Current News of the Strange Society by DPsycho: - 3-10-99 9:50am Central Really busy studying. Don't mind me. 3-9-99 9:34am Central I submitted the new 4um page to Content Zone over a week ago now and they have yet to reply. I'm supposed to have yay or neigh in 48 hours. I'm not very pleased with this and would like to know what's up with them. The truth of it is, I'm losing money every day they don't respond. I've also submitted the PikDance page, and that was Saturday. I'd like to begin promoting it, but not until it sports a unique advertisement. What is wrong with their correspondance? It's time to find out. 3-8-99 8:26am Central And so my finals begin... 3-7-99 11:09am Central For those who haven't seen it yet... http://members.tripod.com/~DPsycho/PikaDance I must be mad. 3-5-99 10:43am Central Strangesite has been added to Fortune City's rebuilding contest, the promotion they've begun to try and save face after one of their servers containing numerous websites went kaput. How is Strangesite entered? I had reserved space there under another name for no better reason than that I liked the address. All I had there was an index page saying I'd be putting stuff up soon, but now I've ftp'ed an entire copy of Strangesite there. Let's see what happens. Hooray! It's FRIDAY! Gotta study, though... 3-4-99 11:33am Central We've been averaging about 15 uses of the GoTo.com search thingie per day. Not bad, but the number has been decreasing with each report. Remember that every time you want to search for something, Using the GoTo.com search field on Strangesite will bring us another step closer to our own domain. So long as I'm on the topic of advertising, next chance I have, I'm going to begin producing more pages with either contraversial or oddly addictive natures for the sake of receiving more banner impressions. While they will have little to do with the Strange Society, they will help keep the traffic up, which will all add up in the end. Such sites will probably be implemented under a new Tripod name so I don't stretch bandwidth for Strangesite. (Yeah, that'll be the day...) Yeah, yeah, book 3, I know... As soon as I have the time! Like I said before, updates will be random for the next 2 or 3 weeks as we have finals, the Rootabaga Jazz Fest and spring break. I'll do what I can. 3-3-99 11:36am Central Still waiting on the banner ad approval. Issue 5 of The Naughty Panther Newsletter came out this morning. If you haven't subscribed yet, WHA THE HECK IS TAKING YOU? Are you not concerned with the future of the Dead Rabbit in Front of the Caf? The Freaky Wrong link was put up as needed. All for now. 3-2-99 10:21am Central In the first day and a half of having the Goto.com banner up, we've already gotten 30 click-throughs. Not bad at all! Time to put up the FWLotM. Yesterday, I created a front page for the 4um. All links to the 4um will be set to point to it soon, after Content Zone approves the page for an ad banner. Features on this page include a mostly comprehensive list of aliases used by various 4um regulars and the number of messages in the 4um as of the page's last update. Also included are the current "wha you've been missing" list, links to each page and the Post Message and View Everything links. If you'd like to see it all before the banner goes up and it becomes official, direct your browser to http://members.tripod.com/~DPsycho/4um.htm Hmm... it's also about time to split up this text file again. Of course, having switched to using an ftp client, filesizes are no longer such an object to me, but for the sake of downloading, I'd better split it up. "Yes, you make me nangne nongne." 3-1-99 10:30am Central We are now a member of the GoTo.com affiliate program. If you wish to conduct a web search, By all means, use the box in the upper-left corner of the index page or one of the two on the Pikachu page. A single use adds 2 cents to our budget. While this isn't a lot, just 3.5 uses per day would accrue to over $25 a year which would go directly toward ownership of a domain name or food funds for STDays. In any case, the GoTo.com box is there, so don't hesitate to make use of it! I'm entering finals season for this trimester, so activity from my end will be rather random right through spring break, ending March 22nd or so. I foresee this to be a productive period, however, so expect some cool additions by the end of this month. Honor the Strange Society! 2-28-99 11:20am Central I'm attempting to join yet another affiliate program. More on this later. Earlier this week, I added someone to the Ate My Balls webring. In order to join the ring, as I had to do, you must have another ring member add your page. Now I have passed on the favor. I feel so... fatherly! Speaking of rings, I still have to put up the STrangeRing info. I'll get to it soon. 2-26-99 10:41am Central Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings and all. I'm not sure they're not donw coming yet, either, as I woke up this morning to find yet another card slid under my door since 1:00am. ^_^ Everything's all right, in case anyone's wondering. I just have to catch up on some schoolwork this weekend now. I can't predict any updates as of now, although I'll try and get the STrangeRing info up today if anything. 