JimWorld Gazette Issue #48 04/10/1998

JimWorld Gazette - Issue #48 - April 10, 1998

Everyone must approve of the tweeking I've done to the format of the email version of the Gazette, as I only got a couple of messages about it. Thanks for not replying unless you didn't like it. We'll stick with this for a while and see how it goes,

CONTENTS

You can unpack your bags now. We've moved
How to sponsor an online sweepstakes
Holy Scumbags Batman! - Update
The Search Engine Bible Review - Update
Tips From The Hitman - Part XXIX
Snippets
A charter member speaks up

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g48

YOU CAN UNPACK YOUR BAGS NOW. WE'VE MOVED.

This weekend the site went live on its new home at iServer. What a joy to be able to get fast response to email support requests and when panic sets in, to actually be able to reach support by phone.

I took the opportunity presented by the move to reorganize the file structure of the site to make it easier to maintain. I'll write an article soon about the whole process.

I have begun reworking the home page to lower its bandwidth. Now that so many people are visiting several times per day, bandwidth will become an issue.

The Forums are moved and operational on the newest release of the Ultimate Bulletin Board software. You will find the look and functionality of the Forums greatly enhanced. All of you AOL subscribers using IE 4.0 that were previously unable to post to the Forums can now participate to your heart's content. It should work fine for you now.

Some new Forums have now been added to help split up some of the existing Forums that were straining under too heavy of a load. I think the new Forums will make it easier to find the information and help you are looking for. Please get used to, and observe, the new posting guidelines so that we can keep the information findable.

The size of the community taking active parts in the Forums continues to grow beyond anything I had envisioned. The tone is friendly and helpful with no flames. Get involved. You'll learn and makes some new friends.

As previously announced, the InfoSeek Forum FAQ is now operational and growing. It is located at http://jimworld.com/FAQ/Infoseek/docs.htm and will continue to grow at a steady rate. If any other Forum groups want a FAQ for their Forum, let me know. I'll set it up and turn it over to you to fill with information. It doesn't take a lot of effort.

When I first announced the FAQ, I had intended to implement it using CGI on the site server. As I looked at the available software on the market, I couldn't find anything that had all of the features I felt were needed to make the FAQ not only useful, but easily maintained and expanded. When I thought of asking one of the fine volunteers that have offered to help develop software for me, I became concerned that this one might be just a bit too much to ask for.

I looked at several free and commercial packages, and even though money was not the issue (since most software developers are generous about letting us show off their wares) I just couldn't find a professional level package to maintain a complex FAQ.

Well, since SmartDesk had just announced WebDB for simple implementations of data base applications accessible from the web, I decided to have a go at it. When I say 'have a go at it' that means that I put my energies into figuring out the best way to con Steve into developing something for me in his 'spare time.'

Needless to say, I prevailed. Steve got started and couldn't seem to stop. The end result is that SmartDesk now has a new product. WebFAQ. It is impressive with its easily customized public face. But the real power is under the hood.

The Administrative Control Center is where the creative work gets done when developing an FAQ. Full data base implementation. Workgroup collaboration in both the development and maintenance phases with advanced 'story locking, to keep developers from tripping over each other. Automatic formatting. Automatic generation of appendices and table of contents.

When you are ready to publish you FAQ, you can either serve it up using the WebSuite server, or push a button and automatically generate the entire FAQ in the form of HTML pages ready to put on your site.

I even like the price. $79.95 complete. You don't need a license to WebSuite or WebDB. Everything you need is in this package. The marketing information should be available sometime Monday at the SmartDesk site at http://www.smartdesk.com

Steve and I want to thank all of the Forum members for leading us to this new product. It was your participation that made SmartDesk look at filling this need.

HOW TO SPONSOR AN ONLINE SWEEPSTAKES

Have You Planned Your Promotion Carefully?

With the overwhelming number of new Web sites being added to the Internet on a daily basis, how do you distinguish yours from the rest?

More and more companies are using sweepstakes promotions as a way to attract people to their Web sites. Holding a legitimate sweepstakes is an excellent way to attract attention to your company and its products. It's also a way to reward customer loyalty to your established client base.

