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This whole monstruousity was originally conveived February through March 2001 by the members of The Big Note - a Frank Zappa YahooGroup. After an arduous gestation period, this site was birthed on April 11 2001. True to the essence of collaborative effort, these people are held responsible.

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© TheBigNote 2001-2004
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History of CCFZ - First FZ Webring

Written by Andrew, aka ringcreator "pogen"

Back in the old days of the Zappa Web World, there were a few big sites that supported all the little sites...Heederik’s (St. Alphonso’s Pancake Homepage), the Black Page, and “something” Bob’s Zappa Links (not sure I can remember the name). There was also the Zappa.com page, and though not supportive of the rest of our little Web ventures, it was updated frequently and kept well.

As time went on though, these sites started to fade. Heederik stopped updating, Bob didn’t have the funds to continue his links page, the Black page was no longer attended to, and Zappa.com was pretty much pushed aside after the last of the Ryko Zappa re-releases were finished. The Zappa Web World was breaking apart in a way, as there were no unifying forces or people to hold it together.

I myself saw this happening in mid 1996, when the Web was still sort of for nerds, but was starting to become cool. More Zappa sites were popping up, and the following was starting to really push itself forward, not only with numbers, but also with original site design. But there still was no central hub.

The wheels in my 15-year-old mind started turning. I had been cruising since 1994, so I knew the Web quite well, and started to think of ways I could bring all these wonderful sites together. WebRing came to mind. WebRing was one of the most utilized tools on the Web at the time, and I started searching it for evidence of a Zappa WebRing that I could add my “AbsolutelyFree?” page to. To my surprise, no one had created one. Ever. So, since I was a dorky little computer fiend, I decided to take a stab at my own. I quickly picked up the “zappa” ring ID name, and went ahead and created my own webring site.

I got my first WebRing Navigator bar finished (at that time, we RingMasters created our own images) and started posting on the Frank Zappa fan newsgroup. Right away, five sites joined up, which made it possible for my ring to be listed on the WebRing search engine. In a week, I had twenty sites, all with the NavBar up and running.

The thing just kept growing. Eduardo, who ran a nice site called “Zappa BR” made some much more professional looking NavBars for me (I didn’t even request them) and I started adding to my hub page.

I had a fine time with the ring for a long time; my hub was well kept, and sites were added in a timely fashion. The only trouble I had came when GeoCities trashed my page and another person moved in on my old domain, posting a Columbine Remembrance page. I moved to my IP’s web space, and I re-tooled the whole thing. A nearly original draft is still posted here.


By 1998, the ring was well over 50 sites and growing. I was starting to have a difficult time updating everything, so I started looking for some helpers. I found that in two people, Keith and C., who each have written nice pages. They helped me along for a great while, but when WebRing sold out to Yahoo!, their status as co-managers was erased when the system was changed.

At this point, we had over 100 sites in the ring and more in the queue waiting for approval. I hadn’t the time to update at all, so I started a secret search for new RingMasters, first just looking at sites and then I sent an email to the whole ring. Many people expressed the interest, and it took a lot of thinking to finally decide. I chose Jurgen and the Big Note guys. So far, they’ve done a much better job than I ever did, and I am glad they are passionate to keep it alive.

Through all my years on the web, I was never proud of much of my work at all. I posted many personal sites that were dull and typical. My two Zappa sites were so silly that they have been archived. The WebRing, CCFZ, was the only thing that seemed worth keeping up; not only could I feel like I was helping pull the Zappa Web presence together, but I was keeping my hero, FZ’s spirit alive on the Web. I am truly honored that everyone decided join me!

cheers
andrew
Also known as the “ringcreator” pogen

Relevant links:
The Big Note's CCFZ-page

Frank Zappa


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