About

On The Dockyards: How Did This Project Actually Start? (2009–2015)


Welcome to The Dockyards! This was the initial logo of the website (used between early 2015 and late 2019).

This website was initially created as a separate personal blog on the WordPress blogging platform in late 2009. At that time, its main purpose was to represent a useful digital outlet through which I was able to easily publish and store media content as well as related articles on various subjects (most notably regarding the hobbies and diverse occupations or activities I had as a teenager).

Nonetheless, over the passing of time, this website had slowly (yet steadily) developed into something much more significant. That is exactly why I ultimately decided to take one step further with it in the spring of 2015 and turn it into a proper domain of its own, after a brief hiatus from blogging which lasted between early 2012 to late 2014.

14-year-old me way back in 2012, the year during which I stopped blogging for about 2 years

During the late 2000s, apart from my main WordPress-powered blogs and websites, I was also in charge of some minor other personal blogs of mine on Yahoo! 360° (mainly on animated TV series and video games) or Blogger (history and historical video games). However, the former ceased to exist as the 2010s would start and my remaining minor Blogger-powered blog was deleted by me in an attempt to unify part of my other articles into a single major blog on WordPress.

At the same time, I feel I should mention here that the first historical article that I wrote was on the Middle Ages in Ireland (one of my most favourite countries and a very beautiful land indeed, rich and magic in its history, folklore, music, architecture and traditions) back when I was still 12 on my first WordPress-powered blog, after documenting myself from a history encyclopædia that I bought with my own pocket money (in this regard, the primary source that I had at the time for the respective article was an entry from the Kingfisher History Encyclopædia, to be more specific. The same article was further expanded years later with more knowledge and many other historically-related and relevant video clips embedded via YouTube truly worth watching.

During the early 2010s I also had a personal website of my own on which I mostly blogged about sports (especially football), animated TV series, rock and jazz music as well as old school, cult classic real-time strategy and role-playing video games such as the Age of Empires or Fallout franchises. It was also at around that time that I started to monetise my first website through Google AdSense which I definitely recommend to any other blogger out there reading this! Shortly after launching my personal website I was also the main author and webmaster of www.rockpedia.co which was a fan website on rock music active from 2011 to 2012.

At Hard Rock Café Bucharest in January 2020

Eventually, due to a series of mishaps and external causes which led to both my personal website and Rockpedia.co to become inactive, I created this website with a lot of previous historical material from one of my WordPress-powered blogs during the spring of 2015 with the intent of sharing knowledge to like-minded people.

Fast forward, as for the current form of this web project in 2021, all that any visitor will be able to read here still serves me (and, hopefully, can do the same for other like-minded people) as a useful digital teaching platform on which I was able to save various bits of information, some valuable knowledge as well as some fond memories in order to pass the everlasting test of time.

Subsequent Developments (2014–present)


In the historical old town of Sighișoara (Schäßburg) – 2015

It was in the autumn of 2014 that I decided to re-commence writing on a digital platform, after a brief hiatus from blogging (as previously mentioned). In the meantime, I also tried to refine my way of writing by learning as much as I could with respect to web design, primarily in order to aesthetically match the content that I wrote about.

Briefly put, the vast majority of the articles on this website revolve around ancient and medieval history, but there are also separate series of posts on sports, real-time strategy video games (within the larger category of IT & technology), music, literature, and even films. For more details on all of the constituent sections of this website, please see the category drop-down menu on the right sidebar. Thank you!

The decision of naming the website ‘The Dockyards’ was purely based on my utmost love and constant, innermost fascination with the sea or the ocean. In this particular regard, ever since The Dockyards was launched (prior to redefining it in 2021), I have been constantly using header images that depict the sea, ocean, or just water in general. For example, a former header image (in use as of September 2019) depicted a picturesque medieval castle close by the North Atlantic Ocean in the countryside of the West Coast of Ireland.

The new logo of the website (in use since late 2019 onwards)

Alternative official logo of the website (in use since December 2021 onwards and made with Adobe Spark)

Below you can also take a closer look at the header image history of the website (starting with October 2015):

The Purpose And Motivation For Maintaining The Dockyards


On top of the defensive walls of the medieval Seat Fortress of Moldavia in Suceava, Bukovina, Romania (March 2021)

The main purpose for maintaining this website after all these years is to still share as much information as possible regarding the main topics that I decided to write about in the very beginning when this project was initially launched.

