I like to think of this website as a webarium, a cross between a website and an aquarium. In it live a plentitude of webatic creatures, colourful busy entities of the web ecology.
I’m not a great fan of carp. Dark and murky ponds full of carp are often employed in ornamental gardens to lend an air of oriental elegance. What turns me off about carp ponds is that they’re carp ponds. The problem is evident in the name. Carp can in no way be considered particularly exciting or dynamic fish. Elegant? Certainly. Sexy? Errmmm….no, not a chance. Furthermore, ponds are dark and muddy and best viewed from above. In short a carp pond is all about peace, calm, meditation (and sleep?)
An aquarium, on the other hand, is all about excitement and drama. All the little flickering shapes and colours. The sensuous waving fronds. The foreboding ship-wreck or skull lying on the bottom. Not only are the contents more dynamic and intriguing but your perspective makes it more involving too. By looking in from the side, it is more like you have crossed over into the aquatic world rather than being an alien spectator on the distant dry shore. Of course, you should never tap on the glass of an aquarium, it is very bad for the fish (and smudges the glass). Nevertheless, the fact that people want to, demonstrates that aquariums do invite interaction. Who ever tried to tap on the side of a carp pond?