I just recently purchased a domain that's my name and nothing else: chuckdri.es. I had to give namecheap my passport number to register a .es, which is apparently the TLD extension for Spain. I felt proud of this, I'm kinda say I missed the days where 3 letter domains were a thing. I would have liked to have dri.es for my entire family.
LOVE this story. Reminds me of Joshua Quittner's article back in 1994 for Wired Magazine about trying to get McDonalds to buy McDonalds.com - https://www.wired.com/1994/10/mcdonalds/
1
For 23 years, as a professor at Kansas State University, I enjoyed my email as [email protected] I loved that address because it was easy to roll off the tongue and easy for others to remember and to type. However, in 2001 the powers that be...who, I do not know--decided that "ksu" could be confused with Kent State University or some Kentucky schools and changed the address to "k-state.edu" which is much more difficult to type. Alas....
1
John, let the record show that The Times also initially turned down my free offer of the nytimes.com domain, which I had registered. A couple of years later they decided this internet thing was perhaps more than a fad, and demanded that I transfer ownership, which I willingly did. They still haven't reimbursed me for the registration fee :-)
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Sheesh. We should have started a domain cartel!
3
@Peter H. Lewis
Wow, first they turned down your free offer and then they "demanded" it?
What about good manners, not even mentioning some form of "compensation" (and I'm not talking about reg fee here).
Loved this, John. I remember collaborating with you on the Mitnick graphics when he was caught ... and doing the graphics for an article you wrote (or perhaps Andy Pollack) about how hyperlinks on the NASA web site worked. It might have been 1993, and the NYT was ahead of the curve. Glad I left before the business went online 24/7. Remember the days when the NYT web page was updated 2x a day? All best
4
74126,[email protected]
In 1984.
I still run my own mail server in my closet. However, my ISP here in San Francisco is running fiber to everyone. Problem is that because there are so people running their own mail servers, the ISP will not provide fixed IP addresses to us. To much cost. Dynamic IP addresses are being rejected by many email systems these days.
Soon, if I want to be able to see a movie, I will have to choose between that or having private email in my hall closet. With the semi-police state creeping into our data lives, it is a shame that being able to have control over our "letters" is being taken away by internet architecture decisions.
I pine for the internet of 74126,324. I guess I should have known that in 1984.
In 1984.
I still run my own mail server in my closet. However, my ISP here in San Francisco is running fiber to everyone. Problem is that because there are so people running their own mail servers, the ISP will not provide fixed IP addresses to us. To much cost. Dynamic IP addresses are being rejected by many email systems these days.
Soon, if I want to be able to see a movie, I will have to choose between that or having private email in my hall closet. With the semi-police state creeping into our data lives, it is a shame that being able to have control over our "letters" is being taken away by internet architecture decisions.
I pine for the internet of 74126,324. I guess I should have known that in 1984.
4
@JD
Don't worry, IPv6 is just around the corner.
"À la recherche du temps perdu"
It is a loss when early technology is overridden by the latest thing. There are some prehistoric domain names out there still. I have friends who still maintain "snet.net" email addresses. Southern New England Telephone has had many identities since -- AT&T, SBC, and now Frontier.
Vanished now are the pre-internet UUCP and BITNET services, the pre-web gopher information service, and quite a few other influential technologies. Storage devices have a similar story, like the floppy disk (3.5, 5.25, and 8 inch sizes), digital cassette tapes, punched cards and paper tape. Some useful technologies have been lost without being superseded: the light pen, for example.
At every stage, we are happy to absorb devices and services that promise new levels of fun or productivity. The old ones languish and crumble, until decades later some curator scrambles to reassemble our digital origins.
It is a loss when early technology is overridden by the latest thing. There are some prehistoric domain names out there still. I have friends who still maintain "snet.net" email addresses. Southern New England Telephone has had many identities since -- AT&T, SBC, and now Frontier.
Vanished now are the pre-internet UUCP and BITNET services, the pre-web gopher information service, and quite a few other influential technologies. Storage devices have a similar story, like the floppy disk (3.5, 5.25, and 8 inch sizes), digital cassette tapes, punched cards and paper tape. Some useful technologies have been lost without being superseded: the light pen, for example.
At every stage, we are happy to absorb devices and services that promise new levels of fun or productivity. The old ones languish and crumble, until decades later some curator scrambles to reassemble our digital origins.
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@Martin
Light pen is something I've never used but I don't really understand why it has disappeared, mice seem way more difficult to learn for computer illiterate people.
Great story John about history in our lifetime.
I had a four letter domain that I sold for $1,500, a steal now but what I needed to fund my startup at the time.
I had a four letter domain that I sold for $1,500, a steal now but what I needed to fund my startup at the time.
