Webrings

by Joyce Kohl

January 7, 1999

What are Webrings? Here's a basic, simplistic explanation: Webrings are linked circles of Websites which allow visitors to visit Websites of similar interests or themes. They are free of charge to the owners, the members, and the visitors. There are over 40,000 Webrings of various subjects. What's the purpose of Webrings? They enable easy navigation to other Web pages with the same categories of interest. Each Webring owner sets up and maintains the memberships within the Webring. Every Website joining the ring has an identification number incremented by one for each new member.

Joining a Webring
The first requirement to join a Webring is, of course, that you have a Website. When you see a Webring you'd like to join, you can simply click on the "Join" hotlink of the Webring, or you can go to the WebRing home page and browse through all the thousands of established rings. Some Webrings may have hundreds of members or only a few. The listing will tell you a little about each ring and give the number of members.

The ring names are hotlinked so all you need to do is click on one that you might be interested in joining. All the Webrings are divided in to main categories, then sub-categories. Here's a small segment of the last few Webrings listed in the Pets section:

Rules
Each Webring has a list of qualification rules for joining. Read them thoroughly before signing up to be a member.

Webring Form
All the forms for joining are similar and more or less standard: Fill in your name, your URL, the title of your Website, keywords, and a short description. Some of the Webrings require you download the graphics used for the Webring, copy the basic code and then change it to include your assigned ID, your own email address and name. Some Webrings automatically send you the code with your information already entered through email; some will send you only the basic code which you must edit to reflect your assigned ID, your name, and your contact email address. All Webrings notify your status as being in the queue, but not yet a member until you notify either the Webmaster or another ring member to add you to the ring.

Some tips to remember for filling out the form:  If it's a Webring for your pet's page, use your pet's name instead of your own; be sure to have all the information you need before filling out the form - such as the keywords and description.

Adding to the Ring
Once your Website has been checked and approved for membership, you're added to the Webring queue, and notified by email of your membership and told you are not yet a member of the ring. Once you have the required HTML code and graphics added to the page where you want the Webring to be (it must be the same page as you indicated in the submission form), then you ask to be added to the ring per the instructions in your acknowledgement email. Once you're added to the ring, you may change or edit the information originally given on the form by entering your ID number and password. This is also where you cancel your membership.

Using Caution before Joining
It's your responsibility to check the other members in the Webring to be sure all of the sites meet your own standards of conduct and moral issues. What might seem to be an innocuous ring can contain members with links to adult sites or beliefs which may conflict strongly with your personal rules of ethics or religion or even with the rules of any of the Webrings you have already joined (or may want to join later).

Broken Rings
Any Webring can become "broken." Unless each member follows the proper protocol of cancellation by using the option in the editing area of a Webring, the circle of memberships is broken. A visitor clicking on any of the Webring's hotlink and IF the next member in the ring has cancelled by any other means, the visitor will be shown an error page.

Not many visitors will continue with a broken Webring and will leave the Website with a bad taste in their mouths about Webrings, or in the case of novices to the Internet, won't understand what Webrings are supposed to be and more than likely give up quickly in following any circle of Websites again.

The owner of the Webring can remove any ring member for any Website which is believed to be an infringement of the ring's rules. There may or may not be an email notification of cancellation/removal from the ring. If no notification is sent, the ring for that Website which has been removed from the ring is broken. Remember, the owner of a Webring controls everything from the HTML code which is placed on a member's page to approval or disapproval of a member.

A Recent Experience
Around the middle of November, 1998, I joined a Webring which I placed on my Yorkie's main page. The membership list were all owners of Yorkshire Terriers. Some members were breeders; some mere pet owners like myself; all had pictures of Yorkie's which made surfing around the ring of members a delightful and fun thing for visitors to do when they visited any of the member pages.

One day in December I tried to follow the ring to see the precious little faces of new puppies or see the champion Yorkies perfectly groomed. My own Yorkie has a bad hair day every day, and it's always nice to see other Yorkies with topknots and neatly styled hair.

My ring was broken! I tried to check the information on the membership page. My ID no longer existed. A quick email to the owner would surely get this error or oversight straightened out. Wrong!

Webring Politics
A couple of days later I received an email from the ring's owner. I had been removed from the ring because she didn't approve of the other Webring I had joined and she blatantly accused the owner of the other ring of running a puppy mill. Of course, I was dismayed to think I might be supporting abuse of Yorkshire Terriers. I was deeply hurt and offended by being removed from a Webring. There wasn't even the courtesy of notification extended to me. I was judged to be guilty by association. I found myself black-balled, too. The other rings were also broken, so apparently the politics and malicious gossip had spread quickly.

It takes only one person to spread a rumor. Then the sheep follow suit. Ostracizing based on rumor is, in my not so humble opinion, a way to separate intelligent people from moronic follow-the-leader people who apparently delight in condemnation based on the ramblings and assumptions by one or two persons who jump to conclusions without any factual information.

NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON had the guts to notify me of anything against THEIR rules of membership - they simply cancelled my membership. They have the right to cancel me for any reason whatsoever. They had no obligation to notify me prior to removing me from their rings.

Voice of Solidarity
I also have rights. My position of supporting the owner of the Yorkshire Terrier Lovers Webring is based on my belief the lady is not guilty of anything close to the things her accusers have listed. I suspect there's a little envy involved and a lot of jealousy. I found no evidence of anything except a deep love of Yorkshire Terriers and the desire to raise them for other people to love and adore.

Diane Falbe, the owner of the Yorkshire Terrier Lovers Webring and of beautiful champion Yorkshire Terriers has been a breeder of Yorkshire Terriers for over 20 years in Houston, Texas. She doesn't hesitate to post the prices of her puppies on her Website; she professionally photographs her fur babies when they're ready to go to a loving home and gives the public the benefit of knowing the cost. I found her honesty to be refreshing. I appreciate knowing the price I could expect to pay for a top quality puppy or for a pet quality puppy.

True story:   One Yorkie breeder quoted a price over the telephone for a little boy puppy but when the buyer arrived to pick up the puppy and to seal the bargain with a check for the amount quoted on the telephone, the lady began listing some other requirements or she now wanted three times the originally quoted price. She had decided she wanted to use the little boy for breeding and either the buyer agreed to the selling conditions or she wanted his newly established stud-loss value. The prospective buyer walked out without the puppy.

Webring Sample
Some of the nicest and most beautiful Webrings use tables which will pick up the background colors of a Website which in turn gives the ring a custom appearance as though it had been designed specifically for the page on which it is found. Following are two examples of the same Webring code on two different Websites:

Colored Background Sample

White Background Sample

A member could also change the border colors within the HTML code for tables, or even omit the borders entirely. However, common courtesy should be practiced by first writing to the Webring owner before you make any changes.

Conclusion
Webrings can enhance the looks of your Web pages; they can be fun; Webrings can increase the number of visitors to your site. It's up to you to decide which ones you'd like to join; it's up to the Webring owner whether or not you are approved for membership.

Tentacles of gossipers and rumor spreaders is always far-reaching. The parties involved in political removal of Webring memberships can be the instruments of causing the hits to your Website to decrease, which in the case I've cited in this article is, in my opinion, the ultimate aim of their discourteous actions in removing me from their Webrings without notification. They could have at least given me the benefit of doubt; they could have at least have considered the fact that I was only a pet owner without any knowledge of their own personal vendettas or causes.

But I WILL stand up for unfair treatment by a show of solidarity on at least one Webring, Yorkshire Terrier Lovers, which I feel has been unfairly tried and sentenced.

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