In this regard, my personal motivation has alway relied on bringing as many facts as possible closer to my readership while dispelling historical myths at the same time. Therefore, the main long term objective for The Dockyards as a growing website on the world wide web is to still find itself in the proper, truthful direction of historical accuracy combined with high quality media content.

In the upcoming years, I hope that I will be able to expand the website with brand new articles on both ancient and medieval history, focusing on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the expansion of the Celts (along with separate posts on Gaelic culture as well), or the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Egyptians respectively.

The Triquetra – a very dear symbol to me. Image source: www.pixabay.com

So it is that as of March 2021 I planned to further surpass my blogging limits and creativity while also adhering to the standards of ethics and morality with respect to digital journalism (as best as I could, that is). Consequently, during the autumn and winter of 2021, a brand new series on the Ancient Celts had been gradually published on The Dockyards.

Image source: www.pixabay.com

A Brief Personal Description: Personal Interests And Hobbies


Very close to high school graduation (2016)

Some of my most significant interests include universal literature, playing on a series of musical instruments (most notably the acoustic, semi-acoustic, and electric guitars as well as the keyboards), listening to music comprising a wide range of genres (from alternative to jazz-rock fusion; one of the reasons why I’m also the webmaster of The Rockpedia), sketching, economy, and biological research (more specifically genetics).

In my spare time, I also used to do a lot of editing on Wikipedia primarily as a hobby, most notably on the English, French, and German versions (as of 2023 I also became more and more active on the Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia and I had an excellent experience there so far). Nevertheless, my most favourite encyclopædias are those published by Kingfisher and the classic Britannica given their trustworthiness, accuracy, relevance, and academic richness/wealth of information.

Last but not least, I feel I should mention I’m a great Weather Report fan (as well as a great jazz fusion fan in general), through both fair weather and heavy weather! I also like football and am a longtime Liverpool F.C. fan, through both good times and bad times (I know I had my share). My interest in football is purely observational and my fandom regarding Liverpool F.C. is relatively limited as of 2023. Nonetheless, I feel I should mention the fact that I won both UEFA Champions League and Tippeligaen with Rosenborg BK on the iPhone version of FIFA 10 on my iPhone 3G a long time ago when I was still a teenager (in a reversed chronological order, so that it would make sense).

Additionally, here’s a list of some of some of my all time favourite readings (novels, novellas, theatre plays, and volumes of short stories):

  • The Sorcerer’s Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter by Allan Zola Kronzek and Elizabeth Kronzek (still a very special book to me)
  • The Little Book of Moon Magic by Teresa Dellbridge
  • Myths of the World (the Romanian version is entitled ‘Din miturile lumii’, the language in which I initially read it back in 4th grade) by Michael Jordan
  • L’Atlanide – autopsie d’un mythe (Atlantida – autopsia unui mit) by Pierre Carnac
  • The Prose Edda – Tales from Norse Mythology by Snorri Sturluson
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare (my most favourite character is still Fortinbras)
  • Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green
  • Tales of Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green
  • Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green
  • Myths of the Norsemen by Roger Lancelyn Green
  • King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
  • Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
  • Inferno by Dante Alighieri
  • The Prince (Il Principe) by Niccolò Machiavelli

  • The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien

  • The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist
  • Wind, Sand, and Stars (Terre des hommes, originally in French, the language in which I read it) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway
  • A Heavy Metal Memoir by Dave Mustaine, frontman of legendary speed metal and heavy metal band Megadeth (which I saw live two times in my life when I was a teenager)
  • Tarantula by Bob Dylan
  • The Lords and the New Creatures by Jim Morrison (poetry volume)
  • Nostalgia by Mircea Cărtărescu
  • The Levant by Mircea Cărtărescu
  • Me, Dracula, and John Lennon by Jan Cornelius
  • Nadirs (Niederungen) by Herta Müller
  • The man is a great pheasant in the world (Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt) by Herta Müller
  • Mein Vaterland war ein Apfelkern: Herausgegeben von Angelika Klammer by Herta Müller
  • Atemschaukel by Herta Müller
  • The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  • Animal Farm by George Orwell
  • 1984 by George Orwell
  • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  • Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • The Dubliners by James Joyce
  • Finnegans Wake  by James Joyce
  • Three Men in a Boat/Three Men on a Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome
  • Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
  • Shogun, Volumes I & II by James Clavell
  • The Pigeon (Die Taube) by Patrick Süskind
  • Misreadings by Umberto Eco
  • Vinter-eventyr (Winter Stories) by Karen Blixen (nom de plume Isak Dinesen) – my most favourite story from this volume is still the one from Norway
  • Vinduerne (The Windows) by Leif Panduro
  • Povești din folclorul germanilor din România (i.e. Tales From the Folklore of the Germans in Romania) by Roland Schenn
  • Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Hereby also some of my most notable passed courses via Coursera (just some so as not to be braggadocious as they say in the land down under):

