Nearly a year old, This is True didn’t even have a web site until this week.
(Note: this page has been heavily updated since 1995!)
I didn’t even have a domain yet: a reader who already had a web site set up offered to host a couple of pages of info, and I readily agreed. Thanks, Joe!
The first domain was freecom.com — short for my company name, Freelance Communications, which still serves as an “imprint” of my publishing company. That was hosted by a NASA buddy for awhile. I sold the domain to a German company called …Freecom, which still uses it today. The Internet Archive’s first capture of the domain was after that transfer.
Traffic
The first (June 1995) web site had a surprising amount of traffic, especially considering it was 1995. Joe sent me the output of his log program for that month:
Finally, ThisIsTrue.com
Before changing the company name I first made sure I could get the thisistrue.com domain name when I was forced to come up with a new brand name.
Each page was hand-coded until I switched to my first Content Management System, Moveable Type, I think in early 2008.
Nowadays, I can come up with a site idea and have it up and running the same day.
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Woohoo, history properly preserved!
Better capture those Wayback Machine snapshots and compiled it here so readers can see how much True evolved.
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Don’t need to: the Archive has them, and there is still evolution to come. -rc
Huh. The 11/3/1997 issue along with the current (7/22/2024) both contain “Pastors Behaving Badly”.
The statisticians want to know who shows up more in True: Pastors or Florida Man?
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I had to zoom the graphic to see which story you were referring to! An early favorite. But to answer your question: Florida Man, by far. -rc
Oh My Goodness I remember that first site.
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Heh! It’s fun that there are many readers who have been along for almost all of the ride. -rc
Wow, I remember the early look! I wonder just when I started, maybe I’m in the archives too, from Korea, Virginia and several locations in Arkansas.