hellyeah's been around for four years now. style interviewed several
people to find out how this all got started and where hellyeah's headed in
the future.
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style: how did you find
hellyeah?
jyee: i found
hellyeah by fate. it was destined. actually it was the random
circumstances of the internet by which i met some members of hellyeah on
the spacbar, took leave of the spacebar and didnt talk to anyone from
hellyeah for almost 2 years, returned and was redirected to the moo. a few
weeks after being on the moo, hellyeah1 -- the original gathering -- was
held in west lafayette, where i was spending the summer.
stephan: i had
met ryan(emory) while attending jr. college in des moines. we took a
comparative religion class together and became friends because of our
shared love of the macintosh. one day he clued me to this new website he
had put up called hellyeah. that must've been back in like '96 or
so.
beth: back
in the summer of '98 ... i think emory found my site through ben brown. he
emailed me one day and introduced himself, saying he lived in the DC area
as well. he asked me to lunch. we went to friday's (i think ... something
like that). we hit it off and I started going to wednesday night
dinners. i heard about hellyeah back then but didn't really get into
it.
i sort of drifted away from the crew since i go to school in
california. didn't really talk to anyone for a year or more. then pong
found me in september or so of 1999 and convinced me to join the moo, and
i did, and it's been downhill from there.
[hellyeah is] a very open and accepting group of people. i felt like i was
welcome from the minute i walked through the door. [the moo is] a way for
me to not feel like i'm quite so bored and alone at work or in my
room. it's a way to maintain friendships with people when i'm at school
across the country (or even just at work across the city).
style: what was your role in
starting hellyeah?
emory: i
started hellyeah while talking to eric around 'palooza time in the summer
of '96. i was in the house i shared with petra in sherman hill (des
moines, ia) and i was tinkering with my klinux-running powermac 6100 and
whois'ing domains.
orange: i
guess i was there and there was some talking about things that were
exciting and could be very good. but to be totally honest, i really don't
remember much from that time in my life in a real clear linear
way.
wage: i
distinctly remember sitting with ryan, perusing the whois database. i
believe that was the day we came up with the name "hellyeah" (fuckyeah
was another option, but well ... profanity schmofanity).
style: what were your goals for
hellyeah back then?
emory: [i
wanted] to create a community of like-minded people. as i was deciding to
drop out of college i wanted to not feel alone. also, as i was doing a
lot of really stupid things, i really didn't want to feel alone.
wage: same
as ryan's -- a cool place for people to place webby stuff and whatnot. i
think at the time the endgame was to sell web space. most of all, though,
i wanted it to be a regular site for people -- the kind where they visit
everyday.
orange: i
don't know that i had really thought about a direction or goals for
hellyeah back when it first started. but most of the projects that i was
involved with then had the common element that maybe if it worked out
right would keep me from having to turn into one of those guys we used to
laugh at and call business boys (i guess that didn't work
out).
style: describe the one event
during this time that you remember the best (concerning hellyeah and its
development).
emory: the
day that things changed to focus from me to everyone. even though eric
and i started it, i still feel like hellyeah is my little infant and its
users and slackers my children.
maybe that's stupid, but then again, maybe it isn't. it's neat to watch
something grow, even something as small as this. friendships have been
made, more serious relationships made, some have been broken ... but it's
all been pretty constant.
orange: i'd
have to say that it was the move to chicago, when ryan and i packed up
and moved without jobs or very much money and just barely survived. if i
remember correctly that was when we changed the design of the site from
the yellow and blue circus design to the chicago-centric design with the
sections entitled cabrini and shore ...
wage: the
one i remember the most is actually a rather negative one. there was a
time where some of us weren't ... well ... getting along too well. some
rather nasty things were placed on our respective websites. apologies
were made, and everything fell back into place. but i think this event
was important because it represents that fact that hellyeah was devised
and used by people who were very close-knit -- close enough to yell at
each other. that kind of atmosphere has its negative aspects, but
all-in-all it's one that i wouldn't trade for anything. we've all grown
a lot since then, and part of hellyeah's progression resembles our own
personal relationships over the years.
style: what are your goals for
hellyeah now?
emory: i
want it to get bigger, but still be personal. i'd like to see it become
a mecca for slackers and hackers.
hellyeah hasn't gotten to where i really wanted it to be yet, but it's
well on its way; i always wanted the people involved to be the driving
force, and that is what has happened. so i guess in a way it has
fullfilled part of its destiny.
wage: i
think we're heading in the right direction. the web is definitely a
changed animal from the days when hellyeah was started. content is more
important than anything, now. so far, i'm very happy to see style and
tech where they are.
style: where would you like to
see hellyeah go from here?
steve: global,
baby.
orange: i'd
like to see us all working together in some sort of venture that would
pay the bills and where we could all have fun and satisfying jobs.
emory: the
internet has had a big impact on society especially lately. the founding
fathers, eric and myself, have been around to watch it blossom and grow
into what it is today, and i can only hope that the future is better,
because frankly i'm not that impressed with the majority of content i see
anymore.
it used to be all about usenet for me, but these days i'm afraid of
it. the world wide web still has potential, its just up to the people to
use it correctly and fully exploit the capabilities.
i'm all about connecting people and letting individuals reach people in
ways they couldn't before. i think the kind of connectivity the internet
offers a person is pretty bitchen. more important and more potential
than the telephone, television, or fax machine ever could be or
have.
ed: i
think, ultimately, the people who really end up making up hellyeah are
those who have the strength by which those associations are kept --
i.e. being in DC and/or knowing the original crew by virtue of time (not
serendipity). also, it comes to those who really enjoy the core people
enough to want to maintain strong friendships with them.
it's like a party, i think. the moo is the same sort of thing. if you take
it away, the close people will stay in contact and the not-so-close
people will disappear. i think the next thing that's going to happen to
hellyeah is that eventually the core group will appear less and less in
the moo as real-life relationships rekindle.
at that point, then hellyeah is really dead, and i think whatever you do
with the name is what will become hellyeah next. i think this is what's
happening with style and tech. it's interesting, but it's just not about
the core friends anymore, and that was the most important part of the old
hellyeah. long live the new hellyeah?
lauraj: this
is one of those "do you have any suggestions" questions, and i never
answer these well. i guess i hope it keeps networking people who
can share ideas and spark creativity.
jble: i'd
like to see hellyeah do some kickass web content. tech has alot of
potential ... and I'd like to see style become a prolific entertainment
machine.
downey: well, besides hellyeah's general plans for world domination, i
would like to see it as a 'friendlier' place, welcoming and explaining
itself more to outsiders.
editor's note: ironically downey has been exiled from hellyeah. we're
taking over the world cuz we're elitist, not friendly. fact is, we're just
better than you.
beth: i
like the moo. i like the informality of it all. i'd like to see wednesday
night dinners (or some derivation thereof) come back in full force. i
think we need more regular get-togethers, not just the every-few-months
things.
and there is always, always room and time for more bowling.
