THE Chester Bennington Network is of course a fansite dedicated to Linkin Park’s charismatic vocalist. The thorough news updates and the great gallery has made the site a fan favorite among the Linkin Park fansites, but there’s much more to discover on probably the youngest Linkin Park fansite! Find out more about the CBN in this exclusive interview with its admin Pinky!

When was the Chester Bennington Network founded? Can you briefly describe the process?
I remember it was spring, 2010 when the idea of creating a site popped up in my head. I had no idea whatsoever on how to do it, what were the tricks and such. Back then I had a really good friend who is also a very very popular site owner who helped me with the learning process of HTML and also gave me free space on a website she owned back then, I guess she still has it, to practice. It was getting really frustrating at times, I remember staying up until early in the morning working on it, sometimes I wouldn’t sleep at all. I was so eager to finish it and present it to the world, I had changed like 4 layouts to get the right one, the perfect one at that. I finished it early September of 2010 and it’s been working since then.

What was the main reason of starting the CBN and why did you choose to host a site especially for Chester?
I started CBN because I wanted a site that would offer fellow fans constant updates on news and not just the basics, I really wanted to dig in deeper into Chester related news and I felt that this lacked back then before CBN. Chester has been a huge part of my life since 2008, I really look up to him and support his ideas and especially his involvement with charity apart of what he does with Linkin Park. Let’s just say I felt he was being underappreciated after all he has done so that was the main reason why I chose to open a site for him.

What were your personal highlights in the history of the CBN so far and were there moments when it was hard to maintain the site?
Personal Highlights – Definitely the first time we trended Chester’s birthday on Twitter. Back then it wasn’t exactly easy to trend something on Twitter, it was actually pretty hard. I remember we were trying all day long and it trended very late at night for just a few minutes. Another highlight was when Jim Louvau followed us and tweeted us on Twitter, for some of you who may not know him, he’s Chester’s photographer and long-time friend. Also, I remember this made me laugh very hard, when Peter Storm, the guy who designed Chester and Talinda’s rings released a new jewelry collection which was inspired by his friendship with Chester, I posted on CBN about it, so I visit his official site the next day and see that he had CBN on the front page because he probably thought we were Chester or Chester’s official site, I don’t really know but it was funny!

You don’t only post fast news updates on your site, but you also got a huge gallery and I personally really love your clean but professional design. But since interaction with the fans plays a huge role for the LPFC, I especially noticed one feature of the CBN, that distinguishes the site from other fansites – in the „Vault“ you also publish fan art. Do you think it’s important to involve the fans directly on a fansite? Why?
When I first started the site I had a group of specific people that would visit it and tweet me good stuff about it – I never called it my site, I always said it was “our” site and by our I meant everyone who visited it I wanted to feel like they were a part of it even if it was their first time there. My friends were making amazing Chester related art and I wanted everything to be stored in one place for people to browse through without them going to waste, but apart from that I also wanted the site’s readers to leave something behind, to come back to the site, see their stuff and say, “I made that”. I remember I wanted to be a part of a Linkin Park website just by adding something I made, but I was too nervous to give out my stuff and never did it, so I guess the creation of “The Vault” was pretty much just my personal touch to an ordinary site. In general I think site owners should treat their visitors like clients. I for example work at a restaurant and make sure all my customers are satisfied and I try to embody that into CBN.

Do you think that there are features of the site that many fans seem to overlook? If yes, can you briefly describe those features?
I can’t say for sure, but I think the DBS section and the tattoo section… The DBS section is a totally different page inside CBN, like a different site. I have everything in there related to Dead By Sunrise from interviews, to videos, to tour dates, pictures, media, literally everything that has to do with DBS and not just the stuff that sites had picked up before, but stuff I had dug out really hard. The tattoo section is probably my favorite part of the site because you get two pictures; Chester’s torso and back and then you get to click on any tattoo on his body and find out more about it, I think clicking on Chester is pretty fun, haha.

What have you planned for the CBN in the future? Is there a part of the site that you want to improve on?
Future Plans for CBN: Yes, a lot of stuff, all under construction, won’t reveal what just yet! Site Improvements: Not really, but I want to add as many pictures as possible to the gallery!

Thank to Pinky for this awesome interview!!! We’re closer to the end of this series now. The last interview will be with the staff from LPLive! Stay tuned!

Read the interview with James from LPRevolution
Read the Interview with Zara and Ana from Mike Shinoda Clan
Read the interview with Jasparina from LPTimes
Read the interview with Derek from LPA
Read the interview with Thomas from BlackCheser.de
Read the interview with Jen from LinkinLady

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