RIP Geocities

You guys, Geocities is closing today. Big time sad face from me. Geocities and I go way back.

As many others, I'm sure, Geocities was the first experience with online publishing. Actually, my experience with web design started at Marshall during a dual crediWeb design had very little to do with it (I think it was how to develop lesson plans online -- at that point I wanted nothing more in the world than to be a teacher, ick). The professor was a geeky old math guy who dabbled in web design and taught us the basics of emailing, finding information on the internet and HTML.

Something clicked with me after I coded the first paragraph and embedded my first picture on that totally basic Web site. It was like HTML made it all make sense. It was a puzzle, a secret language, a talent (for lack of a better term) that my peers knew nothing about. HTML was frustrating and confusing -- just a series of symbols and nonsensical words that when placed in the wrong  order, created a huge mess of garbled words, links that linked to nothing and broken image icons. When placed in the right order, it created something pretty cool.

It wasn't just the design and coding that fascinated me. I had my own little spot on the Web. I loved to write, but afraid to read it to others, or even to see the reactions when others read it. On my Web site I could write anything I wanted, let all the thoughts spill out and I would never have to see my reader's face. I could be anyone I wanted to be. I was in control of the message, in control of the perception. That was power to a geeky, uncool high school student.

So I kept messing around with HTML until I ran out of space on my account at Marshall. My sister and I were big fans of Nsync, the 90's boyband (and as an aside, has it REALLY been over 10 years since that group was popular here? Mercy, I'm getting old.) We were building an Nsync Web site empire. That's when Geocities came in. We used it for storage of our many photos and files, but it was so much more than that.

For those who aren't familiar with Geocities, it was a web hosting service that allowed anyone to build a website. Pages were placed in specific "areas" -- Hollywood for Entertainment, "DC" for politics -- and the intent was to create a community of like minded individuals who could share information. Geocities was sort of the predecessor to today's social networks. Eventually that concept got too big and later on Geocities was bought by Yahoo for $4.7 million dollars and of course everything Yahoo touches turns to dust, so here we are now. 

You know the Web sites with lame, seizure inducing Under Construction icons, midi files that load on the page and make you long for hearing loss, the aforementioned mis-coded images that display as a blank box, borders with roses or cats playing with yarn, and scrolling text? That was probably built on Geocities, y'all. Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. I wasn't the only one fascinated with the ability to publish anything I wanted for anyone to see.

Little did I know, all that time I spent on the Internet would allow me to  develop the skills and interests to do what I do now and GET PAID FOR IT. I get a paycheck every two weeks because Geocities allowed me to waste countless hours designing my own Web site.

So as the sun sets on another Yahoo Fail, I think back fondly on the days and nights that I toiled over my little piece of the Internet. RIP Geocities, RIP.