You make an appearance on The Sopranos, you're an instant world wide celebrity.

You have anything to do with the show itself; ie. writing, props, clothing, etc. then everyone wants to talk you.

You run a very popular Web Site then everyone wants you to join their programs to sell stuff and get a percentage of sales.

This is a commentary about the running of a Web Site at a time when things are hot. Hot as in The Sopranos right now. If you're not interested in what running a Web Site involves and what it takes, then don't even bother reading this. This is intended more for the fans and followers of this site.

This site was started in the fourth episode of Season 1, which makes it a little over a year ago. The Sopranos was just underway and people were watching. People loved what they saw and bang.... a new generation of viewers was formed.

People wanted to know more and more and at that time there was little information available. The show was new and there was not a lot of publicity. The HBO Web Site was there and that was about it.

Momentum started growing and HBO decided it was time to blitz the media with The Sopranos. The downside of this was the season was almost over and everywhere you turn you see The Sopranos. So how am I going to see what all the Hype is about? The Season is almost over and now I have to wait from October to January to find out? What's wrong with you?

These were some of the comments from people and they had every right to be angry. So what did HBO do? They reran the entire season again in about a weeks time period. The announcement was something like "This is the first time in Cable history that we've ever pre-empted prime time to run a series".

Well gee, how else were you going to save face and make sure those millions you poured into advertising was actually going to give viewers something to watch? Anyway, it worked and finally January rolled around and Season 2 premiered.

That's when it all really started.

There were viewers from around the world. People who'd only seen a few episodes, people who'd seen them all and people who had seen none. The Season 2 opener was the highest watched show in Cable History. The hype was there for at least 2 months. People were anxious... waiting... watching... Everyone had such high expectations that there was nowhere to go but down.

The overwhelming consent was that people didn't like the opener. Now remember though, more often than not, the people who usually send emails are the ones that have something to complain about. People who like or love the show have nothing bad to say and often remain silent.

The number of visitors to this Web Site exploded and everyone wanted to know things... right now...

This gets us to the whole point of this page... what is involved in running a Web Site like this.

On an average day there about 2,400 visitors to this site. The season finale brought over 9,000. While most people do not send email, they do expect to find information and when they do send email they expect to get a reply. I know I do. The worst thing you can do is send a question to someone and never hear back. Does that mean they never got it? Does it mean they saw it but didn't think it was important enough to answer? Why should I even bother writing back again?

Even though I try to answer all of the email, it's simply impossible. There just isn't enough time. Some of the email and questions are about certain things on the show which noone really has an answer to. Some email is feedback about the episode or the series. I think that every email is important and I try to answer them but as I said there is literally no time.

Another aspect of having a 'popular' site is that you get lots and lots of email from Internet Merchants wanting you to join their programs. What kind? The kind where you sell stuff for them and the kind that want their banners at the top of your page so they get advertising. All of these programs do pay out to some degree. Some pay by what you sell through your site and other pay by how often a banner is displayed.

I wrote in another one of the pages on this site that I could have been making about $200.00 a month for the months of January thru March just having advertising banners on the pages. April is an entirely different story. So far the number of visitors has doubled and tripled. This will die down again but it's still a lot of visitors.

Not a day goes by that I am not contacted by someone or some company wanting me to join their program. So far, I've decided not to join any for a couple of reasons.

The big reason is that when I go to visit a site, I don't want to see advertising all over the place. I don't want to be constantly reminded that I can buy this merchandise here right now. If I want to get a book or a CD, I'll go to a store and get it. If you can't get it at the store, I'll go to the Web Site which has it and order it there.

I guess I find it almost insulting when someone keeps letting me know that I can buy stuff through them. You can certainly make alot of money if you have the visitors and promote it right but at what cost?

Your Web Pages look like crap because you have flashy banners everywhere telling you to get a low cost credit card; reminding you that you can buy any book ever written here and so on.

It's all part of the game though. Nothing is free. Network Television is free to us because the advertisers pay for it. You have to live with the commercials. Web Sites take time and money to run so people want to get something back. Nothing wrong with it.

You also have to learn how to handle all of the email you get. No matter what you do, some people are not going to like it. If this bothers you, then don't start a Web Site. You're going to get negative mail.

All in all there is more than meets the eye when running a site. The best you can do is put into it what it's worth to you and hope that when people come it's worth their visit.