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BUDDHA: The Wayward Web
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Subject: BUDDHA: The Wayward Web
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Date: Thu, 07 Mar 1996 17:20:19 +1000
You may not be aware of the genius of David Siegel, Web-guru. Obviously you
should be. This fine essay from the folks at Traffic sketches the myth that is
dsiegel.com.
I've included the first page as a teaser and a URL for the rest. Best enjoyed
after cruising David's website first. (http://www.dsiegel.com/)
Enjoy.
http://www.microweb.com/traffic/web02_01.html
The Wayward Web
David Siegel's Complete Guide to Automythology
Nine Easy Rules!
Two years ago, celebrity was a
privilege of the media elite. Now, as
the world's biggest vanity press
kicks into high gear, Andy Warhol's
glib axiom has become the mindless
mantra for anyone with a computer and
a modem.
To assist novice fame-seekers in
their efforts, a vast body of
literature has sprung up. Go to your
local bookstore; the shelves in the
computer section are ablaze with the
fat spines of books that promise to
teach you how to master the Web. Some
explain HTML, some delineate the
intricacies of CGI and Java. Each has
its own specialty, but they are all
alike in what they fail to include:
the one necessary skill every
succesful Web auteur must possess...
That skill is automythology, the
ability to create a larger-than-life
persona for oneself. The ability to
"be" a celebrity.
The book that teaches this skill
doesn't exist, but there is a site on
the Web where such information can be
found...
www.dsiegel.com.
www.dsiegel.com is the work of
natural-born teacher David Siegel. As
casually as you or I breathe air,
Siegel dispenses expert counsel: on
HTML, on the principles of graphic
design, on grammar and vegetarian
cooking and even the best
fertilization techniques for women at
the tail-end of their child-bearing
years. For some reason, however,
Siegel masks the true purpose of his
site. Perhaps like the Pat Morita
character in The Karate Kid, he
believes his lessons are more
effective if you don't quite
understand what you're learning.
Thus, the people who visit
www.dsiegel.com may think that
they're discovering the single-pixel
GIF trick or why to use solid colors
for their backgrounds; in reality,
what they're actually being taught,
through the thorough but veiled set
of rules Siegel puts into practice at
his site, is how to manufacture
celebrity charisma, the preternatural
sheen of Someone Who Matters...
[Go read http://www.microweb.com/traffic/web02_01.html for the formatted text
and the rest of the essay]
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