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mission

Five Horizons was conceived and created initially by five individual Pearl Jam fans. We met on the net, so our chosen vehicle to express ourselves is the net. Our goal is to provide thoughtful commentary, unique content, useful information and solid research, and have fun while doing so! =)

We are not an official site, nor do we have the desire to become one. We do not represent Pearl Jam, Epic Records, the Ten Club, Curtis Management OR the PJ fan community in any "official" capacity whatsoever. We do not know the band, we do not have any official contacts, nor do we aspire to be anything but what we are: the best Pearl Jam page that we personally can create.

This web site is very much about our personal fan experience and as such it will proudly reflect our individual likes, dislikes and opinions. We come from highly different backgrounds with many (trust us) WIDELY diverging opinions on the band and, most importantly, the music. We each have learned and enjoyed sharing our different perspectives with each other, and hope that you enjoy our perspectives as well. That's "enjoy," not necessarily "agree with." Just because we do not like your favorite song, thought that your favorite show wasn't all that great, don't want to use your article, review or suggestion, or somehow disagree with you doesn't mean that we are right and you are wrong, or vice versa: all it means is that the band and the music speak to us all in different ways.

This is by no means the "definitive" or all-encompassing Pearl Jam page. Instead, we've chosen those areas and items that interest us and that we care about, individually and collectively, and in which we feel we have some expertise. This is our way of giving something back to the band as well as to our fellow PJ fans on the internet.

However, we don't pretend for a minute that we're creating a page for everyone, nor do we have any desire to do so. Our goal was to create the page for "the fan with a clue" who had already exhausted the existing web resources and wanted something more. Five Horizons is not PJ 101; this is the advanced class. We wanted to create an interesting, thought-provoking destination for PJ fans that didn't just recycle what's out there in a different format; we wanted to create our own content.

We strive to provide maximum usability, readability, and originality. That translates into minimal graphics, black-on-white text, no frames, java or other tricks du jour, and as much unique content as we can.

As part of our goal to be a resource to the PJ community at large, we would be happy to serve as a mechanism to transmit and distribute official information in an unofficial capacity. However, having said that, we will NOT print rumors as fact... there are plenty of sites that will be happy to print anything they hear about Pearl Jam whether or not it has any basis in reality. Everything that is available here will have some basis in fact. We will try our hardest to keep that promise.

Five Horizons defines "fact" as "information that can be verified from an official source." Official sources are NOT radio stations, someone who works at a record store, alt.music.pearl-jam, or [insert name of music magazine here]. A press release from Curtis Management, Epic Records, or the Ten Club is official. A magazine article that quotes an official spokesperson BY NAME is official. The point is, there are people out there whose job is to get you to read their magazine or listen to their radio station and don't really care what impact rumors have on you. We personally have been the victim of stupid rumors more than once, and that's why Five Horizons needs to personally verify the veracity of a source or a piece of information before we print it. We'll respect confidentiality of sources, but like any newspaper who uses not-for-attribution quotes, the editor needs to know who the source was.

However, we will not foster, print or otherwise encourage gossip or other information of a personal nature about any of the band members and their private lives. Don't send it to us; don't ask us about it.

Five Horizons was conceived as an omnipresent, continually morphing fanzine, and that means we welcome contributions from the Pearl Jam community at large. We are always looking for quality reviews, important stories, articles, photos... whatever. If you'd like to submit something, we would be happy to review it for inclusion. We will not use anyone's contributions without credit or permission. However, as with every publication, there are editors who decide what goes in and what doesn't. We appreciate your desire to contribute, but will only include those suggestions and resources that we feel are compatible with the site and our goals.

Finally, everything that's here is here for a reason, whether it be this mission statement, our readme file, or our e-mail guidelines. We recommend and hope that you check out these documents in order to help yourself get the most out of Five Horizons.


Copyright © 2004 Five Horizons