Old Norse Mythology in the Sources (with honours)

Magic in the Middle Ages

Wonders of Ancient Egypt

Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilisation

Egypt before and after the pharaohs

The Ancient Greeks

At the Origins of the Mediterranean Civilisation: Archaeology of the City from the Levant to the West – 3rd-1st millennium BC

Archaeoastronomy

Some of my all time most favourite quotes by some of my heroes:

‘There are things known and there are things unknown and in between are the doors.’

Jim Morrison (20th century American poet, lead singer and main lyricist for the classic rock band The Doors)

 

‘All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost.’
J.R.R. Tolkien

 

‘Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!’
J.R.R. Tolkien

 

‘If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he’s dead, then maybe he was a great man.’

James Dean

 

‘The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.’

James Dean

 

‘Think you’re escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.’

James Joyce

 

‘Integrity has no need of rules.’

Albert Camus

 

‘Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I’m one of them.’
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

‘The beginning of wisdom, as they say. When you’re seventeen you know everything. When you’re twenty-seven if you still know everything you’re still seventeen.’
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

‘Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the really sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.’
Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

 

‘So many books, so little time.’

Frank Zappa

 

‘There is no friend as loyal as a book.’

Ernest Hemingway

 

‘Paris vaut bien une messe.’

Henry IV of Navarre and France

Last but not least, I truly hope you will find this website as useful as possible for you as it is has proven to be for me, so suit yourself and feel free to search anything you wanted to come here for in the first place. Enjoy!

Sincerely and respectfully,

Victor Rouă – Webmaster at The Dockyards


Personal business card

For work-related inquiries (e.g. guest posts or the like) please contact me over this e-mail address: [email protected]. You can also check my Europass CV and work experience on my LinkedIn profile here.

Public domain statistics on The Dockyards:

Image source: www.pixabay.com


30 Responses to About

  1. Jakob says:

    You seem like an awesome guy! “history, geography, PC/Macintosh games and IT reviews, universal literature, music comprising a wide range of genres.” This is basically me!! minus Macintosh 😛

  2. iftekhar says:

    Hello, nice blog. How I can get update notice in my email?

    • Victor Rouă says:

      Hello and thank you for your interest in The Dockyards and for your readership. In order to subscribe, please provide your e-mail address in the pop-up window asking for subscription whenever visiting the website. Thank you and all the best!

  3. Ralph H. Calvert says:

    I am enjoying looking through some of the clippings. How can I get regular messages, downloads, etc. I find this site interesting.

    Thank you,
    Ralph

  4. Rachel says:

    So grateful to have discovered your blog! Thoroughly enjoying your posts on the Transylvanian Saxons… please keep ’em coming. As others have mentioned, it would be fantastic to have a way to subscribe and/or receive email notices. What a treasure! In agreement with Jakob – your interests are invariably on cue with those of mine. Greetings!

  5. Guido von Bernsdorff says:

    A very interesting blog, and nicely designed. I have been interested in Norden ever since I took an optional course of Swedish as a 4th foreign language at secondary school (We read En Hergårdssägen by S Lagerlöf by the end of that year).
    I have been reading this blog for some weeks now, and I am looking forward to each new issue.
    I was struck by your mentioning “I started to … ‘refine’ my way of writing by learning as much as I could regarding the web design in order to aesthetically match the content … ”
    Could you possibly mention your sources? I have been thinking about starting a similar blog myself, but my utter lack of knowledge about web design held me back. I have a Mac.

    • Victor Rouă says:

      Thank you for reading the Dockyards. I sincerely apologise for the long delay but now I can answer your question.

