eMJey.com Turns 8 Years Old / Let’s Learn More About the Site
To celebrate the site’s 8th birthday, we invite you to read a few lines to get more familiar with the site, its activities, and also its founders and administrators.
History
The website eMJey.com was established on Michael’s birthday, August 29, 2003 / Shahrivar 7, 1382, during a home birthday celebration for Michael, and officially began its work from the morning of Shahrivar 8.
The news of the site’s launch was announced the next day after Persian BBC Radio, and from the very beginning the site welcomed several thousand visitors. Different groups such as the Oham group supported it.
In the beginning, the site’s space was only 10 MB, but the following year it was upgraded to 1 GB. In its third year it became 5 GB, and today it has unlimited storage.
For a while, the site also operated under the names eMJey.net and MichaelJackson.ir.
From 2006 / 1385, the site’s appearance changed and it moved from a static (unchanging) state to a dynamic (live) one. And yesterday, after 4 years, all of its infrastructure was updated and modernized.
Site Collaborators
eMJey.com was a combination of a blog and a website: the featured blog of the Persian music group PersianBlog titled “Michael Jackson PersianBlog,” with the address http://michaeljackson.persianblog.ir, which belonged to a fan named Payam; and a website at http://mjfan.web۱۰۰۰.com, which belonged to Hamid. These two had been created about two years earlier and were the first online Michael sources in Persian.
The idea for the site name was given by Hamid when he had gone with a friendly group of about 10 to 15 people to the Mofid Children’s Hospital.
After the site was established, the site’s most popular and active section was MJ Radio, run by Payam and his brother Poya. Another member, Saman, worked in the audio-visual archive section and downloads.
But after some time, in the winter of 1382 the site was closed for a few months, and in Tir 1383 it resumed and new members joined. Elnaz took charge of translation and news, and the archive section for news from previous months was gradually completed. Bita began working in banner design, the image gallery, and the English section of the site, and Reza took over the management of the “Sokhangoo” (speaking) section.
Over the past years, Payam distanced himself from the site’s executive work, although he occasionally collaborated on the site. Almost his last serious activity was the last radio show he prepared for the site. The English section, which was managed by Bita, stopped after Michael’s death. However, Hamid continued his work as a programmer, site and banner designer; Elnaz continued as a reporter and translator; and Reza continued in the Sokhangoo section. Bita also represents the site in fan projects held in America.
A list of site collaborators is also available on this page.
Site Records
In 2004 / 1383, the Jacksons cartoon was downloaded from the site in less than 4 hours—over 7 gigabytes (even with the dial-up internet of those days)—which caused the site to crash.
In the days after Michael’s death, on June 25, 2009 / Tir 4, 1388, the number of site visitors was close to 80,000—about the population of Azadi Stadium!
Site Honors
The special meeting arranged with Michael’s friend and hairdresser, Ms. Karen Fie (November 27, 2004 / Azar 6, 1383), and more importantly the meeting with Michael Jackson (April 4, 2005 / Farvardin 15, 1384), as well as delivering messages from Persian-speaking fans to him, are among eMJey.com’s lasting honors.
Bita, the only site member who lives in America, during her meeting with Karen delivered a package that eMJey.com had prepared from Payam’s messages and letters and had sent to her. A few days later, Karen wrote on Michael Jackson’s official website at the time, MJJSource:
“I received a package full of letters and handmade work from Iran and delivered it to Michael. Michael read all of them and enjoyed them. He told me to thank all of them and to tell them that he loves them.”
Another site honor was having exclusive images from the Rose of Love project, to the extent that the official MJJSource website requested eMJey.com to provide these photos so they could be displayed on Michael’s official site. This was because Bita was the only fan who, due to her prior acquaintance with Karen Fie, had permission to bring a camera. She was also the only fan who, that day, was able to spend time with Michael exclusively.
Bita herself was a member of the Rose of Love project. Some fans surprised Michael when he returned from court at Neverland with baskets of flowers. On that day, while meeting Michael, Bita presented him with souvenirs from Iran. A photo report of this meeting was shown on CBS America.
Among the souvenirs Bita presented to Michael over those years, we should mention a beautiful artwork board that she had prepared for Michael’s 49th birthday in 2007 using messages from Iranian fans.
Michael Jackson’s Approval Stamp
Another site honor is receiving Michael Jackson’s approval stamp, which during the 2005 court proceedings was given by his official website to the websites that defended and supported him. This approval stamp guaranteed that those websites would take steps in Michael’s best interests.
