So you want to be a Ring Master?

Now you want to create one of these rings, but you don't know what to do? Sometimes they look sterile and boring and sometimes they appear bright and cheerful and inviting. Which do you choose? What's the best way to go about this.

Alternative Ring Systems

There are several alternatives available for creating a webring. These systems include:

My ratings are described below. All ratings are from 5 (best) to 1 (worst)

• Overall Rating - My opinion of the overall value of this particular ring system. 
• Support Rating - Value of support desk.
• Survival Rating - Very important, high likely, in my opinion, ring system is to survive for the next decade.
• Speed rating - How well server and software performs
• Feature Rating - How many features does the software have available.
• Ringmaster ease of use - How easy is it for the ringmaster to manage a ring.
• Ringmember ease of use - How easy is it for ringmembers to manage their site.
• Professionalism - How using and being a member of rings of this system appears to the outside world (in my opinion)
• Traffic rating - How much traffic to expect. None of the ring systems generates enough traffic to justify the effort required to install the ring fragments.

A Note About NavBar Security

Webring.com implements a function known as the remote NavBar. This is a JavaScript fragment which loads dynamic HTML code from the webring server each and every time the page including the fragment is displayed. This is a wonderful concept for the ringmaster, as he can change the fragment look and feel and have it shown on every single member site immediately. In theory and in practice, it makes webring maintenance very simple.

Unfortunately, this same power introduces a severe security flaw in the basic design. Because the look, feel and contents of the NavBar are completely out of the control of the ring members, it can be changed without their knowledge, without notification and without concern for the contents of their site. In other words, a devious ringmaster could easily get hundreds of sites to join a ring, then display hardcore pornography or other things that would offend many people.

Because of this basic underlying flaw, I would not recommend that the webring system be used by anyone under any conditions. It's just too easy for a malicious person to push improper content to your site. My advice is to stick to those systems which implement client-side HTML ring fragments.

What Are You Attempting To Accomplish?

The first thing you need to do is figure out what you are trying to accomplish.

1. Do you want to increase traffic to your site? Webrings will do this to a certain extent, but they are far down on the list of traffic builders. If you only want to create traffic, then before you even look at webrings check out search engine submission, ezine promotion and a dozen other things. I want to repeat this important fact: WEBRINGS OF ALL KINDS DO NOT GENERATE MEANINGFUL QUANTITIES OF TRAFFIC to sites.
2. Do you want to meet other people? You can create a webring similar to  Random Acts Of Kindness, which encourages meeting other people. One note of caution: these kinds of rings require an immense amount of effort to organize and operate. 
3. Do you want to create a highly interactive community? You may want to create a ring similar to tie a community together. These types of rings also require an incredible amount of effort. If you do this, be sure and consider a message board and other community functions.
4. Do you want to link together sites with similar tastes or themes? This is the perfect application for webrings.

Next, you need to look at your skill level.

1. How are your HTML skills?
2. How are your webmaster skills?
3. Have you ever used CGI?

Another thing to look at is where your site (presumably the home site for the ring) is hosted.

1. Do you use a free host such as GeoCities or Homepage?
2. Do you use a better host such as Bizland?
3. Do you use a paid host such as Addr.com where you have access to CGI?
4. Do you host your own site?

Finally, look at how much time you've got got available to spend promoting, managing and creating your ring.

1. You just want to get the darn thing going .
2. You've got some time.
3. You've got a job in the real world, but are willing to spend a few hours a week on the ring.
4. You've got all the time in the world.

Check out some rings

Before you do anything, proceed to the directories of each of the ring systems that you are considering and start surfing. Don't worry about the subject matter, just pick some rings and take a look at them. Look at them with two different viewpoints: As a surfer, what makes you want to surf the rings, and as a potential ringmember (regardless of whether or not you want to join the ring) what makes you want to join?

The major ring directories are listed below:

• http://www.ringsurf.com
• http://www.webring.org
• http://www.bravenet.com
• http://www.ringlink.org

I like to concentrate on looking at the larger rings to see what they've got going for them. Rings with over 200 members are good places to being looking.

My advice is to surf these rings, look at the ring home and join pages, see how well the rings are kept up and look at the fragments. Keep a pad of paper ready to note down anything that seems like a good idea.

Remember, you are not doing this to steal anything. You are looking for what works for you and what does not work. The ideas that others have implemented which work for you may make your ring better. And, guess what, it's far easier to change your ring BEFORE you have members than after.

As you surf ask yourself one question, "assuming my site fit the subject matter, would I want to join this ring?" If the answer is yes, then follow that up with "Why?". Was it the snazzy logo? The well designed join page with perfectly spelled out criteria? The personality of the ringmaster? The ease of navigation controls? What specifically made you think, "yes, I would like to join this ring?"

Keep a list of these things as you surf, and before long many patterns should become obvious. A good logo is essential, a well design ring fragment is helpful and a good join and/or ring home page is paramount. A solid definition of the purpose of the ring is very helpful, as is a description of what sites are desired and are not desired.

Personally, I like rings that are between 100 and 200 members long, are well maintained, a little quirky and with an HTML fragment with nice graphics. I do not like the Webring NavBar because it significantly slows down page loads and looks, well, amateurish.

