The TANSTAAFL Principle

GEOCITIES

The FWP everyone loves to hate.

• Overview
• Description
• Problems
  • The Watermark
  • GeoPops, GeoGuides, and Other GeoAds
  • "Best of GeoCities" Brouhaha
  • Dubious Content Guidelines
  • Censorship Accusations
  • Other Problems
• Links
  • Watermark Protests
  • News Articles
  • Discussions
  • Parodies and Humor
  • Censorship Issues
  • GeoCities Pages
  • Watermark Supporters
  • Webrings
  • Miscellaneous

• Corporate background
  • Homepage: www.geocities.com
  • Stock symbol: GCTY
  • IPO date: August 10, 1998
  • Snail mail address: GeoCities; 1918 Main Street #300; Santa Monica, CA 90405
  • Email address: See the Contacts page
  • Main phone number: (310) 664-6500
  • Founded by: David C. Bohnett
  • Date founded: December 1994
  • Motto: "The Largest Community on the Web!"
  • Executives: [Source: IPO Prospectus]
    • David C. Bohnett - Chairman of the Board and Secretary (Was CEO until April 1998)
    • Thomas R. Evans - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
    • Stephen L. Hansen - Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer
    • Michael G. Barrett - Vice President, Advertising Sales
    • Kelly L. Boyer - Vice President, Human Resources
    • James G. Glicker - Vice President, Marketing
    • Robert K. Kalok - Vice President, Business Development
    • William E. Losch - Vice President, Finance
    • Edward J. Pierce - Vice President, Legal Affairs and General Counsel
    • John C. Rezner - Vice President, Operations and Chief Technical Officer
    • Richard H. Rygg - Vice President, General Manager
    • Jerry D. Colonna - Director
    • Eric C. Hippeau - Director
    • Harry D. Lambert - Director
    • Peter H. Mills - Director
    • David S. Wetherell - Director

• Services offered
  • Hard drive space: 11 MB
  • CGI access: no
  • CGI scripts: counter, guestbook, email form
  • Subdirectories: yes, two levels deep
  • Email: yes, POP3
  • Uploads via: FTP, online file manager
  • Online editor: yes, several to choose from

• Policies
  • Advertisements: Watermark; GeoGuide or pop-up
  • Privacy policy: According to their policy, "GeoCities does not share any personally identifiable information with outside parties for commercial purposes, unless stated at the time of collection." Policy concerns should be sent to geoprivacy@geocities.com. Also see the FTC consent agreement with GeoCities over privacy violations.
  • Commercial sites: Not allowed, except for referrals to CDNow and Amazon. Commercial sites must use the $24.95+ GeoShops service.

• Technical details
  • Member URL: http://www.geocities.com/Neighborhood/Suburb/1234
  • Member email address: username@geocities.com
  • Server software: Unix running Apache (Some GeoShops sites are hosted on Windows NT)
  • Performance: Decent, but not great. See the System Status page for a list of recent technical difficulties.

Still being tinkered with...

There's more. Continue on to the GeoCities Problems and Links pages.