May 3, 2012
There is no right or wrong way to do The Internet
Greetings, Drako Tags here - Fonder of Drako's Website Services (www.drakows.tk) and The TNSC Community (http://tnsc.thrill.to) with an ever so friendly reminder:
There is no RIGHT or WRONG way to do stuff over the internet. This is especially true in regards to the making of websites!!!
Now for clarification:
Yes, I am aware of W3C Schools - and what they have deemed to be "Standards" for website design and development.
Yes, there are several of these standards, based on how you code your site.
However, there is at least one other organization with a completely different set of standards.
Again, those are set standards that webmasters can decide to adhere to, but it has never been required.
Therefore, one can choose to adhere to standards or not. In many cases, adhering to standards only affects how a website appears, and does not affect its functionality.
Hell, before the W3C created their "Standard Guideline" webmasters of vairous records and genere coded things so vastly differently - it was a huge mess to adopt another site into ones own services.
The guidelines were put into place to make things easier and more uniform for webmasters across the spectrum, and were never too strictly enforced.
So in that light and regard, adhering to standards is a good idea - but is not always "right"....
Now, my recent rant is going to cover the "You MUST have a .com or .net or your site will surely FAIL" attitude many younger FURRIES have towards my work.
Many of you were not around when Google was NOT a search engine - I was.... I remember when it was just a page of links to banks and government sites.
I remember when the first websites started coming out, and when ICANN formed up their .com domain name system.
Yes, at one point, you could ONLY have a .com to have a site.
But then the servers filled up with .coms and we had the BIG .COM BURST.
Many .com's were shut down, even GOVERNMENT sites, and .com registrations HALTED for several months.
That was when .net .org .gov came around, and since then, many other new domain names have come about. Some don't even use the ICANN registration system, but is still fully recognized by DNS servers.
Now we even have .us .eu .tk .[whatever] .tv (You get the hint)
This expansion was MANDATED to prevent another .com stye bust.
So sure, many of you web NOOBS may think ".com or .net" is better.
However, I have been around longer, and have seen websites of all kinds, styles, and yes DOMAINS fail...
I remember ALL of the issues of Furaffinity.net, which includes the numerous times the Domain Name failed to be recognized or had other issues. I remember when Google was having its DNS and Domain Name issues.
I remember when many LARGE corporate style sites would suddenly fail overnight, even though the company was churning a profit from its users.
Hell, I remember one of the first chats that lead to furries coming out onto the internet from IRC and Newsgroups.
AND THEY WERE HOSTED ON GEOCITIES - FOR FREE....
I have seen MANY free sites become amazingly successful - even if they had some obsure address (IE http://www.geocities.com/my-life/companies/superbad/)
I have seen MANY sites who put in a lot of money and effort for hosting and domains (www.circuitcity.com) fail.
So I have decided to take the "Tried and True - No Money Down" approach on my sites.
Sure, I may spend some on advertising soon to help grow the sites, but even with NO ADVERTISING - 75+ hits per day isn't bad.
On that same note, the person who got me all uppity about this used FA (www.furaffinity.net) SoFurry (www.sofurry.com - AND A TNSC PARTNER) and IB (www.inkbunny.net) as examples.
I know for a fact all 3 sites have had their issues. At least one of them has even threatened to close NUMEROUS times to demand donations from uers - This is with all sites making some sort of Ad revenue.
I have used Yiffy International (www.yiffy.tk) as another example- which is a fine site, has had fewer issues than ONE of the above sites, and has NEVER demanded donations or threatened to close. WITH NO ADS or ad revenue.
Another site I can reference is a Yiffy Furry chat with a .com domain. This site may not be around in 6 months...
I have seen successes with all approaches, and I have seen failures with all approaches.
It is NOT how you make the site, but HOW you advertise it that determines its growth.
So let me reiterate, there is not right or wrong way to make a website. By insisting you ARE the ONLY person with the RIGHT way of making a site will only PISS me off. So just ****ing stop it.
You have not been on the net as long as I, you don't understand the workings of the net, so just let me be....
And yes, "DSL has 99% stability" is a load of horse ****. Or your "Cable is 100% stable" is bull****. I worked in BOTH industries for 5 YEARS. I know how they BOTH work. I know their weaknesses and their strenghts. (BTW - Cable's only strength against DSL is its ability to work in areas where DSL doesn't. Granted thats IF there is cable in your area.)
I was around BEFORE DSL was even thought up and you had to DIAL in to access the net.
I am also aware there are large portions of the USA where Cable/DSL are unavabile, so lets not mention the parts of the world where it isn't - or the parts of the world that DONT KNOW WHAT A COMPUTER IS!!!!
Don't give me that "Well theres satellite", because thanks to its abnormal ping times, Satellites is about as useful as DIALUP in anything EXCEPT the loading of basic web pages.
Not to mention Satellite Services tend to CAP your usage and either A: cut you off completely or B: slow you to slower than DIALUP.
And no, I'm not a worthless webmaster if I can effectively build a website on FREE hosting. I'm not a worthless webmaster if I cannot afford my own servers, STABLE internet, AND domain.
Hell, with some of the things one has to do to make certain interactive parts of websites WORK WITH FREE HOSTING - I would be MORE QUALIFIED of a webmaster because I HAD to research workarounds to the limitations on some free hosts.
Therefore, I have done a lot more work on these sites, and am quite pleased with the results. Considering I DON'T have to pay for them and have to worry about being out any money and/or closing the sites if they DONT grow or become a source of revenue.
So just shut your trap about your way being the RIGHT way.
There is no RIGHT way. There is no WRONG way.
So while you may not be wrong, you certainly are NOT RIGHT.
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TNSC Art Contest - May 2012
The Latest Winner is:
Foxes and Magical Diapers - http://fav.me/d30cci9
by Lig28 - http://lig28.deviantart.com/
This Month's Nomination Theme:
Showering in Public
This Month's Voting Theme:
Spring - Springtime Scenery
Nomination and Voting Deadline:
June 1, 2012
Come Nominate and Vote at http://tnsc.thrill.to
