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The Top 5% of the Web Pointcom's ubiquitous Top 5% of the Web earns IU's bottom 5% of the Infamous 100. IU loves the Net, but facts are facts--99 percent of the Web sucks. And so do four percent of Pointcom's indiscriminate picks.
The Fruitabomber 
Edmonton police said they were convinced that a young miscreant who
was detonating "Molotov melons," explosive-packed watermelons,
learned his craft on the Net.
Lambchop and "Movers and Shakers" 
c|net tries to pass off children's puppeteer Sheri Lewis (the ventriloquist for "Lambchop") as a "Mover and Shaker" in their Feb. 27 "Mover and Shakers" column.
See Ya in the Funny Pages The comics section of the newspaper was invaded by cyberspace as cartoonists mined the Internet for all its comedic value. While Net jokes may work in Dilbert and Doonesburym, every time Cathy or Dave logged on we could only cringe. At least we could still depend on ol' Beetle Bailey for a good joke and traditional comic strip fare about overbearing wives and secretary-chasing.
Playboy's Girls of the Internet 
It's no surprise that a video tape named "Playboy's Girls of the Internet"
would sell like buckets of ice in the Sonoran. What is surprising is that
people tuned into the video's March kickoff party broadcast sponsored
by AudioNet. The tech conversations were largely upstaged by
shameless self-promotion, meretricious complimenting from the
interviewer and gratuitous squeaks and giggles.
Dear Ann Landers, Get a Clue! Although she doesn't have a Net connection, advice columnist Ann Landers hooed and hollered about the dangers of the Net in '96. Users tried to explain the benefits of the Net, but Landers was too in awe by letters and stories sent to her about chat room infidelity. Wait till she gets a load of #89.
The Shoecam A retired high school teacher was arrested with a hidden camera in his shoe that he was using to look up the skirts of women. Where'd he get the idea for that? On the Net, of course.
Politician's Internet Gaffes Inevitably, whenever politicians open their mouths to talk about the Internet, they say something silly (Sen. Pat Leahy and Rep. Rick White excluded). Our favorite line this year was Bob Dole's stilted reading of his Web address during the closing remarks of the first presidential debate. Dole forgot to note the "dot" between "dolekemp96" and "org," an honest, yet funny mistake. Second place goes to President Clinton for asking Vice President Gore why some links were highlighted blue when the two were surfing the Net during a photo-op.
First the Bubonic Plague, Now This Wayward rats were blamed for an incident that blacked out a day's worth of Internet access for a large portion of Silicon Valley. The rats not only knocked Stanford and Cal-Berkeley offline, but also about 400 companies connecting to the Net via BBN Planet, a major ISP that houses a server on the Stanford campus.
The Bernie S. Saga 
Ed Cummings, a.k.a. Bernie S., spent nearly two years in prison--five
different prisons really--after being found guilty to the strained charge
of intent to commit telecommunications fraud. Cummings' crime,
equivalent in severity to littering and insulting the flag (by Philadelphia
legal standards), led to a nightmarish journey through the prison system
that would have had Franz Kafka shaking his head in amazement.
Collectible Modems We always thought modems were more of a utility than a collectible, but Netcomm, an Australian PC communications company, began marketing the world's first collectible modem: an AU$449 model emblazoned with the X-Files logo. Only 5,000 individually numbered modems were produced.
The Death of WebReview Quality Web sites don't die, they just fade away when there isn't enough ad revenue or enough loyal readers willing to shell out $20/year.
The FCC Gets a Crack at the Net Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives showed how Net- unfriendly they were on Sept. 12 when they blocked Republican-backed legislation that would have prevented the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet. Here comes the FCC.
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URLs Everywhere Actual places we spotted URLs this year: The back of a bus, a pint of Ben & Jerry's, countless billboards, even more countless TV ads, a jar of Ragu, several magazine covers, a bottle of Gatorade, the NBA sidelines, movie trailers and a tube of Metadent.
Boors on the Web Last year, Robert Toups went to bat against Internet Underground on behalf of his Web site, Babes on the Web. IU had criticized the boorish and gender-stereotyping media prank, then offered "Toupsie" a chance to rebut in print. Toupsie's rebuttal rivaled the original piece in length, and he wouldn't hear of having it edited. A spat ensued, he never wrote to word count, and his arrogant ramblings never saw the light of day, except on his own Web site. Oddly enough, Toupsie two-facedly bashed the magazine in public, but his private e-mails to staffers complimented the publication. Then the lawyers got involved--Anyway, at press time, his site hadn't been updated in eight months, and that's as good as dead on the Web.
Forlorn Porn Horn Dogs Microsoft turned in two former employees who were charged with allegedly using their computers to access child pornography on the Net. They both face up to a year in prison. Microsoft's point perhaps? No one leaves the family, no one!
Yahoo! Personal Ads Yahoo! introduced regional classifieds that will not only help netizens find a used car or a nice puppy, but also an "Activity Partner, Pen Pal, Long-term Relationship or Alternative Lifestyle." The Yahoo! Personals form prompts users for mandatory information regarding body type: "Slim, waif-ish or healthy, slightly overweight." You can skirt through the entry form without revealing your ethnic background or religious preference, but the physical description field is merciless.
Celebrity chat with Elvis In an historic event, seance participants posted the first-ever Internet "connection" with the King himself!
Veterinarian Blackmail In one of the most unusual chat room stories of the year, a Kansas veterinarian, Ron Hornbaker, plead guilty to charges of extortion--he blackmailed and threatened to beat up men who engaged in chat sex with his wife "Rita." Rita and Ron, however, were one and the same person. Hornbaker's Crying Game scheme came to end after a Rockford, Ill. man contacted the Feds.
Web Campaigns '96 
The '96 presidential candidates' Web sites were about as (yawn, excuse
me) exciting as the '96 presidential campaign. And then there are the
parody sites that popped up all over the Web, at domains like www.clinton96.org , www.dole96.org and www.whitehouse.net ,
that have fooled thousands of unsuspecting dupes with faux Clinton and
Dole campaign information. While the media whooped it up about the
influence of political Web sites, users were instead checking out these
other presidential candidate pages: Cornholio, Fidel Castro (The
Ultimate Washington Outsider), Bob Drole, Fig
Bar Man, Scully/Mulder, Papa Smurf and the Cthulhu/Limbaugh ticket,
for those "tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils."
Roger Stone 
Stone, a volunteer adviser with the Bob Dole presidential campaign and
one-time campaign chairman for Sen. Arlen Specter, was forced to step
down after being accused of placing X-rated personal ads for him and
his wife on the Net.
The Web is Not FDA-Approved! Move over, Mr. President. Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to censor the Net. On Oct. 16-17, the agency held a conference to decide how to respond to the "problem" of discussions of drug use in America Online chat rooms and pharmaceutical companies that link to sites that offend the Feds' sensibilities.
The Cyberstalker Threatened by lewd and hateful e-mail messages, a Dallas couple sought out and won the first-ever Net-delivered restraining order this Oct. 15. No more. You hear me, no more!
Rigging Contests Winning contests became a lot easier this year as several Web sites provided answers for would-be participants. In particular, spoilers targeted Proctor and Gamble's Sunny D Scavenger Hunt--several sites were created just to list the locations of hidden Sunny D bottles on the Web.
The Resurrection of WebReview That is until some company comes along and decides it wants to sink some more cash into the project. |
| 100-76 | 75-51 | 50-26 | 25-1 |