2-22-99 11:22am Central As was stated in the 4um, my online presence this week will be limited. My apologies. Rereading the info from the ad service with which Strangesite is registered, I now understand that credit does not come from clicking the banners, but from the mere downloading of the ad. What this means is that by simply viewing the index page or the Pikachu page, you have given Strangesite a credit. With this in mind, I may add banners to more pages, although I'm not certain which would be best. Perhaps I'll even create some more pages like the Pikachu one, seeking a wider audience than Strangesite itself services. Jaz, I'll add the webring stuff when I have more time. Sorry for the delay. I'll try to update again before this interim ends if I have the opportunity. Honor the Strange Society. 2-18-99 10:40am Central Some of the Strangesite graphics have been replaced with one with transparency enabled. Book 3 is under revision. 2-17-99 10:44am Central I've joined another webring through the Pikachu site at the request of a fellow Tripod member who's just started a Pokémon page this year. I suppose that's all for now. 2-16-99 9:26am Central It's Tuesday, the only day when my classes are done at 9:10, so I'll cut the chat and get to work on all the online stuff I can't do during the regularly scheduled days. 2-15-99 10:38am Central Today is Founder's Day at Knox. This means little more than the fact that we have shortened classes with a big break in the middle for a convocation while we're all sleeping or something elsewhere. In any case, there isn't much to do today but mope around. The teeth marks are still there. Um... nm. The following message is brought to you by Nekoniku, who happens to be sitting here as I prepare today's news addition. Hi. Thanks to everybody who has subscribed to The Naughty Panther, but there are still some of you who haven't subscribed. You can now subscribe from The Naughty Panther Homepage at: http://members.tripod.com/naughtypanther (Back to Psycho now) Have an (adj) Founder's Day. 2-14-99 10:58am Central (Adj) St. Valentine's Day to all the Strangesite frequenters! 2-12-99 11:32am Central Here's an interesting bit of news. One of the Fortune City servers crashed entirely, and a large bulk of personal websites have been lost irrecoverably. This mostly affected new areas of the past year or so, so older areas like Roswell (where the Strangesite mirror used to be and still, sort of, exists) are still in tact. To make up for the loss, they are being REALLY friendly with their patrons, offering not to put up ads for the next three months and to enroll all of those who rebuild their areas in a special building contest. *SMOOCHIES* Like FC needed another item on their list of evidence that they bite. Incidentally, the old area (since it hadn't been visited or modified for a 3-month period) has been signed to someone else. However, the index page remains as it was, automatically forwarding all guests to the true Strangesite. Odd. If you'd like, it can still be viewed at this address: http://www.fortunecity.com/Roswell/Prophecy/123 Adam is apparently upset by the fact that he has a tendency of dying in the stuff I write. Well, I apologize Adam, but please note that your 4um messages tend not to have anything to do with the topic or have you bringing an untimely end to the scene being depicted. If you'd just cooperate with the rest of the 4um more and stop trying to show off your knowledge of things Japanese (you aren't the only one in tune to these things, after all), you may achieve better longevity. TGIF. 2-11-99 10:53am Central I would have unleashed this project yesterday, but it needs massive debugging. I don't know when it will be ready, but it'll be a sure hit. 2-10-99 10:42am Central I'm soon going to be implementing something I've been wanting to add to Strangesite for some time now. More about this later. 2-9-99 9:59am Central Today looks like a perfect day to relax and bring book III near its completion. 2-8-99 10:42am Central Two Strangesite regulars, Nekoniku and Nutmeg, are busying themselves with the creation of their own websites. I too have been busy creating a website for our Japanese Club here at Knox. The button.txt file which explains how to link to Strangesite using the ST Now! button has been updated such that there is no stray line appearing to the right of the button. If you have an ST Now! button or your site and used the button.txt example, check your code. 2-6-99 9:36am Central Something I've forgotten to mention was that a few days ago, I applied for and received a Pikachu-related award for the Pikachu AMB site. I'll be putting it up this morning. 