Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
I just wanted to say now a bit after the initial shock has worn off, that my heart is broken.
For the past few years, everytime I've gone up to Philly during the Thanksgiving Holiday, Harry and I would always plan to meet up, and for whatever reason, never get too. Frantic phone calls from both of us explaining why each of us couldn't make it, and the subsequent call of "Asshole Flake" would be expelled. All in good nature, both of us saying, "Next Year".
Now I won't get that chance.
I can't even begin to explain how much we as an industry has lost, with the passing of our Industry's first Chronicler. The first man to put our fledgeling's industry happening in print in the CONDOM CHRONICLES, and latter in the NETPOND CHRONICLES, for every webmaster, from heavyweights of the time Fantasyman, The General, WebFather, RB, JoeE, JB, and down to the newest rank newbie. With Harry's passing, all that knowledge of our early days, the history of our short lived industry, everything that made us what we are today, disappears forever. Harry wrote history down as he saw it, and in doing so, will always be remembered by me and others as an important part of it.
I will miss Harry's nasal newscaster way of speaking with that hint of Philly ready to bust out if we talked sports. Everyone has already said what a great guy he was, no need to say it again. But if Harry was anything, he was a straight shooter and a bit of teasing prick. I remembered when we sold Netpond, Harry asked me, "How does it feel not to be an internet celebrity anymore?" which I always responded "Fuck You". 
I will miss you buddy. I hope that +3 Vorpal is chopping off some Hill Giant head up there, and your 20 always rolls with multipliers every time!
Rest in peace Dravyk. We will miss you. Goddamn, gonna miss you Bro. |
Very well put.
The Chronicles made a lot of people "household names" in this business. People who weren't around for it will never understand what an impact it had. Remember the bot test on the counters? There was an article by a tax accountant and numerous other types of articles. This was before the era of 5000 webmaster boards. He brought that all about.
All Of 'Em: A tvguide of sorts for the boards, webmaster radio shows, etc. It was something different and unique.
He left an indelible stamp on this industry. Not all of his projects took off, but he was always trying to come up with something new, always some new B2B app or resource site.
I had the pleasure of not only writing for and eventually taking over the Chronicles, but I did some writing for him when he launched Mainstream Webmasters and he was always wonderful to deal with, even though, like my time with the Chronicles, I was there about 30 minutes before deadline writing my article
If he was the biggest dick in the world, his contributions would have still been good, but the fact he was also a great guy who loved a good burn, even if it was at his own expense, always made it that much more worthwhile when he had a project that caught fire.
I remember writing a Sykk Thoughts column in which I went after some sacred cows and he didn't even flinch at the article and never even hinted at censoring it.
The "stand up" guy thing gets thrown around a lot, but he truly was THAT guy.