About Duckplanet
Last Updated on March 22, 2004

Duckplanet has been providing information to online rubber duck fans since October of 2000. Duckplanet began as a way for Charlotte to share her collection with friends, family, and other duck-minded people. Today, Duckplanet is the most extensive source of rubber duck news and information on the web. At this time, Duckplanet accepts no advertisements.

Charlotte began collecting rubber ducks in 1996. Marcel married her anyway a few years later and at their wedding reception the favors were rubber duckies. Today, Charlotte and Marcel have over 1,439 unique rubber ducks.

History of Website

Version 4.3 (04/22/04 to now)
Added four new submissions. Added one new link to collector from Japan. Added short article about achieving the Guinness World Record for largest duck collection and 2 photos from P.B. of Rex.

Version 4.2 (08/02/03 04/22/04)
Added three new submissions. Added two new links to collectors form Singapore. Wrote about the duckies floating on the ocean currents. Updated request-for-submissions page. Duckplanet is now averaging 1000 visitors per day. [Updated links and added text to home page 8/20/03.]

Version 4.1 (04/11/03 08/02/03)
Added ducks to Duckplanet database, added story and photos about open house for duck collectors, added Rubberduckophobia to Submissions, added links to Duckplanet Gear Store.

Version 4.0 (01/01/03 to 4/11/03)
Added ducks to Duckplanet database, added and removed home page content including rubber duck field guide, added links, changed some small ornamental photos.

Version 3.3 (09/12/02-01/01/03)
Added ducks to the Duckplanet database, also added new submissions, new duck animation, new links. Added and removed home page content.

Duckplanet is now averaging 600+ visitors per day. 

Version 3.2 (05/11/02-09/12/02)
Added lots of ducks to the Duckplanet database, added and removed links from the Favorite Links page. Added some content to the home page. Created consistent date format for Website History section on About Us page after discovering that someone (i.e. Cousin Ri-Chee) actually reads this stuff (the horror, the horror).

According to Urchin, Duckplanet is now averaging 12,000+ hits and 500+ visitors per day. 

Version 3.1 (2/19/02-5/11/2002)
Removed old photo from Roger's Collection and put up five new ones. Minor changes to duck database.

Version 3.0 (12/3/2001-02/19/2002)
Put up new Duckplanet Logo and header, added better navigation controls for the Submissions section, added one new submission and added photos to a previous submission, and of course added many new ducks to the Collection page. Switched from EZBoard to a barebones free message board from my ISP.

Version 2.4 (10/6/2001-12/3/2001)
Added more ducks, added 3 new sets of submissions to Submissions pages. Added 3 links to Favorite Links page.

Version 2.3 (07/23/2001-10/6/2001)
Added many more duckies, switched to new bulletin board. First duckimation attempt. Updated one collection in Submissions. Minor changes to links page.

Version 2.2 (05/01/2001-07/23/2001)
Substantial changes to the Duck Collection. Many more ducks. Addition of subcategories. One new page in Submissions. One added link. Hit rate still increasing. 

2.21 05/10/01 Added more ducks. Favorite Links updated.

Version 2.1 (03/28/2001-05/01/2001)

Content changes: Substantial additions to the Duck Collection, Submissions, and Favorite Links sections.  A minor change to the Community Page interface in hopes of encouraging more use of the bulletin board.

Version 2.0 (01/28/2001-03/28/2001)

I was surprised by the number of people that were coming to take a look at version 1.0 of Duckplanet so I decided I ought to make it a little snazzier and a little more useable. Having studied Interface Design, I was a little embarrassed to leave it in the "quick and dirty" format that I had used for version 1.0 so despite severe time constraints I designed a whole new site. With help from my husband version 2.0 was launched which was designed for better useability and faster downloads. Additional content was added including: photos of my new ducks, new submissions from readers, a "duck squeaker" game, and a guestbook. The bulletin board was a late addition on February 4.

Surprise, surprise: The hit rate is up to 371 per week. 200% more than over the first three months.

Version 1.0  (10/05/2000-01/28/2001)

The first prototype website was a great success. Charlotte got in touch with many rubber duck enthusiasts around the world (e.g. Turkey, Japan, Brazil, and the U.S.) prompting an exchange of duck photos and interesting tales about, "How I got started on this crazy hobby." Over the first three months the site averaged a modest, but steady, hit rate of 175 hits per week over its first three months. Duckplanet's first assistants were drafted: Kalpana Shankar was designated the Complaint Department, directly receiving all complaint emails, in order to answer all the complaints that were flooding in from--Kalpana Shankar. Please feel free to complain to her about duckplanet, your boss, your dog, etc.  Marcel Blonk, husband extraordinaire, was drafted to do Quality Assurance because he was handy and had little choice in the matter.

People Behind the Ducks

Charlotte Lee 
Duckplanet Creator
Collector / Site Designer/Photographer/Writer
cplee@duckplanet.com

Marcel Blonk
Duckplanet Programmer
Programmer/Animator/Writer
 
 

Using Duckplanet Images

If you wish to use images from Duckplanet please contact Charlotte Lee at the address listed above.

For photos we've taken ourselves, we usually only ask for a link to Duckplanet and credit (e.g. Photos from Duckplanet.com) for personal web pages and student projects, but please ask anyway. You may not publish any photos from this website without permission.

A Seldom Told Tale:

In the beginning there was one set of rubber ducks and then those ducks attracted more ducks and those ducks still more. As the ducks multiplied and flocked together they became a world unto themselves and soon covered everything. The ducks boarded crude boats and became so many that they fell overboard and swam the seas. 

Before long the most intelligent species, chimpanzees and dolphins, became enraptured with the beauteous and bountiful duckies and formed great collections. Less intelligent species, such as Homo Sapiens, soon also learned to use tools and developed bartering systems to attract duckies to their own habitats. 

Eventually, ducks covered Earth and Earth could no longer sustain all the rubber duckies. Rubber ducky rocket scientists constructed yellow rubber rockets and most of the rubber duckies departed to colonize, much to the chagrin of the native anteater-type people, a newly discovered rubber-growing planet. This planet became known as--Duckplanet. 
 

Thank You! Xie Xie! Merci beaucoup! Grazie! Dank u wel! Danke schön! Arigato! Dhanyavaad! Spasibo! Gracias! Go raibh maith agut! Agradeça-o!  Toda raba! Do jeh! Asante Sana! De^kuji vám mnohokrát! Ozasro Dhanyabad! Terima kasih banyak-banyak! Kam-sa-ham-ni-da! Tack! Kiitos! Te,sekkürler! Shukran! Tak! Hvala! Salamat!Takk! Mult'umesc! Serdecznie dzie,kuje! Puno hvala! Shad Shenorhagal em! Enkosi kakhulu! Na gode! Mahalo Nui Loa!