# Ancient Web: Eric Wu Turned Email Requests Into an Emotion Photo Archive Eric Conveys an Emotion, launched in 1998, made reader-suggested expressions into a growing gallery of staged photographs and an early participatory web-comedy hit. 2026-09-28 :: Switchboard Tech Services ![Ancient Web: Eric Wu Turned Email Requests Into an Emotion Photo Archive](https://switchboardtechservices.com/static/images/defaults/articles.webp) Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/). A reader sends in an emotion. Eric Wu makes a face. Somehow, this arrangement became a durable little institution of internet comedy. [Visit Eric Conveys an Emotion](https://www.emotioneric.com/). Wu launched the site in 1998 while at the University of Florida. Its premise was deliberately restricted: stage and photograph himself portraying the feelings and situations proposed by visitors. Some requests were ordinary—happiness, fear, anger. Others stretched the meaning of an emotion into miniature comic scenes. ## Readers provided the punch lines The [Netstorian's 2017 examination](https://thenetstorian.com/2017/04/26/web-relic-showcase-eric-conveys-an-emotion/) documents the site's progression from basic facial expressions toward elaborate prompts. Among its remembered pieces is **Realizing That Your Hair Just Caught on Fire**. One response to a request for **Procrastination** was a label declaring the photograph unfinished. A request for being 'stoned' could be interpreted with actual stones. The jokes depended on a direct exchange between a webmaster and strangers sending suggestions by email. That is importantly different from a platform's reaction emoji: the audience requested a performance, and the performer chose how to interpret it. The archive accumulated those small collaborations rather than burying them in a chronological feed. The site earned documented attention beyond its own guestbook. Newspaper reports appeared in 1999 and 2000; a 2002 *Sacramento Bee* article discussed its appeal, and it was a nominee for a [2003 Webby Award](https://www.webbyawards.com/). These are particular signs of visibility, not a guessed audience size. Its present landing page still identifies the project and exposes old frame-based navigation, but a modern text reader cannot reliably display the photo gallery embedded in those frames. The original address remains important; the independent retrospective helps reconstruct what the pictures and the jokes contained. By 2008 the long-running updates had slowed, leaving a collection strongly tied to the pre-social-media web. A joke could last a decade because it required only a camera, a simple premise, and a mailbox that people kept writing to. [Explore the original site alongside the illustrated historical review](https://thenetstorian.com/2017/04/26/web-relic-showcase-eric-conveys-an-emotion/). Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/). - Categories: [Ancient Web](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/categories/ancient-web/) - Tags: [#ancientweb](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/ancientweb/), [#personalweb](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/personalweb/), [#photography](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/photography/), [#webhumor](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/webhumor/), [#viralculture](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/viralculture/) [Articles RSS](https://switchboardtechservices.com/feeds/articles.xml "Subscribe using an RSS reader") --- Canonical URL: https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-eric-wu-turned-email-requests-into-an-emotion-photo-archive/ Language: en-us Content type: article Author: Switchboard Tech Services Published: 2026-09-28T15:19:00+00:00 Modified: 2026-10-18T21:02:03.935063+00:00 Description: Eric Wu's original photo-humor website illustrates audience-driven publishing before social-media feeds, with surviving framed pages and contemporary press coverage.