Frequently Unasked Questions

When I registered the domain 'neth.de' in 1998, I merely hoped that this would be useful one day. In 1999, I put a few provisorial pages online, but did not have any precise idea about when, how and why I would want to launch a proper homepage. About a year later, after having lived in three different countries within three years, I realized that an up-to-date web site might actually be a fairly useful thing to have. So I started to collect some materials and launched the site in its present form in May 2001. Since then, some people (strangers, family and friends) have asked me questions like:

• Why do you have this web site?
• Why did you register your name as domains?
• Aren't you worried about privacy?
• Are you an arrogant, self-centered bastard?
• Who cares about all that stuff about you?
• Don't you have anything better to do?

As most people don't dare or don't bother to contact me, I decided to use this page to provide some answers to those frequently unasked questions:

Why do you have this web site?

The short answer is that it's fun to have it and many people seem to visit and like it. In addition, these pages serve a variety of functions:

• File transfer & archive: If my home or office was to burn down today, the biggest tragedy I could imagine (aside from people being harmed) would be the loss of the only copy of my work or personal items, especially writings, pictures, and software programs. I'm minimizing this risk by creating electronic copies and storing them online. While some of this material can be viewed by visitors, the vast majority of it (e.g. copies of my current work in progress, or materials needed when I'm on the road) is only accessible by myself. Currently, about 80% of the data transfer on this site is created by myself just shuffling files around between my home and office.
• Social insurance: As I have changed my surroundings repeatedly withing the last 3-4 years, I find it quite consoling to know that whoever searches for me will find me. This can be frustrating (in the case that nobody bothers) or rewarding (when being contacted by someone). So far, it has been far more rewarding than frustrating.
• Memory triggers: There are lots of bits of the past that I vaguely recall but don't remember as well as I would like to. Jotting down a few random notes about an event or seeing an image sometimes helps to trigger an entire chain of related memories. However, I'm not very anal about the past and am perfectly aware that the mechanisms of memory often distort things in many (both perplexing and scary) ways.
• Sharing stuff with others: Writing articles, telling jokes or taking pictures is really boring if nobody ever reads, hears or sees them and comments on them. Despite various caveats (e.g. the lack of 'quality control' in the form of an independent editor) the web is a great medium to make things available to an audience and — ideally — receive feedback.
• Technical test bed: I sometimes like to explore technology and test things out. On this site, I can afford to make all the mistakes which I don't want to make when working on more 'serious' projects.

Why did you register your name as domains?

Why not? It was available when I first had the idea of a web site. And given that 'neth.de' and the more international 'neth.info' are short and easy to remember, they maximize the chance that someone searching for me will find me.

Aren't you worried about privacy?

I am indeed, but the truth of the matter is that none of the information you'll find here really is of a very private (or even intimate) nature. First, there isn't much factual information on this site that couldn't be found readily by other means, e.g. through public databases. And if a particular comment or picture I've put online (or decided not to put online?) prompts you to infer compromising facts about the various flaws of my character, you'll always have to bear in mind that I have total control over the content of these pages. Can you really be sure that my self-irony has not anticipated or intentionally provoked your criticism?
And the fact that most other people do not (yet?) put their images or CVs online does not warrant any conclusions about my (or their) character. As a general heuristic, I like to be as open as possible and try to conduct and present myself in such a way that I would not have to be embarassed if I ran into some stranger who had just visited my pages. While I prefer people to like me, I can live with the fact that some will misinterpret these pages, will be shocked about my level of (alleged) self-exposure, or even take a genuine dislike in me. Just as I frequently indulge in premature judgements, people have misread me or my pages and surely will continue to do so in the future. But the chances of some sort of positive rapport or recognition would not increase by being more defensive or conservative. In short: Not entertaining a personal web-site might be the 'safer' option, but it's certainly less fun as well.

Are you an arrogant, self-centered bastard?

No — but why should you believe me? Although you don't have many reasons to trust my judgement, I (and those who don't just know the virtual me) don't think that I'm more vain or self-obsessed than most people. Also, I'm neither overly self-confident nor much of an exhibitionist as far as truly personal information is concerned. And I'm certainly no narcissistic weirdo (please trust me on that!). After giving it some serious thought, I simply decided that the chances of a personal webpage outweigh its risks. And if this belief should ever be proven to be wrong it'll only take a few seconds to get rid of this site again.

Who is this site for?

Primarily myself (see above). Yet the fact that every month these pages attract roughly 200 to 300 visitors from all over the world forces me to take their expectations into account. From my page statistics I know that the majority of my guests are family members, friends, and colleagues. Although each group has its particular needs and expectations I like that my site gives family and friends a chance to learn more about my work, and interested colleagues to learn more about the person.
As for the occasional stranger, I hope that my site encourages him or her to contact me — regardless of whether it's to praise or criticize. On the other hand, being more of a lurker on other sites myself, I'm not disappointed or insulted if anyone does not give me any feedback. If someone just wants to put a face to the name, find out why I haven't answered a message, or just spend a few lazy minutes on the web, I'm happy to be of service. And if someone really turns away with shock and disgust, he or she would probably not have liked me in person either.

Don't you have better things to do?