1
I have a few 100 domains and have paid 1000 for a few, and 5000 for one, which was later sold for 20,000. freevaluator.com puts nyt.com's value at 87,000 dollars, which is somewhat reasonable.
@Joe
It could be reasonable for xqp.com or something like that but nyt.com is much, much more valuable.
Ha. I remember around 1997, when I thought about buying the domain "eric.com."
It was about $50, which seemed like a complete waste of money, so I passed on it.
It was about $50, which seemed like a complete waste of money, so I passed on it.
2
You would have a hard time buying it now... I have a few old domain names from that time or before, but none with first names.
The worth of a three letter domain these days circa December 2015.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/3yu9ka/how_much_is_a_thre...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/3yu9ka/how_much_is_a_thre...
Your original 5/13/90 story is excellent and fun to read today.
3
The very LEAST you should have gotten for turning over the nyt.com
to them was a lifetime subscription to the paper, like Kramer getting free coffee forever on Seinfeld!
to them was a lifetime subscription to the paper, like Kramer getting free coffee forever on Seinfeld!
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the prevalence of spam has ruined email. not that it isn't useful; it's simply swamped by commerce, casual hacks, pleas for funding of all types.
2
Most people get few spams these days.
3
"Most people get few spams these days."
I never see any.
They have these things called "spam filters" now.
I never see any.
They have these things called "spam filters" now.
3
The recent election was distinguished by fake news, conspiracy and post-truth aided by social media carried by digital signals on the global Internet. Good and bad use exists in most technology. That is why regulations respecting electricity cycles (60 HZ) and voltage (110 v) was standardized in the U.S. and other jurisdictions of the world also followed suit or required alternative standards.
The reasonable argument for standardization by regulation was found to be smart way to transmit electricity that is critical energy needed to sustain civilization. Today we see content as being energy defined by content that is transmitted over a global network of networks. China, Russia and North Korean (and some others) regulate transmission content entering their digital space.
Is the 'bad' outweighing the 'good' of Internet content communications. It remains to be decided. In a plural society of opposing powers that share rule there is less chance of authoritarian regimes to dominate and control civil society. In he current Republican political 'trifecta', one that controls the judiciary, executive and legislative branch, we will have a real-time life test of the inherent value or misapplication of the Constitution by those 'democratically' elected. Democracy is on trial for the next four years.
The reasonable argument for standardization by regulation was found to be smart way to transmit electricity that is critical energy needed to sustain civilization. Today we see content as being energy defined by content that is transmitted over a global network of networks. China, Russia and North Korean (and some others) regulate transmission content entering their digital space.
Is the 'bad' outweighing the 'good' of Internet content communications. It remains to be decided. In a plural society of opposing powers that share rule there is less chance of authoritarian regimes to dominate and control civil society. In he current Republican political 'trifecta', one that controls the judiciary, executive and legislative branch, we will have a real-time life test of the inherent value or misapplication of the Constitution by those 'democratically' elected. Democracy is on trial for the next four years.
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Great story. And the one linked to regarding Bill Gates' use of "electronic mail" is a must read. From 1990 and full of ideas we are still seeing and dealing with today. Most chillingly that it's still current:
"''White power'' and neo-Nazi extremist groups in the United States have exploited the anonymity and secrecy of inexpensive electronic bulletin boards to schedule clandestine meetings and plan activities."
The more things change....
"''White power'' and neo-Nazi extremist groups in the United States have exploited the anonymity and secrecy of inexpensive electronic bulletin boards to schedule clandestine meetings and plan activities."
The more things change....
6
Yes, and all of those now defunct entities: Bell Labs, New York Telephone, those early internet access companies (remember the CDs they used to send with a number of free minutes?)
1
Seems to me somebody tried to use those old 3.5 floppies AOL would send out, to tile a bathroom. I certainly got almost enough of them to try...
1
@Paul @mj
Somehow, I can't recall how, I've had few of them in Poland. However they offer didn't seem that attractive to me - 1 minute call to USA was probably something like $5 or more back then.
Interesting that with the notion of an identity on the net now includes a combination of one's Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn profile (for purposes of logging in to some sites as well as communicating with each other) combined with a phone number (used by messaging apps like Signal). In some sense, just using your email address as the primary way of identifying a recipient of a message seems like a simpler time.
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John, a fascinating bit of Internet history that brought back a lot of memories. Thanks for taking the trouble to recall it for us and, perhaps more important, thanks for all the good reporting you've done for us on these very important technological subjects. Your work will be missed.
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I've cut everything out primarily. I have a few throwaway emails for commenting on stuff. Some main emails for amazon etc. My facebook, twitter, and linkedin are all canceled. I only text to a few people within my daily life. The rest, USPS. Actually I've been getting a bit picky, if it's a typed letter I'm less likely to reply depending on the subject. I'm not even in my mid-30s yet..
@Daniel
Simpler time but now it would result it massive spamming.