Websites that Died Too Soon

When I first saw the World Wide Web in 1994, I knew that it was the future. On an average day, my first surf-stop would usually be NCSA's "What's New" page where new websites divided by specific categories were introduced daily --- before there were multi-millions of websites, blogs, etc. Some of these new sites were lame, and others were plain-vanilla but chock full of information - be it erroneous or erudite. As a professional writer, the allure of the Web was strong enough to divert my attention away from all forms of traditional media, a mean feat in itself. It was exciting.

Above all, the Internet was a burgeoning level-playing-field for wannabe pundits and artists of all stripes. There were no middle men or gatekeepers to dodge. In 1994, there was no money either, but who cared. It was all about free expression.

Of course, I knew that I was at least 20 years older than the average "netizen", as they were called back then. But it didn't matter. On the Web, no one knew your age, your race, or your gender, unless you told them.

In 1994, the Web was like the beginning years of television, and I'm old enough to remember that.

Suck.com

In my opinion, Suck.com was the first groundbreaking original content on the Web. It was a humor zine that both outraged and excited. The writing was as deep as Spy Magazine and National Lampoon in their seventies heyday, but delivered in bite-sized chunks for the short attention span of Web surfers. And, as expert and innovative as the writing was (thanks to Joey Anuff and Carl Steadman), so was its visual style thanks to the brilliant illustrations by cartoonist Terry Colon.

In 2000, Suck.com merged another excellent zine site, Feed Magazine, to form Automatic Media. In 2001, Automatic Media became one more dot-bomb casualty despite a loyal and large fan base.

The Suck.com site still exists for viewing but is dormant, as indicated by the "Gone Fishing" sign.

Plastic.com is the only "living site" that remains of the Automatic Media gang with Terry Colon and Joey Anuff's participation as acts of love.

Mirsky's Worst of the Web

My first favorite website was Mirsky's Worst of the Web, created by former Harvard Lampoon writer David Mirsky. Several times a week he would present a selection of hilariously bad sites accompanied by equally hilarious commentary. While some critics called Mirsky mean-spirited, others thought he provided a service by offering negative examples for Web content creators.

Sadly, Mirsky's Worst of the Web ended in 1996, mostly because Mirsky decided that he had said all he wanted to say. While his site spawned other sites aiming at the same target, they pale next to the original.

The Spot

While "The Spot" was far from my favorite website at the time, I could certainly admire its pioneering spirit. "The Spot" could best be described as "Real World Malibu for the Web", seven young folks living in a beach house. It was one of the first episodic fiction websites.

As expected, this site immediately grabbed the attention of some Hollywood executives lurking in cyberspace to mine whatever gold could be snagged from this new platform and translated to traditional media. Toward the late nineties, "convergence" was becoming the new show biz buzzword.

In 1997, venture capitalists bought "The Spot" from its creator, filmmaker Scott Zakarin, who then scored a Hollywood agent and development deals. But, who could blame him? Well, maybe some could blame him. "The Spot" died not long after he left.

Bianca's Smut Shack

Bianca's was another pioneering effort. Its visual style was a "floor plan" (a site-map) of a combo whorehouse and hippy crash pad. Each "room" in the floor plan was a chat room.

Bianca's Smut Shack at its beginning was more a frank and funny participatory discussion about sex and sexuality than it was a porn site. In 1999, Bianca's was bought by Nerve.com, a well-written yet Playboy-slick porn site. As of 2006, the chat rooms stopped working.

A final word

While 1994 doesn't seem like that long ago, "Internet age" is in dog-years. Thirteen years seems like at least 50, so if I've waxed nostalgic for long-gone sites from the good old days of 1994, so be it. But I suspect that most of my favorite websites could be revived in 2007 and wind up as vital as there were in 1994.

SOURCES:

"Sucked Company", Katherine Miezkowski, Salon, URL: (http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/log/2001/06/08/feed/index.html)

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2000/03/34699

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirsky's_Worst_of_the_Web

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_Magazine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianca.com