Are you old enough to remember when the Internet was a new thing, rather than a ubiquitous part of life? I mean, how the hell did we live without it? Imagine a typical day for you. Now remove the Internet from it, and try not to have a panic attack.
Of course, it took a while for it to become the all-consuming part of our daily routine that it is now, but even fairly early on it was already encompassing the same breadth of human awfulness and inanity that we see today.
Here are 10 pioneering websites which we all visited at least once.
Of course, it took a while for it to become the all-consuming part of our daily routine that it is now, but even fairly early on it was already encompassing the same breadth of human awfulness and inanity that we see today.
Here are 10 pioneering websites which we all visited at least once.
ERIC CONVEYS AN EMOTION
Emotion Eric invited his website visitors to suggest an emotion, which he would then convey in a picture. Eric published his emotions on a Tuesday, because on Mondays he was preoccupied with the regular Strong Bad Email newsletter from the Homestarrunner website; another late-90s/early-2000s online phenomenon.
Eric conveyed emotions from 1998 to 2004, and his website is still online. However, despite making the occasional promise over the years, Eric has yet to convey another emotion. Perhaps the most ironic thing that could ever happen is if Eric were to have a stroke, paralysing his facial muscles, thus making him unable to convey any emotion ever again.
Let's hope that doesn't happen.
Eric conveyed emotions from 1998 to 2004, and his website is still online. However, despite making the occasional promise over the years, Eric has yet to convey another emotion. Perhaps the most ironic thing that could ever happen is if Eric were to have a stroke, paralysing his facial muscles, thus making him unable to convey any emotion ever again.
Let's hope that doesn't happen.
BERT IS EVIL
Winning a Webby Award in 1998 for weirdest website, Bert is Evil featured Photoshopped images of the monobrowed, bed-sharing, Sesame Street character in various dubious scenarios.
A precursor to the meme-saturated culture of today, Bert is Evil was finally stopped in its tracks by 9/11. An image showing Bert with supposed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was the result of legal threats by Sesame Street owners Sesame Workshop, leading to the removal of the site.
In a telling reflection of that time, Sesame Workshop had never seemed to mind when Bert was pictured with Adolf Hitler or the Klu Klux Klan.
A precursor to the meme-saturated culture of today, Bert is Evil was finally stopped in its tracks by 9/11. An image showing Bert with supposed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was the result of legal threats by Sesame Street owners Sesame Workshop, leading to the removal of the site.
In a telling reflection of that time, Sesame Workshop had never seemed to mind when Bert was pictured with Adolf Hitler or the Klu Klux Klan.
FRIENDS REUNITED
We all did it didn't we? And by did it I mean "Signed up for a Friends Reunited account so that we could show off about how amaaaaaaazing our life was now to all those people we hated in school".
Of course, Friends Reunited is best known these days as one of the greatest examples of missing an open goal; from a seemingly unassailable position, FR gradually lost ground to more aggressive social media platforms.
Bought inexplicably by ITV for £120 million at the point where the site seemed to be in an unstoppable decline, ITV sold it four years later to the owners of the Beano for £25 million. A year later, its worth was said to be a mere £5.2 million.
After a failed attempt to refocus on nostalgia, the site eventually closed in 2016, by which time everyone was on Facebook, show off about how amaaaaaaazing our life was to all those people we hated in school.
I don't care how old your child is!!!!!
Of course, Friends Reunited is best known these days as one of the greatest examples of missing an open goal; from a seemingly unassailable position, FR gradually lost ground to more aggressive social media platforms.
Bought inexplicably by ITV for £120 million at the point where the site seemed to be in an unstoppable decline, ITV sold it four years later to the owners of the Beano for £25 million. A year later, its worth was said to be a mere £5.2 million.
After a failed attempt to refocus on nostalgia, the site eventually closed in 2016, by which time everyone was on Facebook, show off about how amaaaaaaazing our life was to all those people we hated in school.
I don't care how old your child is!!!!!
DANCING BABY
One of the first ever viral videos - though these days it's hard to understand why - the Dancing Baby, or Baby Cha-Cha, was so ubiquitous that it even became a regular fixture of the TV show Ally McBeal.
Back in the 90s there was literally nothing funnier than sending a link to the dancing baby to your friends and family, with a typical subject line reading "This is sooooo funny", even though it obviously wasn't. It was just a CGI dancing baby.
Life was so much simpler back then...
Back in the 90s there was literally nothing funnier than sending a link to the dancing baby to your friends and family, with a typical subject line reading "This is sooooo funny", even though it obviously wasn't. It was just a CGI dancing baby.
