so long, evan, and thanks for all the fish

Evan Williams, one of the founders of Blogger, is moving on to new things in his life.
Way back when I had my lame Geocities site, I asked loren how I could add a blog like his to Where’s My Burrito, and he directed me to Blogger. Back then, I was a total noob (unlike the partial noob I am now) and everything online scared the shit out of me. But Blogger was really easy to understand, and allowed me to put what was in my head online without having to waste time and energy worrying about technology.
So I guess what I’m saying is, without Evan (then Noah Grey, then Domesticat, and now Ben and Mena Trott) there would be no WWdN, and I wonder if I would have ever examined my life the way I have.
That means more to me than I can put down here, so I’ll just say thank you, Evan, and good luck. You made a difference in my life, and I know that I’m not the only one.

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28 thoughts on “so long, evan, and thanks for all the fish”

  1. See, you’re like Evan to me. After I started reading your blog regularly, I started one of my own to be my “diary” in my tough times. In other words, you’re my inspiration 😉 .

  3. Hey Wil,
    After years of relatively solitary geekdom I finally caught on to your site here about two weeks ago. I literally skipped around my office clapping my hands like a little kid. I mean, I was a member of Wil Power when I was 15. I’m hardcore. Or at least I used to be, cause I had no idea about the books and the site. Super happy moment.
    I’m beyond new (or would that be n00?) to blogging, and have only just even gotten my Friendster and MySpace on. But if you can do it, I can do it, so I’ve just set up an account on Blogger. Maybe in a year or five I can thank you for cracking open a door for me that I hadn’t yet realized I wanted to walk through.

  4. I had been reading your blog regularly when Douglas Rushkoff told me about Blogger… So, you, Douglas and Evan inspired me to write my blog…
    Now, surely you all have been listening to the new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio series with the original cast…?
    And so far WWdN readers have contributed $800 on my sister’s Team in Training page… Thanks so much all of you.

  5. Very touching sentiment Wil. I still don’t have a clue about what you guys are talking about in all this computer mumbo jumbo…..lol

  6. I found Blogger a month ago after finding out that an old coworker had moved to Australia and started keeping a blog. Since then I’ve started my own using blogger and all things geeky, of which I always wanted to try but never thought I could. I’m hooked now because of Blogger and your blog that I found after reading mediasharx. I’m now in the process of self publishing my writing on a website I’m constructing using Geocities.
    So thanks to Blogger for starting me on this road and to you Wil for proving it can be done. BTW, I think you should write a version of viva las vegas with Sub titles for those of use who aren’t Poker literate.

  7. Wil you rock.
    Anyone that uses a Douglas Adams’ book as a title of an entrie is awsome. And, you are already awsome. So, I guess that would mke you Awsome^42.
    😉
    -cory

  8. Your blog inspired me to make a site, but it got too hard to maintain. Now, your site is the only reason I use the internet.

  9. this is the first time i’ve stumbled across this site, and to my eternal joy it’s turned out to be one of those (seemingly) rare beasts – an Actually Really Interesting Blog.
    regarding Evan and the crew – i started as a complete newbie about nine years ago, and seemed to share pretty similar sentiments with your good self about the whole experience…it was at once terrifying, hostile and impenetrable – but most of all compulsively fascinating. luckily, with the help of people like Evan and Noah (whose amazing Greymatter software I still use to this day), i kept a diary of my experiences as i grew as a person and a presence online, learning about IRC etiquette, MUDs, HTML, CSS, Java etc…
    …now, nine years down the track, i’m currently writing a commissioned book about that freakish and glorious journey that i’m still embarked upon. it’s a story that will probably never truly end.
    what an incredible place this invisible universe turned out to be, after all. i propose a toast to everyone who has played a part in ITS continuing evolution, and, therefore by association, our own. cheers, guys. chin chin!

  10. PS – i’m compiling anecdotes for the above project now, from both new users and well-travelled ‘Netheads.
    if you’d like one to be considered for inclusion, please email it to the address found at my NEW site (http://www.theginpalace.net), not the old one. thanks. 🙂

  11. Cool! My first website was also a lame Geocities site! I had planned on keeping it, since it did have some not so lame sections with some pretty cool stories I had written. Plus, it was the site I learned raw HTML while developing. But, sadly, Geocities deleted it because I forgot to log in and edit it once in awhile. No warning email or nothing. Just “Poof!” one day it was gone. Wouldn’t you know that I never made a back-up of that website offline!? Oopsie. My bad.

  12. You’re not a noob…actually I don’t know…what…that…is,but I douct you are one. Evan is my bestest friend’s name…not the same Evan as yours though…this made more sense to my inner voices…hmm

  15. I like how you give credit where it is due.
    I am a bit thankful to Evan (even though I haven’t got the foggiest idea of who he is) because without him, we wouldn’t know about your kids, your awesome wife ( i SO want to meet her someday) and your friend Kris. We wouldn’t have gotten to hold your hands while you held hers. Personally, the entries about Kris effected me the most and I don’t know why. Maybe because it wasn’t censored and the situation wasn’t downplayed to spare us. It scared the living shit out of me and for the first time, I really prayed for someone I didn’t even know (and i’m a Christian, that should be happening all the time, right?) How is she by the way?
    Now that the sap is over, how’s Felix? Haven’t heard anything about him in a while. And did you ever get braces?

  20. My name is Wesley.
    It has causes me pain when people ask me where’s The Traveller. Then I envoke some pain on them, being 15stone and a boxer. Some people have guts. Dublin, Ireland.

  21. Good luck Evan, in all your future endevours (sp).
    Oh, Wil, be sure to post the results of the Celeb Munchkin game.
    For those of you it’s Wil vs. Eric Raymond, Eric Flint, Steve “Evil Stevie” Jackson, and Howard Tayler playing Munchkin in Cage of Death!… okay, so I made up the Cage part, but it’s going to be awesome, but I can’t make it because I’m broke, living in Oregon, and I’ve got to work Friday.
    Now, we need to get some other not-quite-A-list celeb geeks there (Adam “Edge” Copeland, Shane “The Hurricane” Helms). Hmm… Wil’s l33t skillz vs. Shane’s Hurra-powers. Nahh, Shane doesn’t stand a chance. 😉

  23. i just started a blogger blog this past week and read about EVAN’S departure…what a wonderful thing he has done…now what will he have to do to top that?

  24. it’s hard to know what to post after reading your “think before you post” section…. I don’t feel abliged to kiss your butt in an un-ending love fest. Every set of post is “you rock Wil” and “you’re so rad” and so forth. Do you dig on this Wil? I mean, it would drive me nuts. You don’t know any of us, but we all feel like we know you well. Yes you’re an icon of sorts and talented….but you strike me as a person who tries very hard to keep things “real”….and yet the ongoing display of sappy verbal slaps on the back is sickening. One can only hope that those close to you are a bit more honest and real with you. I assume they are from your blog. Anyhoo…I suppose I’ll join in with the Wil-ites….
    Great post Wil! Thank God they gave you the start they did! Wow, you really are “stellar” tee he he….YEESH!
    Luv Ya,
    Fats

  25. It’s not too much to say that blogger changed my life, though not in the huge way it changed Wil’s, but I’m slowly, surely getting there.

  27. Wil,
    And thanks to you I have a blog on the web, though I still don’t know much about the technicalities behind it.
    Bryan

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