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Zip. Nada. I finally found a listing in the rs.internic.net whois server at the University of Virginia. This directory gave a reference to "Mount Tam Web Works". From the name, I assumed this was the company crunching out Web pages for FSR. Back to Alta Vista, this time looking for "Mount Tam Web Works". Zip. I thought this curious, to say the least. Surely a page designer would have a homepage? Apparently not. I mailed Ross. I said that I was local, I had got his name from FSR, and that perhaps we could get together and swap notes. I awaited a response. In the meantime, I checked out "gomillvalley.com". "gomillvalley.com", it transpired, is a virtual domain name registered by " marigold.com", based in San Rafael. Which, in turn, appears to be a virtual domain name registered by " best.com" of Mountain View, California. I mailed 'em. I wanted at least a reciprocal link. Why not? I was part of the "community". I had a "virtual" presence. The next day, Glenn Cohen of Marigold called me. We had a long conversation. We arranged to meet at The Depot, a coffee shop and "virtual office" in downtown Mill Valley. Glenn was the short sandy-haired guy with the laptop. We talked about this and that for a while. About how Marigold was committed to promoting the artistic "community" (that word again). About how, for a mere $500, I could buy into the Marigold experience, complete with four images of my business and my own space on the Marigold server. Someone wasn't getting it. And that someone wasn't me. I told Glenn I was looking for a reciprocal link, such as I had with "millvalley.com". He demurred. Marigold had very high standards, he told me. They would have to check my site and see if it was worthy. Hey, I had high standards too. And having checked out a few Marigold client pages, I didn't feel I'd have any difficulty reaching or even exceeding theirs. What about some design work? I inquired. Glenn told me they had HTML crunchers coming out of their ears, all highly talented. I was a bit more than a "HTML cruncher", but I let that one go. I sent Glenn a comprehensive package of my work, covering a variety of client campaigns in a mixture of media. All this took place in November and December of last year. From time to time, I check out both of Mill Valley's "virtual communities".
They both seem to raise more questions than they answer.
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