Earlier today, our attention was drawn to a thread in our forum created by RamsesII, where he asked the owners of WI many questions that we've heard before, and others that we hadn't. Wendy and I had a great time answering them and figured we'd post an article so the community-at-large could find the answers easier! His thread can be found here, with answers from the staff, as well. It begins:
I am sure you have read my MANY threads about what I want, what I want to see and what I see wrong on ww, so you know how passionate I am about my interests. Well, Thanks to all the wonderful things you have done for us on this site, and all the people you have nominated as Admins (Kudos to them too!) I want to know the story...
OK, So far I have gathered that Kevin and Justin pretty much started the site, Kevin had other things to take care of and Justin Kinda took on more of the site and Wendy (Kevin's better/best? half) took over his slot. Bet some of you thought Justin and Wendy were a couple didn't you? Admit it... So what is the rest of the story about ? Inquiring minds want to know.
[... Read More for Interview ...]
How did the idea get started? Who initiated the whole project?
Justin: Well, first, you have to learn how Kevin and I got to know each other.
Both of us were looking for a Playstation 3 in October before it came
out and we posted on a message board and decided that working together
to help each other out would be the best way to get our hands on the
"holy grail" of that Christmas. And it worked!
After that, we kept in touch, and Kevin and I heard
about Webkinz and bought one for each of our significant others for
Valentine's Day. Kevin bought a Webkinz
Leopard (Spots) and I bought a Webkinz Golden Retriever (Kopi) to match
my real life Golden (NOTE: Kevin and Wendy do not have a Leopard in
real life! )
My fiancee is in medical school, so she just put
the plush on her desk and looked at it, but I registered it and Kevin
registered his and, naturally, we were very impressed with Webkinz
World and how comprehensive it was. At that
time, Webkinz were hard to get and Kevin and I thought that, with our
success at finding the Playstations, we might start a site helping
people find Webkinz.
After starting that way (we were thinking of using webkinzcollector.com), Wendy came up with the more brilliant idea of a site to bring Webkinz fans together and help find all the secrets to Webkinz World, and Justin came up with the name "WebkinzInsider.Com".
When did the work start?
Justin: I think it was a few weeks after Valentine's Day. I'd have to look back at that IM logs between Kevin and I, but I would say just at the end of February.
What day was it finally up?
Justin: March 23, 2007. A day for the
history books! It's been a wild ride over the last nine months and we
are very thrilled with the growth of the site and the community as a
whole.
How long before you got the Gift Exchange working?
Justin: Ahhhh... Well, I must give credit where credit is due. You see the "Fair Gift Exchange Policies" thread? See the creator? Yep! MissyK is the genius behind the Gift Exchange which came into creation in late April 2007. It was her creative ideas and experience in trading that shaped the Gift Exchange and all of us at WI are forever in her debt.
WI actually started with "The Marketplace", as
Kevin and I had no idea about a "trading community", so we thought that
the "Marketplace" would be a good place for
people to buy and sell actual plushes. Within a week, we realized that
it was going to end up being a "virtual trading marketplace", but had
no idea what we were doing.
There were quite a few scams right off the bat!
There were no entrance requirements, and any member could just jump in
and start trading. As we all know, there are some "not so honest" people out there and it was rough. Then came MissyK with her brilliant rules and guidelines for the Gift Exchange, which, under MommaB's
guidance, has put WI into the forefront as the safest site for trading
in Webkinz World. We've changed the entrance and Gift Guru requirements
many times over as we've grown!
What and just how many Webbies do you and your families have?
Justin: Over time, I have accumulated many,
many Webkinz, as I'm sure all of you have as well. I also have a great
deal of unactivated Webkinz that I use for
giveaways and contests. Unfortunately, I never tell how many Webkinz I
have. I always tell my first Webkinz, Kopi, the Golden Retriever, but
the rest are secrets.
Wendy: You've heard about Spots the Leopard
and he remains my favorite Webkinz of choice. I have also accumulated
quite a collection over the last year. I'm not nearly as secretive as
Justin though, and I will admit to having 56 activated Webkinz in the
household at the moment. Like Justin, I maintain a stash of unactivated
Webkinz for future use in WI giveaways.
What are the monthly costs to keep it running?
Justin & Wendy: Well, as of tomorrow or Wednesday, WI will be run by two servers, as
we've outgrown a single server and need two
fully-dedicated servers to support the load. Hopefully, the second
server will help keep WI running fast under the load for quite some
time. We get over 300,000 unique visitors per month, and about 1
million hits per day. Our front end webserver costs us $449.00/mo and
the new database server that was just
provisioned costs us $699.00/mo. There are also the giveaway costs and
attorney's fees, software licensing fees, etc, which vary from month to
month.
<--- How much do these silly advetisements actually bring in?
Justin & Wendy: Not as much as you would
expect. We're always exploring creative ways to fund the site, and more
recently, new server we've added.
Do you still love me even though I ask a lot of questions?
Justin & Wendy: Of course, these are great questions!
What does your Webkinz house look like?
Justin: Honestly? It's a mess! I can barely walk through it because I don't have
much time for decorating in WW and I had to get all the stuff out of my
dock when they imposed the dock limits and I still haven't had a chance
to add rooms and organize and decorate!
Wendy: Mine definitely looks better than
Justin's! I've always intended to post a house thread in the Housez
section but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Perhaps you've given me
the inspiration now.
What does your collection need to be complete?
Justin: Well, I'm sure like many, I don't have a Cheeky Cat or Dog, but I'll never say how many, or which ones I need to be "complete", other than those.
Wendy: He's just so mysterious, isn't he? As
for me, I am missing the Cheeky Dog & Cat, some of the Cats and
Dogs and some of the newer styles. I don't really strive to own every
style - I buy the ones that I think are neat or have pet specific items
that I want. (Yes Ganz, I voted for the PSI in your survey today.)
What is your FAVORITE Webkinz? Wendy and Kevin... I know Justin's reply to anything about his Webkinz -->
Justin: KOPI!!!!!!!!!
Wendy: As I mentioned earlier, I am partial
to the Leopard since that was my first Webkinz and the one that started
this grand adventure. I think the Love Puppy is the "cutest" Webkinz
though.
Who is your favorite fan? (I'll give you a hint...)
Justin & Wendy: Hmmm... let's see, does the hint have to do with the avatar of the orange cat, raising its hand, saying "Pick me! Pick ME!!!"? No?! Well, then
we love you all! We also want to add a shout out to all of the
Moderators and Administrators who have done such a fantastic job here.
WI certainly wouldn't be what it is today without them and all of our
wonderful community members!
Justin, I have one question for you that you probably won't answer even though i'm sure you have a perfectly good reason for it: Why won't you reveal how many Webkinz you have? Just by not telling us makes us want to know even more than we already do
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