Gephyrophillia | Not An Update #1

Originally Posted on 07/10/2008 by Jeff Harris

This is not an update.

It's an introduction to a new section of a webpage that has been around for over a decade.

I'm hoping you didn't bookmark the Watch This Space page because as of right now, it's dead. Not because it's out of date or lost its relevence (over 175 columns), but because it outlived its usefulness. It's just a commentary track on a website. It's probably a reason people think this site is nothing more than a glorified blog. The X Bridge is not a blog. Not that I have a problem with blogs (I have one myself), but blogs have this stigma of being a place where anybody, ANYBODY, can talk about anything. It's seen by most of the outside world as everything from news sources to gossip mills to glorified love/hate sites of the item of your choice to criticism of the girl that wore the same dress you did and mindless potpourri of drivel not meaning anything and filled with made-up acronyms and lazy writing and everything inbetween. Everybody and their mother has a blog. My mom doesn't, but your mom probably does.

We've actually gotten to the point that nobody really makes webpages anymore.

Oh, don't get me wrong, web pages are still being made on a daily basis, but it's mostly for two purposes: commercial and political. Commercial sites are built to sell you something, either a new useless piece of plastic, a filmed production that they won't care about weeks after the site launches, promote their own programming/media, some corn, meat, potato, soy, or water-based crell that ad-men will tell you is the next taste sensation, or any service you can imagine. Political sites are commercial sites, but more purpose-driven. They're trying to "sell" you everything, from a politician who may differ from his or her opponent but pretty much the same candidate, to a cause that is either for or against another cause, to a religion/cult that basically calls the other religion/cult evil, all of which scares the reader into thinking that if you don't think the way the author does, you're either going to end up in hell or a hell-like patache, doomed to forever live in misery, or will no longer enjoy that thing you like.

And even political and commercial websites are being laid by the wayside by a lot of folks. They're making blogs now. Low-maintenance, low-cost, limited-time blogs to suit their needs right that moment. Those that do make websites, especially websites for themselves, are a dwindling number. Most websites have a shelf life of three to five years at the most.

Which is why I'm still at awe about why The X Bridge is still standing after ten years.

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the creation of CN2: Toonami Revolution, which became CNX: Toonami Revolution in 1999 and The X Bridge in 2003. I know this is essentially a political and commercial site. Initially, I tried to "sell" people the essence and attitude of the Toonami action-animation block back when nobody gave a damn about it, not even Cartoon Network themselves (they didn't even launch a Toonami web section on their site until 2000, two years after CNX launched). I've glorified some companies and individuals and demonized others, some intentionally, others, not so much. I've gotten on the good side of companies I liked and got smacked around the moment I criticized them. I've gotten on the bad side of companies I questioned, but they're a little less-than-receptive when I try to reach out to them.

Ten years after the site launched, I'm wondering exactly what I'm "selling." Am I "selling" a particular viewpoint? Am I "selling" your mind, opening it up for creative conversation? Or am I just "selling" myself? Webpages are essentially vanity cards for who you are. It tells the world who you are, what you think, and shows off what you like and don't. It's essentially an exercise in arrogance. Those that won't admit that will continue to be content in the fiction that they are bigger than they think they are. Nobody cares what I think. Who the heck do I think I am, and why should what I write matter to you? It doesn't. It's just AN opinion, not THE opinion. I know people are going to disagree with me. I know people are going to agree with me. I just won't let it get to my head.

I refuse to.

Not An Update will be one of the few sections of The X Bridge where I'm going to be myself. I'm still going to talk about what entertains and annoys me, but I'll speak with a little more clarity. I'm just going to have fun with The X Bridge, entertaining and informing the readers of the site, whether they've been around since the GeoCities years, the CNX era, those that remember the old ITW and Revolution boards, the move to Toon Zone, or are just now discovering the site for the first time. To all those that have been around for the good times, the bad times, the fun times, and the angry times, I thank you for sticking around. To all those that are just getting their feet wet in this site, thanks for venturing here in this era.

To those of you who are about to rock, I salute you.

This is not an update. It's a new beginning.

Jeff Harris,
Webmaster, The X Bridge. Since 1998.