Matt Hackmann

MattHackmann

The thoughts and goings-on of some programmer dude.

Life as an Internet Microcelebrity

If you frequent digg you no doubt saw this a while back. For those who don't enjoy clicking links to find out pertinent information, it's a page that calculates how "famous" you are on the internet. I'll say this isn't entirely foolproof. All calculations are done via google search results, but it gives you somewhat of an idea about your... uniqueness.

Anyways, for fun I fed the information for a search of "dxprog" in and it turns out I've got 10/10 points for being a microcelebrity. Cool, I suppose. But like I said, it's more about uniqueness and the fact that I've stuck with one online moniker through my entire time on the internet helps. It also helps that I am the only person going by dxprog. The little calculation wouldn't work nearly as well if there were others who went by that handle.

This may sound egeotistical, but every once and again I google myself just to see what's been indexed about me. I've kept a fairly open internet life so it's not hard to turn up a bunch of relevent results. First thing that pops up is this site, followed by my Digg profile, Digital Double/my Smackjeeves profile and a couple of videos. Sadly, the first video is the one that I loathe with all the hatred I can muster. But, that aside, this is a pretty good synopsis of myself as it stands currently.

The origins of my online presence, however, are seemingly lost forever in the Sea of Digital Bits we call the internet. All that exists of my very first web page is gone and since YPN has been screwed, none of that exists either. Actually, that's not true. YPN's entire history is sitting on a CD-R on my desk. Every last iteration, from sasq2 to Tetra 2. I've even got the unfinished beta of partyfish. But, I digress.

There are a few old things that are harbored on the same disc as said YPN stuff that I've lovingly added to the archives (see the 2003 stuff on the right there). Nothing terribly interesting or deep, but it gives some insight as to what I was doing at the time (not a whole hell of a lot). But, then again, I was only sixteen and not much was really expected of me.

Well, this has been yet another fun trip down memory lane. Not sure why I post these things, but in twenty years it'll be interesting to go back and read everything. I'll probably think about myself now what I think of my former self: what a douchebag.