2-5-99 10:43am Central The majority of ZFractal's messages have been removed from the Netbabbler help and abuse forums, and the issue has finally been addressed directly by Chris Moser. For information of how the situation is being handled, visit forum #45. The ad breakdown info is not yet in. 2-4-99 10:50am Central Nothing much to report on Strangesite, except that the breakdown on the first month of advertising should be in soon. A few days ago, I added a banner to the Pikachu page as well. Each banner is unique, so clicking each one counts as two separate clicks each day. User ZFractal has now "explained himself" in the Netbabbler main forums, contradicting himself numerous times in the process. It'll be interesting to see where all of this goes. 2-3-99 10:42am Central The verdict is in, and Phil did not see his shadow. EARLY SPRING! In Netbabbler news, I have devised a method of replying to posts which have been sealed off at the end by the open-ended HTML technique. My method is being applied to posts made by ZFractal in the help forums. Looks like the jerk needs to learn some new tricks. Honor the Strange Society. 2-2-99 9:30am Central IT'S GROUNDHOG DAY!!!! This important holiday is the one on which those who haven't read the STories in awhile are urged to do so, and for anyone who has never read them, there's no better day to begin. Even if you only read the first one, take some time to reacquaint yourself with our ST heritage. I, in the meantime, will work on BWSbIII for a bit. 2-1-99 3:20pm Central I just updated the Freaky Wrong link. I'm about to update the main page as well. 2-1-99 11:27am Central TOMORROW'S THE DAY!!! The ST's second most important holiday! The past two weeks have been really busy, so I apologize if it looks like nothing has been happening on the site. However, a lot has occured in other areas. The first issue of The Naughty Panther Newsletter went out last weekend and has been hailed as a complete success. Backissues may be viewed at http://thenaughtypanther.listbot.com/ Ignore the messages left by "ZFractal" in the 4um. This individual, who may or may not actually be the individual whose email address is given, has been leaving offensive messages and spamming forums by use of disguised links. (Yes, this is classified as spam. Read the guidelines for yourself.) His actions have been brought to Netbabbler's attention, so just ignore it all for now and things will come to pass. Of course, as long as he's in our 4um, I can't tell you not to remind him he's being an ass, but do we really want him to keep leaving his messages? Wellllll... OK! In case anyone's wondering, I'm completely all right. All problems and ill health from the past 2 weeks have been mended, and a very busily anticipated weekend is also behind me, so my stress should drop significantly. ^_^ There's an external concern being discussed which merits no mention yet. Don't worry -- if you don't know about it, it doesn't concern you and I'll explain it later. Don't be concerned about the IP's having been on overnight lately. We were merely taking a census, the results of which will soon be made available. The work is complete, so they shouldn't appear anymore, except in the case of ZFractal leaving fake ones. (Hello? They aren't on in the first place, and I can see the real one in the editing screen. Duh...) My KFC Dratini has a Vulpix tag. I wish I'd noticed before I opened the package, or else I'd have a $40 Ebay item right here. I joined a new webring this past week, one for sites created in Notepad. That's Strangesite exactly, built from scratch and proud. I guess this is all for now. (ADJECTIVE) TOMORROW!!! 1-20-99 11:13am Central There isn't much happening I can report on at this time, but here's the buzz. Skye Valentine is assembling a Starcraft Clan somehow related to the ST. Any interested people should email him at SkyeKnightV@yahoo.com Mich Lovance, aka The Naughty Panther, has begun a newsletter with Strangesite as its main sponsor. Anyone interested in signing up should visit http://thenaughtypanther.listbot.com In Strangesite news, I've updated the 4um heading and the news file. That's pretty much it for as of late. No, I still don't know when book III will be done, but it'll probably fall on a Tuesday. (Mark your calendars!) Make sure you're visiting our sponsors. I hope you all would like to see Strangesite have it's own domain name as much as I do. 1-15-99 12:20am Central The FTP program is working out great. Updating the site is now no problem at all. I decided I'm going to cater to those with smaller viewing screens now and have the text wrap at less of a line length. AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME! Um, I mean, yeah. I have just added a banner ad to the initial index page. Hopefully, with the aid of click-thrus, this service will help in acquisition of a domain name. Remember, it only counts unique clicks, so just sitting there and clicking on the thing all day will not help. (This means you, Lowell.) However, checking out our advertisers once a day would be a great help in the projects I hope to implement as Strangesite continues to move away from being a mediocre Tripod site (circa 1997) and becomes a self-contained entity on a server of my own. *Psycho goes off into fond daydreams* Anyway, the next step is this, monetary support, so let's all do what we can. You know, I'm tired. 