A dream of a Rock Mall
June 25, 2023 5:48 PM Subscribe
The first, and for literally decades the only online community I participated in was what we then called a bulletin board (distinct from a pre-web BBS) called Rock Mall. This would've been mid-1990s, earlyish web, and I definitely was using a modem and a copy of Netscape Navigator to get there. Of this place I find no record. Has anyone got any ideas where even to look?
As things tended to work before the internet was everywhere all the time, a friend scribbled a url on a piece of paper, along with his username, and soon a group of us were hanging out talking about music with what I understood then to be a much older (as in probably 40s to my pre-20s) and cooler group of people. They loved music, rock music mostly. If I had to guess I bet it was 80-20 male, and probably completely white.
Basically they tolerated my friends and I (mostly). The full story is much too long to write, but the tldr is that I was sent a mixtape from a man there (How to Freak Out Your Parents in 1997 was not the name of the mixtape, but it should've been) and it changed the course of my life, which is one of the main reasons I'm asking (supplementary question: whatever happened to you, MC?)
The other reason is that it's just disappeared. I've never been able to find any real record of it. My understanding at the time was that it was owned by Guitar World Magazine (maybe?) and was probably an endeavor to get people to buy magazines that never took off past the 75 or so people who hung out and talked about Captain Beefheart, Van Halen, Nick Cave, or whatever. Then one day when I wasn't looking it was gone, a fate no doubt common to thousands of those small internet communities at the time.
I remember it being behind a Guitar World Magazine url, like a subdomain, not like rockmall.com or anything, but maybe I'm wrong.
It was that style of board where you posted a topic and people would comment. Newest post in any topic would bring that topic to the top. There were, like, general rooms or groupings of topics. For all I know, Rockmall could've been one such room in a larger hierarchy, but I can't recall.
So...he asks...maybe thinking that maybe some of them floated over here now and again or forever...does anyone remember Rockmall? Where could I even look?
As things tended to work before the internet was everywhere all the time, a friend scribbled a url on a piece of paper, along with his username, and soon a group of us were hanging out talking about music with what I understood then to be a much older (as in probably 40s to my pre-20s) and cooler group of people. They loved music, rock music mostly. If I had to guess I bet it was 80-20 male, and probably completely white.
Basically they tolerated my friends and I (mostly). The full story is much too long to write, but the tldr is that I was sent a mixtape from a man there (How to Freak Out Your Parents in 1997 was not the name of the mixtape, but it should've been) and it changed the course of my life, which is one of the main reasons I'm asking (supplementary question: whatever happened to you, MC?)
The other reason is that it's just disappeared. I've never been able to find any real record of it. My understanding at the time was that it was owned by Guitar World Magazine (maybe?) and was probably an endeavor to get people to buy magazines that never took off past the 75 or so people who hung out and talked about Captain Beefheart, Van Halen, Nick Cave, or whatever. Then one day when I wasn't looking it was gone, a fate no doubt common to thousands of those small internet communities at the time.
I remember it being behind a Guitar World Magazine url, like a subdomain, not like rockmall.com or anything, but maybe I'm wrong.
It was that style of board where you posted a topic and people would comment. Newest post in any topic would bring that topic to the top. There were, like, general rooms or groupings of topics. For all I know, Rockmall could've been one such room in a larger hierarchy, but I can't recall.
So...he asks...maybe thinking that maybe some of them floated over here now and again or forever...does anyone remember Rockmall? Where could I even look?
Best answer: Is it by any chance this? Or, specifically, this discussion forum linked from the main page?
Here is a later look at the login page to the discussion forum.
Above links are to archive.org. It looks like it was alive about 1996-2000. Unfortunately you can't get into most of the discussion forum other than the login page, though you can explore the captures at various dates to see what you can find.
posted by flug at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
Here is a later look at the login page to the discussion forum.
Above links are to archive.org. It looks like it was alive about 1996-2000. Unfortunately you can't get into most of the discussion forum other than the login page, though you can explore the captures at various dates to see what you can find.
posted by flug at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
If it is the site flug has found, then Google Groups has various references to it (in particular a trivia quiz they seemed to host), if that rings any bells.
posted by greycap at 5:23 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by greycap at 5:23 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Oi, thank you, flug! Is that it?! It feels so close and so far off at the same time, but there's really no way to tell without seeing beyond the fold, as it were. Also, it looks like I don't know how to use the Way back Machine, cause I definitely looked there before posting. Thanks so much, flug and greycap.
posted by AbelMelveny at 5:45 PM on June 26, 2023
posted by AbelMelveny at 5:45 PM on June 26, 2023
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posted by AbelMelveny at 5:48 PM on June 25, 2023