In the lightning fast world of the Web, it can be a bit shocking to look backward. But it’s a little enlightening as well.
Such was the case when our photographer and page designer, Wes Hamilton, used the Wayback Machine digital archive to pull up SBJ.net pages
as far back as 1998.
As SBJ Publishing Inc. Chairwoman Dianne Elizabeth Osis put it, “I don’t want to go back.”
Comical dialogue, a cheesy 1990s color scheme and forgotten fonts are now relics seen on the first iteration of Springfield Business Journal’s online presence. My favorite (and I think the capitalization is particularly important to keep in tact for context):
“Feel free to browse our pages and drop us a note about a HOT NEWS TIP or just to say Hi!”
For the record, I still love juicy news tips and exclamatory greetings, just perhaps not on a media organization’s home page.
It’s kind of like looking at a high school photo of yourself. Yeah, I’ll admit that was me, but why did I think the mustache and metal chain necklace were good ideas?
But I jest in good conscience. To put things into context, I was only about 10 years old when SBJ.net first went online. I vividly remember being excited just to type in URLs and have them take my mind somewhere else while my body was still in the same room. What a wild concept! I would save links, written on notebook paper, to look up when I could get online again. While basically a necessity now, websites were more of a luxury in the early days. So I give kudos to those that existed at all.
SBJ.net was not alone in its early Internet awkwardness. As far back as 1996,
Yahoo was stitched together with low-quality images that look more like Microsoft Word stock art. Google wasn’t quite the powerhouse it is today, and in 1998,
its website was about as simple as can be while still in beta.
A 2003 archive image I found of
OReillyAuto.com is hilariously dated with its slapped-on, low-resolution images. The Springfield-based auto parts retailer’s
current website is respectable and more accurately represents a $6 billion company. A 1997 archive snapshot of
Bass Pro Shops’ website showed a minimal newsletter-style site with a prominent reference to Johnny Morris’ “Great American Outdoor Stores.” The earliest capture of CoxHealth.com I could find,
from 2001, had some hiccups, as well, most noticeably a recurring animation that bled into other icons on the screen.
A simpler look with less fashion sense seems to be the theme among old websites.
I encourage you to check out your own Internet history at
Archive.org, home of the Wayback Machine. With a self-proclaimed 400 billion Web pages indexed throughout the years, it’s really quite interesting.
I’m admittedly biased, but I believe SBJ.net has a much better look today. I feel the same about all of the websites I mentioned. And I don’t personally wear a metal chain necklace anymore. The past can stay in the past, but it can be fun and educational to take a peek at it every now and then.
It’s also a reminder that anything you put on the Internet has the tendency to stay there. Today, privacy is becoming a thing of the past. People use their full names openly and easily on the Internet, post about their lives and keep up with old high school acquaintances and family members.
In essence, the Internet as most of us know it can by and large be viewed as public record. Don’t believe me? Google your name to see what I mean.
As people get more comfortable using the Internet – especially those who have grown up around it – privacy will almost certainly continue to slip away. How you use that knowledge is up to you.
Springfield Business Journal Web Editor Geoff Pickle can be reached at gpickle@sbj.net.
The Wayback Machine keeps an archived record of the first online presence of Springfield Business Journal, complete with a 1990s color scheme and comical dialogue.
