A Brief History of SidCity.net

It was the third week of March 1998. I was on spring break from university, messing around on Geocities where I had a personal site mainly consisting of movie reviews and a separate site dedicated to Alexander Siddig.

I just wanted to learn HTML

I’d created the fan site back in 1996 because I wanted to learn HTML (the language we built websites with back in the day) and figured more people would be interested in learning about Siddig than about myself. (This was before we shared our lives via blogs and vlogs and social media.) At the time there were only a couple of sites dedicated to Julian Bashir, Siddig’s character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and one of my favorite TV characters, and none (that I could find) dedicated to the actor. Not only was I motivated and had no competition, I also had access to lots of news about Siddig because I was a member of his fan club. The listserv and monthly newsletter delivered via snail mail kept those of us in the fan club updated, and I received permission to post some of the news on my site.

So my little corner of Geocities dedicated to Siddig grew. People visited and communicated with me, they told me if something on the site was broken and sent convention reports and photos. I tracked what was popular, which parts of the site people didn’t seem interested in, and used that to learn more about HTML and running websites.

Back to March 1998

At some point during Spring Break 1998, I received an email from Gayle Stever, head of Siddig’s fan club. She told me she was with Siddig and showed him my site and would I be interested in it becoming his official fan site?

It took about 30 seconds for that to register before I said YES as calmly as I could. It was a heady moment.

SidCity.net circa October 2002

Since that day 20 years ago, the site has covered Siddig’s extensive post-DS9 career and introduced new fans to his work. It amazes me how loyal Sid’s fans are. A steady stream of people stops by every month to see what he’s up to – spiking when a new project is announced or premieres.  I still hear from a few people who have been visiting Sid City pretty much since the beginning, several of whom have contributed to the behind-the-scenes process of running the site. (Shoutout to Liz, Ulli, Jude, Christie, Chas, and Dee!)

Just as fashion and hairstyles change, the site has had many “looks” over the years. There were the image map days prior to Web 2.0. There was an extended period of frames and CSS which drove me crazy. Then the site was converted to WordPress in 2008, a much easier platform to manage.

Occasionally I get questions about the site’s name which immediately clues me into the approximate age of the person inquiring. “Sid City” is a play on Sim City, a simulation game that was popular in the 1990s and early 2000s. At the time the name seemed clever and provided a theme for the site’s navigation with different pages named as though they were different parts of a city. The “art gallery” was where you’d find photos and fan art, the “chronicle” contained the latest news, the “coffeeshop” hosted the forum, etc.

Now the name just makes newbies wonder why it’s not AlexanderSiddig.com (typing in that URL brings you here, too). I figure if we wait another couple of years, “Sid City” will seem charming and retro, right?

Two decades later

That’s me receiving a certificate of appreciation for running the fan site from Siddig at a fan event in April 1999. I still regret the bangs.

Looking back over the past two decades, I’m amazed at how much has changed (technology, my hair color) and how much has stayed the same (Siddig’s talent, fan loyalty). So much has happened during those 20 years, I could probably write a book. But this is a “brief history”, so I’ll save those stories for another time.

It’s been a delight to get to know Sid and to be part of promoting his career. When we first met in 1999, I had no idea Sid and this site would still be part of my life in 2018.

Yet here we are.

Happy 20th anniversary, Sid City! And thanks to all of you for supporting the site and Sid’s career for the past 20 years. Here’s to 20 more!