Interview
with Jason Bayne,
Star Wars Web Guide for
MiningCo.com/About.com
Interview by David Phillips
5/11/99
Note from Echo Station: Many of our
visitors may not be familiar with the web portal MiningCo.com. We encourage everyone
to explore this high quality guide to the internet, as its excellent content is blocked by
many search engines which consider it "competition". In this interview,
Jason Bayne explains how MiningCo.com differs from other search engines and portal sites.
Jason is the Star Wars expert running MiningCo.com's section covering Star Wars on the internet. His
job is to scour the internet in search of the best Star Wars coverage for MiningCo.com's
visitors, as well as administering the section's individual features and his own original
content. We thought it would be interesting to Echo Station's visitors to read about
how someone who is a professional Star Wars site reviewer handles covering the seemingly
endless number of sites on the internet. Click here to read about the concept of Guides at MiningCo.com.
ES: What is miningco.com and how does it work? How is it different than Yahoo or Excite, etc.? What is the Star Wars section at miningco.com all about?
JB: Miningco.com is a content, community and navigation
site that utilizes topic experts to develop destination sites in hundreds of categories.
Unlike a traditional search engine, all links are reviewed by a real person who is
an expert in the topic at hand. In addition, these experts, which we call 'guides,' write
original content and host chats and bulletin boards on their sites.
Unlike Yahoo! or other link collectors [where reviewers handle sites on any topic on the
internet], "Star Wars Fans" is the only section at The Mining Co. that I run. I
am given great latitude in what content I post and what links I list, but there are plenty
of guidelines as well that help keep the quality high across the network. I have been
running the site for about a year now, and in the time I have tried to put together a
comprehensive guide to the best Star Wars content on the net. I also write a weekly
article that can be about anything Star Wars related, where I often try to highlight a
site or group of sites that represent the best of their category.
ES: What is your role?
JB: Basically, I am the Star Wars guide. I don't have a support staff to help me with the administration of the site. The Mining Co. provides some great support on the technical and policy issues, but on a day to day basis I am on my own.
ES: How did you get the position?
JB: Like all the other guides, I had to apply for the position, which involves creating a sample feature to demonstrate your writing skills as well as your knowledge of the topic. If it is accepted, you are enrolled in an online training class.
ES: Was it a long process?
JB: The actual training class lasted about three weeks. In
it you are taught the ins and outs of a Mining Co. Web site. If you make it through the
class and pass all the reviews, you are made a full guide.
ES: When did you start?
I actually went online in May 1998.
ES: How much time does the site take each day?
It varies based on what is going on, but I generally spend at least 2-3 hours each day
answering email and doing 'research' such as surfing Star Wars web sites. I usually work
on my feature over the weekend, and can spend anywhere from two to ten hours on
it,depending on the topic.
ES: What do you do other than the site? What's your "'real life"
like?
JB: Real life is much less interesting. I do have a full time job outside of The Mining
Co., and generally work on the site in my spare time--evenings and weekends. I do web
development for the most part, as well as a few other computer related tasks at my day
job.
ES: How much of your material comes from submissions and how much from your own work?
JB: I do all of the writing for the site--there are no guest writers. Not that I would be opposed to them, but since I am part of a larger company all content as to be owned my me or in the public domain. If someone were interested in writing a guest feature, they would have to sign over all rights to the article, which is not a very popular option.
ES: How do you review sites?
JB: When I am surfing I am usually looking for a particular
topic. When I run across a site that has something outside the topic I'm researching, I
bookmark it and come back to it later--I have a huge bookmark file! I look for
announcements of new site all the time, and try to check out as many as I can. I also
accept submissions for review--I usually get one or two a day.
ES: What makes a site a "best of the net" site? What led you to rate
Echo Station "best of the net"?
JB: The 'Best of the Net' (BotN) rating is a very subjective thing. I don't have a point
scale that I use or anything like that--its generally based on how well a site covers its
niche. Although I can't really compare a site like TheForce.Net to a site dedicated to one
specific topic, I can see how well that smaller site actually covers its topic are
they the best resource you can find for that topic?; does the site do something unique for
its topic? It's one thing to say you are dedicated to a topic, and another to actually
show it, and I love to highlight sites that really make a contribution to fanson the
internet.
Echo Station stands out for me because of the professional quality it puts forth with
every article. Echo Station reports on the latest news, but goes the extra mile to cover
it in depth. Well written book reviews are more often than not accompanied by a chat or
interview with the author. Recently, instead of a quick blurb about the availability of
Episode I toys in stores, readers were treated to an epic story from three points of view.
And that is just the Emag--let's not forget all the other great features and services that
are provided for fans. Echo Station was one of the easiest BotN awards I had to give.
ES:How many emails do you get each day?
JB: I average about 20-30 a day, and I usually check email at least 3 or 4 times a day to
keep it under control. I do respond to every email personally, though, which can take a
lot of time, but feedback is what keeps me going. I always welcome comments about the
site, positive or negative--I only ask that they be serious.
