=====================================================================
The dialogue is as far as I can remember a verbatim account of
a portion of yesterday's company meeting. The rest of the fluff
is just me blowing off steam ;)

==============================

The setting:
------------

        A January 'turning-in-new-directions' meeting at a dotcom
        startup. Like most dotcom startups, this one has been burning
        cash for over six months and has yet to produce any revenue.
        "Everyone" is perfectly happy about this because they are
        confident that the next Shiny Idea will be The Big One.  The
	next deal struck will be the Big Buck. There are no complete
	products yet, and the company can't stick to one idea for more
	than a month. But the most important thing about a dotcom is
	its website, right?

The cast:
---------

Money   The chairman and financial backer of said dotcom, a geek who's
        old enough to have used keypunch cards for program input. He
        actually had a successful idea once, which is why he can afford
        to back this far-seeing and forward-thinking enterprise.

MD      The Managing Director (when he's talking to a Brit) or CEO
        (when he's talking to an American). His background is software
        sales. And before that, Her Majesty's Royal Navy.

NOC     Network Administrator, Chief Consultant, and expert layer of
        Ethernet cabling. A chemist turned geek.

Webmaster       Perl Programmer, Project Manager, and Chief Cook and
                Bottle Washer, a geek.

Trainer         Course-writer, imparter of Clue to the clueless, a geek.

PFY     Website content-writer, PR person, Avoider of Tea-making, and
        of course, PFY.

The story so far:
-----------------

        Webmaster is attempting to get the information she needs (to
	build Version 2 of the company's website) out of the MD.

-------------
Act the first
-------------

MD: So PFY will gather everyone's ideas for version two of the website!

Webmaster: Um... The structure of the website needs to be based
        on the business goals of the company, rather than on a list
        of "good ideas".

MD: The business goals are my concern, and I will let
       you know where they impact the website. The design of
       the site is completely up to you!!

Webmaster: Yes, but I can't even start thinking about designing a
     structure until I understand what the objective of the
     website is.

MD: The objective of the website is to drive traffic!!!

Webmaster: To drive traffic where?

MD: To the website. The objective is to generate traffic
       for the website.

Trainer: Porn.

Webmaster: [nods] Porn.

MD: To generate traffic from our target audience, I mean.

Trainer: Our audience is IT professionals, who are mostly men,
        with incomes. Still porn.

Webmaster: [nods] Porn.

[MD turns a lovely shade of purple]

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curtain
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