Café
Reviews (1995-97)
We haven't yet been reviewed
in our new incarnation under our new name. Nor
have we listed ourselves in any active way with
any search engines. So our current level of traffic
-- as indicated above -- results from web searches
by our visitors, word of mouth, and such. But
we've found ourselves -- unsolicited -- on some
very prestigious Links lists. Among them:
Our thanks to these supporters.
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The Nearby Café
Reviewed by Magellan
Under our previous name,
The B.Y.O. Café, the Café received
several responses from on-line sources. Its first
review from the people at Magellan, the noted
but now-defunct search engine, whose logo you'll
find toward the bottom of our menu page. They
gave us a rating of two stars (out of a possible
four); recommended us to "Photographers,
Artists, Writers, [and the] Arts Community";
and described us as follows:
"Part entertainment
magazine, part scholarly journal, part digital
gallery, the eclectic mix of art, texts, and
silliness at the B.Y.O. Café makes for
hours of reading and clicking. By far the strongest
area of the Café is the Visual Identities
Gallery, where recent features have included
word art by Richard Kostelanetz. Photography
is a favorite medium at the B.Y.O. Café,
and a great number of both the articles and
the visual features deal with either traditional
or experimental photographers. But the text
is nothing to sneeze at. The B.Y.O. Café
also houses Cover Magazine online and
The Photo Review. The design of the site
leaves a lot to be desired, and some sections
are under heavy construction (read: empty).
The content that the B.Y.O. Café does
have is surprisingly strong; it's not that there's
not much here, it's more that the editors are
ambitious. Bookmark this site -- we expect great
things from it in the future."
We thought that was a fair
and honest response (though we liked our design
just fine), and a reasonably accurate description
of the Café in its then-current state of
evolution. We thanked Magellan for it, and looked
forward to their comments after future visits.
Seems we outlasted them.
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The Nearby Café
Reviewed by Luckman Interactive
The Café's second
online review came in the winter of 1996-97 from
Luckman Interactive, another long-departed service,
which gave us a rating of four stars! We assumed
we were doing something right.
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The B.Y.O.
Café Featured in American Photo
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Meanwhile, we also
received our first print-media review, a
highly favorable one. The issue of American
Photo, datelined March/April 1996 and devoted
to the subject of photography on the 'Net,
referred to and discussed The B.Y.O. Café
in no less than three separate articles.
Additionally, the Café's director,
A. D. Coleman, provided a meditation on
Bill Gates's recent acquisition of the Bettmann
Archive as a feature in the same issue.
Check it out if you can dig up a copy --
lots of good links and other info included,
Naomi Campbell in cyber-drag on the cover.
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