August Bourré's Copyright, July 25, 2000:

This Is Satire

I feel that I should point out that this site, as you see it now, is a parody of Jakob Nielsen's Useit.com. While I am not intending to violate his copyright, I probably am, so let me just get to the point. In his July 23^rd Alertbox column, Jakob called for the standardization of web design. While I did see some of his arguments as being valid, I felt that on the whole his idea was unreasonable and somewhat Orwellian. I didn't want to go out and blatantly flame him, because to be honest, I don't know him, and I think that intelligent discussion is a more proper response. I have already participated in a number of discussions on this subject [most notably at Dreamless.org and Astounding Websites], but felt that I must make a more personal statement. Therfore I have stolen Mr. Nielsen's site design for a brief period of time, and have parodied his article in what I hope is a satirical manner. As you surf this site, you will find that almost all the links lead to this page. I had a specific parody in mind, so rather than reproduce all of Mr. Nielsen's content, I decided to simply create a catch-all "goes nowhere, does nothing" page instead of creating dead links. Thank you for your patience. Vestige.org will return to its original content soon, and this "mini-site" will be archived.

I also feel that I should mention that when I parodied Mr. Nielsen's Alertbox column, I did not re-write it completely. Instead, I adapted his text to my purpose. Some of what you will read is in its original form, but most isn't. The tone, and purpose of the piece have been altered significantly, and the piece should not be seen as accurately reflecting Mr. Nielsen's intent. You should read his original article to understand the changes I have made. I do not claim this piece as being 100% original on my part.