      I’m currently using Silverclean lite, a theme developed by Iceable Themes. It features two areas where I can insert widgets (a sidebar and an optional footer), as well as a custom menu location (known as navbar), a custom logo and favicon (i.e. website thumbnail), a customisable header image, and a customisable background. In addition, the theme is responsive, meaning that it is compatible with and works well on all digital platforms (i.e. desktop, mobile, and tablet).

      I’m still looking forward to creating my own theme for this website but in the meantime I have been using this one. For more inspiration on the matter, I suggest you check the following link on how to create a personal blog/website: http://www.scandinaviastandard.com/a-very-scandi-guide-to-creating-your-own-blog/.

      I hope it will be useful for you. Should you have more questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

  6. Nice blog. Keep up the good work. Bra jobba.

  7. Hi,
    As you are interested in music and Viking Age history I will suggest a music project I think you might like. It is Irish and Norse traditional songs in conversation. This video is from the album Dubh agus Geal, Darkness and Light by Northern Lights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwf_5VnhCQ4

    If you are interested in finding out more about this group you can start herehttp://www.lorcanmacmathuna.com/northernlights/index.htm
    Get in touch please for more info.

    All the best,
    Lorcán

    • Victor Rouă says:

      Hello Lorcán,

      First of all, thank you for your interest in The Dockyards and for your readership. Secondly, I apologize for the very long delay. Thirdly, I have watched the video you linked on Youtube and I sincerely think it is an amazing body of work. I’m even considering writing an article on it in the near future. I have also accessed your website but for some odd way of reason it seems to be currently down (as of mid July, 2020 at least). I hope I will be able to get to know more about this interesting project of yours as I’m willing to promote it as much as I can here on The Dockyards. Stay safe and keep up the good work as well!

  8. Jinna Anderson says:

    Dear Author, I enjoyed reading An Overview on the History of the Vikings and of the Viking Age. Really did like it. May I suggest a few (at most, four) suggestions? I can put them into an e-mail for you, if you request. Each of these is a single-word, word-change suggestion. The suggested changes occur in the Section, Lifestyle, Trade, and Expansion.

    • Victor Rouă says:

      Thank you for reading The Dockyards and for your feedback on one of my articles! Any kind of suggestions are most welcome, so please do not hesitate to send yours via the e-mail address specified above. Once again, thank you for your time!

      • Gary Falk says:

        I would like to sign up for your blog. I haven’t found where you make that available

        • Victor Rouă says:

          Hello Gary,

          I apologise for the very long delay but I am now able to reply to your question. The only way you can subscribe to The Dockyards is by giving your e-mail address in the pop-up window in which you’re asked if you want to be a subscriber. You will then be able to subscribe to the website and get notifications via e-mail whenever a new article will be published. Thank you very much for your readership!

  9. Hira says:

    Hello Sir,

    I am interested in buying a guest post on your website (http://www.thedockyards.com/). What is the post’s price?

    I am waiting your reply,
    Thanks

    • Victor Rouă says:

      Hello Hira,

      First off, thank you for your readership and for your interest in The Dockyards. Secondly, yes, I’m quite interested in a guest post collaboration with you. We can discuss further details on the collaboration at the following e-mail address: [email protected]. I’m looking forward to your response.

      Thank you very much,
      Sincerely,
      Victor

  10. moeenmubeen says:

    Hi,
    I am reaching out to you to contribute a high-quality post to your website need a permanent  Do Follow Link. Kindly, let me know about per post tariff on your site and charges for link insertion as well. I also want to know about your acceptance of articles other than English and if you have any other sites.
    Waiting eagerly to listen from you.
    Regards: Fareed ul Haq

  11. Lea Achim says:

    Hello –

    I am a Romanian-American living in the U.S. I enjoyed your list of 10 mythological creatures from Scandinavian culture. Would you be able to publish a list of some books regrading myths and folklore from that region and also from Romania and that overall Eastern area? It is really hard to find any well written works published in English –Would you know of any? Or have any resources you could list? Thank you.

    • Victor Rouă says:

      I will try to do my best in this regard on a medium term basis, but I cannot promise anything. I have some resources on the matter myself, as I am a native of Romania. However, it will be difficult for me to do so, but not impossible. I’ll see what I can do. Otherwise, thank you very much for your time and readership on The Dockyards! Have a great Christmas along with your close ones and all the best! Sărbători fericite! 🙂

  12. Nerryboife says:

    Hello from Happykiddi.

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