The point is you decide what is important to your ring and what is not. By looking at some other rings, you can make some good decisions before you begin construction - which is the proper time to begin.

A Note About Responsibility

Creating and properly managing a ring requires a high level of responsibility. When you create a ring you are starting on a mission. Your job is to create a pathway through the internet, a golden thread linking sites of a similar theme (or themes) to provide an excellent experience for your visitors and surfers of the ring.

You have to keep in mind that rings are not really useful as traffic generators. This is because most surfers have learned to ignore rings since the entire concept was relegated to the level of spam by Yahoo! and the new Webring.Org. In fact, if you choose the new Webring.Org system you will quickly learn that by far most ringmembers will completely misunderstand the intention of the ring system - they believe that rings are link exchanges. You will be hard pressed to talk them out of this notion.

Becoming a ringmaster is a much higher level task than being a webmaster. You see, a webmaster is only responsible for a single site, while a ringmaster is actually responsible for a surfing experience through a number of sites. To make it even more challenging, a ringmaster does not have any real control over the sites in his ring. He can only make suggestions and gently guide member sites to be more active participants and to contribute to the overall surfing experience.

The point is simple: before you create your ring, be sure you have the time and energy to properly manage it. Nothing is worse than a broken, tattered ring. These merely tarnish the image of a great concept and make a wonderful tool even less likely to be noticed by surfers.

For more about this subject, see "Ringmaster Ethics".

A Brief Look At The Ring Systems

Okay, now we will take a brief look at each of the major different types of webring. Click on the ring name for a more detailed tutorial on each type.

1. Webring.Org. The armpit of ring systems. Sweaty, simple and absolutely worthless. These are extremely easy to create and manage. If any of the following are true than this type of ring is for you:
   1. You don't want to spend any time at all on the ring.
   2. Your HTML or webmastering skills are limited.
   3. You have no access to CGI
   4. You only want to generate traffic (warning, webring.org rings will only generate minor traffic).
   5. You don't care that the fragments look tacky and give you the reputation of being an amateur.
   6. You think the idea of being part of the world in the book 1984 is a good idea.
   7. You like slow performing servers
   8. You don't mind the high likelihood of the whole thing going bankrupt in the near future, leaving all of your rings destroyed.
2. RingSurf - A great alternative if your goal is more than just traffic building, but you do not have access to CGI.
   1. You have some HTML and webmastering skills
   2. You like the idea of creating a beautiful ring fragment and graphic image
   3. You want to create a community on the web
   4. Your site resides on a host that does not support user CGI routines.
3. SiteRing - Bravenet's implementation of webrings. Very stable, easy to use and good performance. Still relatively new, so not as great at traffic generation. Very similar to RingSurf.
   1. You have some HTML and webmastering skills
   2. You like the idea of creating a beautiful ring fragment and graphic image
   3. You want to create a community on the web
   4. Your site resides on a host that does not support user CGI routines.
4. Ringlink (hosted by another). A great choice, with all of the advantages of RingSurf without the extra time and effort required by hosting your own Ringlink system.
5. Ringlink (hosted by your own site). The best choice of all for complete freedom.
   1. You have at least moderate HTML skills.
   2. You have webmastering skills.
   3. You want to create and build a vibrant community on the web.
   4. You found the world depicted in 1984 to be revolting.
6. There are scripts available other than Ringlink which perform the same or similar functions. You might want to look at these before making a decision where to place your ring, but note that these sites tend to be small and fleeting. They may disappear without notice.
   1. Esitesurf (a PHP variant)
   2. Ring Master
7. Write your own scripts. If you want total control and freedom, and you're scripting skills are good, then this is a great alternative. If you read the first sentence of this paragraph and you started to drool, then don't even look at the other alternatives. This is for you.

Creating the Ring Homepage and Join page

One of the best ways to help promote your ring as vibrant, active and desirable is to create a really well designed homepage and/or join page.

A ring home page defines the ring, it's history and purpose. It often includes much more, including perhaps a message board, chat room and calendar so that ring members can communicate with one another.

The ring home page is critical, perhaps the most critical page in the entire webring. This is often the page (or pages) that make or break a webring. Spend some time here and make it right. If you do a good job, then getting new members should be a breeze.

More than anything else, a ring home page should PROMOTE your ring. A good ring home page may pull members in better than anything else, and conversely a poorly designed monstrosity will keep them away.

A join page, on the other hand, includes the form necessary to join the ring. You may also want to put the criteria for joining directly on the join page so that they must be read before the form is submitted.

Some people just make a very simple page which includes everything about the ring, in effect combining the home page and the join page. Others create highly elaborate multi-page wonders which are beautiful to behold. It's really up to you to decide how much effort you want to put into creating these pages.

Ideally, your ring pages should include the following:

• A statement of the purpose of your ring 
• A longer description of what you are attempting to accomplish 
• Perhaps some history behind the ring, especially if it's been adopted. This is a place to give credit to the old ringmasters. 
• The criteria for joining your ring. 
• A list of all of the ring masters and ring attendants (people helping you manage the ring). I like to include a short biography of each along with a photo or humorous drawing. 
• Be sure to include a statement as to how long it will take you to review new memberships. 
• Also mention if you will be emailing the ring members, and if so, how often and about what subjects. 
• Any other community pages such as a message board, chat room, file sharing, graphics section and so on.