jrsmith.net is home to JR Smith, a rambling mess of a person who occasionally produces creative things that humans like, and quite often produces horrible things that humans dislike.
The magic that is the internet will allow you to read more about him and the history of this site, if you feel so inclined, or venture into the duldrums. For the less curious, there are galleries containing art and web design (still being stocked).
If, after all that, you actually wish to speak with this poor creature, a number of communication mediums are at your disposal, but use them at your own risk.
about this site
The website began as an after-school hobby. The author’s interest in HTML was piqued in high school, when his access to the internet was limited to evenings at his uncle’s house. The first incarnation was hosted by the Yellow Pages and consisted of blink tags and repeating background textures.
Improvements were made throughout his high school career. The page bounced around, from geocities, to virtualave, and a number of other free hosting providers. The domain, jrsmith.net, was purchased in 1999. That same year, he began learning php and perl, and the website became more of a weblog than anything else. It’s evolved quite a bit over the years. The basic weblog functionality has always been there, but an art gallery was added, and a section for movie reviews. A user account system was integrated in to allow CJ, Floris and Joanna to maintain their identities in the face of the Mad Nomad’s impersonations.
Unused areas of the site were dropped. Instant messaging, the art gallery, and the movie reviews all went the way of the dodo. The author desired to make things more simple, streamlined, faster and powerful. The site reached it’s peak in the spring of 2005, both in design and functionality.
Unfortunately, the popularity of the site with family and friends also increased. This posed a problem because the very reason for the site’s existence was to act as a dumping ground for the author’s thoughts. It was a place to vent, a place to explore scenarios and thoughts. People began to become offended by it’s content, and the author felt frustrated by having to censor himself. Many arguments were had, and it was taken down many times, but it always came back when things cooled down.
In the summer of 2005, the fervor surrounding the site and it’s contents reached ridiculous levels. The author was chastized daily for “whining” or posting personal details of his life in a public place. His reasons were not heeded or respected, and relationships were ended. The site, as it was, died. He decided to take this opportunity to rework the site, and to change it’s purpose. It needed to be a more professional place, containing examples of his work. It needed to appear to be more than a “blog”. It needed to be a portfolio and a biography.
Thus, what you are now browsing was born.
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iamshimone
3 months, 2 weeks later
wow. you just described the last 10 years of my online presence,the end results of which are staticbeats.com and jungle-life.com - both were personal blogs in one way or another and both went through the very same set of iterations you described above. shimone.org is next to die… mom’s complaining about the change of tone. kudos for taking the time to share your thoughts. it’s a rough road i know but the random anonymous person that stumbles upon your site sometimes makes it all worth it :)