mathowie gives a shoutout to philg. photo.net was one of the first web sites I went to. I actually remember reading Travels with Samantha and going through the photo resources before happening on WTR. Like Matt, Philip’s writings really shaped a lot of my thinking on web community and development. For a while, I would use familiarity with Philip’s work as a way to judge a developer’s savviness/background. As time went on, I got more and more blank stares… Nowadays I doubt more than a few percent of developers would recognize the name. But a lot of the pre-dotcom webfolk would, I suspect.
Unlike Matt, I did get a chance to thank Philip personally one of the times he came out to Caltech (’98 or ’99?). I had answered a question during the presentation, and when I mentioned I had done the problem sets afterward, I got an off-the-cuff job offer, which was quite amusing. While at the time working at ArsDigita seemed like it would have a dream job, I never followed up. Looking back, maybe was a good thing (see also). He seemed like a nice enough person, and I’m glad that’s how I remember him as. Anyway, thanks Philip, for all you’ve done for the web.
Oh, and I’m so glad I no longer write TCL.