In 1999 I wanted to put out my own newspaper. I wanted it to be 90% opinion columns and 10% useless advertising. Having just graduated from university, where I had been the editor of the newspaper for my college, I felt I knew exactly what was required to get this thing off the ground. I had drive, ambition, chutzpah, absolutely no money, but remarkable naivite.

Everyone I knew was making money on the internet, so I figured that I would first create my newspaper online, then drive traffic to it, and then make enough money on advertising dollars to cover publication costs for the actual newspaper. I Seriously thought this plan would work.

Now, five years later, that plan is a thing of the past. There is no hope to make money from Cotworld. I actually got so caught up with trying to make Cotworld better that after a year or so I completely forgot about my newspaper altogether. I honestly think it was the drive to make Cotworld better that pushed me into becoming a programmer full-time, and eventually led to me working for some huge corporations like Microsoft and Bank of America. And it was the users who kept coming back to the site that gave me that initiative to keep on building and improving both Cotworld and my craft as a programmer.

So this is the Cotworld Archive - it's me giving back to everyone who came here and continues to come here. It's all of your stories, poems, art and opinions from over the years. A thank you to everyone for taking part in this inane experiment.

-Mark O'Sullivan (2004-11-30)