Funeratic Turns 20

Scott Hardie | October 27, 2016
What do you get a website for its bidecennial? I wanted to get it another GooCon, but my fall has been too busy. Discussing the milestone will have to do.

Life can be so random. A weird combination of events conspired to birth Funeratic, chief among them:

1) Someone at Bradley University had the foresight to put computers in every room of the freshman dorm that summer. And they were not just any computers, but Unix machines that turned out to be especially good for coding and hosting web sites. (I might owe my whole career in software development to this stranger.)

2) My roommate Matthew Preston and my girlfriend each took off for the weekend, leaving me with no plans and an itch to do some big project for fun. I didn't want just to sit there and play Matthew's Nintendo 64.

3) I happened to come upon the NCSA's primer on HTML, and it didn't take me long to think, "Hey, I could do this!" I opened up a new file in Pico, typed "hello world," and got the words to appear in Mosaic. Then, off I went! I meticulously worked through each section of that primer, practicing one new element at a time, learning how to create headings and lists and tables, until I had built a working knowledge of HTML.

What I didn't have at first was content. I fumbled around for ideas of what to put on "Scott's Home Page," grabbing a few things that I happened to have on hand: A forwarded email containing Steven Wright jokes. A chart that I'd sketched out of Street Fighter II characters. Some (truly awful) poetry that I'd written about girls and celebrities that I had crushes on. By the end of the weekend, I had converted them to HTML, linked to them from a central homepage, and shared the budding website with a few friends, including Lori Lancaster.

It's hard for me to believe, but you're reading that same website right now. Not a single line of code or content remains from back then of course, because I've recoded (and rechristened) the website numerous times over the years, but what I never did was stop toying with it. I tried and failed to make a business out of the site, and I tried and failed to make a thriving online community out of the site (the peak activity was good while it lasted), but after two decades, it remains today what it was from day one: A hobby, plain and simple. I'm at peace with that, because of how much fun it has given me, and given all of us. Every minute, hour, and day spent making this website fun has been worth it.

I love this website! It has been the great personal project of my life, twenty years long and still going strong. Playing with this website is still the thing I most want to do with my time and the thing I can't imagine not doing. I can't fully express how grateful I am for every experience and every human connection that it has given me over the years. You have all been a part of my life and I'm glad to have been at least a tiny part of yours too. Thank you for sticking around, and here's looking forward to year twenty-one!

Two more links before I turn over the floor:
- 1996 had a lot of good debuts, not just ours. It was obviously a pivotal year in my life and I will forever be nostalgic about it.
- As with every anniversary, ten new items have been added to The History of Funeratic. Some of the items are downers, but I find others amusing.

Now that I've shared my earliest memories of the website, I'd like you to share yours. What brought you here in the first place? What did you like most about this website back when you started participating? What do you like most now? What do you want most to see on this website in the future? You don't have to answer all of the questions, but I hope that you have something to share on at least one of them. Thanks!

Matthew Preston | October 27, 2016
Scott, it's been an adventurous and exciting 20 years enjoying your site(s). You are the reason I learned HTML in the first place. I remember coming back to our room at Bradley University and you showing me what you accomplished in a short amount of time. I was impressed and wanted to make a site of my own. Thank you for making that a reality (even if those sites didn't stand the test of time like this one).

As a side anecdote, I recall sharing my Bradley personal page with some friends on the floor, which included a PG-13 bad word in it. One fellow hall-mate came to our room and tried to warn me of my rebellious ways: "You can't say the word 'shit' on the Internet! You're going to get shut down!"

Here's to another 20 my friend!

Steve West | October 27, 2016
I don't remember specifically what led me to the site (something I was researching and Google happily referenced the Celebrity Goo Game) but I recall that the first Goo I solved was Madonna in 2003. I clicked on the link out of curiosity and lo and behold. I didn't return to the site for a few days but something made me retrace my internet steps and I looked a little more. I was intrigued by the discussion threads and past Goos and from that day forward my participation grew little by little. Goos, a discussion here and there, then a blog and Rock Block, etc. I've been to the site almost every day for the last 13 years or thereabout. It has been almost exclusively my pleasure and the best part is not the games (although they're great!), it's been the relationships I've developed, the people that I've had the pleasure to meet in person, and trips to Florida that have consistently included a visit with Scott and Kelly. Thanks for everything. I'll be here.

Scott Hardie | October 29, 2016
Matthew: I'm just as grateful to you. You have given me so much great feedback and enthusiasm over the years, and you directly inspired Celebrity Goo Game with your own celebrity trivia web game, and you talked me into keeping it going with a "round two" that led to a lot more rounds and seasons afterwards. That's a great story about the other kids on the floor. :-)

Steve: I feel the same way; the games are fun and all, but the human connections are so much more valuable. I don't suppose you've seen Bojack Horseman on Netflix, but there's a good moment in the latest season when the equine hero ponders the depths of his loneliness and thinks of what he would say to someone he betrayed. He starts his apology letter with this sentence. That phrase has been on my mind a lot lately, because it applies to so many areas of life, and certainly to the Internet. Thanks for being there for thirteen years and counting.

Chris Lemler | October 29, 2016
This has been a great site. AND if I would of known about this I would of joined alot early. I got to meet some great people and glad to call them my friends. But the time I have been on here it has been a great and fun time. The first time I found out about this site was from my friend Sarah Kyle. It's been a blast with you running this Scott. And I plan to be around for a very long time. Keep up the hard work you do for the players.

Scott Hardie | October 30, 2016
Thanks, Chris! I'm glad that you've enjoyed it so much. I hope to keep you entertained for a long time to come. :-)

Samir Mehta | October 31, 2016
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Erik Bates | November 3, 2016
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Scott Hardie | November 6, 2016
Thanks, guys! I feel the same way about both of you, and everybody else here. And there are a few more people on here that I'd still like to meet someday too. Perhaps I should start planning some weekend getaways...