House of Usher FAQ www.houseofusher.net Here are some answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about this website.    It will be updated as new questions arise.  The page also gives a good historical overview of this site. Table of Contents How much are my old Poe books worth? Where are all the literary criticisms? How do I get my Poe-related link added to the Library? How do I cite the House of Usher in a bibliography?   May I use some images in my website or school project? What is the purpose of the House of Usher? What is the history of the House of Usher? What software is used to maintain it? Are there sponsors for this on-going project? How much money have I received for this site? How many visitors have passed  through Usher's doors? Why did I create it? Who has recommended this site? Why should I keep going on? What type of emails do I receive? What background songs are playing on the pages? What happened to the French version of this site? Does this site support RSS? Who is the web site creator? How much are my old Poe books worth? Before you start getting dizzy with dollar signs in your eyes for some rare Poe volume that seemingly only you possess,  you should find a rare books site evaluation service (in Google) and check out their useful instructions on evaluating rare books.  The House of Usher is not a rare book evaluation service.  You might be able to find your books in the search function of Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA).   Where are all the literary criticisms? Here is a good page on how to do literary research.  How do I get my Poe-related link added to the Library? Contact me.  I consider everything.  Anything that is worthy of being called Poe-related material is worth putting in if it will be around longer than a few weeks. How do I cite the House of Usher in a bibliography? Forrest, Peter. "Edgar Allan Poe's House of Usher." 1995-2006. [Online] http://www.houseofusher.net (Date of research : Month day, 2006.) You may include the optional exact link to the page in the House of Usher reference - i.e. http://www.houseofusher.net/library.html May I use some images in my website or school project? Yes, yes, and yes!  Don't bother emailing and get to work.  Just do it fast and use anything on this site!  I don't want to hear you got a "D" on your project cause it took too long to get permission.  hehehe!  ;-) What is the purpose of the House of Usher? Its main purpose is to provide a library of links (Library) to Poe related materials available on the web selected by its artistic purveyor.  This includes academic and non-academic links.  In the age of Google, why do you really need the House of Usher?  Well, Google is merely the pointer that brings you to "the House" that has been in existence since 1995, run by a Poe fanatic!   This site is really a treasure chest of Poe materials with a humorous bent on a few special areas like (Poe's Favorite Songs, etc).   It is meant to be a somewhat dark and gothic corner of the web where Poe fans can call home.   The House of Usher's doors are open 24 hours a day.  The House of Usher also provides links to showcase students' works and quality commercial Poe endeavors.  (i.e.  I just wrote a book about Poe and could you mention it on your site?) The contact page lists what the House of Usher will accept.  Many budding filmmakers and musicians send me their links so I will feature them!  All is welcome.  Though, I will filter out what is best for the public concerned with Poe to avoid the spammers! What is the history of the House of Usher? It was first conceived, designed and put online in February 1995 by librarian Peter Forrest. The site's first web address was "www.magi.com/~forrest."  The site existed there from February 1995 till it was moved to another web server www.comnet.ca/~forrest on Halloween, October 31, 1996.  I moved it because the service had become extremely unreliable due to a company buyout and I found a better service provider at www.comnet.ca/~forrest.  My last name is "forrest" so that is why it's always been part of the internet address/UNIX account.  However, I finally acquired an actual domain name hosted site (as of September 2004) and it became officially www.houseofusher.net. To update the story even more, as of September 20, 2006, the entire site was moved to godaddy.com due the massively increased storage space.   What software is used to maintain it? Originally back in 1995, I had done all HTML pages in the text editor Notepad but I eventually went to FrontPage to format all pages and check links.  Any midi files are now created in Finale 2008 and I use Access 2007 to maintain my graveyard list of terms. I use Photoshop CS2 for any image work.  I still use FrontPage 2003 to maintain the site. Are there sponsors for this on-going project? The site is entirely funded and maintained by its owner.  AD FREE!!!  There is no third party but the owner has attended many parties! (way more than three!) ;-)   Many ideas contained in the site have been suggested by Poe fans and credit is given when due. There are some awards I've put on a new page because I found them to be an acceptable recognition for my work.  There have even been some offers to buy this site.  I appreciated the offers but I'm a diehard Poe fan who wants to keep his own nutbar hobby going until the end of time. hehe  UNLESS, you can offer seven zillion figures of cash...  ;-)  I have a truckload of integrity but I'm not cheap.  hehehe!   How much money have I received for this site? None.   I have been called a poetic philanthropist for creating this site.  I have been sent a nice black Poe coffee mug with the raven on it.  It is still my prized possession that I drink coffee out of every weekend.   If you feel like it,  you can send a postcard to my friend's comic store whose postcard of Poe inspired the creation of this site.  