End of an era…
Being on the internet is a lot like being in the Wild West, or at least, the romanticized version of it. The first time I went online was (I believe), 1994. I built my first website by the time I was 9 years old. Back in that age, websites weren’t freakishly complex and images took forever to load. 28.8k was considered lightening fast. I know its nostalgia kicking in big time, but the first time I got on the internet, it was a revelation. I had no idea even how to think about what the internet really was. My dad had to explain to me it was like a really big library that anyone can write about anything on. The free and widespread exchange of information was mind-blowing. Back in those days, commercialism hadn’t really hit the web like it has today. Things were simpler. But, then again, things were less plentiful, and a lot of sites were actually not all that good. The charm that they now have is all because the web has progressed so much.
So, Geocities is closing today. I really can’t believe it. When I started really getting into the internet, Geocities was quickly becoming THE place where everyone was hosted. The guestbooks, the webrings, all of it. Crazy. I can’t remember how many sites I saw hosted by them, it was so many. Mega Man, Nintendo, Calvin and Hobbes, then later, Spider-Man, Nintendo 64, Mario, Kirby…and now they’re all about to be destroyed forever. I’m really glad the Web Archive Project exists. While Geocities has long been sort of a joke and I’m sure the majority of sites there have been dead for a long time, its final closure really does mark the end of an era.
