Oh, blinking tag, how I loved thee..
May 19, 2011 11:37 AM Subscribe
What is the oldest personal website still active online?
I'm thinking along the lines of a maura.com, bittersweets, glassdog, kvetch, zannah, afterdinner, dasboot.com.. not just a search of the oldest registered url that is still operating (SYMBOLICS.COM ). that topic was discussed before.
Something like AListApart comes to mind or more a kottke.org, pamie.com, myboot or one of Maggy Donea's creations..
I know, I know.. vastly different, but that was what the interweb was like back in the mid-late 90's, right? So, personal web site still producing content. Because content is king.
I'm thinking along the lines of a maura.com, bittersweets, glassdog, kvetch, zannah, afterdinner, dasboot.com.. not just a search of the oldest registered url that is still operating (SYMBOLICS.COM ). that topic was discussed before.
Something like AListApart comes to mind or more a kottke.org, pamie.com, myboot or one of Maggy Donea's creations..
I know, I know.. vastly different, but that was what the interweb was like back in the mid-late 90's, right? So, personal web site still producing content. Because content is king.
It may help to define what you mean by 'personal web site.'
Sandra Loosemore's SkateWeb ice skating page has been active from 1994 to today. That's going to be pretty hard to beat.
posted by jedicus at 11:47 AM on May 19, 2011
Sandra Loosemore's SkateWeb ice skating page has been active from 1994 to today. That's going to be pretty hard to beat.
posted by jedicus at 11:47 AM on May 19, 2011
Parts of Mark A. Thomas (Sorabji)'s websites have been going on since at least 1994, but they've morphed a bunch, been re-arranged, and some of them are now on other domains (like the receipts, which are the oldest part, I think.)
posted by cobaltnine at 11:50 AM on May 19, 2011
posted by cobaltnine at 11:50 AM on May 19, 2011
The Schumin Web has been overwhelming the universe with craptacular awesomeness since March 23, 1996. I'm still not convinced it's not some sort of amazingly brilliant alternate reality game.
posted by bondcliff at 11:51 AM on May 19, 2011
posted by bondcliff at 11:51 AM on May 19, 2011
Not sure if it qualifies as a) the oldest or b) entirely personal, as the author is a published writer and journalist, but I love http://lileks.com/
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Unfortunately, a hell of a lot of old classic home pages went away when Geocities was shut down. Geocities.jp is still operating, though, and there may be pages there which date all the way back to 1994 when Geocities first opened.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2011
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2011
Response by poster: Jedicus - Sandra's should qualify, since it's a personal project. SchuminWeb and the others are all good candidates, as well. I was leaving it somewhat loose because there is such a wide variety of what people classify as a 'personal web site' and there were so many styles and new ideas back then.
posted by rich at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2011
posted by rich at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2011
I wasn't going to post this, but given your clarification, I would wager the longest running would be some researcher, CS or Engineering prof who put up some personal bio page that is updated, though not in the form you'd think.
(eg think Carmack and his .plans. Hmm, now I have to go see wtf happened to Carmack..)
posted by k5.user at 12:00 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
(eg think Carmack and his .plans. Hmm, now I have to go see wtf happened to Carmack..)
posted by k5.user at 12:00 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
I launched my website on 12/31/1995, and it's been online continuously ever since. I bought the domain in 1998.
On NY eve 1995, my wife was 7 months pregnant, so we had no plans. She went to bed early, and I decided I want to have a web site by the end of the year. IIRC, I looked at IBM.com and a couple of other corporate sites to figure out the basics, and ftp'ed my one-page site up just before midnight. It was 3 hours later before I figured out the voodoo of unix permissions and made it possible for anybody else to see the site, but it was on a web server just a few minutes before the end of 1995!
posted by COD at 12:01 PM on May 19, 2011 [8 favorites]
On NY eve 1995, my wife was 7 months pregnant, so we had no plans. She went to bed early, and I decided I want to have a web site by the end of the year. IIRC, I looked at IBM.com and a couple of other corporate sites to figure out the basics, and ftp'ed my one-page site up just before midnight. It was 3 hours later before I figured out the voodoo of unix permissions and made it possible for anybody else to see the site, but it was on a web server just a few minutes before the end of 1995!
posted by COD at 12:01 PM on May 19, 2011 [8 favorites]
Sadly, it looks like Time Cube has only been around since 1997-ish. Well, Gene Ray, hats off to 14 years of crazy.
posted by The Michael The at 12:03 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The Michael The at 12:03 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Personal pages on The WELL? They were a BBS in the 80s and in Gopherspace before moving over to the web in the early 90s.
posted by codswallop at 12:04 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by codswallop at 12:04 PM on May 19, 2011
Eve Andersson has been maintaining her web page since about 1995 or so with a student page at CalTech and has had her current domain since 1996.
posted by deanc at 12:06 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by deanc at 12:06 PM on May 19, 2011
Scripting News appears to still be updating.
