2 Decades of Possibilities

20 years have passed.

With this issue, Possibilities newsletter has been published for 2 decades. (In 2004, the newsletter name was changed from "Willmaster Possibilities" to "Possibilities".)

Issue #1 was sent to the few subscribers on Tuesday, July 27, 1999. Next week's issue begins the 3rd decade.

A Story

This happened with the very first issue. Here is the issue's table of contents:

Contents:   
   ~-~ Prelude
   ~-~ Possibility: Spam Proofing Your Websites
   ~-~ Q&A
   ~-~ Forum: E-zine Personalization
   ~-~ Guiding Quote of the Week
   ~-~ Subscribers Talk Back
   ~-~ How to use the anti-spam features
   ~-~ Newsletter addresses and URLs

You see the "Spam Proofing Your Websites" article title as the second item on the list of contents.

Well, that title made what happened a totally ironic incident.

Of course, I made my own mailing software. And guess what, I forgot one thing: The software never exited.

An aside: A person learns things during a period of 20 years. After that first issue, thorough testing took a much more prominent role in my software development. Experience brings maturity and confidence and much, much better products.

So there I was, 20 years ago, the proud publisher of the very first issue of a newsletter I fully intended to write every week — and the mailing software didn't work.

Well, it did work. Too well!

When the list had been sent the newsletter, the software sent it again. To the entire list. And then again. And again.

Some people got 4 copies and some 5 before I was able to stop the software.

What an embarrassment, spamming the list with a newsletter about spam-proofing a website.

Moving About and Then Staying Put

During the 20 year period, Mari and I ran our business from a tiny cabin in the USA State of Washington, then living in a motor home for 7 years and traveling here and there, and now from our home in Indiana near where our grandkids live.

Programming Language Transitions

Back in 1999, the most popular language for server software accessible via HTTP was Perl. Connection with public web pages was through CGI (an acronym for Common Gateway Interface).

Then came PHP, a language generally easier to use. PHP code could be within the web page source code when it made sense to do so. Although the server processes any PHP code before the web page is sent to the browser, having PHP code in the web page where it is used and where its output is published made things feel more orderly or rational.

The Willmaster Library and the Willmaster Blog Articles have Perl CGI articles left online as references for those who still use the technology for their websites.

And we still keep commercial software written with Perl available for the same reason — some people prefer to continue using it.

Mailing

Until a bit over a year now, we used the sendmail server software for sending Possibilities to subscribers.

Some people tapped their "this is spam" button when they wanted to unsubscribe. This caused us to be named on blacklists. Getting off a blacklist is a time-consuming task. No technical issues, generally, but it took time away from things I enjoy doing, like writing software.

A bit over a year ago, we switched to using the Mailgun email sending service to deliver Possibilities. They take care of those types of deliverability blocks so I don't have to :-).

The Third Decade

The third decade of publishing Possibilities begins with the next issue.

What changes related to technology will we see in the world between now and mid‑2029? Use the contact form and tell us your vision, insight, or opinion. (I enjoy talking about the future!)

(This article first appeared with an issue of the Possibilities newsletter.)

Will Bontrager