The Man Who Runs Glen-Ellyn.com

Glen Ellyn Patch: What's your name?

Ted Eselgroth: Ted Eselgroth. It confuses a few old-timers in town who still remember my Dad — also Ted — and Mom, Anne. They were quite active locally in the 50s and 60s. I married my Glenbard High School sweetheart, née Merrie O'Donnell, in 1966.

Patch: What is your occupation?

Eselgroth: Happily retired. Former Writer/Producer of video and audiovisual materials for business, industry, education and broadcast—mostly sales presentations, training programs, documentaries—that sort of thing. I think I'm obligated by my craft rules to place "Award-Winning" in front of "Writer/Producer."

I still do pro bono web work for several non-profits and for a few candidates who I support.

In the 70s audiovisual meant slide shows and filmstrips, in the 80s film and video, in the 90's interactive computer-based media and now, of course, the Web. The means of distribution keeps changing and evolving, but the purpose and objectives remain very much the same.

I also taught web design and internet marketing part-time at the College of DuPage for about ten years.

Patch: How did you decide to start Glen-Ellyn.com?

Eselgroth: Before moving back to Glen Ellyn in the mid-90s, my wife and I lived outside of Atlanta. The internet was new and I needed to learn how to build web pages, so I put together The Cherokee County Web Site. It was a labor-of-love laboratory that helped me learn the technology while creating a new, unique and highly visible public service. It was just natural to continue with the idea when we moved back to Glen Ellyn and I started Glen-Ellyn.com.

Philosophically, though, I can trace my motivation back to my high school days at Glenbard. I used to hang out at WELF, Glen Ellyn's own radio station (its studios were next to the Glen Theater). After college I worked for small community stations in Michigan and Connecticut. Independent, locally-owned and programmed radio stations are long gone now, but the experience gave me a deep appreciation of how modern technology could help educate, inform, enlighten and entertain residents with local news and information — much as you're now doing with GlenEllynPatch.

Patch: What did you think people would originally use it for?

Eselgroth: At first, I thought it would be simply a repository of useful information. Few if any institutions in the village were online, so I created hundreds of pages about Glens Ellyn's government, schools, library, parks and other civic, service and social non-profit institutions. As the years went by many built their own sites, so I took down my pages and replaced them with links to the newer information. Today, although it still contains some proprietary information, my original site serves primarily as an index, a detailed "portal," of Glen Ellyn's online resources that may not show up in a Google search.

Users can still exploit that part of the site whenever they visit. It still offers content for and about residents—but not by residents. Which brings us to the newer, interactive GEBB section, Glen-Ellyn.org.

Patch: How has it changed and developed over the years?

Eselgroth: Like television, the Web started out in black-and-white—but graphic enhancements came quickly: Color text and backgrounds, pictures, animation, panoramic photos, sound, but it was still a one-way, read-only medium.

The most dramatic change—and the one that had the greatest impact on the Web as a whole as well as on Glen-Ellyn.com—was interactivity. Once people could participate—first by doing things like buying and selling on eBay and then by really getting involved by adding information and replies to what had been only static, read-only pages... well, the Web became a place for people to become actively involved with each other.

The most visited part of GlenEllyn.com became the interactive Glen Ellyn Bulletin Board—the "GEBB"—where anyone can chip in their two cents about anything. It isn't a throwback to the Golden Days or radio... it's a return to the era of the public tavern, the local inn, as a place to meet and exchange ideas and opinions about the issues of the day.

Patch: What do you hope people get out of being a part of the Glen Ellyn online community on the GEBB?

Eselgroth: Whatever they want to get out of it. Whatever they can. The GEBB has a life of its own. Some users argue local politics, others post announcements about non-profit fund-raisers, still other seek and receive things like restaurant recommendations. The options and alternatives are as varied as the people who visit; there's something for everyone. And if a visitor's interests aren't already covered in a forum, they can start a new thread.

The GEBB just keeps growing and evolving without much pushing on my part.

Patch: How many members does the board currently have?

Eselgroth: At the moment there are 1,850 registered members, a number that grows every week. Only registered members can post messages, but anyone can read them—and at any given moment the ratio of unregistered guests ("lurkers") to members is often greater than 10:1. The GEBB now gets over 50,000 visitors who make about 600,000 page views every month—which continues to amaze me.

That's greater than the population of the Village, of course—but the site is also used by residents and officials of nearby communities, prospective newcomers, college kids in schools across the country and former residents who are now scattered around the world.

Patch: Anything else we should know about Ted Eselgroth?

Eselgroth: I like puppies and Teddy Bears, long walks on the beach, and... oops, wrong web site. But there are things I don't like, and they tend to show up when I feel obligated to edit or delete a post on the GEBB.

Free Speech is great, but I draw the line at libel, spam, porn, copyright infringement and flame wars. Elected officials and private citizens who have chosen to step into the limelight are generally fair game, but I discourage maligning neighbors and other individuals.

I know it annoys some GEBBers when I moderate their posts, but conservatives have accused me of being too liberal and liberals have accused me of being too conservative, so I must be doing something right.

In any case, I'm trying to maintain the GEBB as a significant and vital gathering place for serious and thoughtful discussions of significant local issues. The GEBB does have its lighthearted and even silly forums and threads, but I hope to continue offering an alternative to, rather than to compete with, pop-culture social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The internet is a big place. Everything in it serves a purpose.