I can't tell for sure, but it looks like Robot Wisdom is still being updated on occasion.
posted by Gilbert at 12:09 PM on May 19, 2011
I can't tell for sure, but it looks like Robot Wisdom is still being updated on occasion.
posted by Gilbert at 12:09 PM on May 19, 2011
alive as ever, since mid 1995, is my friend Evert's Grunnen Rocks garage rock site/encyclopedia/institute/monolith
all the work of one man (with a family, ha)
posted by gijsvs at 12:17 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
all the work of one man (with a family, ha)
posted by gijsvs at 12:17 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Do Gopher sites count? I know some of those are still around, though I don't know how old any of those are that still exist.
posted by Jahaza at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by Jahaza at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2011
Yeah, I am not 100% clear on what is meant by 'personal web site' but The Daily Illuminator has posted daily updates since November 1994.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2011
Response by poster: I'm loathe to put many restrictions around this one such as registered domain, since you did have all those Geocities sites that people eventually migrated (myself, I had my personal site hosted at Stern NYU for years before moving them to an actual domain). Although domain registration date is a sure solid date.
But I am leaning more towards the personal site that was more on the creative end (thinking bittersweets or how glassdog was pushing the envelope on what you could do with html and primitive scripting) or storytelling personal narrative rather than "all about skating" like frogpond.
And less on following the person through multiple domains (again, Lance Arthur as an example has cruised through many different incarnations.. but doesn't have his original creations still going, though kvetch.com by Derek Powazek is still up and running)...
posted by rich at 12:32 PM on May 19, 2011
But I am leaning more towards the personal site that was more on the creative end (thinking bittersweets or how glassdog was pushing the envelope on what you could do with html and primitive scripting) or storytelling personal narrative rather than "all about skating" like frogpond.
And less on following the person through multiple domains (again, Lance Arthur as an example has cruised through many different incarnations.. but doesn't have his original creations still going, though kvetch.com by Derek Powazek is still up and running)...
posted by rich at 12:32 PM on May 19, 2011
Oh man, I just found a school project website that I created in 1995. I'm not going to post a link because it is just too embarrassing.
Instead, here is the original Space Jam website.
posted by Elly Vortex at 12:33 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Instead, here is the original Space Jam website.
posted by Elly Vortex at 12:33 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Zeldman.com has been online since 1995 or thereabouts. I remember the menu spacemen vividly, and my wonder at the images that changed on mouseover.
posted by iconomy at 12:43 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by iconomy at 12:43 PM on May 19, 2011
according to wikipedia, robotwisdom has has been around since feb. 1995.
posted by ultrapotato at 12:52 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by ultrapotato at 12:52 PM on May 19, 2011
I have got you all beat, man. ( :) )
I have kept my online journal updated evar since the end of nineteen-ninety-FOUR. BOO YAH. And no one ever, ever, notices. Hehe. I do say "since 1995" on my current blog, but that's because I only realized it was indeed a "journal" by about January or February '95. I don't really talk about it unless asked, it's more something I bring up with friends who were there at the time, especially my partner in web-crime.
Its first incarnation was gladstone.uoregon.edu/~astev some time between September and November, I can't remember exactly and it has been lost to the vagaries of pre-Yahoo time...
Start of 1995, when I realized I was serious about the web and working on a webpage for our School of Music, I moved it to music1.uoregon.edu/websters/Anna (you won't find either in any Wayback Machine, but I do have a witness :D he was /Chris on music1, now martinilab.)
I won't self-link, current incarnation is in my profile and I am maddenly good at avoiding public archives that would prove that posts existed before I deleted them. (I do delete older stuff – we all grow in life, things I wrote 17 years ago, or even 7 years ago, would NOT reflect the person I am now. Well, some would. But most wouldn't.)
posted by fraula at 12:57 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have kept my online journal updated evar since the end of nineteen-ninety-FOUR. BOO YAH. And no one ever, ever, notices. Hehe. I do say "since 1995" on my current blog, but that's because I only realized it was indeed a "journal" by about January or February '95. I don't really talk about it unless asked, it's more something I bring up with friends who were there at the time, especially my partner in web-crime.
Its first incarnation was gladstone.uoregon.edu/~astev some time between September and November, I can't remember exactly and it has been lost to the vagaries of pre-Yahoo time...
Start of 1995, when I realized I was serious about the web and working on a webpage for our School of Music, I moved it to music1.uoregon.edu/websters/Anna (you won't find either in any Wayback Machine, but I do have a witness :D he was /Chris on music1, now martinilab.)
