Humble beginnings.
January 5, 2007 9:41 AM Subscribe
Feel free to add your own.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:41 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:41 AM on January 5, 2007
Is there a site which caches original pages of now-big sites (i.e., what the amazon or eBay homepages first looked like)? I would include the original MeFi page in that list, but don't think it has changed that much... just something I'm curious to see.
posted by adamms222 at 10:06 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by adamms222 at 10:06 AM on January 5, 2007
My first post. Yes, it's to usenet. Yes, it's asking for someone to do the research for me for a high school science fair project. Yes, it's missing a lot of capital letters. Yes, I used the "u" shortcut. Get off my case, damnit.
posted by Plutor at 10:09 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by Plutor at 10:09 AM on January 5, 2007
adamms222-
There's alway the Wayback Machine
Here is Yahoo in 1996
posted by bobobox at 10:10 AM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
There's alway the Wayback Machine
Here is Yahoo in 1996
posted by bobobox at 10:10 AM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
Here is Yahoo in 1996
Wow. I remember seeing this for the first time in green text, with IMAGE written all over. I was using a community college internet service at the time, and it was text browsing only.
Seeing it visually (once I subscribed to a local ISP) was a watershed moment for me.
By the way, I yearn for the days of the local ISP. Despite the higher speed the inevitable Charter buyout brought, I miss the feeling of a local, small town portal to the Information Superhighway.
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:18 AM on January 5, 2007
Wow. I remember seeing this for the first time in green text, with IMAGE written all over. I was using a community college internet service at the time, and it was text browsing only.
Seeing it visually (once I subscribed to a local ISP) was a watershed moment for me.
By the way, I yearn for the days of the local ISP. Despite the higher speed the inevitable Charter buyout brought, I miss the feeling of a local, small town portal to the Information Superhighway.
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:18 AM on January 5, 2007
In hindsight, Lessig's first post demonstrates quite clearly that he is hopelessly clueless.
posted by Pastabagel at 10:21 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by Pastabagel at 10:21 AM on January 5, 2007
That Yahoo 1996 page is a trip and brought back some major memories. Thanks for that.
posted by Skygazer at 10:27 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by Skygazer at 10:27 AM on January 5, 2007
Wow, that mathowie guy was really kinda dominant in '99, wasn't he? Whatever happened to him?
posted by penguin pie at 10:32 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by penguin pie at 10:32 AM on January 5, 2007
My first livejournal post.
My first usenet post (that I could find)
My first blog post.
posted by drezdn at 10:58 AM on January 5, 2007
My first usenet post (that I could find)
My first blog post.
posted by drezdn at 10:58 AM on January 5, 2007
This is what I call "penicillin-resistant nostalgia".
Okay, I really did start blogging in 1999, but couldn't resist interrupting the regular webcast with 'special' parody pages. In 2001, I lost my original domain name during an extended period without internet access, so the only surviving archive was at archive.org. And the oldest page saved there was, appropriately, my "Y2K" prank where I demonstrated what a blog would've looked like in 1900. Many of the jokes contained therein involve a-list bloggers of 1999 being compared to famous folk of 1900, so 'getting it' is optional.
posted by wendell at 11:12 AM on January 5, 2007
Okay, I really did start blogging in 1999, but couldn't resist interrupting the regular webcast with 'special' parody pages. In 2001, I lost my original domain name during an extended period without internet access, so the only surviving archive was at archive.org. And the oldest page saved there was, appropriately, my "Y2K" prank where I demonstrated what a blog would've looked like in 1900. Many of the jokes contained therein involve a-list bloggers of 1999 being compared to famous folk of 1900, so 'getting it' is optional.
posted by wendell at 11:12 AM on January 5, 2007
We're talking five to ten years here, which supports my theory that Moore's Law applies to nostalgia. I figure it won't be long before nostalgia catches up to the present. But will it pass right through into an anticipatory phase, or explode in an Alzheimeresque annihilation of memory?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:28 AM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:28 AM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
I'm already nostalgic for the future, when now will be the past.