Major companies such as Kellogg's, Proctor & Gamble, Clairol, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, M&M Mars, Taco Bell, Johnson & Johnson, Better Homes & Gardens, Visa, and Disney have used sweepstakes successfully for decades to attract new customers and to reward their loyal customers. Typically, sweepstakes have been used with more traditional printed media methods, but with the explosion of the Internet, many companies now enjoy the ability to promote their sweepstakes online. Whether you choose to establish your sweepstakes online, through more traditional print methods, or a combination of both, there are things you need to consider before you begin. This article focuses on those things you need to consider before creating and promoting an online sweepstakes.

Planning Your Promotion

As with any good marketing promotion, you need to plan the event carefully. To have a successful sweepstakes promotion, you need to:

Consider your goals
Target your audience
Determine the structure
Promote your event

Considering Your Goals

First, consider your goals for having a sweepstakes. That's easy--you want to generate traffic to your Web site, correct? Sponsoring a legitimate sweepstakes is one way to do that. If one of your goals is to get feedback for a new product, instead of sponsoring a sweepstakes, you might want to consider offering a small gift or sample to those who would try your product in return for giving you feedback. If one of your goals is to get feedback about your Web site, then you can build questions into a sweepstakes entry form that will accomplish that. If you want to expose consumers to a new product, offering a sample as a sweepstakes prize is an excellent way to generate interest. If one of your goals is to increase your hit counter to maximize advertising potential for your Web site, then sponsoring a sweepstakes will accomplish that, too.

Targeting Your Audience

You should match the offer of your promotion to the goals you are trying to achieve and the audience you are trying to attract. If you are trying to attract a general audience, then you can give away a general prize such as cash, gift certificates, or general merchandise such as a TV, stereo, bikes, and so forth. Do you sell a product? Do you perform a service? Offer a sample of your product or a trial period of your service as a prize. The people who enter your sweepstakes will be targeted more towards your product or service. You will most definitely attract fewer entrants, but those people will be more likely to purchase your product or service in the future. Most people aren't going to spend the time to enter a sweepstakes for a prize they don't want or can't use. There are a few people, however, who will enter anything and everything just in the hopes of winning something. Even though these people enter every sweepstakes they can find, they are usually your best ally if they do happen to win, because they are usually the most vocal in the online newsgroups and message boards and will provide you with excellent word of mouth advertising.

Take some time to really think about what you offer as a prize. You don't have to give away large prizes to get a good response, but don't skimp on the prizes, either. There are hundreds of sites giving away T-shirts, mousepads, coffee mugs, and free Web pages. Your promotion will get lost in the myriad of other sites giving away similar prizes.

Once you decide the prize offerings for your sweepstakes, you can begin to form the structure of your promotion.

Determining the Structure of Your Sweepstakes

There are different types of sweepstakes and contest promotions that you can sponsor. The type you choose depends on how you would like your promotion to be handled.

Sweepstakes are those promotions in which the sponsors do not require any purchase or monetary exchange to enter. Any legal sweepstakes must provide a way for people to enter without purchasing anything. This is typically when sponsors require entrants to mail their names, addresses, and phone numbers on a 3x5 piece of paper or index card. Online, you can provide an e-mail address to which entrants can send their entries or you can have them fill in an online entry form.

Raffles are those promotions in which you would require entrants to purchase tickets for a set amount of money. Raffles don't attract as much attention as sweepstakes, for obvious reasons.

Contests are those promotions in which the sponsor requires the entrant to submit more than just their name and address, such as a recipe, photo, jingle, answers to questions, and other creative information.

There are also other types of promotions such as instant-win games on specially marked packages of a sponsors products, but handling this type of promotion is not within the scope of this article. If you are interested in sponsoring a game of this type, any respectable marketing agency should be able to help you set one up.

No matter which type of promotion you choose to sponsor, every promotion needs to include certain information. You should include the following information at your Web site regarding your promotion:

Information about the company holding the sweepstakes. Who are you? This should be covered at your main Web site, but you would be surprised at the number of sites that sponsored an online sweepstakes and forgot to link the sweepstakes page back to their main site.
A full description of the prizes that you are offering. Make sure that the entrants know exactly what is included in your offering. If you are giving away a cruise as a prize, is the airfare included? Transportation?
A contact name if entrants have any questions about your sweepstakes.
A set of the official rules. The official rules need to address the items that further make up the structure of your promotion.

You also need to consider how you are going to set up your method of entry, certain legalities of sponsoring a sweepstakes, and whether your promotion is going to have a legitimate "look-and-feel." The following sections will address each of these areas.

