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Witchvox YEAR End (1998)
Author: Witchvox Central
Posted: March 3rd. 1999
Times Viewed: 14,573
A recap of WitchVox on the Web in '98 and some thoughts about our future...
We love change... Our cats hate it! This past year was one of much change for so many. In early 1998 we moved our life and the Witches' Voice "Headquarters" from Boston, Mass. to Clearwater, Florida. We used this dramatic change to reflect quite extensively on our personal future and our evolution with the Witches' Voice both on and off line.
We Got Hitched: Our love for each other has never been in question. On June 5th, 1998 we made this legal. (see wedding photo to your right)
Witches, Wiccans and Pagans of the World...
TWV would not exist without the desires and interests of the hundreds of thousands of Witches, Wiccans and Pagans that have hit and continue to hit this site on a regular basis. Your Voice IS this web site and via tens of thousands of submission forms, email and surveys, YOU have told us what you want and desire. You have made it easy for us to forge a direction. May you be thrice blessed for the light that you have shared with us.
The Incredible Witch, Wiccan and Pagan Web...
Wren and Fritz are honored to share the pagan web with over 2,000 incredible sites and we are proud to be affiliated with the Pagan Webcrafters Association. Some of the pioneer sites are going into their 5th. year online. When we surf the Pagan web we are simply stunned at its depth, beauty and diversity. We have always offered a detailed list of every site we know of and we are thrilled to support them and the wonderful work they do. The success of the Witches' Voice, has little to do with the search engines and everything to do with the generous links we get from many fine sites. TWV is indebted to the Pagan Web and always will be - thank you. Visit our Pagan links section for an annotated and clean listing of 2,000 Witch, Wiccan and Pagan Web sites.
Yesterday!
How did it start for us? - A Brief History...
On April 2nd 1996, we put three pages up on the 'Net for Laurie Cabot's "Witches' League for Public Awareness" in an attempt to promote tolerance and set right many of the mis conceptions related to the Modern Witch/Wiccan/Pagan movement. Much to our surprise and with the help and support of many wonderful Witches, 1996 was an incredible year. During our tenure with the WLPA, we were able to not only to keep the site online, but to also help generate over $8,000 in funds that went directly back to the community via several cases of discrimination (Iron Oak, Kerri Patavino etc. etc.). During these same 8 months, the WLPA generated some 240,000 hits and achieved many successes in the areas of networking and communication. Wren and Fritz resigned from the WLPA on Dec. 16th. 1996. Upon our departure we handed over a balanced check book with a substantial cash balance, one of the hottest URLs on the Pagan web, 143 paid members, and the three pages that we started with. We wished them only the best and took a well deserved break.
We took a week off...
After a one week break, we realized that we simply had to continue this work. We spent the month of Jan. 97 creating the first version of the Witches' Voice. We acquired the domain name WitchVox.com and launched the Witches' Voice in cyber space on February 2nd, 1997 with 56 pages and some new technology for the links and contacts section.
Our first year as WitchVox was incredible: For our wrap up of WitchVox '97 Click HERE.
The Witches' Voice Web Site - 1998 c.e.
Wren and Fritz would like to thank all of you that continue to help make the Witches' Voice a valuable stop on the Net. This past year we again, made thousands of friends and learned so much. We made many mistakes and again learned much... WitchVox presently offers close to 700 meticulously crafted pages and a small sampling of some of TWV's accomplishments in 1998 are listed as follows.
Thanks to the power of the incredible Filemaker Pro Database engine, we evolved systems that enabled us to feature over 10 thousand Witches, Wiccans and Pagans on our State/country pages, 627 Circles and events, 521 Witch and metaphysical shops, 1,927 Pagan web sites in detail with complete contact info, and in the past few months close to 300 Covens and Groups. The afore mentioned pages were faithfully edited, cleaned and updated every 48 hours in 1998 and we never featured an expired event. Technology and lots of hard work enabled us to do this.
