stoik.nn.ru was the site of Stoik-NN LLC, a Nizhny Novgorod company that sold equipment and software for non-linear video editing. The home page listed a phone number in the Nizhny Novgorod code — (8312) 438-937 — and the email address stoik@nn.ru[2]; later the header carried two numbers: (8312) 133-019 and 49-89-37[3]. In the web archive the site is represented by snapshots from 2001 to 2007[1][3].
The copyright notice in the two surviving versions of the site gave different starting dates: "Copyright © 1994-2002 Stoik-NN LLC"[2] and "Copyright 1990-2005 Stoik-NN"[3]. What lies behind the discrepancy cannot be established from the surviving snapshots.
An empty server: 2001
The earliest snapshot, from 19 October 2001, shows not a website but a standard web server directory listing: "Index of /", a single "Parent Directory" line, and the signature "Apache/1.3.14 Server at www.stoik.nn.ru Port 80"[1]. In other words, the domain was already taken and the server was responding by that point, but no page had yet been placed at the root.
A store for video-editing cards: the 2003 version
By the snapshot of 6 October 2003 the site had taken shape as the storefront of a specialized shop. As the home page put it, "Stoik-NN — ready-made solutions for digital and analog video, everything for non-linear video editing"[2]. The top menu had six items: "About the Company," "Articles/Reviews," "Technical Support," "Links," "Contacts," "Order"[2].
The price list was divided into three groups. "For home and small business" listed Pinnacle Studio cards: DV v.8 for $110, DC10+ v.8 for $130, Studio AV/DV for $165, Studio Deluxe for $240, and DV-Editor SE for $90. "Semi-professional video" listed the Pinnacle DV 500 DVD for $520, the Pinnacle Pro-ONE RTDV for $860, the FAST DV.now AV SE for $300, the Canopus DVStorm 2 for $960, and the Matrox RTX.100 for $1000. The "DVD and MPEG4" section offered the Hollywood USB 2.0 for $355, and the DVCII (DVD.master) and DVD Creation Station 200 for $300 and $250 respectively[2]. A separate block, "Special offer!," bundled the DVC II with a Pioneer 106 DVD-RW writer drive "for just $520"[2].
Besides selling equipment, the site ran its own review section. The 2002 news column covered the Dazzle MPEG-2 hardware encoders — the DVD.Master and its successor, the Digital Video Creator 150 at $315 — and on 11 October 2002 published a beginner's article, "Learning to shoot video: typical mistakes of beginners"[2]. At the bottom stood the notice: "Reprinting of materials is permitted only with a mandatory link to http://stoik.nn.ru"[2]. The site's author was also credited there: "Design and support: Artem Abramyan"[2].
The last version: 2005
The snapshot from 14 December 2007 shows a different page, titled "Stoik.nn.ru: Snazzi, Pinnacle, Matrox, Canopus, Aver." The menu had shrunk to three items — "about the company," "articles," "contacts" — while the range of goods had grown and partly switched to rubles: the PYRO AV Link for 7,900 rubles, the Pinnacle STUDIO AV/DV Deluxe for 6,800, the Snazzi DV.AVIO Pro for 10,200, and a CD/DVD duplicator with 1-7 drives for 15,500 rubles. Pricier items stayed in dollars and euros: the Matrox RT.X100Xtreme Pro Suite for $1075, the Pioneer PRV LX1 recorder for $9000, and the JVC SR-DVM70 mini-DV drive for €1580. The Canon DM-XL2 ($4950) and Sony DCR-VX2100 ($2650) camcorders were marked "order"[3].
Besides goods, the company also offered services: "integration of a computer video-editing station," "installation and setup of non-linear editing cards," "DVD creation, recording, and duplication services"[3]. Its own reviews remained too — the home page carried write-ups of the Pinnacle Studio AV/DV Deluxe and Liquid Edition Pro 6 ("An expert's critical look")[3].
Although the snapshot was taken in December 2007, the content by then had not been updated for over two years: the latest news items are dated 15 April and 16 June 2005, and the copyright notice ends at 2005[3].
Its place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet
The site left no notable trace in the public measures of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet: it does not appear in the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru ranking on which the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating is based, and neither the address stoik.nn.ru nor the name "Stoik-NN" appears in the results table of the 2004 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote[4]. Nor was it a media project: judging by the snapshots, the site functioned as the price list of a narrow-focus supplier with a section of its own equipment reviews attached[2][3].
How it closed
The last snapshot of the home page in the web archive is dated 14 December 2007[3]. According to our check, the domain stoik.nn.ru no longer exists today; the surviving snapshots say nothing about the fate of the company itself.
Sources
- web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
- web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
- web.archive.org — Home page, 2007 (archive)
- web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)