussions online, I find I'm occasionally snubbed by some scholars as
a business venture.  Ironically, .com means unstable to some and still
has the connotation of "grubbing in the greasy till" despite that there are
no charges involved.  One directory of literature sources insists on listing
my pages as a "commercial site."

There is also a freedom with the designation.  For a short period a few
years ago, I got a couple of consulting jobs doing industrial research.
Being a .com site, I had not scruples about trying to hang out my shingle
as a researcher for hire and using my site for some of my work.

-- Lee Jaffe, UC Santa Cruz