posted by bobobox at 11:36 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by bobobox at 11:36 AM on January 5, 2007
...god, remember when there wasn't an internet? Wasn't that nice?
posted by koeselitz at 11:41 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by koeselitz at 11:41 AM on January 5, 2007
On nostalgia:
I saw Jens Lekman play in Rotterdam almost exactly a year ago. He was wearing (and shilling) a "Jens Lekman T-shirt" that did nowhere say his name, only the bright big numbers "2006". It being early January, he explained: "this is a shirt for the optimists. On the other hand, in a year or so it will be a shirt for the nostalgics."
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:44 AM on January 5, 2007
I saw Jens Lekman play in Rotterdam almost exactly a year ago. He was wearing (and shilling) a "Jens Lekman T-shirt" that did nowhere say his name, only the bright big numbers "2006". It being early January, he explained: "this is a shirt for the optimists. On the other hand, in a year or so it will be a shirt for the nostalgics."
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:44 AM on January 5, 2007
Those sites aren't as old as I thought they were. I'm not a snob, I swear, but I still have this unconscious perception that anything 2000 or later is new.
posted by loiseau at 11:50 AM on January 5, 2007
posted by loiseau at 11:50 AM on January 5, 2007
So I see that Winer was as unworthy of attention then as he is now...
As GroundBreaking™ as all these folks were, we're still part of a fundamentally elitist enterprise, here. [*] [via *]
posted by lodurr at 11:55 AM on January 5, 2007
As GroundBreaking™ as all these folks were, we're still part of a fundamentally elitist enterprise, here. [*] [via *]
posted by lodurr at 11:55 AM on January 5, 2007
When I was a kid we didn't have nostalgia. My mom mentioned the past once when I was twelve, and I didn't know what the hell she was talking about.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:00 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:00 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
I still have this unconscious perception that anything 2000 or later is new.
This means you're old.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:01 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
This means you're old.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:01 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
My first ever web post was for a spoof site for a college class (and I proudly did all the images - though now disappeared - in MS Image Composer!
posted by parmanparman at 12:05 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by parmanparman at 12:05 PM on January 5, 2007
My first post to usenet. Over ten years old, and still not one damn response.
posted by rsanheim at 12:07 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by rsanheim at 12:07 PM on January 5, 2007
Self-linking fuckers all.
scroll down a bit for "joke"
posted by Mister_A at 12:12 PM on January 5, 2007
scroll down a bit for "joke"
posted by Mister_A at 12:12 PM on January 5, 2007
Hah, my first lj post was a lot earlier than that. I'll refrain from linking to the archival copy of my first webpage, composed in ClarisWorks 2.0 for HTML 1.1 (or .0, I forget which), since it has my RL name on it.
posted by Eideteker at 12:21 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by Eideteker at 12:21 PM on January 5, 2007
There's no way in hell I'd link my first Usenet post, if it exists anywhere. I'll just say it was to alt.angst. Enough said.
I learned about x-no-archive: yes too late.
posted by loiseau at 12:25 PM on January 5, 2007
I learned about x-no-archive: yes too late.
posted by loiseau at 12:25 PM on January 5, 2007
My first Usenet post, circa April 1995, in which I bitch about them changing it so you can only get Dilbert on the web instead of through a newsgroup. "summary: Web SUCKS". I also have another one wherein I complain about the special effects in Independence Day, on the day it came out.
I wish the wayback machine had better coverage of the pages from 10+ years ago. That's the stuff I'd really like to see.
posted by smackfu at 12:56 PM on January 5, 2007
I wish the wayback machine had better coverage of the pages from 10+ years ago. That's the stuff I'd really like to see.
posted by smackfu at 12:56 PM on January 5, 2007
I have a website which went live in December 1995--the design and coding hasn't changed since the original launch. It still resides at its original domain. Some special features:
* Frames
* Splash page, including
--a bunch of "awards" like the High Five (anyone remember that)?