The Official Rules

Every legitimate sweepstakes MUST have a set of official rules. The official rules should state exactly how the sweepstakes is structured and any restrictions or limitations about your promotion. For example, how many times do you want people to be able to enter your sweepstakes? Once per day? Per month? Throughout the life of the sweepstakes? Many sponsors who first held an online sweepstakes didn't specify how many times a person could enter, and realized after receiving tens or hundreds of entries a day from the same people, they should have considered that factor in the beginning. Also, remember to think globally. Are you ready to ship the prize overseas if the winner lives in Germany? If you are giving away a cash prize, we always assume that it is in US dollars, but you are always safer to state that up front so as to avoid any confusion. The official rules should contain the complete structure of your promotion.

The official rules for the sweepstakes need to include the following information:

The name of your sweepstakes.
A prize description and its value. If you are giving away 1 grand prize, 5 first prizes, and 25 second prizes, this is the place to include full descriptions plus the approximate retail value (ARV).
Entry requirements, such as whether you are accepting online entries only, 3x5 index card or postcard mail-in options (and the address in which to send entries), and so forth. Many sweepstakes support online and mail-in methods of entry.
Information required for entries (name, address, zip, phone, e-mail, any qualifiers, UPCs, recipes, essays,questionnaire items, and so forth). Remember not to get too personal.
Residency eligibility (open to which states or countries). Open in US and Canada? Void in PR?
Any age restrictions.
Any restrictions for number of times a person can enter. Make sure this information is visible. Whether you are going to allow multiple entries per person or just a singe entry per person, make sure people know that before they enter.
Entry deadlines.
Drawing date or frequency if you have multiple deadlines. If you are holding a quarterly drawing, what are your entry cut-off dates and the drawing dates?
Any other information that is relevant to entering.
A URL of where the winners' names will be posted, or an address if you want to provide a way for people to send a self-addressed stamped envelope for the winners' list.
Contact information if people should have any questions.

Make this information as accessible as possible. Sponsors generally will create a separate Web page for the official rules and post a link near the bottom of the online entry form or near the sweepstakes' name. There are many sponsors who post their official rules on the Web. Do some research and see how they set them up. Good sites for this are www.disney.com, www.kraft.com, and www.blockbuster.com. These sites constantly have sweepstakes promotions.

Setting Up the Method of Entry

There are typically two ways you can have people enter an online sweepstakes: by sending an e-mail message to a generic e-mail account or by submitting an online entry form.

If you are going to collect any type of demographic information you receive from the entries, you'll want to set up an entry form and have the information ported into a database such as Access. If you choose to have entrants send you a mail message, be prepared to enter all of the information manually into a database if you plan on recording the information for use at a later date. This will depend on your Web site and whether you have the access or ability to generate forms, have access to the CGI bin, or have the resources to hire someone to do this for you. The specifics of how to create a form is not within the scope of this article. There are many good resources on the Web that can help walk you through this process.

Planning a good entry form for your sweepstakes will yield you better results for your goals. The information you request should be formulated from your goals. It's perfectly acceptable to ask questions about consumer preferences on your entry form, such as brand name awareness or shopping habits. Be aware, though, that if you ask for information that is too personal, such as income level, you may not get a large response. People are still very wary about giving out that sort of information-with good reason. Even if you represent a very well-known company, people aren't going to divulge a lot of personal information.

Also, don't arbitrarily assume that because people enter your sweepstakes that it's acceptable to contact them with other product information. Provide a check box on your entry form so people can choose whether they want you to contact them with offers, notices, or special discounts in the future. Sending them unsolicited e-mail just because they entered your sweepstakes is akin to sending spam. Your second promotion will most likely be a lot less successful, because people will know that you are just collecting names to send them unwanted mail at a later date. Also, if you do plan on sending them mail in the future, let them know where you got their names. They most likely aren't going to remember every sweepstakes they entered a month or two ago.

The whole promotion idea is to get people to visit your Web site. It's perfectly acceptable to place your entry form at the bottom of a page so that you can provide some information about your product or service before it. You can also ask a question on the entry form that pertains to your product or service if you want. Make sure the answer is easily found on your other Web pages. There are a lot of different ways you can set up an online sweepstakes entry form, so think about the information you want to receive from your entrants.