Thanks to the beautiful Trystia, we did our First Online Interview
Thanks to those of you that chose to sponsor this project, WitchVox held strong on it's "no banners" and "no advertising" policy.
Thanks to the heartfelt concern of hundreds of Witches and thousands of pieces of email, we were able to bring you the latest News and Information related to the Modern Pagan. Wren's Nest became a daily visit for so many. During 1998 Wren posted 792 articles related to the Modern Pagan community and is presently celebrating it's 106th week online.
Thanks to the incredible thoughts and inspiration of hundreds of Witches, we were able to offer dozens and dozens of essays and articles by the community giving depth and meaning to our name The Witches' Voice.
Thanks to the many that do share this vision, the PAGES at the Witches' Voice were viewed on personal computers from all over the world. As our this writing our total pages viewed are at 4,774,554. A 3 million hit increase over 1997.
1998 - WitchVox "Hits" Action
(A snapshot of our second year as TWV)
Thanks to the our fabulous Internet Web Hosting provider "Cetlink.net" we maintained a solid, stable and cost effective presence. Cetlink responded to any glitches quickly and politely. Cetlink has hosted WitchVox for the past 18 months for 29.95 a month.
Thanks to hard legal research, we were able to dramatically evolve our White Pages section. These documents not only list YOUR legal rights, but also provide many resources that YOU can use to protect those rights.
Thanks to the love and experience of many of our Elders, we launched a 32 page commentary entitled WitchWars - Fire in the Craft including many suggestions on ways to better communicate and unify our wonderful community. We post comments related to this controversial section to this day.
Thanks to those that became sponsors in 1998, we were able to offer all of the above to the community, for FREE, for another year. Many of them ARE listed on the State/Country pages (many chose to remain anonymous)... They deserve your thanks. Email them if you like what you see here. They made TWV legal, they paid for this to happen.
The above Thank YOUs are a small sampling of the WitchVox achievments for 1998
for a more complete overview, surf the 700 pages of this site. |
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34 Months Later...
  WitchVox Today and Tomorrow!
Present Day: Last month WitchVox was pounded on to the tune of 422,202 pages loaded, making January '99 our second most active month ever. This month is pacing about the same. Witchvox present tense is pretty much a blur at this end. Days are long but spirits are high and with every new day... comes the light. This we can count on.
Heading towards the Millennium! Acceptance of the Modern Pagan has grown dramatically in societies around this beautiful planet. Sure, there is still some work to do but this community has become a powerful Voice with lots of momentum. This "force" will clearly project us in a strong way towards this dramatic turn of the wheel. The days of "explaining" to the world what we aren't are over, our future challenge is to explain what we are.
Our Personal Plans for the Future: Over these past few weeks, Wren and I have given this question some serious thought and have made the decision to open up our options. Keeping this web site fresh and alive for these past 34 months has been exhausting to say the least. As much as we have enjoyed building WitchVox, the stark reality is that it has rendered zero opportunities in our personal lives. Wren wants to write some books, teach "live" Classes and continue to work with anti defamation groups like WADL. Fritz wants to focus his creative efforts on his second CD of "Witch Music", continue to develop his magical and technical skills, and to explore new and exciting options.
Over the next couple of months we will continue to weigh our options. This web site has often been referred to (by some) as a "valuable resource", and will stay online as long as we can afford to do keep it there or until it simply out lives its purpose. That said, it's clear that we will always be involved with this type of work at some level. It's what we do.
Our first three years online have been simply incredible... The love and support we have personally experienced from thousands is more than any Witch could ever dream of. The WitchVox sponsors made this possible! If YOU have enjoyed the Witches' Voice, do us a big favor and go to your state page and toss them a piece of email. They made ALL of this possible and we could never thank them enough for all that they have done for the Pagan community.
Thank You
ALWAYS In Your Service,
Founders - The Witches' Voice
(February, 14th, 1999 c.e.)
ABOUT...
Witchvox Central
Location: Clearwater¼, Florida
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