To read the article that was previously prepared about the approval stamp and published in the site news, click.
News Section
To date, the latest events Persian section of eMJey.com has included more than 3,000 news titles, and it has always stayed up to date in its news reporting.
Sokhangoo (Speaking) Section
eMJey.com has, so far, experienced four generations of the Sokhangoo section and has managed to make the word “Sokhangoo” replace the forum.
Getting to Know Michael - Michaelology
eMJey.com has provided its visitors with the most complete translated biography in Persian of Michael Jackson. This biography, translated by Elnaz, is still being worked on so that, in the coming months after updating, it will be made available to interested readers.
Also, translated interviews in Persian, alongside the biography, have always been among the most prominent sources available in Persian for getting to know Michael Jackson’s life, events, and activities.
Other things worth reading on the site include the section of Michael’s lyrics, prepared by Reza, and also the “Today in Michael Jackson’s Life” section, created by Saman.
Other Activities
Among the site’s unique works is the launch of the first podcast in the history of Persian-language websites, created by Payam on the internet.
Also, eMJey.com is the first Iranian specialized website for supporting a singer—whether among Iranian artists or international ones—in the history of the Iranian internet.
Persian Ghosts
The first Michael Jackson film dubbed into Persian by Hamid (the film Ghosts) is also published by this site. Read the news about this film at here.
Fan Projects
On several occasions, the site published works to commemorate Michael’s memory, prepared by Elnaz.
The Michael Jackson memorial magazine in the first anniversary of his death, and the memorial video in the second year, were among these projects. In both works, fan artworks and letters were used.
Other projects include the Persian translation of the book “Dancing Dreams,” a collection of Michael Jackson’s poems and writings, which was released alongside its English version. The book of Michael’s interviews and Oprah, as well as the Persian and English magazine of Ebony interview with Michael, were also among the projects.
To receive the magazines and books that have been prepared up to today, visit this page.
More books and magazines are also in progress and will be announced later.
The memorial video of Michael Jackson was released this past Tir month. Our goal was to deliver this video to Michael’s children and to his mother, Katherine. A while ago we told you that the online team of the Michael Jackson Foundation mentioned in an email that they had watched this video on YouTube. They thanked us for sharing the link to this video.
A little while earlier, through Twitter and YouTube, we also shared the link of this video with Paris Jackson, Michael’s daughter.
To receive this video, click.
In addition to that, over the years fans have been able to share their own creations—such as the Jet Audio skin program, the Neverland model, the Persian calendar, and many other things—through the site with their friends.
Media Coverage
eMJey.com has conducted interviews with Persian BBC in four rounds: three of them related to the “Day Seven” radio program, and one related to the TV show “Kook,” which took place after Michael’s death and featured Hamid and Bita on the program. Hamid’s interview with Radio Farda has also been another media activity of the site.
In the middle of 2005 and 2006, the site operated for a while in eight languages: Persian, English, Bulgarian, Arabic, German, Portuguese, Danish, and Russian—and each language section was managed from within its respective country. To date, eMJey.com remains the only international Michael Jackson website with this number of languages.
Also, the English section blog of the “Border Crossing” program of Voice of America was, for a time, located on eMJey.com and was updated there.
So far, the site’s name has been mentioned on more than 15 satellite networks.
After a gathering of about 50 to 60 fans in Bahman 83 in Tehran in support of Michael Jackson’s innocence, the site was selected as the top website of the week by more than 10 Iranian traffic-ranking sites.
The site’s graphic appearance was also selected several times after 2006 on traffic-ranking sites.
BBC Link to eMJey.com
In several cases, the Persian BBC website has linked to eMJey.com in news related to Michael Jackson. For example, here and here
eMJey.com on Wikipedia
Most of the content about Michael Jackson that you read on Wikipedia is taken from eMJey.com.
Also, over the years, various blogs and websites—as well as many Michael Jackson pages on Facebook, with or without citing the source—have used content from eMJey.com.
These two things mean that over the years this site has managed to establish its position as the first, most credible, most popular, and most complete source of Michael Jackson in Persian in the virtual world.
Fan Community Outside the Country
eMJey.com has also been in contact with the fan community abroad. For example, the fan club manager in Las Vegas, Ms. Farah Pazhooshefar, is one of the site’s old friends. She had met Michael twice. She was the only guest on the English program of MJ Radio.