Life was so much simpler back then...
SORRY EVERYBODY
There was a time when George W. Bush was the epitome of Bad Presidents, to the point where Americans created a website following his 2004 election, holding up signs apologising to the world.
Of course, in the wake of Trump, Bush has undergone something of a reappraisal, and is now seen as a sort of harmless, kindly uncle, who does bad paintings, rather than the clueless, out-of-his-depth, buffoon who helped destabilise the world with his murderous foreign policy.
Still better than Trump though.
Of course, in the wake of Trump, Bush has undergone something of a reappraisal, and is now seen as a sort of harmless, kindly uncle, who does bad paintings, rather than the clueless, out-of-his-depth, buffoon who helped destabilise the world with his murderous foreign policy.
Still better than Trump though.
JENNICAM
Jennifer Ringley was the first person ever to document her life through daily videos, thus making her the precursor to Zoella, Fun For Louis, and the rest of that godawful, narcissistic, YouTube clique.
Her always-on webcam ensured that no part of her life was off-limits - even the less flattering aspects - in stark contrast to the more carefully curated vlogger branding more common today. However, after seven years, Ringley stopped broadcasting - citing a change in PayPal's policy, banning services which might feature nudity - and disappeared almost completely from the Internet.
Most visitors to Jennicam were treated to a low-resolution image of her empty bedroom, and swiftly decided that they couldn't understand what the fuss was all about.
Her always-on webcam ensured that no part of her life was off-limits - even the less flattering aspects - in stark contrast to the more carefully curated vlogger branding more common today. However, after seven years, Ringley stopped broadcasting - citing a change in PayPal's policy, banning services which might feature nudity - and disappeared almost completely from the Internet.
Most visitors to Jennicam were treated to a low-resolution image of her empty bedroom, and swiftly decided that they couldn't understand what the fuss was all about.
HAMPSTER DANCE
At its height, this page featuring some cartoon hamsters dancing in an endless loop to the same few sped-up seconds of the song Whistlestop - written for Disney's animated Robin Hood movie - was getting 15,000 views a day.
It became such a phenomenon that the "Hampsters" even released a single that got to number 1 in Canada, eh.
It became such a phenomenon that the "Hampsters" even released a single that got to number 1 in Canada, eh.
THE MILLION DOLLAR HOME PAGE
The Million Dollar Homepage sported a million pixels that were sold for $1 a pop to pay for the university education of Wiltshire student Alex Tew. He offered the pixels in dollars rather than pounds, as he correctly surmised that the dollar was the closest thing the world had to a universal currency.
The page took just five months to fill up completely. Perhaps tellingly, Tew dropped out of his university course after a year, and attempted to recreate the success of his homepage with One Million People - in which visitors could pay to have their photograph, rather than an ad, placed on the page.
It wasn't the success Tew wanted, and he now lives in San Francisco, working as an "entrepreneur", and selling guided meditations through his app Calm.
The page took just five months to fill up completely. Perhaps tellingly, Tew dropped out of his university course after a year, and attempted to recreate the success of his homepage with One Million People - in which visitors could pay to have their photograph, rather than an ad, placed on the page.
It wasn't the success Tew wanted, and he now lives in San Francisco, working as an "entrepreneur", and selling guided meditations through his app Calm.
OGRISH
A collection of the most disturbing images anybody might want to see (or not see), Ogrish was - for all but the most wrong-headed and un-empathic - a website the majority of people definitely visited only once.
Featuring real pictures and videos of accidents, atrocities and executions, on my one and only visit the first thing I saw was somebody who had been decapitated by the blades of a helicopter rotor. It still bothers me to this day.
Featuring real pictures and videos of accidents, atrocities and executions, on my one and only visit the first thing I saw was somebody who had been decapitated by the blades of a helicopter rotor. It still bothers me to this day.
COFFEE POT CAM
A webcam was aimed at a coffee pot in a computer laboratory in the University of Cambridge. Originally, it was set up with a practical purpose; so that those on the office network could see if the coffee pot was empty or not, thus saving them a wasted trip.
When it was connected to the Internet a few years later, the pot became a bona-fide online phenomenon, as millions around the world switched on to see the current coffee level.
The camera was switched off in 2001 after 10 years, and the pot was auctioned off, being bought by German news website Spiegel Online for some reason - for £3,350.
When it was connected to the Internet a few years later, the pot became a bona-fide online phenomenon, as millions around the world switched on to see the current coffee level.
The camera was switched off in 2001 after 10 years, and the pot was auctioned off, being bought by German news website Spiegel Online for some reason - for £3,350.
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