I won't self-link, current incarnation is in my profile and I am maddenly good at avoiding public archives that would prove that posts existed before I deleted them. (I do delete older stuff – we all grow in life, things I wrote 17 years ago, or even 7 years ago, would NOT reflect the person I am now. Well, some would. But most wouldn't.)
posted by fraula at 12:57 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Web pioneer Philip Greenspun set up his "home page" in December 1993. His online book Travels with Samantha won a Best of the Web award in 1994.
posted by russilwvong at 12:57 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by russilwvong at 12:57 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Yeah but Jorn stopped updating it years ago. Nowadays he 'shares' to a Google Reader site.
posted by Rash at 12:57 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by Rash at 12:57 PM on May 19, 2011
Best answer: our very own moonmilk's moonmilk.com was registered in 1997, but a lot of the personal stuff on it was online as moonmilk since at least 1993; justin hall frequently says it was seminal to his starting links.net. i first stumbled onto it in 1995—which is an entire teenager ago, holy shit.
posted by lia at 12:58 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by lia at 12:58 PM on May 19, 2011
(my previous comment was about Robot Wisdom)
Another early internaut still posting is the Gus.
posted by Rash at 1:00 PM on May 19, 2011
Another early internaut still posting is the Gus.
posted by Rash at 1:00 PM on May 19, 2011
Ram Samudrala on his ram.org webpage claims he launched in 1993.
posted by u2604ab at 1:30 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by u2604ab at 1:30 PM on May 19, 2011
I've been waiting on johnpmartin.com for at least 13 years, but I'm sure there are older ones.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:32 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:32 PM on May 19, 2011
I've been working on my personal website since September 1994, although it didn't have much content until July 1995 (and I bought a domain for the site in 2005).
posted by martinrebas at 1:33 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by martinrebas at 1:33 PM on May 19, 2011
My personal page went live mid-1995. It started with one page and 8 CG pictures. During the next 15 years it grew into a labyrinthine warren with hundreds of pages and thousands of images (I got my own domain name in 2000). Time constraints forced me to put it on hold last year, but I hope to be able to add new material in the near future.
posted by elgilito at 2:05 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by elgilito at 2:05 PM on May 19, 2011
I was gonna mention greenspun.com and his Travels with Samantha (which I read instead of soldering circuits at my work-study job sometime in 1995), but russilwvong beat me to it.
posted by notsnot at 3:16 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by notsnot at 3:16 PM on May 19, 2011
Judging from the timestamps on some original content, mine reached a status greater than 'Hello World' in October 1995. I suspect that's fairly common for computer geeks who've been at the same university continuously since the early 90s or before.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 3:38 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by Monsieur Caution at 3:38 PM on May 19, 2011
The oldest website is info.cern.ch, and it was pretty much a personal site for a while, at least until some other folks got the browser to compile.
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:46 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:46 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Best answer: David Siegel has had dsiegel.com since July 8, 1995, and started blogging there on August 30, 1995.
posted by zsazsa at 3:57 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by zsazsa at 3:57 PM on May 19, 2011
Okay, so where does this leave is so far?
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:15 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:15 PM on May 19, 2011
Yeah, Phillip Greenspun is still updating his blog, so that sounds like the oldest still active site to me.
posted by MexicanYenta at 5:20 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by MexicanYenta at 5:20 PM on May 19, 2011
Best answer: The oldest content on moonmilk.com (self-link!) dates to November 1993, so that probably beats Phil G. Ram Samudrala's site claims March 1993, but I can't tell if it counts as still active.
For my old stuff, look here.
posted by moonmilk at 7:21 PM on May 19, 2011
For my old stuff, look here.
posted by moonmilk at 7:21 PM on May 19, 2011
Matthew Gray , while a student at MIT, set up his web page on his MIT student account back in mid-1993. I can't give you the precise date, but I'm sure he could tell you if you asked.
posted by deanc at 5:50 AM on May 20, 2011
posted by deanc at 5:50 AM on May 20, 2011
Response by poster: Wow.. ok, I'll have to take some time and look through what's still active and look back to their humble beginnings. Great stuff, folks.. keep 'em coming.
posted by rich at 6:37 AM on May 20, 2011
posted by rich at 6:37 AM on May 20, 2011
Elly Vortex. PLEASE post a link!!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:15 PM on May 20, 2011
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:15 PM on May 20, 2011
Looking back at some old home pages, I see that I started my first home page in January of 1994. I now have my own domain name and a blog that I update semi-regularly. I'm having a hard time finding the original HTML that I wrote back then, though.
posted by deanc at 9:31 PM on May 20, 2011
posted by deanc at 9:31 PM on May 20, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:45 AM on May 19, 2011