Freedomlist - So long and thanks for all the fish!

Started by Corrine, June 08, 2016, 01:42:44 AM

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Corrine

I heard from a number of LzD members asking me if I knew what was happening when they couldn't get to Freedomlist (FL) at the beginning of the month.  At first it appears that "Webmaster" had merely forgotten to pay the domain renewal.  However, DomainTools was quickly updated to show an update:
Quote
Dates    Created on 2000-05-31 - Expires on 2017-05-31 - Updated on 2016-06-02

Although the domain name was renewed, it appears that Al decided not to continue.  Seeing as how the forum had very little activity after his changes last year (instructions provided to the Admin/Mod team as to what was no longer allowed), it is no wonder the site was dying.




So, RIP Freedomlist.  You were where I got my start.  The official launch of Freedomlist was March 1, 2000.  At that time it was merely a message board with the forum software added later and registration after that.  When I finally got approval for Internet access at work, by April of that year, I decided it was time to get connected from home.  On my lunch break, I researched free ISPs and discovered FL and decided it was time to connect my home PC (Windows 95) to the Internet.  So, I found an extra phone line in the basement, managed to fish the line through the ceiling tiles, drill a hole in the floor and popped in AOL CD and off I went to FL checking the list of Free ISPs (FISPs).

Here's the oldest FL page on the Internet Archive:  https://web.archive.org/web/20000815083949/http://www.freedomlist.com/ and this is what will go down in history as the last capture:  https://web.archive.org/web/20160323104205/http://www.freedomlist.com/forum/

In addition to Aaron, Winchester73, GR@PH;<'s, Paddy and myself, I believe I've "captured" all the FL members who are members here ((I hope I haven't missed anyone.  If so, please give a holler!):  Ron350, Deborah, v_v, Lost, Pete, techie, plodr, frapper, richc46, Orillia3, jaycharles, Eln Lou, CaptainTripps, darksurfer, Dude111, Bruce Bailey, Kemosabe.  Please join in and share your memories, thoughts, whatever about FL. 

A special thanks to Curt for my rose .







Take a walk through the "Security Garden" -- Where Everything is Coming up Roses!

Remember - A day without laughter is a day wasted.
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart.

digger

Ah well. Registered in 2001, only the second forum that I ever posted in regularly. I probably had a higher wordcount there than anywhere else on the net.

Too bad archive.org is so spotty. Future historians just lost an important corpus for studying my early life.

Corrine

Yes, we have a lot of history from FL but we won't forget you, digger! 


Take a walk through the "Security Garden" -- Where Everything is Coming up Roses!

Remember - A day without laughter is a day wasted.
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart.

Pete!

Quote from: Corrine on June 08, 2016, 01:42:44 AM
....... I believe I've "captured" all the FL members who are members here ......
Actually, there are others, who chose to use different usernames.
If they don't choose to reveal themselves, I won't tell :)

Corrine



Take a walk through the "Security Garden" -- Where Everything is Coming up Roses!

Remember - A day without laughter is a day wasted.
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart.

techie

It's where I meet a number of people many moons ago. It was really the only forum I used. Life has changed and a free ISP has pretty much went to the wayside. Corrine and I were the first moderators, of the forum. It always maintained a General (G rating) throughout it's life.

The forum did provide assistance to a number of people over the years. Operating systems have changed over the years, Security has gotten better, but in those days Ads were becoming a major problem, the old bluescreen for many.  OS systems didn't have firewalls, malware/antivirus protection, young internet browsers. Many users weren't aware of Windows updates.

As I said, life has changed, the need for security and protection hasn't. The choice of the sites direction has always been the webmasters, and I guess this is what he wanted.

Yeah it does go back a few days

https://web.archive.org/web/20010420223355/http://www.freedomlist.com/forum/viewforum.php?forum=3


plodr

It was one of the first forums I joined. That makes the 4th of early forums that are now gone.

It was a great place to get information on free or cheap dialup ISPs when that was what most of us used, back in the day. Now I'd give up quite a few things before I ditched my broadband connection.
Chugging coffee and computing!

v_v

I was one of the ones that queried Corrine about possible changes to Freedomlist back on 6-2-16.  Even though the domain name was renewed as Corrine pointed out I had the feeling that Freedomlist might have seen its last 'electrons.'  The site was already comatose with virtually no vital signs so why bother to keep it on life support?

Like many others I joined the site early on in November 2001.  I had been using the site for maybe a year before that.  But finally after constant badgering from "drchaps" (aka as "Steve") I finally did register.

