Discussing the other day with a couple of colleagues, we went down the much-trodden path of defining exactly who a webmaster is.

It appears that here on Nairaland, the term Webmaster is sort of interchangeable with Web Designer/freelancer. In fact, some web hosts [/b]seem to put themselves in this category!

I thought I'd put the question to all and have a good old debate (and go back to my colleagues armed with the right definition!).

So: [b]Who is a Webmaster?

Is he the one who has created/designed a website, uploaded it on to the WWW and handed it all to the project owner?
Does the role of a Webmaster stop when design and uploading of web pages are complete?
Or does the Webmaster's role also include things like regular site maintenance, liaising with ISP or web host to ensure there is little or no downtime?
Does the Webmaster ensure that web pages are backed up, etc?

Can a freelance web designer be correctly referred to as a Webmaster?

Let's kick off with these definition links:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1306/is_5_67/ai_75090829
http://www.clickfire.com/viewpoints/articles/webmaster_become.php

Looking forward to your contribution!

xanadu:

Discussing the other day with a couple of colleagues, we went down the much-trodden path of defining exactly who a webmaster is.

It appears that here on Nairaland, the term Webmaster is sort of interchangeable with Web Designer/freelancer. In fact, some web hosts [/b]seem to put themselves in this category!

I thought I'd put the question to all and have a good old debate (and go back to my colleagues armed with the right definition!).

So: [b]Who is a Webmaster?

Is he the one who has created/designed a website, uploaded it on to the WWW and handed it all to the project owner?
Does the role of a Webmaster stop when design and uploading of web pages are complete?
Or does the Webmaster's role also include things like regular site maintenance, liaising with ISP or web host to ensure there is little or no downtime?
Does the Webmaster ensure that web pages are backed up, etc?

Can a freelance web designer be correctly referred to as a Webmaster?

Let's kick off with these definition links:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1306/is_5_67/ai_75090829
http://www.clickfire.com/viewpoints/articles/webmaster_become.php

Looking forward to your contribution!

I will go with the 2 lines in bold and in red.

If a freelance web designer does not handle the complete website from design to hosting and everything that has to do with the site functioning well then he/she cannot pass as a web master.

Put differently, a freelance web designer won't be held responsible if something goes wrong but a web master will be even if the web master over sees the duties of the different aspects of a typical website.