His birth name is Shawn Dalton, but even his mother affectionately calls him "Glyph."
Dalton, 33, is the Internet personality known as "Glypher" who created GainesvilleBands.com.
Glypher graduated from UF in 1998 and since then has managed to "land a couple of jobs doing computer-geek type stuff." He has been doing Web development and database design for about five years at the U.S. Geological Survey.
But Glypher is akin to a second-tier celebrity in Gainesville due to his pet project.
"I don't know how much weight my name carries," Glypher said. "I don't really think of myself as a famous or well-known person. I run a stupid little Web site."
GainesvilleBands.com went online Sept. 9, 2002. It was created years before MySpace or Facebook standardized the concept of social networking.
"Now its passe. Everybody's doing it," he said. "When I started, nobody was doing that."
The Web site is labeled as the "source for the local music in Gainesville, FL." Many use it for its "Upcoming Shows" page, which includes all major Gainesville venues and lists ticket prices, show times, bands playing and even the fliers associated with each show.
There are approximately 5,000 registered accounts on the Web site. In its first month online, GainesvilleBands.com received 2,500 hits but now receives a lot more, Glypher said.
Part of the reason a Web site like Glypher's can be so successful is because of the deeply ingrained music culture in Gainesville. The town is rich in musical history and in its pure volume of shows every week.
"No matter what genres you want to find, there's somebody in Gainesville doing it," Glypher said. "There's also somebody doing it poorly."
GainesvilleBands.com also facilitates community discussion with its categorized forums.
The "Classifieds" page on the Web site is like a Craigslist for Gainesville musicians, although many things other than instruments are sold there. The "Create-A-Band" forum is like personal ads for those wishing to join or start up a band.
"People have said to me, 'Oh, we found our drummer' or 'We found our guitar player on your site,' and that is fine," Glypher said.
He tries to keep the Web site a respectful online community.
"The thing is, this isn't like the real interweb with total anonymity," he said. "As big as people think Gainesville is … someone is going to take offense in real life."
Fights have broken out in the past over what was written on forums, he said.
And while other similar Web sites were around before GainesvilleBands.com, none stood the test of time. Even in Florida, the site is unique in its community involvement and practical use. Searches for Web sites in Tampa, Orlando and Tallahassee show only skeletons of a cohesive online, local music community.
There is a lot resting on Glypher's shoulders, but in an optimistic outlook, it is the community that really makes such a Web site possible.
