In early 2000, Ryan MacMichael and Paul McAleer - friends who communicated online for over 10 years but didn't meet until 2001 - came up with an idea. What if there was a place where they could post daily meanderings? Meanderings that could run the gamut from griping about gas prices to waxing nostalgic on old TV shows, and thensome. With that in mind, The Daily Ping was born.

Ryan and Paul post on an alternating basis (Ryan takes odd days, Paul even), and there truly is no set pattern for subjects covered. Pings are categorized, though, and you can see just how much we love Oreos and toilets.

Your comments are welcomed (and encouraged!) on the topics. A few of the older topics (particularly Ryan's Close Study of Bayside School Dances) have taken on a life of their own thanks to visitors' comments and recollections.

Who are these guys?

Paul McAleer is a fan of F-U-N and it's no wonder. Paul is a virtual dynamo who enjoys a clean car, proper grammar, and the finer things in life such as air conditioning. Paul does web stuff at his day job, does web stuff at home, and has been known to code in his sleep. An avid amateur photographer, Paul lives with his wife just outside of Chicago.

Ryan MacMichael drinks too much tea and talks too often about toilets. He's obsessed with horror films, 1970s and 80s game shows, and picking his toes with toothpicks. He's been seen floating over Paris, Texas on a flying carpet sipping ginger lemonade. For the most part, he hopes that you enjoy your stay at the Ping and tell all two of your friends about it. Signing off, this is Sparky McCoy.

What does the site's name mean? How did it come about?

The answers can be found in a series of emails between Ryan and Paul, starting on June 10, 1999:

        From: Ryan
        To: Paul
        Subject: Daily Ping

        Looking at my subject line -- that'd be a cool title for an 
        online magazine or something...
		

the emails continued...

Paul: I'm tempted to take that name.
Ryan: Daily Ping... hm... what could go on a site like that?
Paul: Well, I was thinking literally at first and picking a really awful PING to a certain server. But that wouldn't work for long, it'd be boring. I could see it as being a comedy site, or a factoid site... somewhere where people will visit daily and get something new... kind of like bittersweets.org/ but not oriented in that direction.

and then, in November, the action started.

Paul: I kind of decided today that I want to make the Daily Ping a reality. My concept is that it'd be just like a pick of the day, but it could be ANYthing: a color, a site, a word, what have you. I was thinking that we could alternate it and switch off every day, or do them simultaneously.

This also explains the title of the first Ping: Paul thought the site would be X of the Day, every day, and included it in the title.

Is The Daily Ping a blog?

We're not quite sure ourselves. We started the Ping before the blogging phenomenon exploded. The Ping initially got listed in X of the Day directories and one or two blog directories. But the site wasn't designed to be a blog at the outset. If you consider us pioneers in any way whatsoever, we'll be flattered.

Wait, did I read above that you knew each other for ten years, but met in 2001 for the first time?

Yup.

Is it true that you guys met up again in 2003?

Yes, it is. In 2003, Ryan and Paul met again at Paul's wedding. When faced with Ryan MacMichael in his living room, Paul's first reaction was, "This is so weird!"

And did you meet again in 2006? Whose wedding was it?

Indeed we did! We met at the Webvisions 2006 conference, and there was much drink and merrymaking. There was a wedding in the hotel we were staying at; does that count?

Yes, it does.

Good.

Has The Daily Ping ever been down, or unavailable?

Sadly, yes. Our first ever real, honest-to-gosh enormous outage occurred at the end of August 2006, when the site was attacked by tow truckers. (Just kidding! We think it was Raven-Symone fans.) While the site was indeed down for a few days, Paul and Ryan worked diligently to get everything in line in short order.

I'd love to wear The Daily Ping on my arse. Can I?

Cut it out.