History
The website eMJey.com was established on Michael’s birthday, August 29, 2003 / Shahrivar 7, 1382, during a home birthday celebration for Michael, and officially began its work from the morning of Shahrivar 8.
The news of the site’s launch was announced the next day after Persian BBC Radio, and from the very beginning the site welcomed several thousand visitors. Different groups such as the Oham group supported it.
In the beginning, the site’s space was only 10 MB, but the following year it was upgraded to 1 GB. In its third year it became 5 GB, and today it has unlimited storage.
For a while, the site also operated under the names eMJey.net and MichaelJackson.ir.
From 2006 / 1385, the site’s appearance changed and it moved from a static (unchanging) state to a dynamic (live) one. And yesterday, after 4 years, all of its infrastructure was updated and modernized.
Site Collaborators
eMJey.com was a combination of a blog and a website: the featured blog of the Persian music group PersianBlog titled “Michael Jackson PersianBlog,” with the address http://michaeljackson.persianblog.ir, which belonged to a fan named Payam; and a website at http://mjfan.web۱۰۰۰.com, which belonged to Hamid. These two had been created about two years earlier and were the first online Michael sources in Persian.
The idea for the site name was given by Hamid when he had gone with a friendly group of about 10 to 15 people to the Mofid Children’s Hospital.
After the site was established, the site’s most popular and active section was MJ Radio, run by Payam and his brother Poya. Another member, Saman, worked in the audio-visual archive section and downloads.
But after some time, in the winter of 1382 the site was closed for a few months, and in Tir 1383 it resumed and new members joined. Elnaz took charge of translation and news, and the archive section for news from previous months was gradually completed. Bita began working in banner design, the image gallery, and the English section of the site, and Reza took over the management of the “Sokhangoo” (speaking) section.
Over the past years, Payam distanced himself from the site’s executive work, although he occasionally collaborated on the site. Almost his last serious activity was the last radio show he prepared for the site. The English section, which was managed by Bita, stopped after Michael’s death. However, Hamid continued his work as a programmer, site and banner designer; Elnaz continued as a reporter and translator; and Reza continued in the Sokhangoo section. Bita also represents the site in fan projects held in America.
A list of site collaborators is also available on this page.
Site Records
In 2004 / 1383, the Jacksons cartoon was downloaded from the site in less than 4 hours—over 7 gigabytes (even with the dial-up internet of those days)—which caused the site to crash.
In the days after Michael’s death, on June 25, 2009 / Tir 4, 1388, the number of site visitors was close to 80,000—about the population of Azadi Stadium!
Site Honors
The special meeting arranged with Michael’s friend and hairdresser, Ms. Karen Fie (November 27, 2004 / Azar 6, 1383), and more importantly the meeting with Michael Jackson (April 4, 2005 / Farvardin 15, 1384), as well as delivering messages from Persian-speaking fans to him, are among eMJey.com’s lasting honors.
Bita, the only site member who lives in America, during her meeting with Karen delivered a package that eMJey.com had prepared from Payam’s messages and letters and had sent to her. A few days later, Karen wrote on Michael Jackson’s official website at the time, MJJSource:
“I received a package full of letters and handmade work from Iran and delivered it to Michael. Michael read all of them and enjoyed them. He told me to thank all of them and to tell them that he loves them.”
Another site honor was having exclusive images from the Rose of Love project, to the extent that the official MJJSource website requested eMJey.com to provide these photos so they could be displayed on Michael’s official site. This was because Bita was the only fan who, due to her prior acquaintance with Karen Fie, had permission to bring a camera. She was also the only fan who, that day, was able to spend time with Michael exclusively.
Bita herself was a member of the Rose of Love project. Some fans surprised Michael when he returned from court at Neverland with baskets of flowers. On that day, while meeting Michael, Bita presented him with souvenirs from Iran. A photo report of this meeting was shown on CBS America.
Among the souvenirs Bita presented to Michael over those years, we should mention a beautiful artwork board that she had prepared for Michael’s 49th birthday in 2007 using messages from Iranian fans.
Michael Jackson’s Approval Stamp
Another site honor is receiving Michael Jackson’s approval stamp, which during the 2005 court proceedings was given by his official website to the websites that defended and supported him. This approval stamp guaranteed that those websites would take steps in Michael’s best interests.
To read the article that was previously prepared about the approval stamp and published in the site news, click.
News Section
To date, the latest events Persian section of eMJey.com has included more than 3,000 news titles, and it has always stayed up to date in its news reporting.
