What is a webmaster?

The guy or girl in the office who is lumped with the responsibility of looking after the corporate website armed with some sketchy knoweldge and no training. That has been my rather miserable, I must admit, experience.

Opposite of webmistress!

Quote: Opposite of webmistress!

ROFL@Julia!!
To me.....A webmaster is someone who puts together, presents and/or maintains a web site in a pleasant, accessible, manner for public viewing.

I don't feel that a webmaster has to have skills in every area to be called a webmaster. For example, just because a brain surgeon doesn't do cardiac surgery does that make him NOT a surgeon?

To me, the term webmaster has always referred to one who is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of a web site. I don't refer to myself as a webmaster. Web designer? sure. Web developer? why not.

The only capacity in which I serve as a "webmaster" is in a maintenance role and is how I am represented to my clients' clients.

I tend to agree with that. You could say that a webmaster is someone who is responsible for a website on a day-to-day basis. It doesn't necessarily have to be a corporate site - could be a personal or hobby site as well.

At gymn.ca I am responsible for the technical functionality of the site while others oversee the content. I would probably describe that as a "webmaster" type of role.

"Webmaster" in my mind usually takes on sort of a "jack of all trades, master of none" type of meaning.

Yeah, and also an alias for the first point of contact regarding any issues with the website

My def for `Webmaster`:
First level support. Update/maintain content, simple asthetics.

If the person gets heavier into design, I prefer to call them a Web Designer.
If they get heavier into coding (server-side), I use Web Developer.

The more I view the responses, the easier it is for me to conclude that webmaster is yet another overloaded computer term.

My view does coincide w/ Mark's however with the addition that Webmaster's are often required to delve into the other areas, for no additional pay, and for longer hours, without gratification, or appreciation and are first fired and...oh...sorry, maybe that's just my experience :blockhead

Where I work we use two positions: Web Administrator and Web Master.

The Web Administrator handles the requests for new pages/sections and the scheduling. The Web Master designs the navigation (and underlying directory structure, etc), maintains the box, assists in training and handles any technical details.

In short - the Web Administrator is the paper-pusher type, while the Web Master is the backend geek.

I've seen a lot of job descriptions that match that sort of criteria (the backend geek description), which is interesting because it seems to differ significantly from what most people would consider to be a "webmaster". Although if you separate the two words like you did above you could say that they have different meaning.

However, to me a "Web Master" would take on sort of a guru type meaning. Anyone who fits that description would have to master of all things web which we all know is pretty much impossible. Either that or you'd have to be in charge of it all which we also know is impossible

easy: a "webmaster" is a "master of the web"..

Hmmm, I thought that a webmaster was someone who never answers email.

Quote: Originally posted by mairving
Hmmm, I thought that a webmaster was someone who never answers email.

And you're reasoning for this mairving???

Try it. Send an email to whoever is listed as webmaster on a site. You'll never get a response.

lol

no kidding! it's impossible. And if you're reporting an error, the most likely response is "you are using a bad browser, use IE".

Which is especially insulting when you ARE using IE! lol!

I'm a webmaster who reads his e-mail and answers it. Maybe I should get one of those spoof shirts that says "i read your email"? But I agree it's annoying and frustrating when others don't bother in responding to visitors.