Where Do They Go?

Have you ever wondered about history Internet web wide world information?  Have you encountered a website that you actually enjoyed in the past but have now found that it has disappeared?  What happens to the great websites on the web?  Some disappear while other websites manage to last for years.  What has happened to some of your past favorite websites and where have they gone?

Famous and Fun Lost Websites

Many fun, interesting, and entertaining websites are lost websites.  In fact, websites created in the year 2000 often didn’t make it past the year 2001: subjected to the big .com bust of 2001. Thus, fans of certain websites may encounter a “web elegy” announcing the end of their favorite websites.  Often times the sites provide an explanation for why the website has failed or why it is no longer updated.  So what famous websites have disappeared?

Songfile.com was a favorite site of many music fans, but as of September 30 2001 the website was completely changed.  An incredible site once offering lyrics, sheet music, CDs and tapes now no longer exists.  What happened to Songfile.com that made the site close?  The original Songfile.com site is lost and is now the HFA: Harry Fox Agency, a website that represents music publishers and copyrighting of digital material.  In fact, the conversion should give visitors a clue as to what happened to the Songfile.com site.  Songfile.com underwent major changes after 1999 when issues arouse pertaining to the copyright of lyrics.  Songfile.com partnered with the HFA agency, hence the conversion and the lost access to song lyrics. 

Auctions.com, another website lost, disappeared in August 2000.  The web elegy explains that the site was a victim of the online auction consolidation.  Major competitors like that of eBay and other popular online auction sites, make it difficult for smaller, newly established auction websites to keep up with the pace.  While Auctions.com seemingly had a close-knit community of bidders, sadly the website has passed on.

As shown by history, web page offerings that are often established for humor purposes don’t last for long.  Take for example, BarneytheAntichrist.com, a website that some web surfers found extraordinarily funny, and some visitors did not.  The website elegy notifies visitors that the site creator could not afford to keep the site alive without contributions, and that they had received enough complaints to give up on the project entirely.  Site web creations are fun to establish, but if the web creator doesn’t have the long-term funds to keep the site alive, the site winds up with all other websites that are lost.

Angryman.com, another popular website established in the year 2000, was abruptly discontinued.  A website that once allowed angry Americans a place to vent, was lost due to a loss in funding.  A final web page announced that the site was offline; regardless of the tremendous amount of traffic it use to receive.  In addition, the site was seemingly in need of funding, giving potential investors and opportunity to offer funds for reestablishment of the site.

For more information on lost websites, visit The Museum of E-Failure at:

www.disobey.com/ghostsites/mef.shtml

Less Popular Lost Websites

Websites that become obsolete quickly are the fastest to disappear. For instance, students often create websites based on university projects and research. These are typically some of the fastest websites to fade out of popularity. As shown by history, web page offerings made by university students tend to fall apart after the student graduates or after the project itself has.  It may be possible to find websites with similar themes, but most university students do not maintain the websites they create.

Unprofessional websites don’t tend to last either.  Most web visitors don’t want to visit a website that takes forever to load and is filled up with unnecessary fluff.  In fact, the faster loading and more informative a website is, the better.  Today, people don’t have time to wait around for heavy graphics to download. A web visitor may just assume the site has failed to load, and they move on to another site.  This equates to low web traffic, and poor web visitor ratings.  Subsequently, the website is not viewed as useful and is shut down entirely.

Are Your Favorite Lost Websites Gone Forever?

As shown by history, web page offerings are newly established each and every day.  As also shown by history, web page offerings just as quickly close.  Why does this happen?  Based on history, site web creations seem to be doomed to fall apart eventually.  Is this always case?  Will the history of site web construction always promise that they site will eventually crumble?  Not necessarily.  In fact, some websites out-live others.  Other sites are bound to disappear. Yet, some favored lost websites may see a reemergence if they are purchased as a “dead website” and revived. 

There is always hope that your favorite website may reemerge someday. Take for instance, Napster.com: with the big fuss over copyright and music files, many sites offering free access to music and shared files have either changed their website policies or disappeared. Napster.com, a site that had some 60 million visitors, was another favorite of music fans that was at one time free.  A famous music downloading site, the Napster.com site was forced to shut down in July of 2001 after being slammed with a number of lawsuits for copyright infringement.  Yet Napster.com reemerged as a subscription based website after beta testing a subscription service.  While free music is still available at the site, it is extremely restricted and members cannot download music unless they subscribe.