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Ghost Sites 24
----- GHOST SITES #24 [February 15, 1999]
----- by Steve Baldwin
(steve_baldwin@hotmail.com)
Bruce Sterling sent us a very interesting report on Internet Link Rot
published last year in Jakob Nielson's Alertbox.
The report identifies linkrot as a serious threat which "contributes to
dissolving the very fabric of the Web", and "a direct attack on the
founding principle of the Net." It goes on to say that the volume of
broken links is doubling every year, which suggests what Ghost Sites has
known for some time - the Web is being eaten by invisible termites with
incomprehensible error messages on their tiny backs.
We imagine that some day in the near future, the problem of link rot
will become so serious a threat to the Information Economy that First
Lady Tipper Gore will propose an Internet Beautification Program to
clean up all the rotten, trashy sites littering the high-speed byways of
e-commerce.
Until that time, however, we're glad that Link Rot is growing like
virtual Kudzu, because it means that there will be enough Ghost Sites to
write about in the coming years. I frankly never thought that penning
site obituaries would become my life's work, but Hell, if the shoe fits,
wear it.
In the shameless self-promotional department this month, I've launched a
new e-zine, mpXreview.com that's devoted to reviewing independent music
from MP3 musicians, and also continue to work on NetSlaves, which has
been getting some healthy attention from the tabloid press.
Related URLs:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980614.html
http://www.mpxreview.com/
http://www.disobey.com/netslaves/
*---- IGOLDRUSH.COM ----*
----- http://www.igoldrush.com/
igoldrush.com was a news-oriented site targeted at the legions of grubby
New Age Willy Lomans seeking to make a fast buck by speculating in the
domain name trade. Chock-a-block with golden rules, domain name trading
tips, testimonials, and special reports, igoldrush.com posted its last
news item in December of 1997.
Although igoldrush.com is as dead as they come, its pragmatic tutorials
on buying and selling domain names still provide useful tips for the
greedy Net Entrepreneur, and a few of its anecdotes are fascinating,
especially the story about the owner of television.com, who turned down
an offer from CNet for $50,000, believing his name was worth millions
more. He didn't get a dime, of course, and today, television.com is just
an empty, floating placeholder on the Net - not exactly a ghost site --
just an empty wallet lying open, waiting to be filled with cash from
some mad media mogul on a spending spree.
Thanks to Haynes Lee, who's contributed many dead site sightings to us
in the past, for sending this item on.
Related URLs:
http://www.igoldrush.com/faq.htm
[4 GHOSTIES] Site is Dead, Shows Advanced Decay
*---- CULT OF MACINTOSH ----*
----- http://cult-of-mac.utu.fi/
"Apple Technology at Work", reads a promotional banner on this rusty
site, but the link it points to (always.apple.com) is busted, and this
site's last update was August 30, 1996. A noble effort to bring all
Macintosh resources within one (rather ugly) frame-based page, the Cult
of Macintosh is a virtual time capsule of the sad state of Macdom a few
years ago, when scruffy inspirational pages like "Save Apple" were all
that seemed to separate the Mac from the dustbin of history.
This bitrotten site, based in Finland, is a virtual cornucopia of
Mac-related Ghost Pages, including "The Celebrity Macintosh Page", old
home pages for Adam and Tonya Engsts' TidBITS, and most notably, Steve
Wozniak's own WOZ.ORG, - an under-maintained, Netscape 2.0-optimized
site run by Apple's co-founder whose outdated elements include a
discontinued scrabble game and an Events Section pointing to KansasFest
'96.
Related URLs:
http://always.apple.com/
http://www.netwide.net/saveapple/
http://users.owt.com/sdechter/celeb.html
http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/TidBITS/TidBITS.html
http://www.woz.org/
http://www.woz.org/Pages/Staff/Steve/steve.html
http://www.woz.org/woz/games.html
http://www.woz.org/pages/kfest/
[5 GHOSTIES] Site is Stuffed, Embalmed, and Ready for Internet Museum
*---- THE COCHLEA! HOME PAGE ----*
----- http://www.cochlea.com/
Got an ear problem? You'd better go elsewhere. Although The Cochlea!
