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Hallo everyone
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Our Web site will be five years
old on 28 Nov 2004. In the past five years, we have seen Web sites come and
go. We are glad we are still around.
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It's been nearly five years of
hard work, first setting up this Web site, and then going about making it
work.
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We have always focussed on
content. 'Content Is King', many seem to say. People visit this Web site
because of its content on all-things Singapore.
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Today, we have about 75,000 hits
daily. When we started out in late 1999, we
could count, perhaps, 40 hits per day. We had to go around requesting
other Web sites to add a link to our Web site so that we would get visitors.
People didn't know we were around. We didn't earn money on our Web site then.
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On the contrary, we were bleeding
rather badly through the Internet boom, while highly publicised Web sites got
the limelight. But, these Web sites came and went with a bang. They lost big
bucks in the Internet Dot Com bust. Why shouldn't they? They were spending big
bucks as if there was no tomorrow!
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Perhaps, it was because we kept a
low profile and did not seek financing that we managed to come through and
survive the Dot Com bust. While other Web sites were spending borrowed money
obtained from eager venture capitalists working on nothing more than pure
hype, we were struggling to keep afloat by taking on part-time jobs.
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Has all the hard work been worth
it? Yes, I say. Because we have touched some lives - local people as well as
others who have stayed in Singapore and left to live elsewhere.
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The things we have written about,
and the information we have amassed here are what we are most proud of. People
seem to connect with these things we have produced.
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Our Explore
Singapore section, which we started in March 2000, has been bringing joy
to visitors, both local and foreign. Here are some of their comments:
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"I miss it (Singapore) dearly
and take great comfort in looking at your pictures and imagining I'm talking a
long walk from City Hall MRT all the way to Grange Rd where I used to
live..."
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"I just wanted to compliment
you and your team for the wonderful work on your website, especially the page
on 'Exploring
Singapore'.
Having been overseas for a number of years, it's great to be able to see the
changes that are taking place by 'strolling' down memory lane."
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Our Singaporean
Cooking section attracted the attention of a group of Singaporean students
studying in London. They emailed us to tell us "your recipes
are great, and they're the sort of home-cooked dishes we miss. Your pictures
are wonderful - in your quintessential Singaporean HDB flat..."
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A lady wrote in to say she "loved
the 'Singaporean cooking with Madam Kang' -- uncommercialized look...very
personal touch :-)"
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Our stories on familiar Singapore
icons drew nostalgic comments from visitors. When we wrote about Colbar, a
visitor from England let out that "the Colbar as a young boy was where I
enjoyed cold coke after keenly fought games of football and as a teenage boy
was where I enjoyed sneaky cold bottles of Tiger.."
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Another visitor said, he "loved
looking at the pictures of old Singapore as they have brought back many happy
memories of my time spent there as a young sailor on HMS Bulwark in 66/67 and
the many friends I made."
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Yes, I daresay we have succeeded
in making this Web site a success, for we have touched lives. And our Web site
aims to go on touching lives with our articles and the information which we
continually collect and preserve here, both for the present and the future
generation of Singaporeans and Singapore residents.
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We take pride in reading the
comments that our visitors have been sending in to us through the years. We
are heartened to know that we are indeed on the right track, that we have not
lost sight of what we set out to do in the first place - reaching out to
people who have called Singapore their home, whether it be for a few years or
forever.
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Not counting the various databases
that we have here, there are already more than 7,000 Web pages of content,
including pictures, on our Web site. As we grow further, we hope to be able to
reach out to the young ones, other than those who come in to do research for
their projects.
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We have also been sorely lacking
in our community segment. We have tried in vain to set up a viable community
network through our forums. Our forums remain relatively empty. It cannot be
that Singaporeans don't respond kindly to community setups - they are
attracted, like bees to honey, to Web sites such as TalkingCock.com.
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We can't be like TalkingCock.com.
And we won't, for the simple fact, we are Singaporeans and proud of being what
we are - reserved and fiercely loyal to the ideals that have made Singapore a
success that is the envy of many in the region, and around the world.
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And that is the way in which
Getforme.com will move ahead through the years. We will defend our Singaporean
ideals as we present our content to Singaporeans and the world. So, when you
are looking through our Web site, you are actually looking at what Singapore
is all about.
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Have a good week!
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All comments on this article
should be sent to editor@getforme.com.
Your comments will appear in our Letters
to the Editor section.
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Monday with the Editor: Getforme turns five this November
