In 1995, my family first connected to the internet using a 14K modem and a free trial to CompuServe. A year later, we had a subscription with AOL and I had discovered personal websites and online journals–years before everyone started calling them blogs–created by teen girls and hosted on various free webhosts. Most often, that free webhost was Geocities.
So I’m very sad to see that Geocities is closing down for good. It kind of feels like leaving high school all over again. The internet was a lot smaller then than it is now. Those of us that maintained personal sites back then were this little group of girls that really connected with each other. There were even the different cliques–the popular girls that everyone loved, the artsy girls, the loners. Geocities was a place that I could go to write out all my angst (and there was a lot of it, since I was a new girl in town at that time) and figure out who I was and where I fit in. I always felt like I wasn’t alone because the other girls out there would email me or leave comments in my guestbook letting me know how they could relate. Sure, Geocities sites weren’t exactly gorgeous pieces of art and usually had midi files that would start playing music as soon as you loaded up the page and all kinds of animated gifs–especially fairies. We really liked fairies. I still do!–but those sites were honest and heartfelt, and I still think about that time with a lot of fond memories.
Geocities is what taught me to write HTML and build websites. Geocities is what lead me into studying graphic design and becoming a web designer today. Geocities introduced me to many girls my own age whom I’m still online friends with today (thirteen years now! I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by!).
Geocities is also what paved the path toward the experiences that inspired Something to Blog About. So I guess you could say Geocities helped me become a published author.
Thanks, Geocities. I’ll miss you!
Okay this is weird. I felt like you were writing my story with this post. Case in point:
I started my first fan ‘zine devoted to my fave band (Bush) back in 1995 on geocities. I taught myself web design in order to create the web site. Teaching myself web design sparked a desire to do more computer graphics and I eventually went to college for it and now I’m a computer animator. So yeah…it launched my career too. (Also I had an after school web design career in HS. Much better than working at McDonald’s like the rest of my friends!)
Later, after I got fickle and stopped liking Bush, I changed courses and had a ‘zine devoted to Veruca Salt, also on geocities. That one had thousands of subscribers and the band dedicated a song to me at a concert once. I’m positive that creating those ezines and sending out monthly newsletters (of which I wrote most of it) sparked my writing career. I had to write and revise and organize. Now, I had been writing stories since I learned how to draw letters, but it was the first time I wrote for an audience that wasn’t my parents.
Anyway, I’m sad about geocities too. Except my site is still there in the internet archives. I found it a while ago and I had a good laugh at it with my friend who ran the site with me.
Ahhh…good times. Also, yes, I was quite pathetic in HS, lol.
My site was on SunsetStrip/Hollywood I think. Something like that.
sad stuff…
sounds like it was cool
wow that’s sad i think its cool that they had this stuff back then well u know back then for me i mean i am 18 so yeah oh i loved ur book something to blog about that’s what inspired me to start my own blog
I know what you mean!! I was on Xanga doing my journal before it was cool…and now it seems so out of date!
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