Chapter 41: The Golden Age of Wind and Clouds!

  Su Jin was startled and asked: "Is there a problem with Dream Net? Didn't it used to be fine just recently?"

  Qian Ling glanced at the Su family and said lightly, "In fact, even now, the situation is not that bad! It's just a bit of a setback compared to before, but if we don't take any measures, we'll really be in danger!"

  "What did you say?"

  "Mengxiang Net was established last November, when there were no cultural websites online. As the only one of its kind, it also had the classic "Doupo" station, and at that time, it was like being in its heyday! However, just a month later, three cultural websites, "Rongshu Xia", "Huangjin Shuwu" and "Shulu", emerged on the internet one after another. And since then, numerous cultural websites have appeared, with 58 of them existing online as of three days ago!"

  Although the Dream Network has "Fighting Break", you also know the current situation of the internet, it's not that piracy is rampant, but rather there's no concept of piracy at all! In people's eyes nowadays, anything on the internet is considered public! Our "Fighting Break" has been posted everywhere!

  This way our greatest advantage has lost its effect, fortunately, since we are the first literary website, many readers are used to it, or have become accustomed to it, so we are still the largest literary website now, however, this advantage is being rapidly narrowed, especially 'Rong Shu Xia' and 'Huang Jin Shu Wu', which are developing rapidly and continuously eroding our power!" Qian Ling said with a gloomy expression, looking at Su Jian.

  "Under the Banyan Tree"! "Golden Book House"! Su Jin knew these two websites, not only did he know them, but he also had some understanding of them. When Su Jin was reborn and returned, these two websites had already declined, and their presence on the internet could hardly be seen. At that time, the online world had become thoroughly dominated by a certain giant.

  However, occasionally Su Jin would go back and look at some internet development history, a decade of network literature review and other materials. It was in these materials that he learned about the two names! Although he couldn't see their websites, from the words and phrases in the materials, he could still feel the grandeur and majesty of each website's history.

  "Under the Banyan Tree" is a personal homepage created by Zhu Weilian, an American-born Chinese, on December 25, 1997. In its past life, it adhered to the principle that "literature belongs to the masses", advocating for "life, feelings and random thoughts". Through this fast medium of the internet, literature truly became the literature of the masses, making many people's dreams of loving literature come true.

  What's most important is that, unlike other websites which only use pirated famous works to attract attention, it was the first literature website that truly valued originality and cultivated original authors! In later generations, at some point, they were able to cultivate their own numerous great authors by valuing originality and cultivating original authors, to the extent of dominating the world. It can't be said that this didn't carry on the idea of "Under the Banyan Tree".

  "The spirit of 'Under the Banyan Tree' has attracted countless talents! Han Han, Annie Baobei, Ning Caishen, Li Xunhuan, Xing Yuxin, Cai Jun, He Haizi, Murong Xuecun, Muzi Mei, Juke Naye, Xi Lingxue, Cangyue, Guo Jingming... were all once chosen! These authors later became top writers in the popular literature field, some successfully ran internet companies, and some became popular screenwriters."

  And "Golden Book House" is even more impressive, in the later generations, "Golden Book House" was born in May 1998, relying on detailed classification and multi-angle information to make the site's daily visits reach 30,000 people, with nearly 10,000 email subscribers.

  It adopted the version of Wo Hu Zhu She, relying on its massive works and detailed classification to become one of the top ten most influential personal websites in mainland China, and won the silver medal at the 98 Personal Homepage Competition.

  At that time, the Internet was still in the portal era. Readers found new literary websites mostly through Yahoo and other portals or through friendly links between stations. Friendly links were almost the only way for many websites to develop new members, making it difficult for new websites to enter.

  In this context, Huangjin Book House took advantage of its first-mover advantage to firmly occupy the position of the largest online bookstore. It is said that "if you don't know Huangjin Book House when surfing the internet, it's useless to call yourself a netizen". They noticed the problem that "the proportion of original works on the web is not enough, and the attention to book reviews is also not enough", so they set up a special column called "Net People Original Works" and started cultivating online original works.

  It can be said that at the time of Jin Yong's dominance, as long as it didn't make too many big mistakes in its development, other online book stations would find it very difficult to threaten it.

  "Alas! I originally thought that taking the lead would affect history, but I didn't expect what was meant to come would still come! However, it indeed had an impact. The 'Golden Book House' was born ahead of time and developed even more rapidly...". Su Jin couldn't help but be speechless at this thought.

  "They pirated our 'Dou Po', can we sue them? Although piracy is rampant on the internet now, I remember that the country has already introduced anti-piracy laws. If we take them to court, we should be able to win!" Su Jin thought for a moment before speaking up.

  "It's theoretically possible! But are you sure you want to do this? Not to mention whether it will be effective, piracy is rampant on the internet and people don't even have a concept of piracy anymore. If we really pursue this, all we can do is offend everyone! And now most website promotions rely on portal websites and friendly links between sites. If we offend everyone, it will be a fatal blow to our development!"

  Moreover, most websites nowadays are portal sites, and whether this approach makes sense is hard to say. You tell him, at most he'll lose a few thousand yuan, which won't affect his interests much. Afterwards, everything will be back to normal! If it's a small-scale website, they might as well just shut it down and start anew, what can you do about it then?" Qian Ling said with a bitter smile.

  Su Jin rubbed his temples, a wave of headache, this is indeed an intractable problem, piracy, not to mention now, but also in the future will be rampant! When Su Jin returned, the internet began to pay attention to the issue of piracy, and there were reports on the news that several major video websites sued Baidu for piracy, claiming 400 million yuan in damages. But what's the use, in Su Jin's view, this is a long-term problem, and it will take at least twenty years to solve!

  After some thought, Su Jin temporarily didn't have a good solution either, and could only say to Qian Ling: "Let's do it this way for now. You keep an eye on things, we're all busy with our own stuff, and only you have some time. This problem, let's get everyone together another day and study it carefully!"

  "Alright, it can't be helped. Hmm! It's noon, aren't you hungry?" Qian Ling raised her head, her sparkling eyes looking at Su Zhan, the meaning in her eyes very clear!

  "Ah! I'm a bit hungry, I wonder if I can have the honor of inviting Miss Qian to lunch with me?" Su Jin's face changed suddenly as he saw the threatening look in Qian Ling's eyes, and he said respectfully.