Legalities of Running a Sweepstakes

You now have the information you need to set up your promotion. The next step is to ensure that you are complying with local laws and regulations. Do you know that if the prize you offer is worth more than $5000, the State of Florida requires that you post a bond before starting your sweepstakes? If you don't post that bond, then your sweepstakes is considered illegal in the State of Florida. This is one of the reasons that you'll often see sweepstakes void in certain states. This is also the main reason that you find a lot of smaller prizes available in sweepstakes.

If this is your first time sponsoring a sweepstakes, make sure you check with local laws about possible restrictions. Will liquor laws, firearms laws, or tobacco laws apply to your sweepstakes? Is the prize value significant (over $500)? Do you need to provide winners with a 1099 claim form at the end of the year? Local marketing and promotion agencies can help you with this information. Also, a great online resource for the legalities of running sweepstakes and contests is the Arent Fox Contests and Sweepstakes Law Internet Law Site http://www.arentfox.com/features/sweepstakes/. They are available to answer any questions you may have about your promotion, and they are extremely helpful!

The Appearance of Your Promotion: Legitimate or Scam

Entering sweepstakes has been a viable hobby for many years. The way you handle your promotion will show people whether or not your promotion is legitimate. Legitimacy is the key. People are tired of e-mail scams, Web sites that are nothing but ads, and get-rich-quick schemes.

Many sites hold a sweepstakes just for the sole purpose of gathering names. For example, one site chose to give away a custom designed T-shirt every month as the grand prize. It also listed 100 second prizes per month consisting of a coupon worth $5 off of any purchase at their site. Guess who won second prize? Guess who won second prize every month that she entered? If you want to offer all of the people who visit your Web site $5 off of every purchase, then just do it. Create a nice graphic, or coupon, or order form with the discount posted right on it. Don't hide it or disguise it as a sweepstakes. The last thing your business can afford is a sense of ill will!

If you hold a sweepstakes just for the sole purpose of gathering names, you are quickly going make a lot of enemies on the Web. You might as well send bulk e -mail, because you'll get basically the same reaction. SCAM!

The image of your offer is going provide visitors with insight as to how you run your business. You want to showcase your business in the best light possible, so don't hurry or skimp when planning a sweepstakes.

Promoting Your Sweepstakes

You probably have heard from many Web marketing and promotion companies that holding a sweepstakes will drive hoards of traffic to your site, and you'll reap huge lists of customers that you can contact after the promotion is over. It's a bit of an overstatement, but the promotion idea is a sound one.

You announce a sweepstakes just like you would announce any new Web site. Announce it in newsgroups such as alt.consumers.sweepstakes, online sweepstakes sites such as www.onlinesweeps.com, and submit your sweepstakes page to the major search engines and directories. There are currently over 50 well-known sites (both commercial and noncommercial) that list online sweepstakes. If you have access to AOL, then you can also enjoy posting your sweepstakes information on the appropriate message boards. Press releases are also a great avenue for announcements. Sweepstakes and contest promotions make great press releases. Go to InfoSeek http://www.infoseek.com and enter the word sweepstakes. Choose the News option (not the Web) and see what other companies are using for press release material. You can structure yours in the same manner.

Also, remember your target market? If you are offering fishing lures as a prize, go to the fishing or outdoors Web sites and discuss your prize on message boards or chat forums. Announcing a new sweepstakes will create an initial surge of traffic, and depending on the prizes that you offer and the frequency of the drawings, you could enjoy this traffic for several months.

If you decide to sponsor more sweepstakes promotions after your first one is done, remember that different prizes will attract more attention. If you offer the same prize again, people may think they have already entered it and will not visit your site again.

Summary

Don't let visions of running up your hit counter get in the way of promoting your sweepstakes in a respectable manner. Sponsoring a sweepstakes can be a very viable way of getting your Web site the attention that it deserves, but it takes good planning and careful consideration, just like any other marketing or advertising promotion.

Your business can attract a lot of attention by sponsoring a sweepstakes, and the way you handle the promotion is going to make an impact. Remember, first impressions are very important!

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Susan Donahue, Publisher
Winning Ways Sweepstakes Newsletter
http://www.onlinesweeps.com

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Welcome Susan as our newest continuing contributor to the Gazette. She has also stepped up to moderate the Contests and Sweepstakes Forum in the Get High Forums. We'll let her get used to that workload before we ask any more of her. Do you have something to contribute? Why not drop me a line and let's talk about it.

HOLY SCUMBAGS BATMAN! UPDATE

Just a short update on our Scumbag from last week. Absolute Traffic Incubator 2000 http://www.nadri.co.kr/~minware/join.html was the company that was spamming all of the major banner exchanges with his network of member sites all using his banner rotating Javascript.

