September 10 2006: Interview: Becky of Babblative
Filed under Online
Interviewing: Becky of Babblative
Explanation: the purpose of these interviews was to get to know certain webmasters in my little ‘blog circle’ a little better - to see what inspired them to create the designs and sites that they did. They would be given ten questions via email - five of these were standard questions that were asked of all the interviewees, while the other five were tailored to fit them as an individual.
How old were you when you first discovered the joy of web design? How did you discover it?
Well I was probably around thirteen, we’d just gotten our new computer and I, having outgrown the Archie Comics site, had turned to online forums for amusement. Up until I joined Buffyworld late in 2001 I had thought that having a website was only for the elite members of the internet, something that only the best of the best could do, so I never really went anywhere with my ideas for a site. That impression was fostered by the people at the wonderful /cough/ NOLF forums from around the web.
Joining Buffyworld, a community that was on the fringes of the teen web community (such as the VortexMB, nu/mb, DisasterMB and RadiantMB circles), really opened my eyes up to what I could do. Almost immediately after finding out that you could host a site for free (ah free, my favourite word) I set up my first webpage on Geocities, I believe you can still see some of my early stuff on /spuffyforever2003 and /rileyhater2003.
The really embarrassing part was that I opened a site so I could have my own personal Spuffy fanfiction archive. That later morphed into a personal Spuffy fanfiction archive and then a fanart site and then a blog.
Do your friends and family know of your activities online? Why/why not? If so, do they approve? What do they think of it?
I wouldn’t say that they know of all my activities online, but they know most of what I do. I’ve never felt ashamed of what I do online, probably because I feel strongly about protecting the privacy of my friends and family (which is why my blogs rarely ever have that “personal” touch that only ranting about your loved ones can bring).
I know that my brother does not like blogs and the fact that I run one makes him laugh. I think he got that idea from his friends who feel that blogs are boring wastes of time (I’m assuming they ran blogs that never got any comments so now they hate all blogs). My mother doesn’t really understand half of what I say I do (and I very rarely ever lie to her) so she doesn’t care. I think she’s probably afraid that I’m going to go into the technical aspect of things and that scares her. My father doesn’t know that much about it and I doubt he cares so long as I don’t talk about him and keep my address/last name a secret. My sister is in the same boat as my mother. She doesn’t know, care or want to know or care about what I do online. As for my friends, well half of them couldn’t find their butt with both hands and Google Maps and the other half just don’t give a damn.
Who would you name as your biggest influence?
Can I only name one? Well Jenni Lou influenced my decision to open a site, in fact she helped me with it. Actually that was easier than I thought it would be. I guess it’s because I have more than one person who inspires me to go the extra mile and try my damnedest. I feel like I get most of my support/inspiration/influence from like minded friends, it’s really too bad those friends are usually online as opposed to off because I prefer a real life influence as opposed to a few words on a screen. I’ll take what I can get though.
How would you describe your style of layout design?
In one word: Plain. In two words: Plain and simplistic. I don’t have an ounce of creativity in my body so I tend to stick to minimalistic layouts and put all my effort into making sure that browsing my site is as pain free to the visitor as possible. I envy those who can put together a layout that is more pleasing to the eye than mine are, but at the same time I’d never change my “style” for the world. Maybe it’s because I make them, but they feel like they’re mine, like they’re stamped with a big fat Becky stamp and that is better than having all the graphics in GraphicLand.
Where, in web terms, do you envision yourself in ten years time?
Hopefully doing what I do now, only better. I’ve gone through spells where I don’t want to own a site and I seriously consider closing my sites down and walk away from the online scene. Fortunately these spells never last long (they usually come with my ever fabulous PMS) and I always get back into the swing of things sooner or later (usually later). I don’t ever see myself going into professional webdesign, if only because I hate deadlines and the feeling of being pressured (there is my distinct lack of skills when it comes to design, of course).
Would you say that your particular web pastime is to create and feed off on drama?
I’m a little bit ashamed to answer yes. But it’s totally not my fault! I can’t help it if drama just sits there calling to me, begging for someone like me to come along and spread it around (like fun, not a disease because diseases are icky). I also can’t help that stupid people really piss me off. [/end silly justification]
I can be a very emotional person when it comes to my beliefs and when I see someone doing something that is completely and utterly wrong or stupid I tend to argue my point a little too much. Almost to the point where it’s too mu-… Oh who am I kidding, it is usually too much.
Case in point: Swimchick.net, she tore apart a person for daring to go against what she [the owner of swimchick] thought was right. Enter me. I didn’t think that was right so I decided to give the dink a taste of her own medicine. Call it vigilante justice if you will.
Now that doesn’t mean I don’t go overboard, I do get a little over-zealous and by the time my anger or excitement has died down I realise just how stupid I looked. I’m very self-critical so I psychoanalyze everything I said and did to that person and eventually I just end up making myself feel worse than that other person. That doesn’t always happen (like with Lissa and Jess), but it usually does. Unfortunately for all parties involved I’ve usually forgotten that the after taste of drama is bitter and unsatisfying, definite character flaw there.
Do you think that you have a reputation for being particularly nasty to disgruntled and emo n00bies?
Ah, my reputation precedes me, cool. I don’t like n00bs (or noobs), but I like newbs. I’ve always separated the two in my mind (for those who don’t know: n00b means a person who is not only new, but unwilling to change and a newb is just someone who is new). I don’t like people who think that they are better than everyone else even though they don’t know what they’re talking about so I smack down on them with all kinds of Becky-wrath. Sometimes the ones with functioning brain cells come over to my side and mock the n00bs with me, the other ones continue on their n00bish way no worse for wear.
The way you structure your ‘About Me/Site’ page at Babblative is really original. Did you make a conscious decision to shy away from the oft-trodden “Basics, Autobiography, Likes/Dislikes” route, or was it something else that made you decide to go with a question and answer format?
Oh I wish I could take credit for that, but I ripped the idea off of DasBecca. I decided to rip it off of Becca because I thought it was unique, pretty and that it would make my about page a whole lot more interesting than it was. I’m not a good writer, I don’t describe myself well and I tend to write as I think (in jumbled up, run on sentences that only make sense to me. If you’ve ever passed a person on the street with blue eyes that made you think of your great-Aunt Harriet who had a blue bowl that your friend from the first grade really liked then you’ll understand what I’m going on about), so anything that saved me the trouble of having to give the visitor a good description of myself in one paragraph or less is most definitely a good thing.
Babblative Reviews has been sadly inactive for a while now. Please tell me you guys will be back soon.
Well since I can’t bring myself to close it I’m going to have to say that it’s probably going to make a come back. Whether it’s here on my blog or on it’s own site, it’ll come back. I have this unfinished feeling about it, usually when I’m done with a site I can close it without feeling overly guilty, that’s not the case here so look for something new in the next few months.
I noticed that you ‘discovered’ my site on StumbleUpon. I also noticed that you classified me as “archaeology”. I’ve always wondered why…I mean….huh? Archaeology?
lol I don’t think I would classify your site as “archaeolgy”, like ever because I’ve never thought of your site as an “archaeolgy” site. Heck, I’ve never even thought of it as an “archeology” site either.