alvinphillips.com

I am a carrier, I have passed my blog affliction to my friends.

When I first registered alvinphillips.com in 1997, I intended it for use as a political site for my upcoming run for the NC House. The website during that time served as an information portal for the campaign. I published all press releases and position statements in text, html and pdf formats so that the voters and media would have easy access. It doesn’t seem like this was that long ago, but at that time, almost everyone outside business was using dial-up internet access. The site garnered a few visitiors, but I think the site was 4 years too early to have any major impact.

Shortly after the campaign, I transitioned the site to a pseudo-news commentary outlet where I would post my thoughts on North Carolina news I had read online or in the newspaper. Archives from this era of the site are lost for perpetuity – for good reason. I realized quickly that my limited training in creative writing, coupled with my overtly passive writing style would never gain me attention as a serious reporter, worthy of old-media attention.

I let the site remain dormant for some months, pondering its fate. I was hosting in my office, but I had retained Network Solutions as the domain registrar, debiting $35 per year from my discretionary fund. During this period (Fall 1999 to Spring 2000), I began modifying the structure of the site, but never succeeded in creating any worthy content.

In August 2000, I began my own personal “blog” or web log. These new web logs that began to obtain mass appeal on the Internet in 1999 were throwbacks to the early period of the web (but not the Internet). It can be said that Tim Berners-Lee began the web with a blog while working at CERN. Dave Winer credits Salon Magazine as being one of the first major media outlets to speak of blogs in this article from May 1999.

My early entries were less than stellar, being simply a few sentences on my daily activities. Some readers might say that this is still the case, but I enjoy my semi-daily writings. They allow me to express my random thoughts (thus the tagline for the site). While my readership is limited, they are the people most important in my life; my friends, my family, my acquaintances, and random geeks everywhere.

As alvinphillips.com approaches its fourth anniversary in its current blog configuration, I implore you to start writing your own blog. I have finally managed to convert two of my closest firends, Lee Person and Kevin Smith. Without the tireless efforts of your blogging friends, how else would you learn of the damage caused by Baby Cakes the Cat?

Posted by Alvin P. Phillips |