goatee icon Goatee. OED: 1856 Miss Bird Englishw. Amer. 366. "They [Americans] also indulge in eccentricities of appearance in the shape of beards and imperials, not to speak of the `goatee'."

Why do I have a Goatee?

Because this is my creative space where I do what I want. I think the exhibitionistic tendency of Web authors is fascinating. On the one hand, I'm a privacy freak: crypto-anarchy and conspiracy theories abound. On the other, I'm pulled to put my life on-line. I love to browse the extensive personal pages out there. I am sometimes shocked at the extent to which people talk about themselves (testify!) given the many uses of the Web. Employers, friends, fellow hobbyists, even family members might look in on one's life. One might find pages ranging from resumes, to poetry, to explicit sexual content out there. In the "old days" reliance upon paper provided a partition between the spheres of one's life. Co-workers didn't see one's poetry or zine. Plus, you didn't want all the wackos reading underground work to know the email address of the guy in the cubicle next to you at your day-job!

I've seen many organizations set up rules regarding email and Web pages, but how often are they followed? And if they are, it is trivial to obtain personal email and Web facilities, so the lack of scope between the spheres of one's life disintegrates regardless. The common sense approach is not to put up anything you would feel uncomfortable having any one in the world read....

Regardless, these pages are not necessarily representative of anyone (including myself!) nor my affiliations. This is an independent and ongoing experiment I started when the Web was first becoming popular (around 1994). Furthermore, parts of the page may be forms of artistic expressions which have little if any relation to reality. If you care, I can make other disclaimers too.

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