Angelfire, a strong competitor to geocities survives the Internet’s changing landscape: on why it survived and geocities died
I talked about how certain sites have disappeared in my contemplation whether fan sites are truly dead. I mentioned geocities because it, along with wetpaint, was the one that inspired a brief introspection about how fast the internet has changed- leading to the article’s birth.
However, amidst the melancholic tone of the article, I forgot to mention that there was another competitor to geocities that most fansites sprouted under. I already forgot my account with this one precisely because the popularity of geocities at that time eclipsed my attention for angelfire. Nevertheless, I used to maintain a few sites there too and was pleasantly surprised to discover that Angelfire still breathes to this day.
Back then, I jumped from webhost to webhost, looking for the “perfect” place to host my fan sites and my personal blog. And when I think about it, I like to call myself a digital squatter for I have no permanent home back then.
And when I say digital squatter I meant it. I tried blogging in blogspot, geocities, angelfire, livejournal, even friendster and myspace. Anything I can get my hands on, I made an account. I even have an account from 000webhost.
The survival of these giants made me wonder whether geocities was just mishandled. How come that such a big part of my online past was no longer present?
A revelation
Turns out this query was already answered. An article from https://www.allanpollett.com/geocities-end-of-an-era/ described the fall of geocities as the simple incapacity to adapt and change to a changing landscape. And just like a bamboo tree bowing down to the strong winds in order to survive, many of the old strongholds of the past did so, whereas geocities merely failed to adapt. While others have updated their infrastructures in the face of the world’s ever increasing bandwidth, it remained stuck in its way, resisting change.
Conclusion
Much like how geocities resisted change and have grown complacent over time, its demise serves as a brief reminder that we too must change especially in how we perceive the world around us. I wouldn’t have considered its end to be its own fault if I haven’t searched why angelfire survived. In hindsight, maybe this, too was how a lot of the sites of old failed. May it be businesses, companies, apps, software, tools, skills and even we ourselves, the capacity to adapt to change and bend to the growing demands of the time is tantamount to survival. And in that regard, maybe that’s what life is about. Digital or analog, we all must surrender ourselves to the inevitability of change and accept the necessary growing pains needed to fully transform ourselves in order to survive. Truly, nothing lasts. The only constant is change.