Well, life has changed a bit for him. I wrote letters to all of the banner exchanges that he was ripping off and let them know about his scam. I have heard from all of them with the one exception of eAds. Apparently they don't really care about their members being ripped off. They won't be around long with that attitude.

If you now visit Scumbag's web site you will find that he has only one banner contract left -- eAds. Everyone else banished him from their exchange. After a lifetime of watching 'It' go around, isn't it a joy to be there when 'It' comes around?

I doubt that this has taught Scumbag anything about life or marketing. Let's see what sleazy thing he comes up with next. It should be entertaining.

THE SEARCH ENGINE BIBLE REVIEW - UPDATE

Wow. TJ called me on Tuesday to let me know that a ton of Gazeteers had ordered Clyde's new book on search engine placement. And almost all ordered the annual update service.

I've had a little more time to go through the book again, and I still stick by my statement that it is the first good reference I've found to help beginners get up to speed on the whole issue of search engines. And the updates so far have been filled with information that will be helpful to almost any site promoter.

Just goes to again prove that Gazeteers don't mind reaching for their credit cards when something good is offered to them.

If you want to order, go to http://www.softwaresolutions.net/sebible/

TIPS FROM THE HITMAN - PART XXIX

I had the chance to use a new program recently that may be of interest to the readers as most of us have to deal with web pages. A couple of weeks ago, shortly after the Internet World show in Los Angeles, I mentioned to Jim that the impression I got from watching a demonstration of NetObjects by Fusion was that maybe the HTML creation WYSIWYG tools were finally coming of age. I have always done code by hand having started on the net in 1995, before there were any options on how to do it. I bought Front Page 97 last year, and ended up sending it back to Microsoft under the satisfaction guaranteed clause. I was less than satisfied with the program and in particular the bloated code generated was just too much. It was a nightmare to edit by hand.

I was going to give Net Objects a try, but they did not have a free demo I could download and evaluate at the time. I have become spoiled by the Internet and it is very rare for me to buy any software I cannot try first. I mentioned this to Jim and he suggested I try out Macromedia's Dreamweaver. I used it to do a page for a new client. http://www.webthemes.com/OurHo.htm designed on 800X600, but I learned long ago to cross check with 640 x 480 and to check it on MS and Netscape. I hate a page that requires horizontal scrolling! It only took 15 minutes of time to do the page, not counting graphics and research of course.

I found the program easy to use, but it does really require that you understand the nuances of HTML to define parameters. It is a great program for someone like me who has learned to do all my work from the web, then supplemented it with a couple of good books to help with the intricacies of tables and the like.

One thing I noticed right away: it writes clean code. The code is almost as sparse as I would write it myself. I don't repeat a tag if it can be carried all the way through a section for instance. If you have ever looked at the code generated by Front Page for example, DreamWeaver would do the same page with at least half as much code. That translates into half the space on the server, twice as fast to download.

I found the code so much like what I would do that minor changes to correct some discrepancies at resolutions and browsers crossover was extremely easy. I knew what the code was for, no fat, no hidden images pushing things around the page, no unnecessary tables. If you don't put it in, it doesn't happen.

The program is easy to learn to use, the controls are very intuitive. I will mention also that it has an excellent help section that uses your browser to deliver the files. Since the program is from Macromedia, Shockwave graphics are used to demonstrate the newer and more advanced features.

Aside from the normal tables, frames, images and all the HTML 2.0 standards, this program has automated the use of many of the newest features supported by the 4.0 browsers. I did not have time to investigate everything but there is good support of layers and time line animation, which is DHTML (dynamic html) but the animations are done by the browser reading the code which means high impact animation without the bandwidth nightmare.

Other features include setting of styles, a defined style will automatically be carried across a group of pages. Along this line are also the library items. These are items such as links and pictures that are common to a group of pages and that all need to have changed when one is changed. Also supported are behaviors which are JavaScript elements that make objects interactive without scripting.The program includes a built in ftp client as well, to upload your work.

One final feature I liked: the work area shows you what the page will look like, but sometimes I found that I was having difficulty getting something done I knew I could do quickly by hand. Well, you can click the HTML button and a window opens at the bottom of the screen that show the code at the location of the cursor. Any changes made to the work area appear as you do them in the html. Any changes made by hand to the html immediately appear on the desktop. You can literally watch the program write the code as you work if you are so inclined. You can maximize the HTML view and see it all and or edit anywhere.

