March 22, 1999

Web site seeks to inform and dispel Y2K anxieties

Matt Harrington The Business Journal

Winston-Salem -- As the world approached the year 1000, people worried about a comet called Halley that was hurtling toward the Earth. People worried because they didn't know what the comet would do.

Craig Buszko, vice president/technology director of Stratapult Studios in Winston-Salem, likens the comet paranoia to the way people fear the Year 2000 and the Y2K bug associated with it. (Computers may potentially misread the year 2000 as 1900 and thereby disrupt countless records and computer-controlled systems and services.)

Buszko has started his own Web page, located at http://www.y2kisok.com, dedicated to the prospect that the Y2K bug may not be as harmful as everyone seems to think it will be.

Buszko said the idea for the Web page started in September after several months of watching the news where "every night on at least one channel there seemed to be at least one story on the Y2K bug, and they were all negative."

Believing that this paranoia with the Y2K bug was largely caused by a lack of information, Buszko decided to start his own Web page devoted to the idea that "Y2K is OK."

Because it was too expensive to disseminate his message through television or other media, Buszko took his 3 1/2 years of Web site development experience and began to create a Web site. He secured the domain name "Y2KisOK" and began to construct a site that is meant to inform people of the possible positive outcomes of the Y2K bug.

Buszko said this project is strictly not for profit, and that the point is simply to educate the public on what the Y2K bug is to decrease the paranoia associated with it.

He said that most companies are being truthful about their attempts to become ready for the year 2000, and are treating the potential problem seriously. This advanced preparation will create less problems when Jan. 1 hits.

"Y2K is OK," while still under construction, will feature links to frequently asked questions about the Y2K bug, a Y2K survey, chat rooms, discussion groups and articles on the Y2K bug, among other things.

The Web site has not been marketed yet, but Buszko is starting to market it by submitting it to search engines and trying to get other Y2K Web sites to link to it. He hopes his link, which features a smiling face inside the "Y2K is OK" logo, will start to appear on sites across the Internet.

Buszko said he wants to build traffic to his site in the next six months and would like to get a couple of sponsors to help with the site. If he can get the sponsors, he said he will apply for not-for-profit status.

-- Norm (nwo@hotmail.com), March 22, 1999

Answers

I thought I would give your opinions one shot after ignoring your posts the last couple weeks.

Not to be overly rude, but the smilely face is the perfect symbol for that site --- thats ALL it is, nothing but a smilely face - the articles have NO substance, don't even attempt to have substance.

Disappointed, Norm. With all your persistance, I would have thought you could do better.

-- Jon Johnson (Narnia4@usa.net), March 22, 1999.

Norm, Glad to hear they allow you access to the Net while you're in administrative segregation.

A word of advice to Buszko, if Norm invites you to dinner around the first of February, you won't need to bring anything . . . he'll already have the fava beans and a nice chianti. Thhsssuuup!

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), March 22, 1999.

Don't you guys get it -- NORM is not human, it is a machine! It is Monday morning, somebody powered it up, and now its processing the most recent batch of articles over at de Jager's site, using its Polly_in module. It looks to me like it ignores the 30 or so pessimistic article (rejected by Polly_in) then starts threads with the few dumb pollyanna type articles that it can find.

N.O.R.M. = Non-thinking Output Response Machine, the world's first completely automated troll. (Pray that it is not Y2K compliant.)

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

Get a LOAD of this, from the Y2KISOK mission statement:

"Because of the large uncertainty of the Y2K bug, there are equally as many positive outcomes to the Y2K bug as there are negative. The positives in essence cancel out the negatives. So don't worry about the outcome that the Y2K bug may cause. Don't add to the hysteria over it! Look forward to the year 2000. Think positive!"

Any ideas on the positives that cancel the power grid, refineries, etc. etc. etc? <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 22, 1999.

NORM,

You're slipping. This website offers ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to indicate that Y2K is OK, or anything else for that matter. A cute little bug graphic and a survey is about all it offers. Granted, "consumer confidence" is important, and panic is likely to create its own set of problems. But when it comes down to deciding how to protect one's self and family:

WE DON'T NEED PEP TALKS, WE NEED INFORMATION !!!

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), March 22, 1999.

ROTFLMAO! More form Y2KISOK. ROTFLMAO:

"(your bank account could double, instead of all the money disappearing -- it could happen)"

ROTFLMAO! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 22, 1999.

Norm,

Now is not the time for Pollyanna BS! Now is the time to be telling people to prepare. We are running out of time. What you are doing at this point in time, is criminal, if not in actual law, it is criminal in spirit. If you have researched this issue then you either know that it is very serious or you are an idiot. If you have not researched it, then you are criminally neglient by spreading pollanna BS.

-- Watcher (anon@anon.com), March 22, 1999.

If NORM could talk, it would say, "That does not compute."

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

As was predicted some time ago by y2k visionaries Hamasaki, Milne, and others, it is Spring 1999 and we are now seeing some really psychotic disinformation campaigns (both organized and ad hoc). And this is just the tip of the iceberg...

-- a (a@a.a), March 22, 1999.

Watcher - a quote from Norm: <:)=

"I don't mean to be disrespectful Mr. Sysman, but I'm one of those fellows who has always (well, almost) been prepared for emergencies, loss of power, no food, etc."

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 22, 1999.

Looks like Y2KISOK couldn't deal with us. Now get "Page Forbidden" on his home page. Darn, I was on a roll... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 22, 1999.

"... y2k visionaries Hamasaki, Milne, ..."

That's so funny!

I can't stop laughing!

-- Visionaries??? (ROFL@Milne.Hamasaki), March 22, 1999.

What ever happened to Paul Davis? Maybe he was reborn as Norm. Anybody care to guess.

-- Martin Thompson (Martin@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

"Anybody care to guess"

Couldn't care less. If anyone will be toast, it'll be idiots like them.

-- d (d@dgi.old), March 22, 1999.

"(your bank account could double, instead of all the money disappearing -- it could happen)"

Always wondered what happened to that cute little African-American kid who was in "Angels in the Outfield". Now I know: the acting career didn't work out, so he taught himself how to build Web sites...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), March 22, 1999.

Thanks for the reminder Mac. Knew it from somewhere before! Maybe the Angels will show up next year and save us - it could happen! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 22, 1999.

Why do you intelligent people answer Norm? One day he may come up with something that has substance and no one will pay any attention to him. He gets is jolly's off posting nonsense and sits back and laughs at you for your stupidity.

-- ~~ (~~@~~.com), March 22, 1999.

Gary North picked up Y2KISOK today. The place is being overrun by GIs. Pretty funny! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 23, 1999.