Back then most of us were constantly looking for any and the best free isps (dial-up) and any other information that we could get about free stuff and free assistance.  Over the years the emphases of the site evolved from free isps, free assistance, and free (internet) stuff, to free security assistance and software update information, and finally to miscellaneous and general conversation and (sigh) contentious political issues.  The constant interaction about all these many issues and more---both constructive and not so constructive---amongst members and repeat visitors eventually developed a sense of community that seemed quite genuine and tangible.  As one of my old posts there indicated Freedomlist came to resemble that old cafe down the street where everybody eventually shows up and knows everyone else.  Surely everyone may not speak or converse or even get along with everyone else but the familiarity and that sense of "knowing" simply added to the feeling of community.

While I am sure that there are similar sites elsewhere Freedomlist was a very special "corner" of the internet for myself and probably many others.  That genuine and tangible feeling of community and dare I say even 'warmth' is what I have missed most of all.

The fact that the web site lasted so long and perhaps left so many memories should be celebrated.  Most certainly Corrine's efforts to help keep the site going for many years (probably for more than the last half of its life) should also be acknowledged, lauded, and celebrated.

***  Kudos Corrine, clearly "we" and the web site would not have survived that long without you! Thank you again and again!!  ***

Kudos too to our fellow final active staff members techie and plodr for all of their efforts over the years.  Can we say that we fought the good fight (to keep things going)?!!  (Smile)

At the same time the disappearance of Freedomlist is also a reminder of the ephemerality of everything that "is" the internet:  here today and possibly gone tomorrow, perhaps without warning or even leaving a trace---except for some old memories!  Let us guide ourselves accordingly.

To all those who remember:  may those old memories provide us with warmth and solace for as long as they last!

Cheers to all!!!

v_v
Justice, Equity, and Meaningful, Productive, and Fulfilling Lives to All Earthlings

GR@PH;<'S

It is always sad to see another forum go after all the good work that they did gone but never forgot.

GR@PH;<'S 


press Enter then have a Brandy then if the problem is still there have another Brandy
Q: does it work
A: It does seem to for a few hours at least.

Deborah

Thank you Corrine.  It was a wonderful forum and is missed.  I am sorry it had such an unfortunate ending.  this is something new with, hopefully, a lot of old faces. :)

darksurfer

I remember when I started at FL. I got into some raher interesting discussions with certain members about, albeit, political things, which, looking back, was really silly on my part.

But I did get a lot of useful information about ISPs, products, free and other things. I offered advice, when needed to fellow members. Wow, FL had been in existence since 2000. Wow, am I getting old. ???

This forum here reminds me of the old FL in many ways.

RIP Freedomlist 2000-2016

Dude111

You guys were the BEST that site ever had Corrrine!!!

You are an amazing staff member and Im glad to have been a part of Freedomlist!!


I dunno what I did to the admin there after you left....  He was very mean to me... He deleted almost everything I posted FROM EVERY MESSAGE BASE all the time just about and Its sad......


Am I really that bad?? (Please be honest if anyone wants to answer me) I dont mean to be...........

Im glad I was invited here!!!

ComicsLover

RIP Freedomlist:  my second 'tech forum' and it was invaluable during my dial-up years.  I think it was just a couple of months ago I went back (nostalgia) and saw that all the posts were old.  Not surprised its been laid to rest, but still a bit sad.  Nice memories.

JohnnyBob

Howdy y'all!  :D

I emailed the Freedomlist.com domain owner who didn't respond then stumbled upon this with a google search. Glad I did because of the archives here. Thanks!

Freedomlist fell out of use over the years but still came in handy when I must quit Charter cable for 30+1 days to come back at a lower promo rate. During that period I must survive on dialup, which I've done once again. My old XP computer with built-in modem still works great. I also have a W8.1 computer with an external USB dialup modem which is sluggish on dialup, not sure why.

Currently I'm on 1access.net which is a reliable 5 hour connection. Also took advantage of Juno's first-month-free offer. Now I'll be back on cable in a couple of days.

Dialup works for almost everything, still, except it's very slow to load some modern websites. Eventually, by refreshing with F5 as needed, it usually gets the job done. The trick is to multitask doing something else while waiting.  For example enter a URL then go eat breakfast or get a cup of coffee while waiting for it to load... :)

Also it helps to keep a bigger browser cache. I even entered some DNS addresses into my HOSTS file for quicker access  to commonly visited sites. DNS lookups on dialup seem relatively slow for some reason, no matter what you do.
Cheers,
JohnnyBob

Dude111

Welcome Johnny :)

I emailed him also but I doubt he will reply to any of us..... He just is not a nice person.......... Its nice to have Corrine and all the staff here on this site (Mostly the same as on freedomlist (plodr,etc))