From: David Nashtir



As for the info you're asking about, some of it is really hard to remember
now. I'll try to check the dates of those files that were not updated,
maybe it will give me a clue. I'm not sure about Sharon's and Kim's site,
but as far as I can recall Oren saw my site and that was the trigger to
create his own one. One thing I'm sure of' lets say 99%, is that when I
started to think about building the site, I obviously made a search for
"degrassi" through the web. Except of a laconic episode guide, all I found
were a few books and tapes for sale in amazon.com site, some educational
articles from the 80's, and a sporadic appearance of the word "degrassi"
in texts that covered Canadian TV. Maybe the blame is on the search
engines that were weaker back then, but since I didn't find any degrassi
devoted site, the only choice remained was to build one of my own, and
that I did. First I took the short episode guide and extended it a bit.
Then I added an introduction and some short characterizations, texts only.
A few people who saw the constructed site, suggested to put some pictures,
made scans and emailed them to me. Others sent paper copies of the
pictures, and someone sent me a small Direct Cinema booklet. Then I made
some scans from this booklet and added them to the site. So it began to
grow, and people who saw it now with the pictures and all suggested to
write some stuff, like additional episodes summaries, characterizations,
facts, etc. Two of the actors - Becky and Ken, sent their stuff, and Becky
also sent some pictures which I scanned and added to the page. When I got
a video capture card, I added a few clips and some music files. Then there
came an idea to add a guestbook, and so things continued to roll.

Why did I continue to work on it? At first it seemed kind of a challenge,
to build a good comprehensive site, with a wide cover of the subject,
something new, since I thought there are no other sites that deal with
degrassi. Later on, it turned to a kind of a habit: to add and improve
stuff. Of course, after it became large enough, with many sections and
all, and I became a bit tired to search for new exciting improvements,
sort of - it lost the new and original taste it had at first, my activity
decreased, and I don't touch it much any more - just a small changes here
and there, when people point out to mistakes. But people visit it, sign
the guestbook, enjoy, and that's good enough for me.


David.