Geocities Shutting Down

Geocities is closing in October. I went online to upload a new page to my website and saw the notice online. I kind of knew, because yahoo sent me an e-mail about it; but now I can't ignore it any more. I'd finally gotten a handle on posting to the web, and now I'll have to find a new place to do it. Yeah, I could pay to host a site through Yahoo; but don't you think the web was meant to be free? I just spent an hour downloading stuff from my site so I won't lose anything when Yahoo throws the switch. I guess Yahoo just couldn't afford to give away server space anymore.

I remember way back when Geocities was a virtual city - well suburb really - and you drove your "car" from one website to another. It was all so new; all so random. The web was a great way to publish data, but interconnectedness was so next millennium. I used to think my problem finding information on the net was my own fault; I just hadn't mastered the search engines. I tried honing my skills; the search engines came and went (remember Lycos ... Alta Vista?); but I never really mastered the art of the search. I suppose it's not all my fault, most of what I'm searching for is fairly obscure. Sometimes it seems like the web is little more than one big commercial. That's not much help unless you're trying to buy something; I'm just looking for free information.

I'm surprised how hard it is to find good collector's sites. I was looking for information on antique Girard-Perregaux watches, but never found a good photo-catalog. Even the Girard-Perregaux website's "collection" page was not much help. They claim they've been in the custom watch making business since 1791. I would expect hundreds of photographs on display celebrating the endless variety and craftsmanship of their product line. BAA, wrong answer! Now if you're looking to buy a new watch, there are hundreds of sites available - all selling Girard-Perregaux watches ... and all with the lowest price! There are even hundreds of sites advertising fake Girard-Perregaux watches for sale at a tenth the cost of the real thing (I used to think trademark and patent enfringements were crimes that would be prosecuted ... how twentieth century).

I guess there's no money in the kind of information I'm usually looking for, so no one bothers to post it. That's why I started posting information myself. I'm not good at it - and I can't do much because of time constraints - but it seems like each of us should do what we can. Who knows, maybe some day I'll be able to run a search for "air brake cylinder repairs for New York 3rd Avenue streetcars from the 1930's" and actually get a result that's of some use. Just for grins I opened another window and ran a search on that exact phrase and the #1 returned result was:

http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/bedt/BEDTRosters.html

(Yea, yea, I know, "What's he doing multitasking, is he feeling OK?") Don't get me wrong, this is a cool site for train enthusiasts. Lot's of great stuff - even though navigating the page is pretty bad - but none of it is useful for overhauling those air brake controls I need to fix. I've been told that "It's all out there, you just need to know how to search"; and maybe it is ... but I'm not convinced it's all online yet. Maybe the web just needs more time to mature.