PM: When you opened your site winnie-cooper.com in July, 1997, what message did you want to bring to the public?

WC: There was no "message" then, and there still is no "message" now. My site evolved from my bookmarks file. A list of bookmarks is clunky for reference purposes, so I made myself a small web page for easier and better access to sites that I had bookmarked. After a while, I decided that since it was the most thorough and directed list of pantyhose links around, I'd put that web page online. Keep in mind that in late '96 and early '97, most sites would only have about five or six links each, and I took every single one I could find and included them on my own page. By February of '98, I had become disenthralled with my page. I had sites categorized by specific topics (just as my site is today), and each topic had a table. The page was two columns, and adjusting the tables nicely with the addition of new sites was getting under my skin; also, the page was too big, IMHO, for slow modems. Also, the links didn't explain anything about the sites, so a major change was definitely in order. My site today is basically the same as it was when I changed it in February of '98. BTW . . . I didn't take the winnie-cooper domain name until May of 1999. This info can be found at my site, along with a brief history of my web hosts.

PM: Why did you decide upon the name "Winnie Cooper" for the name of your site?

WC: Random chance? The Wonder Years had me pegged to the TV every week, and I loved Danika McKellar's portrayal of Winnie Cooper. Luckily enough for me, I even had the opportunity one time to have dinner and a chat with her. It was a very pleasant evening for me, and it came to mind when I was trying to think of names to use for my site.

PM: How did you end up with the "public service" task of profiling pantyhose sites?

WC: A simple outgrowth from my Bookmarks file. Initially, it was just another web site. However, after I began doing profiles, I came to realize that, IMHO, no site was giving anywhere close to as much info about pantyhose sites as my site was giving. As time passed and my number of visitors grew, it turned into an "obligation" in my mind (and it still feels that way.) I've gotten so much complimentary mail from people that the thought of no longer keeping up on my site makes me feel as though I'd be letting lots of people in the pantyhose community down.

factoid
Winnie grew up in New York City, famous for its dreary weather. He eventually left the East Coast to attend a large university in the western United States. He graduated with a degree in business.

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He is currently employed in the IT department for a large corporation in Los Angeles. He is responsible for ensuring that the corporate network stays online by maintaining servers and network applications. The network is constantly attacked from hackers keeping him busy fighting DDOS attacks and other attempts to degrade network services.

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He is single, in his mid 30's, and has no children. He takes pride in himself by keeping in shape; recently being rewarded for his efforts when he was mistaken for a lifeguard on the infamous Malibu Beach.

factoid
His website averages 15,000 - 20,000 visitors a day. On the average, over 150,000 pages are viewed each day.

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From February to August, 2001, his site had more than 2.7 million visits, serving up over 28 million pages.

PM: What kind of relationship do you have with the webmasters of pantyhose sites?

WC: For the most part, it's just a simple fellow-webmaster relationship. In fact, many of the profilees have never even sent me return e-mail when I've let them know that their profile is online. And the time factor usually precludes me from exchanging more than a few words with most webmasters. There are a couple of notable exceptions. Lycrapavel lives nearby, and our friendship goes beyond the commonality of our sites. Also, I love picking up the phone and calling Brianna . . . her and I are just alike, and my girlfriend and her husband are just alike!

PM: Have you ever got into any confrontations with other webmasters?

WC: Any "confrontations" have for the most part been one-sided in that I refuse to fight with people. I'd much rather use my time to productively update my site, rather than get into a pissing match with somebody over something that isn't worth arguing about in the first place. Typically, people get very upset when I refuse to do profiles for their non-pantyhose sites. There'll be 95% porn, and no pantyhose, but they'll insist I do a profile. Or, if I have any negative words about a site, I get, "your site sucks", or "you don't know anything." Recently, I removed a link from my site and got the following:

"First of all, they are NOT underage and you are just a fucking LIAR!!
Second of all, my site should be on your Website just like all the
other Clubs and you have NO Right to remove it, fucker!!!!!!

GET A LIFE LOSER!!"

I didn't bother to send a reply. My site is there as a friendly gesture to the pantyhose community; I get enjoyment from other sites, and I try to give back via my site. That I would get mail such as the excerpt above represents everything for which I have no interest. Surprisingly, I get vitriolic mail like this frequently.

PM: Do you have a personal fetish with pantyhose?

WC: Absolutely! While I can certainly understand how others, particularly women, may not love pantyhose . . . how could they not??? My "story" mirrors the stories of many others...loved pantyhose even as a young child, but held it as a deep dark secret until later in life. I was wearing pantyhose publicly before the Internet become widely accessible to the public, but seeing that there were so many others who shared the same fetish was tremendous.

PM: What is your favorite style or brand of pantyhose?

WC: I wear L'eggs Sheer Energy almost exclusively. It makes shopping really easy. Occasionally, I'll wear either Hanes, DKNY, or rarely, Victoria's Secret.

PM: How did you recruit your three assistants, Lucy, Peppermint, and Sally in profiling sites?