ES: What is the absolute worst site you've ever been asked to look at? How do
you respond to people with sites that just don't "make the cut"?
JB: I can't recall a specific page that I would call the worst, but I have been asked to
look at pages that really offered nothing of value to fans. It's usually a page that has
about 20 sound clips, a few pictures of the cast, and a note at the bottom that says that
more is coming soon, but never does. The pages I dislike the most are the ones that steal
content from other sites without giving any credit. I do respond to everybody who submits
a page. If the page is 'worthy', I will tell them where the link has been filed away. If
not, I try to offer some suggestions on improvements to make, and I try to be as nice as I
can. Since I usually don't know the age of the person behind the page, I have to guard my
comments--I don't want to discourage a 10 year old from learning more about the Web, but I
don't want to patronize an adult either.
ES: How do you feel about certain search engines blocking all
miningco.com sites from their indexes? Do you feel this hampers your site's growth?
JB: It can be discouraging when you have content and can't get it to the audience, but I
think the real loser in this is the end user. When search engines pick and choose what
their supposedly "complete directory" contains, it means that much less
information that is readily available for the end users. Given the amount of Star
Wars related information that is on the Internet, I don't know how often my site would be
seen even if it were listed in all search engines. However, sooner or later, someone will
be searching for the exact same information on a topic that I have already done the
research on, and when they can't find it, they are the ones who truly lose out.
ES: Have you had any direct contact with Lucasfilm personnel?
JB: Not yet. Sometimes I am sorely tempted to blatantly infringe on their copyright, just
so I can get a cease and desist letter--I would frame that and hang it on my wall. But
then I think better of it...
ES: How do you feel about the Cease and Desist Orders being handed out to
websites posting Episode 1 information?
JB: I have mixed feelings on that issue. It really depends
on what the site is doing, of course, but I think LucasFilm is usually in the right.
Overall, I think LucasFilm has been pretty good to fans on the Internet--certainly better
than Paramount has been to Star Trek fans. However, someone who actually receives one will
probably have a different perspective than I. I read a recent report about LucasFilm
cracking down on the illegal use of copyrighted materials and laying the burden of
policing these sites on the ISPs. This seems to be an attempt to avoid upsetting fans
directly, and could lead to some unpleasant results for some sites. Lets hope things do
not get worse for fans on the Internet.
ES: Do you think there is too much focus on "spoilers" on the web?
JB: I personally don't like spoilers--I avoid them as best I
can. I have avoided reading the plot summaries that have been available for some time now,
and try to make my site as 'spoiler-free' as possible. However, I can understand the
allure of spoilers--knowing something no one else knows about the next Star Wars is great,
but it is no fun if you can't tell anybody. I hope that LucasFilm can keep an even tighter
lid on spoilers for the next couple of movies, but I doubt they will unless they greatly
cut back on the amount of merchandise they insist on having in stores weeks before the
movie releases... and we all know that will never happen.
ES: When do you plan to see "The Phantom Menace"?
JB: I will be there on opening day, of course! I will be trying for the midnight showing,
if there is one in my area.
ES: What do you personally anticipate being the best part of "The
Phantom Menace"? The worst part?
JS: The best part of the movie for me will be those opening seconds "A long time ago,
in a galaxy far, far away...", and then BOOM!!! the movie begins! The mixture of
anticipation and realization of that moment will be better than anything that may follow.
(gives me chills just thinking about it). The worst part for me is the flood of
merchandising that has hit stores across the nation. I love action figures and books, but
some of this stuff is just ridiculous--an there is so much of it! I feel that seeing all
these items all at once to an extent cheapens the whole Star Wars experience.
ES: How much have you learned in advance about the new movie? In other words,
do you know more than you wanted to know about "The Phantom Menace" from web
surfing before the movie?
JB: As I said before, I have never read a plot summary, so I am not aware of all the
details, but I do know more than I really wanted to know. I tend to read items that
are referred to as light spoilers, but tend to avoid the heavy spoilers.
ES: What is your favorite part of the Star Wars internet culture? Least
favorite?
JB: The communities that have formed are the most amazing thing, I think. Fans from around
the world can meet, get to know each other, work together to create a web site, arrange to
meet at a convention--it is an amazing organizational tool. My least favorite part of the
Internet are the people out there that want to ruin something for other people. People who
enter a Star Wars chat rooms and say 'I hate Star Wars,' or something to that effect
really annoy me. If you don't like something, please don't bother others with your dislike
unless you have something constructive to say. (Fortunately, many chat rooms have an
'ignore' feature.)
ES: Anything else you'd like to add?
JB: If you or someone you know has a Web site that has something to offer, please don't
hesitate to send me an email about it. I can't promiseit will be listed in the collection
of links, but I do promise to look it over and let you know what I think!