1-11-99 3:51pm Central I just installed an FTP client program, so this update of the news will be a test for the success of the program as well as a regular update. This trimester is turning out to be somewhat busy for me, so production of new material (such as BWS) may go more slowly for a while. However, with the best access to the web I've ever had, site updates should be much more frequent. And a good thing, too. I've been meaning to make some big updates for quite some time now. Yes, NOA sent me an email concerning the Pikachu site. I presume the changes I made put it in compliance once more as they haven't contacted me again. I guess that is all for the present. 1-6-99 7:16pm Central I flushed out the gueSTbook again yesterday. No one has spotted it yet... For a good time online, visit www.superbad.com. For a good time offline, download the Sylvie demo from www.vperson.com. I had Sylvie read the first chapter of BWSbIII to me. She's very helpful. OK, just to see if anyone ever reads this text file anymore, I'm promising the first chapter of the yet unreleased BWSbIII to anyone who downloads the Sylvie demo. (Here I am promoting a commercial site for no purpose rather than I like the product...) Email your request to me; don't mention it in the 4um or I'm not going to comply. Honor the Strange Society. 1-5-99 8:44am Central Dangit! Just lost everything I typed. Now I'll have to reiterate... With the cancellation of classes yesterday, I found myself to have ample online time, so I did a complete copy of every single file on my server space to my PC. Now I'll have an easier time testing and fixing up the site. As I went, I also removed the remaining ad windows from the HTML pages and updated both the 4um heading and the Freaky Wrong Link of the Month, inspired by the work I was doing at the time. The rest of my message was unimportant and I don't feel like retyping it. So there. 1-4-99 9:34am Central I have a lot to say, so I'll try and do so quickly. Some time ago, Tripod changed their editing tools in such a way that it became really tedius for me to update this news file, as it would only list ten files at a time and refused to allow the editing of txt files. However, I have found a way to access the old interface, so I'll be able to begin updating this file as before. I'm back at school for my second term, and this time I'm equipped with a connection to the LAN. What does this mean? I can devote more time to Strangesite than ever! Expect a lot to happen soon, unless my classes turn out to be really time consuming. ST Days 99, STrange Days III, was a success, even to the point of extending it by one day due to the snowstorm. Still, I managed to leave on time and go back to college... *SIGH* Bane World Saga book III is not complete. Little work was done on it over the break, so I was unable to meet the expected ST Days deadline. I apologize for this and am yet unable to suggest a new time of completion. Remember, I'm open to all suggestions, ideas, Freaky Wrong Link nominations and cash handouts. My email is DPsycho@dangerous-minds.com, my IM name is DPsycho1 and I can always be reached through the 4um. Plans for Strangesite? I hope to revise the links and the FAQs sometime soon an make sure that everything is accessible through both the graphic and text versions of the site. My Pikachu loves me. Does yours? 11-22-98 7:46pm Central Well, let me begin this news update with this: I FINISHED ALL MY TRIMESTER FINALS!!! YEAH!!! I'M GOING HOME TOMORROW!!! Well, with that aside, It's become apparent that Netbabbler is in amidst another problem. I am really sick of this. They're service is superior to the others I've seen available, but they've apparently accepted more subscribers than their servers can handle, and that's bad business. I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll keep saying it until it's been remedied, but I NEED MY OWN SERVER. STDays99... STDays99... STDays99... 5 weeks and counting... BWS book III is going well. It may even be done before the month is out, but I'm not making any promises. I'm just really happy to be going home and seeing everyone again. ^_^ 10-28-98 11:34am Central Netbabbler has had its third widespread problem in two months now. I have decided to somehow begin backing up all the messages for safe-keeping. This will not happen soon, but it is something I seriously plan to do. Drum Boy's birthday is this Saturday. More on this later. Yes, I've been working on the BWS. I wrote an additional two chapters last week, but will probably combine them into one before the third book is released. Expect it near Christmas if I'm not horribly busy in the meantime. One last thing - let's think about wha we put in the 4um, ok? If you're worried about someone specific reading it, don't post it at all. If you think it may actually upset someone, it probably isn't worth the trouble. Although I am typically around to check up on the 4um, I may not be able to service any requests for a half a day after receiving them, and I have enough tasks to perform every time I log on as it is. I don't want to end this update on a sincere note, so let me remind you all to bombard Drum Boy with birthday mailings come 12:00am Saturday! Remember, he's very fond of BLINKing text... Honor the Strange Society. 