The Internet has always been in a state of flow, the place where the sites rise, dominate, then quietly fade to forget, leaving only traces. However, for those of us who grew up online, these sites were not just web titles; They were part of our digital life. Today, there are many of them only in memory, or in the dusty archives of a Wayback machine.
Some of these sites do not disappear completely, but their fields are now to seize registrants like Namecheap. Others restore to completely different web sites or nice landing pages. Join me on a trip to the bottom of the memory lane where we reconsider some of the most famous websites in the early Internet age.
6
Altavista (1995-2013)
Before Google became a king, there was altavista. It was launched in 1995 by Corporation, and was one of the first real search engines – the unpleasant unpleasant network. Thanks to its pioneering creeping on the Internet (designed by Lewis Monir) and an index (developed by Michael Buroo), Altavista made the Internet feel a new way.
At its peak, Altavista was a familiar name. In fact, this eleventh site was the most visited in the late 1990s, and for a period of time, it seemed that it was neither defeated nor stop. But then Google came. By the beginning of the first decade of the twentieth century, the Google interface left the superior algorithm in dust and cough. Yahoo! You will get it later in 2003, and after a decade, it was quietly closed in 2013, when it was eternally redirected to Yahoo! Looking.
However, if you pulled its 1996 home page on the Internet archive, you can almost feel this excitement early on the Internet, and the feeling that the entire internet was within your reach.
5
GeoCities (1994-2009)
While Altavista helped us to explore the web, let’s come GeoCities to build its small corners, thanks to the founders of David Bohnett and John Rezner. It was launched in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet, the brand was renamed as GeoCities after a year and became one of the first places where ordinary people can create their websites, for free.
Its neighborhoods have been organized through topics and interests, and the Internet has been converted into the vast city of DIY bearing the name of real cities. For many of us, it was our first real taste for HTML, a place for experimenting, allocating, and proudly offered our personal emotions, especially since HTML 2.0 was unified at that time.
By 1999, this was the third most visited site in the world and was finally obtained by Yahoo! But in 2009, Yahoo! Pulling the plug. More than 38 million personal pages overnight disappeared, and with them a large part of the early web culture. These days, the warning page leads to Yahoo! But a Wayback is still carrying these sparkling websites, which is a digital time capsule for Internet youth.
4
Stumbleupon (2001-2018)
If GeoCities to build sites on the network, studlupon was to discover what was already built. It was launched in November 2001 by Garrett Camp (which was later found on Uber), including Geoff Smith, JUSTIN LAFRANCE and Eric Boyd, it was similar to the spinning of luck for the Internet. All you need is to click the button, and fall on a random site completely designed for your interests.
Before you attend Facebook News or your Tiktok page its magic, Stubleupon was the place to discover psoriasis on the web. One minute, you read a great article on space or science; The next day, you are watching exotic animation. It was random. It was addiction. It was a great time to be alive and online.
But by 2018, magic faded. Social media has entered the picture and stole the spotlight. It was not long before Garret and Stubleupon announced its closure, it was replaced by a platform called Mix, which ignited mixed reactions from users. Unfortunately, they have never captured the same spark as Stubleupon. However, if you dig in the 2003 version on the Internet archive, you can almost feel the suspense of stumbling on something completely new.
3
Yahoo! Answers (2005-2021)
When we moved further than 2000, Yahoo! The answers have become the right place for curiosity. It was launched in 2005, turned the Internet into a huge forum for the Award for Questions and Answers, where you can literally ask anything and get responses from people around the world.
For years, it was a treasure of information, advice and comedy gold. Whether you want tips about repairing your computer or just need to know if the penguins are birds, someone there will answer.
But as I wanted, Quora, and social media Rose, Yahoo! The answers struggled to survive. After 15 years of trying, Yahoo! Ultimately closed it in 2021, and to redirect the site to Yahoo! Looking. However, looking at the 2005 Beta page brings a flood from the memories of the strings of questions late at night and unexpected contacts.
2
Megaupload (2005-2012)
If Yahoo! The answers were about asking questions and obtaining answers, Megaupload was about sharing and receiving files. Founded in 2005 by Kim Dotcom, this Hong Kong service has become a giant to host files. At its peak, it had more than 180 million users and was the thirteenth site in the world.
It was not just movies and music, people used it to share all types of files. But its popularity also brought legal problems in the form of a violation of copyright. In 2012, the FBI moved to its fields, arrested its owners, and took the entire service in a large -scale interconnection.
In fact, the famous, unknown penetration group attacked some US government sites to protest. Kim.com later launched Mega, which lives today as Mega.IO, but the original huge download is still frozen in time on a Wayback machine – a memorial to exchange western files.
1
Chatha (2006-2016)
Finally, when search engines became more automatic, Chatha tried to restore human touch to find answers. It was launched in 2006 by Scot A. James and Brad Bostic, who pair users with live evidence that helped improve and answer information in the actual time.
In 2008, the mobile mobile became, allowing people to send questions to 242-242 in order to obtain free responses and receive coordinated responses, which were a unique innovation at the time. At its peak, Chatha was dealing with a million questions per day, making her look like a chat with a friend more knowledgeable than using a machine.
But humans cannot outperform algorithms forever. By 2012, its operations were closed in the United Kingdom, and by 2016, the company was completely folded due to the halves. Now, all that remains is its archive, which shows a bold experience in making the search personally.
If we look back at these sites, it is difficult not to feel nostalgic. They were more than just tools. They were part of our digital life fabric. Whether it builds a house on geographies, fall into the rabbit hole on Stubleupon, or asking the strangest questions on Yahoo! Answers, these sites formed how we explored and try from the Internet.
Thanks to the web archives, we can still (re -visit) these digital effects, frozen shots of the younger web. Is it not frightening that the applications and sites that we use today are memories of another person? Well, this is the beauty of the Internet, all of this is part of the circle of life (the Internet).