See Poe's Purloined Postcard.  I've also been  featured in the Ottawa Citizen in the ARTS section. They are a newspaper and very nice people. How many visitors have passed  through Usher's doors? I removed the counter when the site changed from magi.com to comnet.ca.   I did not want to know anymore the number of visitors.    There were so many at the time it no longer served any purpose to know and that was in the early days of the web.   Regardless, there had been an exponential amount of visitors to the site since the number of users online had grown significantly in the past years.  I am not a bean counter.  Still, this site has massive, massive hits. I have been sent some email messages by webmasters who have told me to change the broken links to their sites because their error logs have had too many hefty hits directly from Usher.  Other sites have even asked to purchase Usher.  But still, here I am. Why did I create it? I was first interested in HTML web pages in January 1995 when a small intranet was in place where I was working.  I had just got an Internet account with 5 megs of web space and I was intrigued with creating my own page.  I needed a good idea, something useful as well which would inspire me.  So often as great writers do,  they write about what they know. So, I looked at this old postcard of Poe pasted on my wall that my good friend had found in an old bookstore in Detroit, and the idea was born.  Thus, I should create a Poe website!  In February 1995,  there were was only one Poe site listed in Yahoo.  I spent about 2 days designing and prototyping my site and had it all up within less than a week.  The main page is still almost exactly the same design now as it was then.    Always keep the interface consistent, a good rule to follow.   I then started getting email from early net users.   I then realized most websites were still quite personalized at the time with details, including pictures about the owner, so I put up my own details about my own artistic personality.   Now, most sites are impersonal but I still maintain the highly personalized concept.  I am certainly not out to promote myself, except on a gothic occasion such as Halloween (the Frankenstein Files), but merely, everything I do is like a poem, and a personal statement of a snapshot in time of a sincere emotion.  And if you believe that, I've got some land to sell you! (on Mars!) hehe Who has recommended this site? Computer Magazines, Books, Textbooks, Book Sellers, New York Times, Newspapers, BBC, College and University Professors, Librarians, Teachers,  Associations, etc...   the list is endless.   It would seem that the common practice among award givers is that once one organization gives you an award, everyone likes to jump on the bandwagon and give you one as well.   Kind of like winning five Oscars when one is more than enough.    For me, I appreciate the nice recognition but the real reward worth more than anything is a letter like this: It is good that there is a site that people like me can go to. I am a 14 year old girl who has a deep understanding of great poetry. My poetry class is childish and so is my teacher.                            Love always,                               Elizabeth Why should I keep going on? Good question.  For letters like the one above! I have had periods where I was ready to delete the entire site but I let those stormy days pass.  Every artist always has that unavoidable temptation to destroy one's own work!  Though, these days, it's more out of laziness than an artistic temperament!  hehehe  What type of emails do I receive? Ahem!  Novels could be written!  There have been mostly nice people from of all walks of life, and some very angry, violent, and sick people as well.  There hasn't been a dull moment.  I can take anything.  The email address for the House of Usher can be found on the contact page. Unfortunately, there is a price for Internet notoriety--the amount of spam I get (even with our server's filter) is tons.   I personally look at every email I get except the ones filtered out at the server level.  If you think I haven't received your email, make sure the SUBJECT line stands out.  What background songs are playing on the pages? The main page is a midi file I did of "The Addams Family Waltz" composed by Marc Shaiman from the first Addams family movie (1991).   Right mouse click here to download it for your own personal listening.  Of course it is copyright but my entire site is for academic research and free and I made a midi file of it because I Iove it.   If the original copyright owners ever complain and want me to take it away,  I can easily compose my own dark waltz in midi and I would in a moment's notice.   However, I would much prefer to give credit to something I like a lot and help keep a great piece going that most people would never be exposed to because the movie has fallen into oblivion.  Through Edgar Allan Poe, the music can live on!    NOTE:  I removed this song (not from copyright complaints) but I got tired of hearing it while I was editing the pages! What happened to the French version of this site? It was with much chagrin that I pulled the plug on the French version of the House of Usher fan site on October 21, 2006. The French pages hadn't been updated in over a year and I couldn't handle doing both anymore.    However, I will continue to support French Poe materials through the English pages.  I will even create a new French page within them.  Grâce à Dieu! Does this site support RSS? Usher is working on it! Who is the site creator? No philosophical questions will be answered in this FAQ!  ;-)  My name is Peter Forrest and you can Check here!  I do have a couple of degrees and a penchant for dark, somber, and melancholic music. Poe's Library Back To Usher FAQ last updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009