10-14-98 11:07am Central Even without a Yahoo! listing, the Pikachu Ate My Balls page has amassed nearly 5000 hits in a mere 2 week period. I suppose this to be the result of being one of the first sites in North America based on the just-released cartoon. It's sort of unsettling, though. People are looking to see what there is out there on this new phenomenon, and they find an Ate My Balls page. I've gotten mail from people who don't understand the concept and want to see graphics, sound, animation... things pertinent to the TV show. They want a real Pocket Monsters site. I wish I could offer one. The fact remains that I have never had the opportunity to watch the show since arriving at college. All I know is what I've gained from the translated comics. If there really aren't any good Pikachu sites yet, I would be more than happy to create one, but I'm not the right person for the task. I don't have the time to devote or the knowledge of the show to work with. And so I apologize if I am doing Pikachu a disservice by hosting an AMB site of him at a time when there is nothing better to find. I never thought it would be such a success, and if I had any way to have predicted this, I would have gone about it much differently. Perhaps one of you who reads this will have the time and effort to do something better. Until then, the best I can do is to look for Pocket Monster sites myself and create links. 10-6-98 11:27am Central The Pikachu page, since the release of the cartoon in NA and the streamlining of the page for download speed, has reported nearly 2000 hits, more than 1600 of which are unique. Maybe it's time to invoke some advertising banners... Amazing! 10-2-98 9:02am Central Interesting... Replacing the index page for a day with the Gray Day page made me realize that even the index page can have the Tripod window added to it. This was contrary to my original belief, so I took a close look at the real index page and found that, besides having two tags (oops!) it is devoid of head definitions. My next project is thus to go through every page of Strangesite and remove such tags. I hope no one from Tripod stumbles across this text file... 10-1-98 12:00am Central Let Grey Day begin! 9-30-98 2:58pm Central It's the end of the month already? This means a number of things... First, happy birthday to Vic, yesterday. My mail is working now so I got the confirmation that you received my card. Second, I have to prepare the referral page for October's Freaky Wrong Site of the Month. I have it down to two choices. Thirdly, Grey Day hits the midwest in a mere nine hours. I plan to enact my liasion with the organization at midnight exactly. Fourthly, if you haven't seen the edited Sultan pic, it's being removed before midnight tonight, so hurry over to the 4um to see it. And fifthly, Drum Boy's birthday is one month away. Remember, there are TWO cats to procure gifts for this time. Honor the Strange Society! 9-26-98 1:34pm Central According to NetBabbler, the reason the 4um has been temporaily not showing files and new posts is a result of a problem with the new caching system which they have been working with. The problem should be fixed reasonably soon, so go about your business as usual. Even if you can't see a message you just posted, it is there and will be visable to others later. 9-24-98 1:22pm Central With the Pikachu Ate My Balls directory, I have finally finished reducing all the graphics on Strangesite. There alone I reduced 359.8K to 141.3. With the finishing touch of a counter which doesn't take a millenium to load, the page is now onscreen within about 3 seconds. Unbelieveable! (Um, yes. This is a 56k connection...) As I promised, here is the location of the service. http://www.webutilities.com/services/index.htm and click "Start Now!" I'm considering buying the actual program. If only every webmaster would run site graphics through it! The Internet would be a better place. Gotta go. Almost forgot I had a class to attend... 