----- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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/ TO SUBSCRIBE: majordomo@disobey.com BODY: Subscribe GhostSites TO UNSUBSCRIBE: majordomo@disobey.com BODY: Unsubscribe GhostSites ------------------------------------------------------------------------