WC: There certainly was no "recruiting" involved! Peppermint is my girlfriend, and Sally and Lucy are two friends of mine. All comments at my site either about them or from them are 100% legit!

PM: Is there anything common among the pantyhose sites that you find particularly irritating?

WC: Lots of things! I even have a section at my site that details some of them. Among other things, I find the following characteristics annoying: lack of compression for images, cramming too much on a page to create ludicrously long downloads, useless Java crap, focus on blinking banners rather than content, excessive banners, and all the stupid crap that one would normally associate with porno sites...popup consoles, "exit" consoles, cloaking URL's, effectively disabling the "back" button, "blind" links, etc. All these porno methods are all designed to effectively force upon users pages for which they haven't asked, or forcing advertising in front of them and making it difficult for them to make the advertising go away. This stuff sucks! Sadly, I think all the crap has long since diluted the Net such that surfing for pantyhose has become an unpleasant experience. Good pantyhose sites are hard to find these days, and even many of the good ones have so much in the way of blinking banners and such that it's mind-boggling. Most requests for profiles that I get these days are for sites that may have little to do with pantyhose, even if the site name has the word "pantyhose" in the title. Rather, it's lots of straight porn, and even the pantyhose material is almost always recycled over and over from newsgroup downloads or some other easily-accessible cache of material. Most annoying is the people who will try to "corner the market" for pantyhose on the Net. There is a small group doing that right now (you need only think of almost all of Dodger's pics being posted on alt.pantyhose by a rogue party to know of whom I speak.) These types usually go away after an unsuccessful run, but while they are around, they prey on all the newbies, all the while basically pissing on the folks that have been around for a while. I've been online since 1993, and I've watched as this extraneous fodder has come to dominate. None of this may matter, anyway. Bill Gates is using XP and Passport to his advantage so well that before long, he will basically own everybody. He is definitely turning the Internet into a Very Bad Place; unsophisticated users will come to find that out sooner or later.

PM: Have you ever subscribed to a pantyhose site?

WC: I've gotten many free memberships (which I rarely use), but I've never plunked down any cash for anything other than an Adult Check pass.

PM: Why did you start profiling transsexual websites?

WC: It wasn't me doing the profiling, actually. I created a template and do the hosting (the area is very incomplete), but I left the actual info-gathering, picture-gathering, etc. to someone else. I started it in the first place for two reasons: one is that I saw the need, and the other is that it's a topic for which I have sympathy. Living in Hollywood, I know several transsexuals, and I am frequently exposed to the difficulties which many of them face. Unfortunately, I have not been able to devote more time to that area of my site.

PM: How much does it cost you in bandwidth to keep your site online?

WC: Between 1.5 and 2.0 gigabytes/day. Keep in mind that my site is designed explicitly for low-bandwidth, as I understand that most users are still using slow 56K modems. It's been the same bandwidth cost for a long time; it seems that new caching and blacklists offset the increase in traffic. It is my feeling that web hosts don't cut enough slack to webmasters. While ISP bandwidth costs have gone down in the last five years (probably about 99% or so), the cost/traffic ratio to the webmaster has changed very little.

PM: In you best judgment, how many profiles of pantyhose sites do you currently have on your site?

WC: As of this moment, I've got about 225 current Company Profiles, and about 540 Individuals' profiles. I've got about another 90 profiles for Clubs, and about 190 separate Packaging Profiles. But there's another 400+ profiles in the Discontinued Sites section, and more in my Articles section and my Almost Pantyhose section. Then there's my Stats Page.

PM: How much time do you spend each week maintaining your site?

WC: Probably somewhere between one and two hours each day during the week, and usually a little longer on weekends, so probably 15-20 hours per week. That includes answering email as well as updating my site. Key to me maintaining my site is that the TV and computer are in the same room, thus I rarely just sit and watch TV. Monday Night Football and other sports are great for my site, since that gives me incentive to be somewhere near my TV, which would be the same as working on my site. Sometimes things just don't work out, and that's when I put, "Sorry...no new profile." Otherwise, I'll stay up waaaay past my bedtime sometimes to make sure that my site gets updated. I've also had cable Internet access since 1999, and that has really helped my site, since I can now get almost anything done quickly. Another big consideration is my girlfriend, Peppermint. I'd spend more time online, but she's always making me go to museums, parks, grocery stores, etc. I may as well be married to her!

PM: With the experience you have attained from profiling pantyhose sites and your ability to run and operate a website, have you ever considered going one step further and opening your own pantyhose site?

WC: I currently have no thoughts of opening up a pantyhose site, and there are many reasons why. In order to create a quality site with original content, I would have to make a huge financial commitment, as well as a huge time commitment; I'm willing to do neither. Keep in mind that despite the volume of profiles at my site, it remains a very simple site, and doesn't get into many of the complexities involved in producing a quality (picture-based) pantyhose site. I have at times entertained thoughts of maybe trying to fill one of the empty niches. I think I've done that with Packaging, but there are many other niches to be filled. However, rather than suck time out of my current site by trying to do too much, I have thus far skipped on any further branching out. Anything new from this point on will be to enhance my current site.