Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Ghost Sites 31
----- GHOST SITES #31 [October 6, 1999]
----- by Steve Baldwin
(steve_baldwin@hotmail.com)
Welcome back to your favorite monthly dose of stinking, smoldering, and
ruinated digital effluvia. I apologize for the fact that Ghost Sites'
dead site count is a bit short this month - it's not that plenty of
sites aren't dying, it's just that with a mild case of West Nile Fever,
I'm too weary and weak to serve up more than a handful of them at a
time. Provided that a full recovery is in store for our Skeleton Crew,
we'll be back in November with a cart full of corpses, so please keep
your Dead Site tips flowing in through the Ghost-o-Meter!
In other news, Disobey.com's creator Morbus has informed me of a new
site being released on Halloween. If it follows the path Disobey has
taken in the past, it's sure to be an excellent addition to its shaky
waters. You can grab a sneak peek at http://www.disobey.com/horror/.
Related URLs:
http://www.disobey.com/horror/
*---- FREDERICKLENZ.COM ----*
----- http://www.fredericklenz.com/
Dr. Frederick Lenz, AKA "Rama", was the leader of a cult which ensnared
several prominent members of the mid-90's techno elite (now known as the
digirati). Before he died by his own hand in 1998, Lenz had amassed a
considerable list of achievements: he was a world-class snowboarder, a
black-belt in karate, a best-selling author, the producer of 12 New Age
rock albums, and even a Senior Systems Architect. (now, that last one
takes talent!)
Lenz, in other words, was a real Tech Guru, not your garden variety
Macarishi. Before things went terribly wrong for him, he put up this Web
site, which has remained unchanged for many months. It's a very ghostly
place, but less sinister than the famous Heaven's Gate site, many copies
of which still litter the Internet. At least Lenz, for all his faults,
wasn't fool enough to try to take his followers with him.
Thanks to Courtland Shafer for finding this site.
Related URLs:
http://www.fredericklenz.com/athlete/athlete_right.htm
http://www.fredericklenz.com/author/author_right.htm
http://www.fredericklenz.com/producer/producer_right.htm
http://www.fredericklenz.com/comp_sci/computer_right.htm
http://www.zdnet.com/yil/higher/heavensgate/index.html
[5 GHOSTIES] Site is Stuffed, Embalmed, and Ready for Internet Museum
*---- GADGET (THE NEWSLETTER FOR GROWN-UP KIDS) ----*
----- http://www.gadgetnews.com/
This sad, rusty site once functioned as a somewhat unsystematic guide to
gadgetry - electronic gizmos and mechanical whatnots intended to "remind
us of the child we once were". A product of General Media Communications
(the publisher of Penthouse), this lavishly-illustrated site appears to
have been killed shortly after its launch: only a handful of products
were reviewed before its last update occurred in October of 1998.
Much to my own personal discredit, I've been personally involved in
several ill-fated "gadget-oriented" sites (the most notorious being Time
Warner's doomed "Gizmo"), so I know why Gadget News must have been such
an appealing idea to someone on Guccione's staff. Running a site devoted
to useless technology sounds like fun (one tends to wind up with drawers
full of doo-dads that are too worthless to return to the vendor), but in
practice, doing so is a real grind after the novelty runs thin. Worse,
gadgetry-based sites inherently lack editorial focus worthy of
attracting more than a handful of readers (yes, VCR remote controls,
portable translators and hand-buzzers are all "gadgets", but does it
necessarily follow that these disparate devices belong in the same
category? Nope.)
Anyway, thanks to Caldara for pointing out this rusty bucket of bitrot -
it brings back a lot of screamingly traumatic memories.
Related URLs:
http://www.gadgetnews.com/feature/
[5 GHOSTIES] Site is Stuffed, Embalmed, and Ready for Internet Museum
*---- JESUS.COM AND CHRIST.ORG ----*
----- http://www.jesus.com/
----- http://www.christ.org/
It took the Lord a mere seven days to set this whole mess into motion,
so why is Jesus.com still "under development" 22 months after its last
update? And why is Christ.org similarly bereft of refreshment, with the
only adornment visible to human eyes a "This Domain for Sale" sign?
Now look - I'm a sinner that many righteous people would probably
consider beyond any possible redemption. But isn't maintaining a site in
Jesus's name, and either failing to update it, or worse, trying to make
a quick buck off of it through a domain name sale a form of Blasphemy -
perhaps even an Abomination?
If Jesus shows up January 1, and dials in, I'm sure he'll forgive us
all, turn the other cheek, and surf on. But I'm not so sure that his Dad
will feel so charitable (and one good lightning bolt aimed squarely at
Network Solutions would be enough to put an end to all this nonsense
forever).
Thanks to strupp for this Ghost Site tip.
[3 GHOSTIES] Sites are Dead, but May Rise Again
*---- FALCHION'S MUSIC CAVERN ----*
----- http://surf.to/fmc
This small mp3 music site (which seems to have been hastily constructed
by a teenager) died this September for reasons which the site builder
recounts in detail:
"all of a sudden the entire funpoint network disappeared from the face
of the planet. That's right, it no longer exists. All of my files? Gone.
I fortunately got a chance to back up most of it, but that does me
little good when I have nowhere to upload them!"
Welcome to homelessness, 21st Century-style. I feel sorry for you, kid
- I've been down so low in my life that I've had to resort to Geocities
for a warm bed to ease me through the cold, cruel night, and advise you
to do the same.
Now stop crying and finish your homework, will you?
[3 GHOSTIES] Site is Dead, but Well Preserved
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
