History Lesson: IZC's Influence in the Zelda Community
By Wraith
Note: This editorial, like all other editorials, is the opinion of the writer, and not necessarily the opinion of Ice's Zelda Central.
I remember the day I went onto the
internet and looked up "Zelda" on Yahoo. It
came up with "The Zelda Headquarters". There
was no staff, no scroll background, just a simple framed
page with a cool bird background. It had some of the old
fan fictions like "Hyrule Wins the World Cup"
and other classics nobody remembers. The page had one
midi, entitled "What is Your Destiny?". It was
a catchy tune so I kept reading. I wanted to know more.
This, my friend, is the first bout of obsession I have
with wanting to help out, to be known, to be seen. I
logged onto ICQ #14934448 as Cyberfrog. I looked up for a
16 year old named Niels 't Hooft. I found him. We chatted
about several things. Zelda, and me getting into the ZHQ.
For two long years I begged and pleaded until his kind
heart (or annoyed mind) let me into the staff. However, I
had very little knowledge of what I was supposed to do.
I was reading the ZHQ letters one day, and there was a
new site going around that was quite trendy. It was
called "Ice's Zelda Central". It very much
impressed me, so I went to contact the webmaster and get
in touch with him. As I soon figured out, Ice didn't have
ICQ. I emailed him telling him to get it, and we talked.
I became an editorial writer for the IZC and I quit ZHQ,
publishing my first article "Long Live the
Motherlode"
IZC was a small but 'funky' site. It had nice music and a
god-like web master. It had the most devoted fans you
could find. Other good sites were popping up, too, such
as the Golden Land, and other original sites. One
couldn't get enough of all the information. By then,
around 25 Yahoo! listed sites were on the net. Then.
Zelda 64.
Huge proportions of web sites came out hoping to become
as big as ZHQ, IZC, and a few did. HTLOZ, Hyrule, The
Land Of Zelda, was able to become one of the internet
dieties. The thought was, if you got a .com then you were
going to be one of these. Well, it was so for the current
time. But as more and more people got these domains, they
helped less and less. Pretty soon, it didn't matter
anymore. Xoom sites were getting more hits.
Then, on the day we all wept, we all cheered, because the
indesputed Zelda king was stepping down. Niels 't Hooft,
the webmaster of ZHQ left. In his honor, I changed from
Cyberfrog to simply Justin. I couldn't wear that name
with the ZHQ to live in ruins. For in his place, came
Corn-nads Von WankHisWoody. Horny Corny hardly updated,
hired fool staff members, and did all but spit in the
face of Niels. He took 't Hooft's great prize and turned
it into an inactive site like a ten year old abandons
Candy Land.
But, not all weeped. We here at IZC saw the thing we
needed. We attracted it's visitors at the right time. We
took half of ZHQ's viewers with it. People in IZC became
known. Steve Dixon, the spry editorial writer. Maniacal
Clown under him, Crysaler, Stalfos333 creating the great
Tetraforce cult. Only a few people left of the classic
staff.
HTLOZ gained popularity, as did a few other sites. The
Zelda Underworld, probably the lowest and cheapest sites,
the rumor starters, continued to grow, as it is today.
The site fights were pretty much done with. Through civil
war, personal disputes, joy, love, hatred and loathing,
we will stand. I hereby dub the site Ice's Zelda Central
'The Motherlode', the highest respects I can give!
Long live the Motherlode!
~Wraith
