Lip Balm Anonymous
 For nearly a dozen years, Kevin Crossman has done everything he can to raise awareness about the "industry of addiction" found in lip balm. Yes, lip balm. Blistex, Carmex, Vaseline Lip Therapy. You name it, he's indexed it on Lip Balm Anonymous. There, he catalogs the Chapstick cravings, posts statements from angry pro-balmers, and shares testimony from those who struggled with breaking free from a daily application of gloss.
As always, we're impressed by a soul who not only keeps a vibrant site running for 12 years, but endures a fair amount of doubters and gigglers along the way. We caught up with Kevin over email to ask him how he does it: You started Lip Balm Anonymous in 1995. As far as we're concerned, that makes you an Internet pioneer. How have you seen the Web—and people's responses to it—change? The initial response was phenomenal, and people seemed excited about both the topic and the fact that this information was published for all to see. There has been a resurgence of "wow, what a great site" emails in the past few years; perhaps those are the children of the original web users. We know that you've been slapped with "awards" like top useless site or humor site of the day—and you've bridled at that. We have to admit, though, that we've never been 100% sure that there isn't a joke embedded in LBA someplace. Tell us now, for the record: Is this for real? And do you get this reaction all the time? Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common occurrence. Is the problem of lip balm addiction real? Absolutely! Who would think that being addicted to lip balm is funny? It's a very, very serious problem. Our challenge to folks who say that the problem isn't real is very simple: Go cold turkey. If you're a regular balmer, going cold turkey is like a hard slap across your face and you WILL feel the agony. In the past three or four years, this has been our challenge and so far nobody has said "I went cold turkey and didn't feel a thing." That's why we recommend weaning off of lip balm or for more serious cases our 12 step program. That said, if someone labels our site as humor or parody, it still helps get the word out about the site. And it helps save lives... Do you have any advice for someone looking to start a site that agitates for change? I truly believe that the Web enables everyone's right to free speech. Everyone has something to say about big issues or just small ones, so get out there and say it! It can be a way to share your life, or to make a difference with serious social issues that are ignored by the media. What's great is the introduction of new technologies that enable the sharing of information in a more efficient way (not that the LBA site has evolved much technically, mind you). But it gets its point across. Thanks, Kevin!
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