All in all, Dreamweaver is a great product if you already have a basic understanding of HTML coding. It will also make some new things, like exact positioning with layers, much easier to do. If frames are your game, you can't find a program that is easier. I have surely missed some features as I have only used it for one page so far, so try the free download if you are interested.

I have to recommend the program to anyone who wants to create pages faster, make changes easily to your existing pages. Dreamweaver does not screw up hand written code. You can change your existing pages and only items you change will change. Try that in Front Page.

I did write for a copy of Net Objects Fusion. I think it might be more suited to the HTML impaired, and it does offer better link and site management with global link control and a very clear site layout system that is integral to the program from the first page to the 100th.

If I ever get it, maybe I will do a review/comparison. There are many of you who would like to do your own pages and have little or no interest in learning HTML if it is not needed to do a good job. We shall see. I was just notified that NetObjects 3.0 demo is now available for evaluation.

Hayden Mitchell http://www.webthemes.com

SNIPPETS

Syop Web Site
http://www.edm.net/~webber/syop.html

The best part about administering an award program is the occasional jewel you run across while wading through the vast underdeveloped areas of the web. Sometimes you come across a site that grabs your attention right away with its look and feel. And then when you discover that there is lots of good content, it makes you stop and take a few minutes to just enjoy the fruits of someone else's labors.

I found such a site. Syop at http://www.edm.net/~webber/syop.html To those of you that have been around here for a long time, you will notice that it is on the edm.net server. That was the birthplace of VirtualPROMOTE and we were happy there for a very long time. Then the company was sold and, well, we just needed to move.

The Syop site is obviously created carefully by a very talented graphic designer. It just looks nice and friendly. The site offers lots of very high quality graphic sets for you to download and use. No blazing lava backgrounds that no text will ever look good on. Clean, simple and professionally executed.

But wait. There's more. Several wards are offered by Syop, and you will quickly get the drift of what each takes to win. I found the selections consistent throughout each award and that is the real acid test of any reviewer. Do they really judge the sites with a strong bias? If not, you will not find many reasons to come back. If they have a strong sense of what they appreciate, and if your tastes align with theirs, you will come back often to see what new sites they have waiting for you.

Fans of Syop will visit this site often. I know I will.

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M3 Web Directory

M3 Multimedia Marketing has brought on-line an excellent directory of web sites at http://www.m3.com.au/cgi-bin/tools/directory/directory.cgi The contents of the directory are sites primarily dealing with web development and marketing, as well as categories for the best directories elsewhere. There is also a General category with various sub-categories for general interest web sites.

The nice thing about this directory is that you can submit your site and it is added to the index immediately. Then the whole world gets a chance to vote for the listings in each category. You really should drop in and see if your site fits into their categories. It's fun and should get you traffic.

A CHARTER MEMBER SPEAKS UP

Dear Jim,

Having been a member and avid reader of the Gazette since Issue 1. I felt it was time I added my thanks to all that given by those others lucky enough to have found the best place available for advice on web promotion.

I have read every issue and followed much of the advice given by Jim (both through the Gazette and on occasions directly) and his band of guest writers.

Although I was new to the WWW and to using Titles, Meta Tags, Reciprocal links and the rest, we have gone from unlisted to the top spot in Excite, Web Crawler, Hot Bot and Magellan and on the first page of Yahoo and Infoseek.

We now have our own domain name (suggested by Jim) and although our ISP does not provide full stats the latest advice to use eXTReMe now provides all we need.

One final word of thanks for not filling the Gazette with adverts for software or services in every other paragraph as do some of the other promotion news letters.

Keep up the great work in helping us small fries survive in these shark (should that be scumbag) infested waters of the Internet. Submitted By: M Greaves mailto:reply@carltonhouse.co.uk Carlton House Hotel (York) http://www.carltonhouse.co.uk "The history of York is the history of England" King George VI

Jim .02 -- We still have almost every original, issue #1 subscriber. I take a lot of pleasure from that. For our 1 year anniversary issue I would like to publish a list of all of you that have lasted the whole year. You either have a lot of stick-to-it, or you get your printer paper at wholesale prices. If you are also celebrating this anniversary with us as a Founding Member, please drop me a note so I don't leave anybody out. Let me have a short paragraph about your web life and a list of URL's.