the basics

what's a FAQ?

If FAQ sounds more like a dirty word than anything else, then you need an explanation. FAQ is an acronym for Frequently Asked Qeustions. Many websites have one, and what it is, basically, is a list of answers to questions that readers often ask (or might ask) about the website, person, or product in question. It's meant to inform a reader on everything they might need (or want) to know; if it's done correctly, it saves the reader the trouble of asking, and the author the trouble of answering. Everybody wins, see?

where am I?

You are visiting the Trigear Productions website. This website has only been around in its current incarnation since summer of 2005, but it has existed in one form or another for half a decade. I've been running it since its start as a personal weblog, though during its lifetime it has also served as a collaborative movie review website.

the website

what's the point of this website?

Well, the site's been through a whole bunch of incarnations, and in order to fully understand the site now, you'd have to understand the history of the site, and the history of me, neither of which are going to be outlined right here and now. For now, suffice it to say that the site is a place where I can be me. Over the course of its history, it's had several different purposes. Some of them met with success, and others did not. At this point in time, however, I don't have a purpose for this site, other than for it to serve as a homebase for me, on the internet. It's where I collect my thoughts, it's where I keep my friends up-to-date on my comings and goings (or at least the ones that I feel they need to know), and it's where I can share things with them, no matter where they are.

who are these friends?

For the purpose of this site, the word 'friend' has two meanings. On the one hand, there is a small, exclusive group of people who I call my best friends. These are the people I hold closest to my heart, and you may see me mention them on the site from time to time. On the other hand, anyone who visits this site is potentially my friend. Did you like what you read? Did I entertain you? Will you visit me again? Then yes, you are my friend. Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you thought of my site. Think I should check something out? Again, the comment board is there for a reason. I want to hear from you.

what are you using to make this site?

Right now, this site is done up entirely using the Drupal content management system. It allows me to update the site fairly often, organize content on-the-fly, and make the site pretty in virtually any way I want, all without having to worry too much about the code. The layout and design of the site is one of the default ones, for now, but I'm actively looking for a better solution.

At one point, I coded the site entirely by hand. I found, after time, that the only benefit to doing things that way was the bragging rights. With a hand-coded site, there's a lot of debugging work to be done, and organization and categorization are practically impossible.

how often do you update the site?

As often as I can, which lately means barely at all. Frequency picks up every once in a while. For the moment, though, I don't have a whole lot to say, nor the time to say it.

building bridges

can I link you on my website?

Absolutely! The name of the site, as I mentioned before, is Trigear Productions. I haven't seen a need to create a banner or button so far, but if you want one for your site, let me know.

if I link your website, will you link mine?

The only way you'll find out is if you ask me. I won't link your site just because you linked mine, because, well, that's a situation open for abuse. I try to only link sites that I feel I have a reason to link, either because the owner's a friend or because I find the site useful, entertaining, informative, or all of the above. If you send me a link to your site, and it gets through my spam filters, I'll try to check it out (but no promises). If I like your site, then I'll see if it qualifies to be linked on my site. If I don't feel your site is something I want to promote, I won't link your site.

why wouldn't you link my site?

This is my personal website. I'm the sole owner, and I'm solely responsible for it. We live in the Information Age, and it's ridiculously simple for someone to type your name into Google and find out practically everything about you. In the interest of keeping my nose clean, I feel that the things I post and the places I link should, in some way, reflect who I am and how I want others to see me. To that regard, I wouldn't link to your site if it contained content that I felt didn't reflect well on me, or if it bored me immensely, among other reasons.

why do you use ads?

Theoretically, to make some money. Not a lot of money, mind you; I'd be happy just to make back what I spend on keeping this site running. This is all in theory, of course. To date I haven't made a single cent from advertisement, or from anywhere else on this site, for that matter. I try to keep the ads as unintrusive as possible. I would never ever support any of the more annoying ads (the ubiquitous "punch the monkey" ad, pop-up ads, and the epilepsy-inducing flashing ads come immediately to mind). I use only Google Adsense ads, because for the most part they're just text-based ads, which I like a lot. They fit my site's visual style, they're as low-impact as possible, and they usually relate to what you're actually seeing on screen. Which, you know, makes a difference. They're also proven more effective than other types of ads, which means they pay more than the others. In theory.

(2007.04.25)