--Recommendations to use Netscape 3+ or IE 3+
* Optimized for 500 x 300, I think
* Use of lowsrc, which I always thought was a decent idea
My "links" page has about an 80% ratio of broken links to working ones, I think.
I keep meaning to update it, since it's still got an audience, but the time capsule quality is kinda fun.
posted by maxwelton at 1:09 PM on January 5, 2007
* Frames
* Splash page, including
--a bunch of "awards" like the High Five (anyone remember that)?
--Recommendations to use Netscape 3+ or IE 3+
* Optimized for 500 x 300, I think
* Use of lowsrc, which I always thought was a decent idea
My "links" page has about an 80% ratio of broken links to working ones, I think.
I keep meaning to update it, since it's still got an audience, but the time capsule quality is kinda fun.
posted by maxwelton at 1:09 PM on January 5, 2007
The first time (late '94) I tried to use "The Internet" (which I'd overheard people talking about in class) I went to my university library and accidentally logged on to Gopher instead. I clicked around in vain for a while, looking for any of the "web pages" I'd heard so much about, before giving up and concluding that this whole Internet thing was pretty overblown.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:03 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:03 PM on January 5, 2007
My first post was on October 13th 1999 to Deja News, alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan, sent via email to the journalist Mary Finnegan, because my second-hand computer wasn't up to logging into Deja News. The post was regarding a petition to the Dalai Lama, discussing the sexual abuses of Tibetan lamas.
posted by nickyskye at 2:05 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by nickyskye at 2:05 PM on January 5, 2007
I heartily approve of this particular FPP.
posted by First Post at 2:13 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by First Post at 2:13 PM on January 5, 2007
How sweet!
archive.org didn't see fit to archive my first weblog post, made sometime in 1997 on the free hosting provided by my ISP. For reasons I can no longer recall, it was an animated .gif I'd made of a thistle from Derek Jarman's garden.
posted by jack_mo at 3:50 PM on January 5, 2007
archive.org didn't see fit to archive my first weblog post, made sometime in 1997 on the free hosting provided by my ISP. For reasons I can no longer recall, it was an animated .gif I'd made of a thistle from Derek Jarman's garden.
posted by jack_mo at 3:50 PM on January 5, 2007
This post is closed to new comments.
IM IN YR POST CLOSIN YR THREDZ!
posted by loquacious at 4:02 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
IM IN YR POST CLOSIN YR THREDZ!
posted by loquacious at 4:02 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
hahaha. Can't find my first post (probably down in alt.commercials) but the waybackmachine digs up a truly horrid color combination that I used on my ad-site winter -97 to piss people off for some reason. Augh, my eyes! That is so painful.
posted by dabitch at 4:11 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by dabitch at 4:11 PM on January 5, 2007
sorry, I mean winter -96 to -97. see, that green melted my brain.)
posted by dabitch at 4:18 PM on January 5, 2007
posted by dabitch at 4:18 PM on January 5, 2007
*sigh* ... The Wayback Machine doesn't have my first web site.
Actually, I think that's a good thing.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 12:41 AM on January 6, 2007
Actually, I think that's a good thing.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 12:41 AM on January 6, 2007
The Best and Worst of the Net 1994 and Predictions for '95
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:54 AM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:54 AM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
croutonsupafreak: "*sigh* ... The Wayback Machine doesn't have my first web site. "
Me neither. I figured it was because mine was on Tripod, but I see brundlefly's is on there, and it was on Angelfire.
Like you said, though, it's probably better.
posted by loiseau at 12:27 PM on January 6, 2007
Me neither. I figured it was because mine was on Tripod, but I see brundlefly's is on there, and it was on Angelfire.
Like you said, though, it's probably better.
posted by loiseau at 12:27 PM on January 6, 2007
Just in case you thought Kottke's navelgazing was a new thing.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:42 PM on January 10, 2007
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:42 PM on January 10, 2007
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posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:41 AM on January 5, 2007