interview with the owner.
The following is an interview I did for my nephew, for his school newspaper.
Why did you start the Complete Clue Guide?
I started the Guide when I was in high school. Back then, I had all the time in the world. In high school, you can have tons of friends, get As in all your classes, and still have days worth of time to work on a website. You also get into the politics of it, in high school I actively fought against the websites that were stealing my content and claiming it as their own. It's amazing how my life changed in university, and I still managed to keep it up.
How do people start websites?
I come from the 90s, a generation when a lot of webdesign was done on Notepad, and to this day I do all of my design and most of my coding by hand. It's hard, because every year, another vogue comes around, and you have to relearn all the coding. Basically, in the beginning, I would find websites that I liked and would try to emulate their style, without copying or ripping them off. There is a difference. I always put my own personality into my styles, even when emulating.
Then you have to gather your content, which takes forever. If you want your website to be good, then it takes longer. Most of my webpages are based on the originals from 1999, because the information is basically the same, and I could never gather all of it again. I never erase, I just expand, expand, expand. I once counted, and I do have more pages than any of the major Clue websites ever did. Once you do that, you have to find a place to host your website. One of my first webhosts was GeoCities. Then I purchased the domain and webhosting.
People have always criticized me, because at one point in time, I had advertising on the Guide. I never rationalized about it, when people mentioned the ads, I would say, "Look, I've put a lot of time and money into the site. Who cares if I make a dime a click from cheap advertising?" And that would invariably cause an argument. I always defended it, though, because half the people criticizing me didn't have passable websites of their own.
But your design is great. Some of the other Clue sites on the net don't even compare.
Thank you.
Has Clue always been your favourite game?
No. I think that chess is a far more intellectual, mathematical, profound game. Clue is better in the sense that there is a storyline behind it that could so easily be turned into a movie, books, musicals, and whatever else. But in terms of board games, it's on the same plane as Monopoly and Risk. I also preferred variants of the game, like the books, to the actual board game. I got into the whole Clue world because of the books, the irony of that being that outside of North America, no one has even read them.
What was it like to interview Vicki Cameron?
She was really nice. I remember that I just e-mailed her, she readily did the interview, and her responses were always very punctual. I actually learned a lot from her, even though she may never know it. I would recommend the Clue Mysteries to anyone just because I respected her as a person. She is a very talented writer.
Why did you shut the website down between 2005 and 2009? That seems like a long time.
I know that you're asking this question because you did your homework and read about it on Fanhistory. Before I could get on Fanhistory to edit that information, they made the website read-only, so the untrue rumours on there seem to be immortalized. I never told J. Matthew Horton that other Clue websites were stealing my content, though they were. I also didn't close the website because of the controversy behind the advertising. As I stated on the website when I closed it, I had moved on with my life, was finishing school and planned to move to France. There were no ifs, ands or buts about it. I justed wanted out.
By 2009, I found that I missed having the website, and although I grossly lacked the time, I started it back up. Unfortunately, a rogue website had purchased my old domain and refused to return it to me without an astronomical amount of money (they quoted $8 000 US), so when I reopened it, I had to do a lot of the advertising all over again, and had lost most of my fanbase. It was my own fault. I never anticipated some else would buy my old domain. It was tacky and unfair. But such is the world of the internet.
What is the future of the Complete Clue Guide?
Radical changes, eventually. My fans seem especially happy with my Clue Mysteries, and I will keep writing them as long as people keep reading them. My life is very different now, and young fans with their own websites keep trying to add me on Facebook, reminding me that competition is still out there. The future will also depend on the future of Clue. The next major news is going to be the new movie, and I am keeping an eye on that. Luckily, I have a job that affords me a lot of flexibility, and at some point the website will take on a completely different existence. I just want my fans to know that I appreciate them, I appreciate that they keep reading the mysteries and I keep getting the e-mails. They are the reason I put the website back up.
CLUE and CLUEDO are registered trademarks of Hasbro.
The Complete Clue Guide is © 1999-2011 Kenneth Hand.
This is a fansite and is unofficial.
The Complete Clue Guide is © 1999-2011 Kenneth Hand.
This is a fansite and is unofficial.