Pro Barney

Pro Barney was a web ring, a self referred “circle of love” for fans of all of ages of the children’s television show Barney, which ran on PBS and came out in a series of home videos for many years. The purpose of the web ring was to unite all Pro Barney sites. Members of the web ring were identified to users by placing a special banner, which linked to other Pro Barney sites and to the home page of the web ring itself, at the top of their page. A site did not have to be Barney focused, but if it supported Barney or even if the owner was just a fan, it could be a part of the Pro Barney Web Ring.

The Pro Barney Web Ring was created when a mother and her daughter searched the internet for Barney related sites. Unfortunately, most of the websites that the mother and daughter found were not appropriate for children or simply mocked the beloved children’s show. The mother, however, was diligent and continued to search. Whenever she found an appropriate site, she bookmarked it for future use. Eventually, she decided to share these bookmarks for other parents and children experiencing the same problems by creating the Pro Barney Web Ring. Today, the ring exists not just as a way of uniting Barney fans but also as a way of saying thank you to the people who run Pro Barney websites for young children.

People who wanted to join the Pro Barney Web Ring, simply visited the web ring site and copied the listed banner code and/or uploaded the image to the server. If the graphic directory was separate from the web page files, adjust the code accordingly before continuing. The web ring maintainer asked that all links were accessible to other members of the ring and that the banner be clearly visible on the page.