The Buffy Stakehouse
Thank You For Four Wonderful Years!



When I started The Buffy Stakehouse four years ago, I had no idea that I would stick with it for all this time. It was my fling, my insanity, a brief obsession after I finally watched a full episode. It was also my introduction into the world of web design, which means that in some small way, The Buffy Stakehouse will always be my "baby".

Our first home was a small MSN-hosted webpage. (And when I say page, I do mean single page of information.) I posted updates on the actors, spoilers, a few links, and a picture. The site was nothing special; far from it, it was pretty pathetic, really, but it was also my very first website ever, so I was proud of myself.

The next stop was a community on MSN. It may still exist; I don't know. I don't think I ever cancelled it. Hmm... This was slightly larger, with a member list for people to join, some more links, a database of pictures, and a document filing cabinet for jokes about Buffy that I got over my email. It was still a fill-in-the-blanks basic site, requiring no knowledge of HTML or graphic design. This site did pretty well for about a month, which led me to start a seperate community for my family. After multiple problems with that site, my aunt encouraged me to learn HTML so I could write a page myself.

So I did. I bought one of the Dummies books on the subject and made myself read a chapter every night. I learned all the basics - how to code a simple single page, creating links and paragraphs, headers and bold and italics. Nothing fancy. Around this same time, I heard about this remarkable concept called "fanfiction". Somebody sent me a story on my email, and after that I was hooked. I read a ton of it before it ever occurred to me to write my own story... I think it was called "Love Everlasting" or something equally ridiculous. The story was outrageous... things appearing and disappearing at will, with no regard for the mythology of the show or anything. There was no creativity, no originality, no verve at all. I look back at it now and laugh at myself... I just can't believe I ever expected anyone to read it!

That inspired me to write my own site, completely redesigned, and my introduction to this long relationship with Geocities. The new site was devoted to fanfiction and links. I kept adding stories and adding links. I got a counter and created a couple of graphics - nothing special, just a picture from the official site with "The Buffy Stakehouse" scrawled on it in one of the available fonts from my computer. There was no flash page of any kind, just a single scroll-down with a list of my fanfiction and links to get to it. The links were on the bottom of the page.

Eventually I added a guestbook, then seperate pages for links and pictures. More and more got lopped on... then my family moved, and I didn't have the Internet for several months. I decided to use the months to put a new site together, one with frames and better graphics. I started to create my own banners and buttons, and I learned some new tricks, like how to put a picture in the background - and make it stay in one place! I uploaded the new site as soon as we got the Internet hooked up, with frames and an actual background. (As pictured here - anyone remember this one? :)

I eventually added photo galleries and whatnot (I just love that word... "whatnot"...) I can't remember when I decided the site should change completely. I think we might have moved and lost the 'Net yet again. At some point, anyway, it happened. That's when I designed the new one, the one that you see... well, not today, as I've taken it down now. If you're a return visitor, it's the site you saw probably the last time you were here.

Four years. Four long years. I stopped watching Buffy, but I kept writing fanfiction. I actually don't do much of either anymore, but since I may do it occaisionally, I'm leaving my options open.

So here it is, folks. The end of the line. I really truly want to thank everyone who has emailed me and supported me and encouraged me, especially with the writing. To everybody that actually humored me and applied for my awards, thank you. I appreciate it. I guess this is the end... here it is. August 18, 2002. This is Chrissy, signing off.