9-23-98 11:17am Central The image filesize reducer is remarkable! I was going to continue running all the graphics through it, but it's being used by too many people at the moment. I have decided not to reduce the professional photo, however, as there was a slightly noticeable difference between the before and after pix, and I really didn't want to compromise it, but for all the handdrawn and computer-generated pix, the thing works beautifully! I'll post a link to it when I've completed the overhaul of Strangesite. In other news, we all have to send our sympathies to little Methane who fractured her ankle and isn't happy about the current state of things. Email can be sent through Spryte Imp. I won't post his address here, because if you know who Methane is, you should know where to find her brother's email address. In absurd news, I was eaten by a giant gondola. In real news, stuff happened at the stock market, in politics, and in major cities. In outdated news, Operation Desert Storm has ended. In future news, Drum Boy died of old age. In news from a twisted parallel universe, Parin was voted Most Popular. In yews, one finds dangerous toxins. http://vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/plant49.htm In underwater news, BBBBBLLLLLUUUUURRBBBBBBB. In... um... no, I'm really not going anywhere with this. I've just had a lot to do recently and am enjoying this time to myself. ^_^ One week until Grey Day. 9-21-98 4:55pm Central I've streamlined all the graphics in the main directory for size. If anything renders differently on other computers (that is, if the pictures look funny) let me know. As things are now, however, all the pages should load a lot more quickly, ESPECIALLY the page which houses the image map. I haven't gotten to the Professional photo scan yet, but expect it's filesize to decrease dramatically in the near future. What does this mean for you, the regular Strangesite visitor? Faster access, nothing else. 9-20-98 6:32pm Central I've been to three frat parties and have still managed to refrain from alcohol. Go me. 9-16-98 11:17pm Central Within 12 hours of promising it in two days, Society 12 has been uploaded. Please, enjoy The Strange Society Goes for Psychoanalysis. 9-16-98 10:57am Central As you ST members have been registering your email with Sicko in preparation for STDays, please also take a moment to check it against the list on either of the STmain pages. Yesterday, Annoying alerted me that the address I had listed was one he no longer use. Please, everyone check and make sure your email addresses are still correct, and if you change them, make sure that I, specifically, know about it. The new STrange story is 95% complete. Expect it by Friday? Honor the Strange Society. 9-15-98 11:20am Central There are only approximately two weeks left until Grey Day. If you are unaware of the sugnificance of this, please follow the link from the index page. Otherwise, you may be somewhat surprised come October first. Also, I urge anyone who isn't doing anything important as they read this to follow this link and vote for Serena of Sailor Moon to be on the cover of some teen magazine. She's currently leading the polls, so let's make sure to keep her there! http://www.pathfinder.com/teenpeople/gdml3/cover4.html Remember, my new AOL IM name is DPsycho1, so watch for me. 9-14-98 9:40pm Central Yeah, you guessed it. I had to make a new file for the ST News again. This is the fourth separate file since Strangesite's creation last December. And now here we are, ~4030 visits later and planning STDays99. And from our respective colleges, too! I don't really have anything new to say, so I'll just recap for the sake of this being a fresh file. Preparations for ST Days III are underway, as are new membership nominations. Protocol has been written for the ST as an organization and may be read at the URL http://members.tripod.com/~DPsycho/Provisions.txt for member input and public review. I am currently working on both BWSaga book III which as of yet has no working title and a general STory (societ12) with an undisclosed working title as of yet. I also plan to revise the ST FAQ's at my earliest convenience and moment of boredom. Of lesser priority are the spin off I've developed and other promised features to the site. These will probably be tasks for my winter break which occurs the entire month and a half between Thanksgiving and Strange Days. The 4um had disappeared and was revived, but in the process we have gained another forum with an ID of 8472, the species number of the creatures which nearly wiped out the Borg in Star Trek Voyager. Naturally, the Mental Ward appreciates it. Suggested future use for the now obsolete new forum include one for story development, apart from the general hodgepodge of the true 4um. And no, the person who made the suggestion did NOT use the word "hodgepodge." Any other comments or ideas for the temporary forum should be made in the existing 4um. This is pretty much all there is to report. I probably won't update this file on a daily basis for the next week or so. This will not mean that I am not updating the site as I make about three daily visits to the 4um, but that there is nothing of significance to write. I still plan to keep Strangesite fresh and updated, so don't worry. As always, honor the ST.