What should my personal home pages deal with?
The traditional answer to that question would be: they should deal with me. But of course they were going to do that whether I asked the question or not. A better way of asking it might be: given all the topics that your site might revolve around, on what in particular will you choose to focus?
And yes, there really is an answer to that question - an answer that is perhaps best determined by a process of elimination.
Much as I might like to write about my family, I don't really see myself scanning photos of my kids on each holiday. Some readers might actually like to see those photos, but somehow it just isn't me. If I could get around to reconstructing them, I would like to post my first attempts at personal web pages, both in Hebrew and in English. These do have photos of my kids, but they're from years ago, when the kids were smaller, and when I still thought that I might be able to maintain a web site around personal issues. Those first attempts aren't exactly lost, but they're not readily accessible, and including them in my new site is going to have to wait.
And if not photos? Maybe cute stories? Of course I have tens, if not hundreds, of these, and yes, I'd actually like to tell many of them. But I'm not really sure that I need a personal web site for that. The Boidem, as it has developed, has become a framework through which a great deal of personal information gets filtered. If I don't succeed in posting this column on time, well, that's partially because I was busy preparing bows and arrows for the kids for Lag B'Omer, or because, since the boys have the day off from school they want to use the computer, thus keeping me from it. Should I write about that? Not necessarily. But if I do, more often than not it shows up in the Boidem, so I don't need a personal web site for that.
One good purpose for a web site is to recount my own and my family's history. Quite honestly, there's a lot of interesting information that I wouldn't at all mind making available on the web (though I readily admit that my brother has done a good job of that on his site). Time is, of course, a determining factor, and if and when I'll have the time for this, I won't hesitate to clutter up cyberspace with information of this sort. But not at the moment.
What's left? Hmmm... It seems that I've gotten back to that online business card again.
Go to: the next big question, or,
Go to: On regaining a cyberdentity.