Question: What’s a Webring?

Question: What’s a Webring? Dave Sacher <[email protected]> asks, "I keep seeing references to ‘Webrings’ – what are they?"

Answer: Webrings are actually the common name for a fascinating new form of fungus (Conocybe packetea; see a picture of the closely related Conocybe lactea at the URL below) that springs up, seemingly overnight, on related Web pages.

<http://www.dnai.com/~mwood/mykoweb/species/ Conocybe_lactea.html>

Seriously, Webrings are a way for groups of Web sites with related content to link to one another in a circle, or ring, simplifying navigation and providing some locational context within the abstractness of the Web. Thus, you can move back and forth between related sites within a Webring by clicking the next and previous Webring buttons. A large number of Webrings have appeared, with topics ranging from the ABC Daytime Soap Opera Webring to the Vietnam Veterans on the Net Webring. For a list, check out Yahoo and the main Webring Web site. [ACE]

<http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/ Internet/
World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_ Web/Indices_to_Web_Documents/
Rings/>

<http://www.webring.org/>