Home Page, maintained by Doctor John J. Shea III, is described in Yahoo
as "devoted to info and support for patients and families of patients
with disorders of the ears, hearing and balance", one perceptive Ghost
Sites reader points out that "not only has it not been updated since
December (of 1997), but the only thing on the site is a Mov. file about
some kid's birthday".
The really alarming thing about finding an outdated site like this is
how much it says about Yahoo's outdated listings. If Yahoo is serious
about its plan to charge site owners for expedited listings in its
databases, it really should peel off a few bills and hire a NetSlave or
two to clean up its "ghost Yahoo listings", which are all too often
inaccurate, misleading, and out-of-date.
Related URLs:
http://www.disobey.com/netslaves/
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Cochlea
[4 GHOSTIES] Site is Dead, Shows Advanced Decay
*---- THE CPU ORGANIZATION ----*
----- http://www.cpu.org/
Sporting one of the most elegant "Under Construction" signs we've ever
seen, The CPU Organization proudly announces that it has now "recovered
from The Crash of '96", and will soon be back online "any day now".
We're highly intrigued by the idea that an organization devoted to CPU's
would take more than two years to recover from a crash. We're not sure
what terrible problem afflicted CPU.org's CPUs, but suspect that we may
have stumbled upon the smoldering remains of the world's first
unsuccessful Linux installation.
Thanks to Fabian, from Germany, who sent us this item.
[4 GHOSTIES] Site is Dead, Shows Advanced Decay
*---- THE COUCH ----*
----- http://www.thecouch.com/past/index.html
We briefly mentioned the demise of the Couch more than a year ago, but
because this dead site still persists, we're going to revisit it. The
Couch was a grandiose production of the Cyborganic Corporation, and it
was conceived as a web-based "virtual group therapy session", wherein
users could vicariously enter the lives of its troubled characters as
they grappled with their personal problems. For better or worse, The
Couch's sessions ground to a halt in mid-1997, bottling up the neuroses
of its quirky subjects forever.
It's really amazing how much effort went into this Ghost Site - 32
fully-blown session, tons of hyperlinks, images, diary entries, and
brain-warping fantasies, all laid out for the world to see. But effort,
and an arguably inspired idea, were clearly not enough to ensure The
Couch's survival, and it now lies unburied, along with other failed Web
serials, such as The Spot.
Thanks to Kjenson for sending news of The Couch on to us.
Related URLs:
http://www.cyborganic.com/
http://www.thecouch.com/personae/index.html
http://www.thespot.com/
[5 GHOSTIES] Site is Stuffed, Embalmed, and Ready for Internet Museum
*---- FARRAH FAWCETT: ALL OF ME ----*
----- http://www.farrahdise.com/
Playboy Magazine was kind enough to point to Ghost Sites recently, so I
probably shouldn't mention this rusty promotional site for a soft-core
Special Collection video released back in August of 1997. There's
certainly nothing evil about keeping a site full of obsolete "sneak
peaks" up, and a site of this kind probably serves a useful public
service by informing the Web that Ms. Fawcett is both a talented painter
and sculptor, in addition to being a Blond Icon of the 20th Century.
Because I'm over 40 myself, I'll avoid snide comments about the
relationship between time and beauty, or jokes about being
"well-preserved". I will only note that some things really don't get
better with time - especially Web sites which aren't cared for, and if I
were Ms. Fawcett, I'd insist that Playboy at least fix the broken "Like
to Watch (ahem) Sports? Click Here!" link on the site's home page, which
sends users into the most unerotic, most unsensual zone we know of
today: the land of the dreaded Error 404.
Related URLs:
http://www.farrahdise.com/video.html
http://www.farrahdise.com/paintings.html
http://www.farrahdise.com/img/sportsextra-watch-06-11.gif
[5 GHOSTIES] Site is Stuffed, Embalmed, and Ready for Internet Museum
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The website edition includes images, a nice design, and all the latest
news about Ghost Sites. Go there to read the latest:
http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/
Copyright 1996-1999 Steve Baldwin Associates.
Webdesign, hosting and publication by Disobey.
http://www.disobey.com/
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