It is easy to deconstruct Geocities as we look back at it. The semantic organization, the way it was broken into semi-relevant interest / industry groups, its California centric lingo. Yes we can knit-pick but what we should really do is marvel at the audacity of the idea to build and establish such a wide reaching community of web sites so early on.
1994 seems a long way back. I was in the middle of high school and we were learning rudimentary online computer skills. We slung e-mail via AOL or prodigy mail, but that was pretty much it. That and BBS role playing games.
The consideration point that makes me gasp in awe at GeoCities is the way that it was able to flex and meld with its population in order to accomodate as many of its 'homesteaders' as it could. The space was always evolving and web hosting was new, exciting, and frankly dificult unles you were a re comp-sci pro. It was one of the first mass website arenas and for those who used it, it was a great place to go, explore and creat. I hope Yahoo got thier $3.5 Billion dollars of stock's worth. They drove the comunity out of the community space and recently realized all they have left is ... an empty space. Yahoo closed Geocities today. I feel for those who lost their digital home.
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