4 ms·

"WebMaster". I see this term a lot in older sites. "WebMasters click here !" sort of links. What does it really mean? The term.

bru 8y ago
Person who built the website & is responsible for its uptime.
steerpike 8y ago
It's what we used to call anyone who was a web developer back then. Bit of a mix between a system admin and front-end developer with maybe some perl tinkering in place.
Angostura 8y ago
Quite simply, the person in charge of the web site. In those days, it was likely to be the person who wrote the HTML, wrote the content and set up the web server. There are still quite a lot of them about in smaller companies - they keep Wordpress patched, post news stories, update pages etc.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
It used to be convention that emails to webmaster@[domain.com] would go to whoever was responsible for maintaining the website. I don't think anyone ever had it as an official job title, however.
- dagw 8y ago
  I don't think anyone ever had it as an official job title, however. I knew lots and lots of people that did.
subir 8y ago
Ah! Those were the days when there were no admins, there were 'webmasters'! They were the people behind building and maintaining the website. Think webdev + ops. Nothing today compares to the grandeur of being a 'Webmaster' in 1996 :)
disiplus 8y ago
there was also this thing between webmasters, called banner exchange. that's how you got new traffic to your website. i remember when i did my first gaming review site up in high school i was trying to get my banner to as many other sites as i could and they would get the place on my site. i remember tweaking my banner in macromedia flash :)
- subir 8y ago
  Affiliate links from the 90s :) And what a wonderful tool Flash was, before Adobe crapped all over it. Those were the days!
- benibela 8y ago
  You could also have a webring for that
- reitanqild 8y ago
  I wish we could go bac to this again. Link to the pages you find interesting. Forget SEO. Find more pages by following recommendations. Allow ourselves to create "ugly" pages.
tangue 8y ago
It's embarrassing to say but in my company, I'm still "the webmaster". And by reading your question I conclude that it's because no one has any idea about what I'm doing.
- kumarvvr 8y ago
  It's too grandiose a term honestly. And it does not really convey the role the role-holder does. It's a really confusing term. I guess the term came around when the web was still young and was used as a precursor to "guru".
  - dchest 8y ago
    Nothing grandiose, it's derived from "postmaster" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmaster_(computing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmaster_(computing)) — a person responsible for a mail server, which itself is borrowed from the IRL postmaster, a head of a post office. Likewise, "webmaster" is a person responsible for a web site.
  - synotna 8y ago
    What would you user today for someone that takes care of a simple WordPress install or static site? I think web developer or software engineer is too much, and web editor is too little
jcelerier 8y ago
damn it, thanks for making me feel old at the ripe age of 26 T_T

bru 8y ago

Person who built the website & is responsible for its uptime.

steerpike 8y ago

It's what we used to call anyone who was a web developer back then. Bit of a mix between a system admin and front-end developer with maybe some perl tinkering in place.

Angostura 8y ago

Quite simply, the person in charge of the web site. In those days, it was likely to be the person who wrote the HTML, wrote the content and set up the web server. There are still quite a lot of them about in smaller companies - they keep Wordpress patched, post news stories, update pages etc.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago

It used to be convention that emails to webmaster@[domain.com] would go to whoever was responsible for maintaining the website. I don't think anyone ever had it as an official job title, however.

dagw 8y ago
I don't think anyone ever had it as an official job title, however. I knew lots and lots of people that did.

subir 8y ago

Ah! Those were the days when there were no admins, there were 'webmasters'! They were the people behind building and maintaining the website. Think webdev + ops. Nothing today compares to the grandeur of being a 'Webmaster' in 1996 :)

disiplus 8y ago

there was also this thing between webmasters, called banner exchange. that's how you got new traffic to your website. i remember when i did my first gaming review site up in high school i was trying to get my banner to as many other sites as i could and they would get the place on my site. i remember tweaking my banner in macromedia flash :)

subir 8y ago
Affiliate links from the 90s :) And what a wonderful tool Flash was, before Adobe crapped all over it. Those were the days!
benibela 8y ago
You could also have a webring for that
reitanqild 8y ago
I wish we could go bac to this again. Link to the pages you find interesting. Forget SEO. Find more pages by following recommendations. Allow ourselves to create "ugly" pages.

tangue 8y ago

It's embarrassing to say but in my company, I'm still "the webmaster". And by reading your question I conclude that it's because no one has any idea about what I'm doing.

kumarvvr 8y ago
It's too grandiose a term honestly. And it does not really convey the role the role-holder does. It's a really confusing term. I guess the term came around when the web was still young and was used as a precursor to "guru".
- dchest 8y ago
  Nothing grandiose, it's derived from "postmaster" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmaster_(computing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmaster_(computing)) — a person responsible for a mail server, which itself is borrowed from the IRL postmaster, a head of a post office. Likewise, "webmaster" is a person responsible for a web site.
- synotna 8y ago
  What would you user today for someone that takes care of a simple WordPress install or static site? I think web developer or software engineer is too much, and web editor is too little

jcelerier 8y ago

damn it, thanks for making me feel old at the ripe age of 26 T_T