[ Retro Scan ] My First Website Setup Email

August 16th, 2016 by Benj Edwards

Benj's first website setup email scan - 1995“Don’t give your password out.” Oops!

21 years ago today, I received this email from Mike Leber of Hurricane Electric, a company that rented out web hosting space, among other services (in fact, they’re still in business).

Since it was a setup email describing how to utilize my first-ever website space, it was important enough for me to print out on my nifty Canon BubbleJet printer. That’s what you see scanned here. I probably have the original email too in electronic form sitting around somewhere.

You’ll also notice that I wrote down a convoluted URL (in which I wrote a strange “(e)” after the “.com” — perhaps I was confused), which turns out to have one pointed to a ghost hunting website. I was big into that stuff back then (I was 14 at the time, if that explains anything). The Purdue email address scrawled in pencil probably has something to do with that as well.

Reading through this old email is fun today. System resources were relatively scarce back then, so the rules about what you could do with your minuscule web space were pretty strict. I particularly enjoy the “MUDS will not be tolerated” line. And the thing about calculating the mass of an electron.

Late last year, I wrote a big article about the process of creating this website (which I called “The Schmeli Caborgan”) for FastCompany. I also wrote about my first ISP, Nando.Net, in a Retro Scan post earlier this year.

[ From Benj Edwards personal email printout, August 16, 1995 ]

Discussion Topic: When did you set up your first website?



6 Responses to “[ Retro Scan ] My First Website Setup Email”

  1. Vicki Vegis Says:

    Mike helped me set up my first website too!! Also in 1995. It was the first GM website in the country. http://www.saturnpl.com for Saturn of Pleasanton! How time flies.

  2. SirFatty Says:

    1998, personal website using our last name… I’ve had it ever since.

  3. Geoff V. Says:

    I love that your first site was devoted to classic video games, in 1995.

  4. Benj Edwards Says:

    Yeah, I’ve been at it for a long time, I guess. I’ve been collecting vintage computers and video games since 1992 or 1993 as I traditionally remember it.

  5. Ant Says:

    Nice password. ;P

  6. Joe Says:

    Love it. That bubblejet printer did well, much nicer than dot matrix.

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