In 1999 I started a mailing list called WebSanDiego.

To restate the history of the group, it goes something like this:

In October, 1998 I asked on usenet if there were any mailing lists for web developers in San Diego. I didn’t get much response.

What I was looking for was something in the manner of WWWAC from New York, NoEnd of the Bay Area, or, especially, Web405 from Los Angeles. At the time I was living in L.A. and Web405 was invaluable to me in getting a sense of who was who in web work.

When I moved to San Diego in March 1999 I figured I would fill what I saw as a vacuum. WebSanDiego was born Friday Mar 19, 1999.

Since then, the mailing list at yahoogroups has generated more than 27,000 messages from San Diegans in all fields of the web. Designers, programmers, marketers, entrepreneurs, HTML flunkies,

It’s been nearly six years and we’ve had a fair share of events in that time. We’ve seen many groups come and go. WebGrrls was the co-sponsor of our first Happy Hour, and they no longer exist. The Southern California Web Programmers Forum likewise went away. The Association for Internet Professionals made a stab at it for a while, but also dissolved. NetHappyHour, iLounge, VIC/San Diego. Many groups formed with the intention of making some dough and riding the internet wave.

WebSanDiego, with no budget and no real mission other than to be a useful resource, has persisted because it never tried to be a company, or make money, or make anyone famous. WebSanDiego, triumph of the middling!

But seriously, WebSanDiego persists because it has a simple aim, and here it is:

WebSanDiego.org is an unmoderated mailing list for San Diegans and others in the area who work on the internet in general and on the World Wide Web in particular. It’s a place to ask technical questions, discuss current design issues, speak about business, judge new servers, talk hosting and ISPs, or just plain talk about the fast forward world that is the WWW. You can share your time-saving tips, HTML tricks, share URLs, ramble, rant, n’ rave, and generally talk about the web! The web is supposed to be about community, so why not let web developers learn from each other?

It is in that spirit that the WebSanDiego.org website is being re-organized as a blog.

The mailing list on yahoogroups is NOT going away, but it no longer has a loudmouth (me) closely following events in San Diego. I have moved away and want very much for the group to retain its relevance to San Diego technical folk. To do that, I really need to find like-minded people who want to help contribute.

If you’re a web developer - or just know one - please spread the word about WebSanDiego! And if you’re interested in contributing to the blog, please drop a line and let’s build it together,

Thanks very much for your time, attention, and indulgence.