Once, the Internet was a vastly different place. It was more an eclectic set of different thoughts and ideas. The idea of it was still a novelty. I was a simple web designer back in the old days, self-taught in HTML and running a couple of sites, before it changed. The demands of the web changed, and a new generation of users came and settled the old frontier. I saw the rise of AIM and death by corporate meddling of ICQ, a much better program (and a far less intrusive one!). The fall of the old chat room to make way for the rise of social networking (easier to target advertisements) and Instant messaging (easier to hide ads inside the messages, they didn't always do that). Can you remember the internet before your entire life was written on a database, when companies asked you to give out your personal data for the world, so it could be scanned and given to advertisers? Do you remember what a privacy policy used to be about? Can you remember when the Internet was free, when you didn't have to pay for downloads? Or were you even around in those days? Those days are gone. This is my tombstone, my place to say what was here. It's not nicely designed, there's no CSS, no Flash, no Web 2.0 here. This is what it looked like back in the late 90's, when bandwidth was precious, and images were a luxury. This is how the internet used to be. And guess what? It's totally free here (never mind the ads, they weren't always there either, those came up on 1999).
About the muse...
I am a twenty-something veteran internet user, once a freelance (actually, free, because I never charged money) web designer. I used to virtually live on the Internet, in chat rooms and updating webpages. I was active in movements to maintain a free and open Internet, a cause that I feel has been lost. I watched as a war between two corporations bought out the free sites and replaced them with pay or ad-driven versions. I saw this force smaller companies to up the ante on pricing, first as an option (websites like Angelfire started with optional advertisements, which then became mandatory, then started a tiered set of services, with a free "basic" service, which is what they offered all along, up to "premium" services, which cost a bit of money. Now I'm retired from the web editing scene, if only for the lack of creative inspiration in it now. Whereas the old web was built on the power of words, the new web is visual, with the code being an afterthought. So this page is really my attempt to recapture some of that magic that once was.
My name isn't Silent Muse, or much of my contact information accurate. In the time that inspired this site, that info wasn't asked for, so I didn't feel like giving it. This is just a site for those who want to remember something...now I need to find some of that annoying midi music.
My Favorite Web Sites
PC Pitstop - Free PC Diagnostic Tools
Free Web Building Help
Angelfire HTML Library
HTML Gear - free polls, guestbooks, and more!
Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again!
