Virtual Vanity

What do Kofi Annan, Carson Daly, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Lindsay Lohan’s dad all have in common? That is, besides all having been Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Our research reveals that none of these B-listers has a personal website. While a search for rayromano.com or 50cent.com presents you with the latest official news about these celebs, browsing around for kofiannan.com or lindsaylohansdad.com leaves one stranded on the information superhighway.

Romano and Fiddy are, however, in good company when it comes to Harvard students, who seem to have a special fondness for naming websites after themselves. Four such undergrads—all male, but probably only by coincidence—joined FM for an enlightening roundtable discussion over the weekend.

FM: So, why’d you create your website?

Julian Han ’08: I created it before I came to Harvard. A website with your own domain name is very easy for people to memorize. I mean, nobody is going to remember you, especially during the first few freshman weeks.

FM: Did people remember you?

JH: Yeah, a few.

Sergey Trishin ’05: For me, the main reason was to put the newsletters I’d been sending home and all over the world to my friends online. Now I’ve made prefrosh.net for all the pre-frosh stuff. [Trishin created an online resource site for incoming Harvard students.]

FM: Has it helped with the freshman girls?

ST: I’m not after that.

FM: Cool. Pat?

Patrick G. Mauro ’07: I started a website before I got here too. I bought a domain name over reading period because I needed to procrastinate for exams. Web design is pretty good for that. Now there’s a blog, but mostly it’s just a place to put up pictures of my friends when they get drunk.

Eric P.C. Phelan ’07: I did mine over the summer because I saw Pat’s last year and thought I could one-up him. I thought his was pretty lame.

FM: What’s the deal with blogs?

PM: I just started the whole blog thing last month. I spent the first three quarters of my life as a fairly introverted person. You’re writing a journal and then you close your eyes and hit submit and it’s public. I kinda like that feeling.

FM: So, do you have a favorite website besides your own?

(silence)

FM: Are any of you hackers?

(silence)

FM: I mean in the cool way.

(silence)

FM: If you could get your page linked off of any other site, what would it be?

EP: Gucci.

JH: OCS Business.

ST: Mine is for friends.

PM: I guess thecrimson.com.

FM: Bingo, Pat. Last question, do you ever give out your website instead of your number to people at parties?

PM: I used to have business cards.

Didn’t we all.

[For more: www.epcphelan.com, www.patmauro.com, www.sergeytrishin.com, www.julianhan.com]