Wow, some really SIGNIFICANT things going on in the Asian American front, as well as some major milestones met with ORIENTED.COM, all happening at the same time. What a time to be doing what I'm doing! Though let me clarify again that ORIENTED.COM is *not* an Asian American site (not ethnic-based at all), nor is it a community site in the tradional sense (nothing like ORIENTED.ORG).

"Hmmm... very... very... cryptic..."

However, it is founded by an Asian American -- uh, that would be me (see above photo) -- so for that reason, I discuss them together below.

Onward...

• "aMedia, Inc. and aMagazine - Discontinued"

  I was very sad to hear that aMedia, Inc. has officially ceased operations and that its magazine, "aMagazine" -- the Asian American publication with the highest readership in the U.S. for over a decade -- will no longer be produced.

  I have a lot more to say about that and about other related efforts by Asian American entrepreneurs in the industry -- all of whom have my utmost respect for their work and for the impact they have made in bringing much needed exposure to Asian America -- but I'll have to do it some other time (too much to say in one sitting).

  aMagazine will be greatly missed. Hats off to all those behind it.

• "Jade Magazine Issues Its First PRINT Publication"

  With every ending there is a new beginning, as Jade Magazine releases its very first print magazine after being an online publication for over three years.

  

  I have a special connection to Jade Magazine because of how very similar our two operations have been from the very beginning and even up to today with all that's happening on our end.

  Like ORIENTED.ORG, Jade Mag started out with two people -- Audrey Panichakoon Crone and Ellen Hwang -- who met at a social event (Gus and I met at a CAPT event). Both wanted to provide a service which they felt was not being met at the time. Both were driven to do it above and beyond its potential as a money-making idea. Both worked on the project outside of their full-time jobs. And their site launched at almost the very same time that ours did back in 1999.

  Acer Ginny introduced me to Ellen by email in 1999, and from there we entered into a cross-promotional relationship between the two sites that still exists today. The coolest thing though, was that Ginny and I got to meet her in 2000 when she came to Taipei with her husband for a visit.

  And yeah... I tracked it. Click here for that journal entry.

  So. A hearty congratulations and my very best wishes to Jade Magazine.

• "Rice Bowl Journals Reaches New Milestone"

  Another community site which I talk about quite frequently in my journals is the Rice Bowl Journals, which now boasts over 750 active members. Founded by Carlos Rull, a musician, programmer, and father of two, the Rice Bowl Journals "... actually began as a little tribute page to a few online journalers" whose sites he frequently visited and admired. The rest is history, or so says Carlos, but to me, it is much more than that.

  I visit the Rice Bowl Journals frequently and have learned quite a lot from its development over the years. In fact, the ORIENTED.COM site has quite a few similarities in design and function (though different in content). There are many a reason why I believe the RBJs to be a huge success, much of it attributed to the quality of the work as well as to the person behind it.

  Let's just say that I wouldn't be surprised if the Rice Bowl Journals evolves into something even greater than it is today.

• "Get a Date with Christine at MeSoAsian.com!"

  I can't go without mentioning MeSoAsian.com, which is also a brand new site to hit the World Wide Web, launching earlier this year. Not to say that I've signed up for a bunch of DATING sites -- though I probably should eh, lol -- but that I find the whole concept quite interesting.

  One of the founders, Tim Chiu, had contacted me late last year about a possible cross-promotional, so, as with all other Asian American sites, I signed up for it to test it out (this by the way, is how I educate myself on new site features, color schemes, effective marketing tools, etc.).

  To be honest, I thought the whole idea was rather cheezy -- a knock-off of AmIHotOrNot.com -- and actually I still do (lol), but I have been getting some automated INTROS from the site. Although I have not yet found my Prince Charming, I can see why it has its appeal.

  Sigh... where oh where is my Prince Charming? LOL!

• "ORIENTED.COM Secures Its Very Own Web Host Account"

  You better not be laughing out loud! LOL! Well of COURSE there is a story behind this. I purchased the ORIENTED.COM URL from a cybersquatter in the Philippines way back in early 2000, and it basically just SAT there, unused, until I woke up one day and had an epiphany, almost a year and a half later. Our host provider for .ORG let us temporarily point the URL to a webpage on the .ORG site, which he agreed to do for free, but all of that changes as of today. See below.

"More about ORIENTED.COM..."

Why we need to have a separate host account for ORIENTED.COM at this point in time has everything to do with --> Jim in Shanghai. The reason behind this will reveal itself before the end of the month. It's probably going to confuse the HECK out of EVERYONE at the outset, but in this case, a little play is better than no play at all. LOL!

The email below that I sent to Keith, our web host provider, is probably one of the most exciting ones I've written in awhile, as the implications involved are so darn interesting. To me at least. Excerpts as follows (slightly edited):

    Hi Keith, thanks!

    One last request for the day, we need to start
    with a clean slate for ORIENTED.COM everything,
    including the current pointers to .ORG

    Email settings for .COM need to be emptied, and
    also, I'm killing the sub-directory
    http://www.oriented.ORG/dotcom just as soon as
    the .COM site is set up, so the current pointer
    from ORIENTED.COM to it is no longer necessary
    either.

    Here is some background that may affect our
    (Gus and myself) hosting relationship with you,
    especially in the next few months:

    ORIENTED.ORG is a voluntary not-for-profit site
    that Gus and I started in 1999 which we will
    continue to operate together as such.

    ORIENTED.COM is an entirely different beast, a
    project that I'm taking forward on my own.

    It's a business, I just got funding to move it
    forward after working on the b-plan for over a
    year and a half, web developers have been set
    in motion and it will cover the Greater China
    region (not just Taiwan/.ORG).

    Though there are synergies that will continue
    to exist between the 2 sites, we don't antici-
    pate any mergers at this time.

    Thus, .ORG will continue to operate with its
    volunteer staff. (Gus will most likely contact
    you for all related activites with .ORG)

    .COM is beginning operations as we speak, with
    an entirely different group of people/staff.
    (I will be the one most likely to contact you
    for it).

    ---

    Thus, I've initiated the separation of site ac-
    counts and will need a clean slate in .COM's
    management system to assign new email aliases,
    amongst other things.

    ---

    And since for now, both .COM and my personal
    site HeyChristine.com are hosted under Gus'
    reseller account, he may on occasion need to
    contact you as well for both (Keith if you
    are able to follow what I'm saying, then you
    really ARE a god, lol).

    Where the ORIENTED.COM site will be hosted in
    4-6 months from now is up in the air, as it
    will depend on speed amongst other things (ob-
    viously) and whether or not there will ever
    be direct lines established between Taiwan
    and China.  As you probably know, it's all
    politically motivated and is the same reason
    why we don't have direct flights (yet) be-
    tween the two.

    So that's that in a nutshell.

    In the future, .COM (and by piggy back, .ORG)
    may be your biggest client in your portfolio,
    or, not a client at all.  So Keith, are you
    pro-Democracy, or pro-Communism?  (j/k, lol)

    On that note:

    Can you let me know when the email settings
    for .COM have been cleared out?  Thanks!

     - Christine

I had actualy contacted him to move ORIENTED.COM over to my web developer's servers here in Taiwan (the company was allowing me to host it there for free until the site officially launches), but in so doing, I was reminded of just how invaluable our relationship with Keith has been over the years.

I don't mind to pay a little to keep that relationship going.

We'll see what happens.


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