Who Killed the Webmaster?

XorNand writes "With the explosive growth of the Web in the previous decade, many predicted the birth of a new, well-paying, and in-demand profession: the Webmaster. Yet in 2007, this person has somehow vanished; even the term is scarcely mentioned. What happened? A decade later I'm left wondering: Who killed the Webmaster?"

Comments

All I know is

[TheCybernator]

.... It wasn't me.

Re:All I know is

[x2A]

...but I didn't kill the deputy [webmaster]

Re:All I know is

[gbulmash]

Actually, it was Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick. :-)

Re:All I know is

[isorox]

Actually, it was Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick. :-)

As Webmasters are usually geeks, it certainly wouldn't be Miss Scarlet, In the Bedroom, with the Whip. Unless he paid of course.

Re:All I know is

[EmperorKagato]

The corpse of a cockatrice?

Colonel Mustard

[Anonymous Coward]

Colonel Mustard with Web 2.0 in the kitchen.

Re:Colonel Mustard

[Opportunist]

And her I was, sure that it was Colonel Panic...

Ok, I'll sit in the corner and wait for the game to be over.

Ouch

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

>an image of C.S. Lewis's Alice tumbling down a hole

Both the author attribution, and the content of the article, belong to the wrong century.

Re:Ouch

[kfg]

Give him a break; he probably heard the story from a hros, so he didn't have a refernce to refresh his memory. Anyway, it's obvious webmasters turned into Lewis Carroll's pfifltriggi.

KFG

You're kidding, right?

[Gorshkov]

From TFA:

Yet, as anyone who's ever visited MySpace can attest, today content is king. With all of us simultaneously contributing and consuming on blogs, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, and SecondLife, who needs a Webmaster anymore?

Saying "Content is King" in the same sentence as Myspace et. al. is like saying an overflowing ashtray is a sign of productivity.

VOD

[Ibag]

Is there any chance that Video (on Demand) killed the webmaster? He wouldn't be the first victim...

Hey,

[WhatDoIKnow]

What about the gophermaster?

:wq

Re:Hey,

[Anonymous Coward]

> What about the gophermaster?

Is that some kind of weird, gay shit?

The webmaster never responded to email

[hopeyj]

Those of us who work in libraries and in other settings in which one spends a great deal of time trying to track down documentation of various kinds have found over the years that email to webmasters is very, very rarely answered. It is though your inquiry is sucked into oblivion as soon as you hit, "Enter." Or else the webmaster refers you to someone else who doesn't respond. It just isn't worth the trouble to try to get the info you need through webmasters, however nice they may be as evidenced by the courtesy they show in the rare instances you actually get an answer from one.

Who did it?

[Der Huhn Teufel]

It was the head of HR, in the server room, with the ethernet cable.

The webmaster is alive and well

[gbobeck]

I did a rather quick search on monster.com (results: http://jobsearch.monster.com/Search.aspx?q=webmast er&fn=&lid=&re=130&cy=us&JSNONREG=1 ), and as of 1/29/2007 2:30 (GMT-6), there are 189 listings for "webmaster"

I also did a quick search on moster.com (results: http://jobsearch.monster.com/Search.aspx?q=radio%2 0star&fn=&lid=&re=0&cy=us&JSNONREG=1&pg=1 ) , and as of 1/29/2007 2:30 (GMT-6), there are 24 listings for "radio star", thus proving that Video didn't kill the radio star.

Of course, you can take these results for what they are worth. After all, I got 371 results when I searched for "nose picker" on monster.com ( http://jobsearch.monster.com/Search.aspx?q=nose%20 picker&fn=&lid=&re=0&cy=us&JSNONREG=1&pg=1 )

Re:The webmaster is alive and well

[Joebert]

I have to add, that almost the entire first page of thoose results is for ".NET Devoloper".

No one killed him

[warrior_s]

The job is taken by a female, so the title is now "WebMistress"

Re:No one killed him

[Walt Dismal]

I speculate that obligatory uniform for the Webmistress is black mesh stockings, a corset, hornrimmed glasses, and a pocket protector. Oh yeah, I forgot - a whip and a slide rule, too.

Re:I did

[myowntrueself]

I wanted a website too complex for a single person.

Some kind of self-defeating dating site then?

Re:oh no

[macadamia_harold]

Same thing that killed the guy who used to drive around bringing ice so your grandparents could keep the food in their icebox cold.

Syphilis?

No, it was me.

[kale77in]

> ... it wasn't me.

No, I was there, and... it was me.

Well, there were a few of us involved. But my personal confession reads as follows:

I wrote scripts that let end users change their own pages. I integrated Wysiwyg editors into CMS systems. I coded some wiki-markup processors. I made design changes friendly for non-techies. I wrote image thumbnailers, and CSS-generators that used customer preferences.

I didn't know it was wrong! I was just following orders! Everyone was doing it! Lots of others killed him more than I did!

*Moves to Brazil*

Re:No, it was me.

[magical_mystery_meat]

In a gold rush, the way to make money is to sell shovels!

But the web is a bullshit rush.

Oh, yeah, right... never mind

Re:The CMS

[CdXiminez]

Microsoft CMS has been introduced, the job of filling it with content moves from tech to administration, adn the design is handled by the latest update from MS.

Re:oh no

[rvw]

Same thing that killed the guy who used to drive around bringing ice so your grandparents could keep the food in their icebox cold.
Syphilis? I only wonder how a webmaster would get syphilis.

Re:Webmasters wanted

[suv4x4]

If you know your GNU from your Linux, and you fancy the chance to work on a very popular website, www.gnu.org, then please drop me an email...

See, with those hefty requirements, you're missing out on many of the great among us.

Re:Webmasters wanted

[Anonymous Coward]

But they will provide suitable brainwashing, measured by GNU-E-Meters, to ensure that gnu-you have swallowed the gnu-party gnu-line.

Re:oh no

[Mike89]

I only wonder how a webmaster would get syphilis.

Rooting the wrong box?

You must be new here

[Bloke down the pub]

The third element is ... and the fourth is PROFIT!!!!!

It wasn't Colonel Mustard...

[Youx]

We all know it was Reiser :)

... I know!

[larpon]

Video did!

But I'm a webmaster...

[Anonymous Coward]

*checks title on work badge*

"Hmmm.... Webmaster"

*checks pulse*

"I'm still alive."

*re-reads title on Slashdot*

"Wait... Do you know something?" :-o

Re:The CMS

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Thank you for definifying the definitation of orientate. You have happified me. Orientate might be a sillytentious word, but it can be purposed for variable juxtapositions, and that rocks.