Posted by Merrin
Three people have already submitted limericks to mark and honor the passing of GeoCities, which was shut down by Yahoo on October 26th. Greg Galant has pledged $10 to the person who devises the best poetic testament to one of the Internet’s most significant (historical) hosting services.
The Los Angeles Times has described GeoCities as “perhaps the first mainstream example of an open, participatory and personal Internet.” It was the platform that most people chose for creating personal websites and documenting myriad facets of cultural life. The site was bought by Yahoo for $3 billion in 1999 (at a time when it was a top-five player on the Web) from creators David Bohnett and John Rezner, but it proved an unprofitable – even costly – purchase, and its shutdown is representative of Yahoo’s large-scale efforts to prioritize their product and service portfolios.
All submissions must adhere to the structural criteria of a limerick, as outlined here. The winning ode, Greg hopes, will appropriately celebrate one of the “first sites to show us the power of enabling the creativity of millions of people.”
Nov 10