About Bear-ytales.blogspot.com

It seems that every few years Bear-ytales.net goes through a major change. “Way back” in the late 1990s, it started out as The Knott’s Berry Farm Information Center. It was the very first fan site dedicated to Knott’s, and one of the first theme park fan sites period. Sometime in 2000 or 2001 it became Bear-ytales.com. A few years later, life took its turns and the site was out of my control for a while. Unfortunately the best intended plans didn’t work out for either party, and by the time I wanted to revive Bear-ytales some no-name internet marketing company had bought up the domain name. The solution was “Bear-ytales.net”, which debuted in 2004

Blogs shook up the internet publishing world in 2008 and in 2010 it became clear that a blog was the best choice for a new Bear-ytales web presence. Content is much easier to update, and many of the interactive elements I was looking for are built-in. Additionally, blogs seem to be more “search engine friendly” than a standard website, allowing new readers to discover Bear-ytales for the very first time.

Bear-ytales.com/.net/.blogspot.com has been an experiment from the beginning and will continue to grow and change as time goes by. I’ve never had any intentions of this being more than a hobby. I love my offline family life and Knott’s just doesn’t change all that often. Without the pressure of trying to make a business out of this I can sit back and enjoy without the constant pressure of increasing readership, ad revenue, etc. Best of all, I can do this without concern of competition from other Knott’s sites. Bear-ytales.blogspot.com is not the end-all-be-all of Knott’s information, not for a second. Other fine websites and blogs fill in the gaps nicely. My readership consists of families, former Knott’s employees from the recent past and from long ago, coaster enthusiasts, and historical gatekeepers of the classic Knott’s. It’s a great mix and there are enough of you to make this worthwhile. And for that I’m thankful.

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Bob lives in southern California with his wife and daughter, and is fortunate to call both Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland his home parks.

All images are © Bob Barber unless otherwise noted. If you are interested in using any images, please email Bob at bbarber7482@yahoo.com to make arrangements. Images my not be used without prior written permission.