posted
I first got to know Alex online when he had contacted me about exchanging links with a site I'm still involved with, which may have been in 1998 even though this site of his was created on March 24, 2000. If I'm recalling correctly, I think like me and a few others at that time, he may have had a foot fetish link site on a personal web page of his.
That's kind of how our combined foot fetish community was organized back then, via personal web sites that we linked together, BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) and then mainly through Geocities, which now only operates in Japan after Yahoo bought it, and shuttered its operations in the United States.
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Edited as noted: With my understanding support, thank you Patrick for making your wise edits; very much appreciated.
posted
Again....wow... There truly are no words, as we know. I join the many who feel genuinely like I've lost another true friend.
I came upon this very sad news while listening to 'Oracle & Odyssey' by The Zombies, which leavened my sadness a bit, possibly...."Hung Up On A Dream", "Changes", "Time Of The Season"...I always find that momentous days are marked by irony more than others.
For me, I've not been much of a Forum kind of person but....14 years, three times a week...Wu was our firmament, a top shelf pioneer. I only hope Wu got at least as much pleasure out of what he gave us as that which we took.
Thank you, Wu, for all you did. And thank you to those who have helped monitor this sad situation and provide us some aspect of detail of the events herein. It does help to know even a little about this great, mysterious person who made such a great impact on our lives.
Posts: 4 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I'd been fearing this outcome since learning he hadn't been heard from for a while. I can't even remember how long ago I started coming to this site. I think I found the link on Aragorn's and I am pretty sure it was before 2000. I never even knew until recently that he wasn't asian-not that his ethnicity mattered, I just had this image in my head of this asian guy named "Wu" who made this great site. I don't know if anyone has pictures of him but it would be great if anyone who did would post some. Maybe he posted a picture on here a long time ago and I missed it. I'm sad he is gone and I hope he rests in true and lasting peace.
-------------------- Sometimes evil is just applied stupidity. Posts: 54 | Registered: May 2007
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posted
I remember Alex very fondly. He started out online with his foot fetish endeavors not long after I did in 1997. He reached out to me for advice, which I was happy to give, and I was even happier to see him succeed with this site.
posted
I figured that Wu had died. It happens to all of us at some time or another. Alex was Wu's real name and he did such a fantastic job with this site. My wife and I have been enjoying this site from almost as early as the Internet was available to people on planet Earth thanks to Al Gore for inventing it. Wu's updates and input and conversations with all of us will be sorely missed. I have a feeling that Calico Jack that many of you remember did thousands of posts here and was a moderator who suddenly disappeared from Wu's probably died as well years ago. I had conversations with Wu and Calico Jack many times. Both great guys, both gone. A sad day. I hope Alex is in a good place.
-------------------- "Foot fetish is not a choice... It's a lifestyle!"
-Quote from my phenomenal wife-
<--- My wife's feet! Size 7 U.S. We always welcome PM's. Posts: 1823 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
This has been my ONLY go to site for feet stuff for years now. Every site seems to suck when held up against the quality here on Wu's. My wife and I hope this site can continue. So many great folks here on the Forum!
-------------------- "Foot fetish is not a choice... It's a lifestyle!"
-Quote from my phenomenal wife-
<--- My wife's feet! Size 7 U.S. We always welcome PM's. Posts: 1823 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Rest in Peace Wu. You will be sorely missed in this community. May your memory live on through this site, our posts, and forever in our hearts and minds.
-------------------- Avatar Pic: My Wife Leigh size 6
Yes I have a fetish for Pretty Female Feet...Don't knock it till you try it! Posts: 1398 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
I only lurk on here, and post very little. I have been using his site since it's inception. Prior to that is was Night Hawks page. I'm very sorry to hear this news, and I too feel like he was part of my life.
Posts: 4 | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Really sad news to hear about Wu. If it wasn't for this site, I would have never been so open about my foot fetish. You're a legend Wu. RIP
Posts: 83 | Registered: Sep 2007
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I feel very sad about his death. Seems unbelievable when someone as young suddenly leaves us. He was always very kind and sweet to me. Rest in peace Alex.
First, I want to thank all of you who have expressed your appreciation for Wu and his efforts with this site. He was a great example of a single person who was able to make a big impact on a lot of lives and help foot fetish become a more mainstream pleasure for all of us.
I am Phil with BHE, We partnered with Wu right after he started when his current hosting situation was evaporating. He has been our partner ever since. The partnership was carefully defined in that we took no active part in directing his efforts with the site, but we were happy to receive his expression of gratitude by listing BHE sites in a somewhat prominent way. We also benefited greatly when a new webmaster asked for direction about how to start a site as Wu typically recommended our service as a good alternative to examine.
I discovered what happened when I did a trace for his name as the phone number I had on record was no longer in service. I had been trying to call him because there had been no response to my e-mails. I noticed that there was another listing of an older person with the same name in the same town and took a chance and called. I left a voice mail asking if they knew of an Alex that was single and heavily involved in the web under the name Wu.
A day or two later I received a return call from a person who identified himself as the father. He said that he had been in the hospital with a heart attack at the end of March and that Alex had visited him regularly while there. When released, a day or two passed and they didn't hear from him. They called, but got no answer from his residence. Finally, in early April they went by his apartment and found him dead of an apparent heart attack. Alex had rheumatic fever in his youth and the weakened heart that so often comes from that.
They were not aware of his popularity on the web and I didn't out him regarding the foot fetish. I just referred to the fact that he had a very large following of friends from around the world. I let them know that his count of friends who sincerely cared about him was very large and he will be missed by us all.
Many people have offered to take over the site, and we appreciate all their offers. But, I have worked very closely with Wu since his arrival here and understand a good deal about his intentions for this community. So, I will be acting as the webmaster. You can leave comments for me in this forum or write me directly at bhe@b-h-e.com or call me at 770-682-4808.
Since I confirmed his death I have started working my way through the structure of the site and trying to become familiar with his code. Apparently he used an offline HTML editor and uploaded composed HTML pages to the host. Very little of the site was automated and how he maintained things like site updates is a mystery to me. There were a few thousand messages in his inbox, the largest number of which were notices of site updates so I focused my effort there first. I reworked the structure of the pages to make them easier to maintain and processed all update notices for a significant period of history. I also changed the structure and cleaned up many of the dead links that I found. Now, updates are being processed daily with new posts being sorted to the top of the listing. There are two major areas, web sites and clip stores.
I know that the contribution sets are a favorite feature and I am working on adding a PHP script that will make it easier to upload sets amd to view the posted albums. I will get it operational as soon as possible and make an announcement here when it is ready to go.
Hopefully the contribution script will make it easier to upload and display the featured model section. I am waiting to find out before I jump in with a new feature entry at this point.
Unless I hear a huge outcry I intend to get rid of the chat area since it requires Flash and seems to be broken even if you have the tool to use it.
Patrick has offered to do interviews, and I would like to take him up on his offer. He and Wu had discussed expanding the interviews to include photographers, webmasters, and other people who would be of interest to the community. He has a journalism background and should be able to make this a dynamic and interesting part of the site.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome! I hope we can all work together to grow our community and maintain and increase the value of this, our site, to all.
Posts: 11 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Phil, I just wanted to say thanks for the update and for the effort to continue to maintain the site and forum.
Posts: 2828 | Registered: Jun 2010
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