On Wednesday, August 29th, GeoCities deleted Corey's Corner. Why? And why is it back? Well, this is the story...
I created this site in 1998, at fifteen, in part because I was lonely and wanted attention and in part because I wanted to escape. Well, I certainly gained attention, but I didn't escape. At sixteen, because of events in my life and because of that craziness that every white teenager goes through (though a little late for me, I was set to abandon this site. I was becoming too involved and swept away and I wasn't escaping. I was only expressing. Yet, Corey's Corner was simply redesigned (ah, the days when I had so much free time during the summer). I couldn't abandon it...
So, Corey's Corner continued on for another two years. Sure, there weren't as many updates once I met Joey and "got a life", but it was there. Sometimes you take for granted things that are always there. Even when this site came under attack in 2000 from a lonely (and jealous) man who blamed me for his affection for me (never returned) and his mentally unstable friend (online 24/7), I simply hid the guestbook and the names it contained safely away so that the harassment would stop going beyond me. I did all I could to keep this site alive. I've tried to convince myself that I've kept it going to help people. So many people have told me how this site has helped people--and somehow saved lives. As noble as that is, I didn't keep this site just for that reason. I've kept it because I need it. I need it maybe more than the others I've helped (yes, I'm selfish). This is my site and these are my thoughts. And, because of this site, I met people who thought I helped them, but who helped me...
I've looked back often on my previous thoughts and I've thought how naive I was. Yet, I look back again now at what thoughts I've managed to recover and I realize that I had what I was searching for. In those thoughts, I have a sense of innocence in my writing. I even sound like I'm protecting myself. I was... Though I thought I had lost my innocence, I... I don't know. I feel now the same way, like I've lost that innocence, only this time I question if I have because the boy who thought that before is the same boy who I now look back on as being innocent... I've rethought (and some say reversed) all my thoughts and I'm sure I'll do the same to my newer thoughts a couple of years from now. I'll look back and think how naive I am right now. These thoughts tell a story--the story of my life. There's something comforting in them that I can't describe. Also, I have a strange way of reassuring myself when I'm down. That is why I've rebuilt this site and why I pray that it may just last forever.
As for why GeoCities deleted this site, they cited this reason: "Exploitation_of_Children". This was their email:
From: [email protected]
To: coreyscorner <[email protected]>
Subject: GeoCities website (/coreyscorner) deleted - Exploitation_of_Children
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 10:29:46 -0700 (PDT)
Dear Community Member,
We appreciate your support of and participation
in Yahoo! GeoCities; however, your use of a
Yahoo! service appears to be inconsistent with
the Yahoo! or Yahoo! GeoCities Terms of Service.
Consequently, your web site has been removed
from Yahoo! GeoCities.
You are welcome to establish a new account with
Yahoo! and Yahoo! GeoCities at any time, provided
that your use complies with our Terms of Service.
We urge you to review the Terms of Service carefully
before you sign up again.
We encourage you to review the Yahoo! GeoCities
Guidelines at:
http://us.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/geoglines.html
And the Yahoo! Terms of Service at:
http://us.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms.html
Thank you,
Yahoo! GeoCities
http://us.geocities.yahoo.com/
Some people would be angry, but not I. Some would have (and have) fought or sent numerous emails to GeoCities, but not I. I was sad and depressed, but I wouldn't argue or fight. I couldn't. You see, the fact that "Exploitation of Children" isn't mentioned in the TOS or guidelines is not so important. Though Corey's Corner has never hurt, but did help, they had every right to delete the site. Sure, it didn't violate anything except maybe a copyright law here and there, but did I pay to use GeoCities? No, I didn't pay a cent. I put my heart into this site and they were generous enough to host it. I'm certain there have been complaints before, but GeoCities has access to my file and knows my age. That's why when that number no longer made me a "child", I was no longer a burden to protect but a threat to destroy. Especially given the topics I discussed in the thoughts and in the galleries. Yet, the same content that was acceptable before, all changed with me. Heaven forbid that a younger version of myself read my thoughts now, for now if I speak my mind, I'm liable. I pity society. When people talk about the age of "tolerance" that we live, what they really mean is the age of conformity. What they fail to realize is that their extreme hatred of "men" is a social mask of denial and projected self-hatred. So many white mothers think that if their sons won't have sex with them, then they shouldn't ever have sex. That's why they hide them from sexuality and become jealous of girlfriends. But, just as those mothers have a low sex drive, the younger the boy a person is attracted to, the lower the sex drive. Those dark, lurking strangers have been replaced with old people who like teenagers. Today is the age of boys being attracted to boys. You need look no further than the internet itself. Maybe visit Yahoo! Clubs. And, it's not "queer" boys waving their arms like fairies who are attracted to men. It's teenage boys attracted to younger boys and so on. What will happen a number of years from now when this generation becomes a "threat"? By that time, perverted white boys will be everywhere. I know the secret to the creation of this generation, but I dare not reveal it because if those concerned soccer moms change, then I will never see the huge mass of perverts that will arise. And, society will never be forced into a wake up call... Now that I'm older, I have to watch very closely what I write...
A long time friend proposed that I put up "Corey's Corner the way it used to be." That is, before I "reversed" my thoughts. However, if I can recover all my thoughts, I'll put them all up (with the exception of ones that would get the site torn down again). I may very well reverse my more recent thoughts given time, but they represent changes in me that I can't ignore or try to forget. In some ways, I still am that idealistic fifteen year old. "I'm Corey and this is my corner of the web, where I can be myself or whatever I want to be..."*