Welcome to the Archive

Hi there, and welcome to the Stephen Best web archive. This is where some of my web sites from literally a dozen or more years ago reside. So, you’re asking yourself why this is here… Well, did you burn your old yearbooks and pictures before they became digital? No? Well, the same is true here – I just moved on to other stuff using other sites and tools.

So, let’s address why you are here before we get into the content of the archives. So, why are you here?

  • a) I applied for a job with you and you decided to Google me, and this is what you came up with (probably because this web site has been around for a long time with “Stephen Best” as a title and keyword, so it shows up high on the search list.
  • b) You are an old friend or acquaintance doing the same as above, and you don’t have a Facebook account, which is where my old friends find me.
  • c) You saw me speak at a conference, and decided to search for me. For my work related stuff, let me direct you to email me (sdbest at umich.edu) or go to one of my many work related web sites. Please don’t do a Facebook search for me – my work life barely exists on Facebook, and I am not likely to “friend” you unless we are on a first name basis (sorry – gotta draw the lines on Facebook).
  • d) You were really looking for another Steve or Stephen Best, and found me instead. Congratulations, because you really didn’t want to know the other ones anyway. They are mere imitators – a bunch of second rate hacks who, despite their superior name, don’t merit the time of day. Okay, maybe a few do, like Stephen Best (the professor at Berkeley) or Steve Best (another UM person who has probably long suffered with a few emails that should have come to me). But these others, like vegan-animal rights Steve Best, white-collar defense attorney Stephen Best, blurry-photographer Stephen Best (who, unfortunately owns the stephenbest.com domain), and schlocky prop comedian Steve Best, are clearly hurting the “Stephen Best” brand. I recommend you avoid them like the plague.
  • e) You stumbled upon this site somehow (an old link, perhaps, or you found a business card of mine from 10 years ago in the pocket of those old dress pants that used to fit you, and decided to see what was there). In this case, continue your voyage down memory lane and see what I published here back in the 90’s.

So, now that you are here, what are you going to do? Again, you have choices:
  • a) Go to the archives. I want to see what your website looked like back when you had hair.
  • b) Show me something more current, like a new web site (I will link to this soon), or one of your projects (there are lots - I’ll post them below shortly.)
  • c) Take a look at Steve’s most recent resume again to get a better sense of why we should hire him (and, by the way, you should! hire him. now.)
  • d) See is he has put something productive on a social media site like Facebook or Twitter.

If you chose D above, you realize that I haven’t. Not that I don’t know how - I just don’t want to share pictures of me and my family with anyone, and, as for twitter, those of you who know me know that I believe nothing of much value can be said in 140 characters.

And, if you’ve decided to take a peek at the archives, you might ask, “Why haven’t I updated this content regularly?” Because, I am lazy? No - those of you who know me know I am a bit of a workaholic. Because I don’t care? Sort of. Most of what I have to say is on some other site directed at a specific group, usually teachers, and is not here on this old vanity site. But otherwise, life has just gotten busy with family, friends, work work, housework, travel, and occasional sleep. I have real work to do. And you should to. So get back to work.