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Zero runs the well-known Spike/James Marsters site, Red Moon which has news, images, video clips, sounds, wallpapers, plus! themes, a chop shop, downloads, fan art, a biography, articles, and interviews. She also runs other Spike-related websites, such as Buffy the Vampire Shagger and JamesMarsters.Com, as well as Evil Eye, a site for her graphic creations (many Buffy-related). You can find her fanfiction at Zero Impact. |
Zero was interviewed on September 7, 1999 by Raleigh.
Raleigh: When did Red Moon first come online?
Zero: I don't know the date, actually, or even the month. I wasn't happy with my initial design, and I did a redesign after the site had only been up for a month or so. That was in January, so it must've come up originally in December or November.
R: Why did you want to do Red Moon?
Z: I have an obsessive site-making compulsion. I'd become a big fan of Buffy, since a few friends had finally gotten it through my thick skull that yes, the TV show could *definitely* top the movie. ;) And of course my favorite character was immediately Spike. But when I went out onto the web looking for information, I found that there weren't a lot of truly comprehensive sites. Most were lacking in design and navigation, and it was all the same ten or so photographs over and over again, and people just ripping off each other's quote lists and stuff like that. And it seemed to me that there was a lot more potential there then people were uncovering with their sites. My main goal, I think, when I started out, was to get to the biggest and most thorough collection of images. And it just kind of built from there.
R: How did you go about getting the word out on Red Moon?
Z: I registered it with the search engines, of course (further proving my theory that the guys at Yahoo are fond of ignoring me), and I sent messages to all of the related mailing lists I was on (which wasn't many). I e-mailed some other webmasters and asked for links. Put in for a few awards, that sort of thing. I think it's actually been promoted more by word of mouth than my efforts. But I did have some Red Moon business cards drawn up and a couple friends passed them out at a James Marsters signing for me, which helped spread the word to people who otherwise maybe wouldn't have heard of the site at all.
R: When did you feel that Red Moon had established its presence among the Spike websites?
Z: When people started mentioning the site by name as if everyone should know what they were talking about. ;)
R: How much work do you put into Red Moon every week?
Z: Depends, really. In the summer, there's not so much to do while Buffy's on hiatus. I've used that time to sort of catch up, doing captures and movies and such for all of the episodes that I hadn't had copies of before (since I came into the show late in the second season). So these days I'm doing maybe one or two small updates each week. But I have this eerie premonition that with James as a regular in season four, I'm going to get awfully busy with the site awfully fast.
R: What graphics program do you use to create images for the site?
Z: I use Adobe Photoshop 5.0 almost exclusively. I don't care what anyone says... Photoshop is the big cheese when it comes to graphics. It doesn't get any better.
R: How often do you network with other Spike webmasters?
Z: Well... I talk to other webmasters quite often, and I get questions a lot, mostly from people just starting out and trying to get the feel of what HTML can do. But we tend to not sit around a lot and talk about our sites. I sometimes forget which of my friends run sites, which is kind of embarrassing. :D>
R:What advice would you give to a Spike webmaster, just starting out?
Z: Do something different, or don't do it at all. There's a million sites and webrings and mailing lists out there already... do something to make yours stand out. Even if you've got the same general content, just one original section can make all the difference. But if you're doing something that's already been done (and better) ten times over... why bother? Try to break new ground.
R: What are some of your favorite Spike websites out there?
Z: As far as design and content go, I'm a HUGE fan of The Realms of Darkness, which recently got a redesign; it just looks absolutely smashing. Sandycat's site, Addictive Stigmata just blows me away. Dead Daisies + Railroad Spikes + Black Leather Pants = ? is also a good site. Love's Bitch is great for fiction, and so is Spike's Spike. I tend to like sites that are visually stunning, even if the content's not so robust. But there's also sites like Dead Daisies... where there's so *much* content that you can find almost anything there, even if the graphics aren't the most carefully crafted, time-consuming things you ever saw.
R: What other websites do you run?
Z: Way, way too many. It's unhealthy. I'm the designer and managing editor on The 11th Hour web magazine; these are probably the best of my sites: JamesMarsters.com, Buffy the Vampire Shagger, and Evil Eye. All of my sites (except Evil Eye, which I've neglected to add to my portfolio) are accessible from my homepage, I'm also working on GlennQuinn.com but it's coming along fairly slowly.
R: What do you do when you’re not slaving away on Red Moon?
Z: Slave away on my other sites, pretty much. ;) But when I do catch a spare minute, I do a lot of reading. I draw, and on the weekends I make time for some horseback riding. Nice way to clear your mind. :) And of course there's school and work, both time sinks of the highest order.
R: What websites do you use as resources for Red Moon?
Z: I actually use word-of-mouth more than other sites, especially when I'm building things like the news section. One of the things I try to do is have new news up before anyone else, so I can't really draw on other sites for that. As far as the rest of the site, I try to get ideas from other sites but like I said, most of the Spike sites out there aren't really well-rounded; or if I find some cool new feature, it's like... well, okay, they're already doing that, so there's no need for me to duplicate it. I do try to stay on top of things by reading entertainment sites like Cinescape Online and E!Online.
R: What’s the best feedback you’ve ever gotten on Red Moon?
Z: I don't think I've really gotten any one feedback that stands out. I do get a lot of feedback, though; even in the slow summers, there's usually at least one message a week. I think it's because people are lazy and I provide a simple form. ;D But people have been really nice, really supportive, and I have yet to get a feedback saying "this sucks, you should do this", that kind of thing. I do get a lot of "you should add fan fiction", though. I figure there's other sites for that, and I don't have the time.
R: Why Spike?
Z: If you're trying to get me to incriminate myself to fuel a restraining order, you can forget about it! ;) Actually, it's because... well, as soon as I started watching the show, he caught my eye. I think the first episode I saw was "I Only Have Eyes For You". And all of the suddenthis hot bleached guy comes rolling out in a wheelchair, and when you see him stand up and kick the thing... I was kind of mystified as to why he was doing that, because I didn't know the story about the wheelchair and Angelus and everything. But I remember thinking that he seemed to be a really interesting character, and James Marsters was easily the best-looking guy on the show, and the best actor, and I was just immediately smitten with him. As the show went on, and I started catching up on the reruns with the help of some generous friends, I only got to liking him more. And geez... look at that body. It speaks for itself. ;D
R: What’s in the future for Red Moon?
Z: Lots of updating, I think. Hopefully there'll be a lot more material and a lot more inspiration in the upcoming season and a cool idea will strike me. I've been pondering setting up a message board, and there's definitely some mailing lists in the works.
R: Any additional comments?
Z: Hmmm... yeah. I am campaigning to get sanctioning for www.jamesmarsters.com as James' official website, so all help in that regard is appreciated. And... that's all I have to say. ;)
Big thanks to Zero for taking the time to be interviewed. If you haven't visited Red Moon yet, you're really missing out.
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