Who?
Wickmesh is my online identity; I am also known as Andrew Marchant.

If you haven't guessed, this is my website. I've been wickmesh at least since April 1997 - there was a time that if you Googled wickmesh you would have found only me, but multiple pretenders to the crown have sprung up since then. I should have trademarked it...

What?
Wickmesh is the first computer I ever bought.

I needed a computer for University. After a lot of studying computer magazines, in January 1996 I chose a Mesh Prestige Pro Media. This was a big mistake - if you've got time to kill, you can read the full story.

Over time wickmesh went from a 486 to a K6/200. Being an AT case it became hard to upgrade, and even made it onto ebay at one point. But somehow I could never part with wickmesh, and to make it useful again I modded the case to take ATX motherboards. It's since been an Athlon XP based media player, sitting under the TV - then a backup server - and by now it's now probably something else again!

Eh?
Let's take a look at the meaning of the word.

mesh - (noun) space between threads in net or a sieve or wire screen etc., a sheet of metal or plastic with a regular pattern of punched holes. - (intransitive verb) (of a toothed wheel) engage with one another. - (noun) a personal computer purchased from Mesh Computers plc. wick - (noun) length of thread in a candle or lamp etc., by which the flame is kept supplied with melted grease or fuel. - (adjective) of dramatically lower quality than its price, marketing or image suggests; not fit for purpose, rubbish, a rip-off. a bit wick (colloquial) e.g. "The designer trainers were a bit wick; they hurt the buyer's feet and quickly fell apart." Derived from wicked.

Why?
Put simply, my "Mesh" computer rapidly became "Wick" due to its lack of reliability and the rubbish service I received from Mesh Computers plc. For the gory details, you can read the full story here.

I became wickmesh because I needed a username for the new webmail thing that appeared while I was at university. It was all I could think of at the time, and it kinda stuck...