About the Classic Sites Archive
Congratulations! You've made it to everyone's favorite part, the about page! Jokes aside, there might be some confusion as to what in the world this site is. Sometimes while gathering Site data, I'll stop and ask myself the same question.
About Me
Hello, friends from cyberspace! I'm a mediocre website designer originally from the Northeastern US that is currently working on way more projects than I should be. I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm a data horder, but I do try and preserve something if I truly like it, hence this site. I have basic philosophies on how the world works based on how I see it, and that includes how people on the Internet present themselves. For example, the age-old adage of nothing on the Internet is ever truly deleted once it's there is complete horsecrap. Personally, I've seen hundreds of things be nuked from the Net, from music to websites, and it IS true what they say that you never know what you have until it's gone. Man, it hurts to lose something you enjoyed.
Anyway, I loved seeing the creativity that unfolded on Google Sites, and since nobody tried to do this before (at least that I'm aware of), I figured I would set out and attempt to save it, albeit super late to the party. Truth be told I started working on this years ago, but when I started going to college for my bachelor's in education, I didn't really have much time for this anymore. Maybe I'm just a nut for old things and the nostalgia that comes with them, but there was something in me that loved seeing everyone customize their websites a different way. Heck, scrolling through Neocities pages is a trip in itself!
Specifics on this Site
This site will be massive one day. I don't mean in terms of popularity but rather size. The amount of information that will soon be left here to be remembered forever will grow until I have to start looking for a paid host. We'll cross that bridge when it comes. The Google Sites themselves, as mentioned in the "Quick Info" summary, are mostly coming from US companies and school district domains. The trouble is that most of these old Sites are actively being converted to New Sites and are then destroyed by the creator. That puts some strong deadlines on parts of this project, so whenever I have free time, I'll fire up HTTrack and get to archiving. The other problem lies in that I only can archive what I have access to. This means that my archival efforts are limited to Sites that are accessible to everyone in the world. In an attempt to bypass this issue, I set up a Contact page so anyone willing to help me out, can share with me an old Site they have access to.
I guess it is kind of funny to store the archive on a competitor's server, but hey, who cares?
The Slow Demise of Internet Creativity
Well before Google Sites was welcomed to the world, the Net featured many outlets of self expression (GeoCities, Angelfire, Tripod, etc). In those days, a website or blog was the only way to meet new people on the vast, informational highway that was Cyberspace. You included links to your favorite sites, info on your life, maybe hobbies or music interests, and the like. Everyone decorated their personal space with fun buttons and backgrounds; so much so that there was always something new to see!
As more and more places like FaceBook and Instagram opened up, websites and blogs were pushed aside in favor of "bios" and profiles- features that didn't require coding skills but still announced the same info to the 3W's. Blogging sites and certain hosts then started promising users "free and professional websites" by defaulting to minimalistic, "sleek" designs. Why do we no longer get as much choice? I understand the whole "makes muh life easier" approach, but one could argue that the hard work you put in to a task makes it more satisfying to see the result.
