Suggestions to MiniDisc Webmasters

Eric Woudenberg
Oct 17, 1999

I am quite delighted by the growth of MiniDisc information on the Web. Today an Altavista search on the word "minidisc" finds nearly 100,000 matching pages! This is quite a change from those days in 1995 when one person, alone, had the possibility of visiting nearly every MD page on the Web.

Offer to Host Retired Content

I would like to make two suggestions to webmasters who are maintaining MD information on the Web. One springs from the disappointing observation that MD pages with good and helpful content are occasionally disappearing. This is to be expected afterall, the Web is underpinned by a plethora of running computers. Web sites go down, people move on, the Net is constantly in flux. For this reason, I would like to offer a final resting place under Minidisc.org for those who wish to retire their MD related Web pages. I ask that pages placed here be ``finished'', i.e. not in a state of update, since taking in updates from outside could quickly become overwhelming. My hope in doing this is to prevent the loss of hard won information. Please feel free to contact me about MD pages you are no longer able to host.

Need for Diversification

My other suggestion relates to an avenue of approach for new MD webmasters. It seems every few weeks a new ``MiniDisc Page'' pops up on the Web, appearing to be a general purpose page for the format. While I applaud the MD enthusiasm that this reveals, I feel that as a community of webmasters, we could make more effective use of our effort. My recommendation for those wishing to make a frequently visited MD site is to focus on a specific area of MiniDiscdom. If you can do this well, and update it consistently over the long haul, you will be providing a valuable and helpful service to the MD community.

There are several areas that the MDCP does not cover well, and I think anyone doing a good job covering them would earn a prominent link on the MDCP. Some of the topics I would love to see someone ``own'' are:

Please bear in mind that these are only my suggestions, if you have bigger plans and want to create the next, major, MiniDisc Page, please do not let these ideas stand in your way.


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