Sokhangoo (Speaking) Section
eMJey.com has, so far, experienced four generations of the Sokhangoo section and has managed to make the word “Sokhangoo” replace the forum.
Getting to Know Michael - Michaelology
eMJey.com has provided its visitors with the most complete translated biography in Persian of Michael Jackson. This biography, translated by Elnaz, is still being worked on so that, in the coming months after updating, it will be made available to interested readers.
Also, translated interviews in Persian, alongside the biography, have always been among the most prominent sources available in Persian for getting to know Michael Jackson’s life, events, and activities.
Other things worth reading on the site include the section of Michael’s lyrics, prepared by Reza, and also the “Today in Michael Jackson’s Life” section, created by Saman.
Other Activities
Among the site’s unique works is the launch of the first podcast in the history of Persian-language websites, created by Payam on the internet.
Also, eMJey.com is the first Iranian specialized website for supporting a singer—whether among Iranian artists or international ones—in the history of the Iranian internet.
Persian Ghosts
The first Michael Jackson film dubbed into Persian by Hamid (the film Ghosts) is also published by this site. Read the news about this film at here.
Fan Projects
On several occasions, the site published works to commemorate Michael’s memory, prepared by Elnaz.
The Michael Jackson memorial magazine in the first anniversary of his death, and the memorial video in the second year, were among these projects. In both works, fan artworks and letters were used.
Other projects include the Persian translation of the book “Dancing Dreams,” a collection of Michael Jackson’s poems and writings, which was released alongside its English version. The book of Michael’s interviews and Oprah, as well as the Persian and English magazine of Ebony interview with Michael, were also among the projects.
To receive the magazines and books that have been prepared up to today, visit this page.
More books and magazines are also in progress and will be announced later.
The memorial video of Michael Jackson was released this past Tir month. Our goal was to deliver this video to Michael’s children and to his mother, Katherine. A while ago we told you that the online team of the Michael Jackson Foundation mentioned in an email that they had watched this video on YouTube. They thanked us for sharing the link to this video.
A little while earlier, through Twitter and YouTube, we also shared the link of this video with Paris Jackson, Michael’s daughter.
To receive this video, click.
In addition to that, over the years fans have been able to share their own creations—such as the Jet Audio skin program, the Neverland model, the Persian calendar, and many other things—through the site with their friends.
Media Coverage
eMJey.com has conducted interviews with Persian BBC in four rounds: three of them related to the “Day Seven” radio program, and one related to the TV show “Kook,” which took place after Michael’s death and featured Hamid and Bita on the program. Hamid’s interview with Radio Farda has also been another media activity of the site.
In the middle of 2005 and 2006, the site operated for a while in eight languages: Persian, English, Bulgarian, Arabic, German, Portuguese, Danish, and Russian—and each language section was managed from within its respective country. To date, eMJey.com remains the only international Michael Jackson website with this number of languages.
Also, the English section blog of the “Border Crossing” program of Voice of America was, for a time, located on eMJey.com and was updated there.
So far, the site’s name has been mentioned on more than 15 satellite networks.
After a gathering of about 50 to 60 fans in Bahman 83 in Tehran in support of Michael Jackson’s innocence, the site was selected as the top website of the week by more than 10 Iranian traffic-ranking sites.
The site’s graphic appearance was also selected several times after 2006 on traffic-ranking sites.
BBC Link to eMJey.com
In several cases, the Persian BBC website has linked to eMJey.com in news related to Michael Jackson. For example, here and here
eMJey.com on Wikipedia
Most of the content about Michael Jackson that you read on Wikipedia is taken from eMJey.com.
Also, over the years, various blogs and websites—as well as many Michael Jackson pages on Facebook, with or without citing the source—have used content from eMJey.com.
These two things mean that over the years this site has managed to establish its position as the first, most credible, most popular, and most complete source of Michael Jackson in Persian in the virtual world.
Fan Community Outside the Country
eMJey.com has also been in contact with the fan community abroad. For example, the fan club manager in Las Vegas, Ms. Farah Pazhooshefar, is one of the site’s old friends. She had met Michael twice. She was the only guest on the English program of MJ Radio.
****************************************
This is the second article published on this page about the site’s activities and actions. The first article, titled “Michael Jackson’s Approval Stamp,” was read a while ago on this page.
As you know, the site has just been reopened. We ask you to stay tuned for its further progress and updates.
With our everlasting thanks to you, our loyal friends
eMJey.com