History of the SPPNTCJ

The original SPPNTCJ site was an early web phenomenon that actually began as an inside joke on the xf-romantics email list in 1996. At the time, there were five or more Jennifers subscribed and actively posting to the list, including myself (Jennifer Farwell). One of the Jennifers -- Jennifer Rich, I think -- tossed out the comment that there should be "a society for preventing parents from naming their children Jennifer." Those of us who had spent most of their lives since kindergarten known by their last initial agreed, in jest. (Please note the emphasis.) Hey, I grew up in a "triangle" of Jennifers whom I spent almost every day playing with during childhood -- me being Jennifer F., and directly across the street (and next-door neighbors to each other) were Jennifer H. and Jennifer G. All through elementary school, I was Jennifer F., friends with fellow classmate Jennifer K. Don't even get me started about my Pathfinder troupe.

And so, the SPPNTCJ was born.

I had been doing web design (mid-90s style) for a year at that time, and made us a website, located at www.geocities.com/Heartland/7731/. Almost overnight it became a true example of if you build it, they will come, amusing most and offending some who didn't "get" the particular brand of humor. Between its launch in 1996 and closing in early 2000, the SPPNTCJ welcomed over two million visitors -- not bad for the early days of the Internet!

How did the SPPNTCJ come to be known around the globe?

I'm pretty sure I'm not accounting for everything, but here's what I do know and remember.

A timeline of the SPPNTCJ:

• October 27, 1996: Cool Central's Cool Site of the Hour (6 a.m. PST)
• October 27, 1996: Seven Wonders' Site of the Day
• 1996: Twoey's Site
• November 7, 1996: featured in the weekend "Entertainment" section of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia)
• January 1997: noted in Yahoo! Internet Life magazine
• January 4, 1997: television interview for Thunder Bay Television News -- broadcast on the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news
• July 5, 1997: Fallen Thinkers award
• July 9, 1997: radio interview for 580 CKPR (Thunder Bay, Ontario) program "Tech Talk"
• February 6, 1998: Secret Einstein award site
• December 7, 1999: featured in Canoë - Culture & Showbiz Gros Plans article "Tous les goûts sont dans la nature virtuelle" by Jean-Marc Tremblay (InfiniT.com)
• 2000: Featured in California State University, Chico, publication Cat Bytes
• October 3, 2002:Mentioned in "Namesakes join forces on the Web" by Bill Dawson (SignOnSanDiego.com by the Union-Tribune)
• Date unknown:Mentioned in WebMD feature "What's in a Child's Name? A Lot" by Michael Smith
• Somewhere along the way it got put on a U.S. college course. I'm not sure at which college, but about once a year I would receive emails asking me questions about the site for a class assignment.
• I was told it was featured in AOL's Parenting forum. I can't recall when this was.
• A couple of years ago, a lot of people from Europe were searching for the site. I'm not aware if there's a specific reason for this.

Frequently Asked Questions (past and present)

Frequently Asked Question #1: Is your name really Jennifer?

Yes it is, although my parents insisted on calling me "Guinevere" for most of my teenage years, which is a really long story. But I digress.

Frequently Asked Question #2: Do you dislike your name?

This should be alternately titled "most frequently misunderstood part of the SPPNTCJ." I do like my name. That never had anything to do with it. Note also that if I ever disliked a name, the last thing I would do would be to launch an Internet site about it! The SPPNTCJ is tongue-in-cheek humor. I understand and very much accept that we do not all share the same sense of humor, and I ask all of you to do the same. The intent of this site is not to offend, only to amuse. If it isn't your cup of tea, well, there are 14085308686 other varieties out there in cyberspace for you to choose from. Thanks for stopping in.

Frequently Asked Question #3: Why was the original SPPNTCJ site taken off-line in 2000?

It was a tough call at the time, but I was in university and focusing on my studies, freelance work writing bios and press releases for musicians and designing the occasional website, and life. The SPPNTCJ is back now, though, and will be here for a very long time!