6x6.sinn.ru (the "6x6 project") was a site about Nizhny Novgorod photography and Nizhny Novgorod photographers, launched in February 2001 by the Totem studio (Totem studio)[1][3]. The site's authors named 5 February 2001 as the site's birthday[1]. The home page described the idea this way: "this black-and-white wonder of the great NETWORK is dedicated to Nizhny Novgorod photography, photographers, and simply to people who find THIS interesting" (spelling of the original preserved)[1]. The site lived on the sinn.ru hosting service, whose service stub page later showed a Nizhny Novgorod support phone number in the 8312 area code and linked to the home page of OAO "VolgaTelecom"[6]. The last archived snapshot of a working home page is dated 12 December 2003[4].

How the site was structured

The menu consisted of seven sections: "news," "faces," "process," "concept," "links," "forum," and "book"; standing apart were the pages "about the project," "contact," "about the creators," an email-sending form, and a file upload with the call "send us your photos"[1]. The "faces" section was set aside for personal galleries of photographers, while "concept" held sketches of the studio's forthcoming work[1].

The service description in the page's code was bilingual: "Site about photography and photographers from Nizhny Novgorod, Сайт о Нижегородской фотографии и фотографах," and the keywords listed included "Nizhny Novgorod photography," "art photography," "digital photography," "photo models," "contests," and the authors' surnames — Tsyganov, Shidzipei, Golovastikov[1]. At the bottom of the home page stood a visit counter: in the 16 May 2001 snapshot it told the visitor they were "the 1674th entity to visit this plase" (sic)[1]. The caption at the bottom read "(c) Totem studio 2001"[1].

Photographers and the chronicle of the first months

The news feed on the home page preserved five entries from the spring of 2001. On 16 February two photographers appeared in "faces" — Tsyganov and Shidzipei — while "concept" gained two sketches for "Sleepy Town"[1]. On 25 February, Alexei Golovastikov and Nikolai Seliverstov (lost bit) were added, and the latter's works, as the home page put it, "were used in the site's graphic elements"[1]. On 2 March no new names were added — only the bios of Nikolai Tsyganov and Lost Bit were edited — and the authors admitted: "The site is in a static state comparable to a state of suspended animation"[1]. On 2 April, Vladimir Krasnoperov and Set, the project's author, appeared in "faces"; on 23 April, works by Boris Zhizhilkin were added[1]. In total, at least seven authors were featured on the site over its first three months[1].

The Totem studio

The "about the creators" page stated: "Totem Studio was formed in January 2001, and the 6x6 site is essentially our first serious work"[3]. The self-assessment was promotional in tone: the same page claimed the site "undoubtedly meets the highest standards of the network, distinguished by original design and convenient, well thought-out navigation," and that the studio offered "a full range of services from concept to hosting the site on our server"[3]. The second project promised was a site for Sleepy Town Manufacture (stown.sinn.ru) — "in early March"; sketches for it were indeed being posted in the "concept" section[3][1].

There were two authors: on the home page they were signed "Set & Da G"[1]. On the "about the creators" page they were named differently — Names, described as "more an artist than a designer," and Serge, "known on the network as SET (the Egyptian god of Chaos)"[3]. The site never disclosed their real names[3].

Its place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

On 2 April 2001 the authors declared: "6x6 is now the most visited photo resource on the Nizhny Novgorod network :), the project is gradually coming out of the underground... which of course cannot fail to be pleasing"[1]. There is no confirmation of this in the surviving material: the only surviving figure is the reading of the site's own counter, 1,674 visits by mid-May 2001[1]. The site was listed in the Nizhny Novgorod Internet directory on nn.ru with the description "Site about Nizhny Novgorod photographers and photography" (spelling of the directory preserved), from which the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating of Counter.nn.ru was reconstructed[8]. No votes at all were cast for 6x6 in the 2004 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day contest[8] — by the time of the voting, the address was already returning a service stub page[5].

How it closed

The last news item on the home page is dated 23 April 2001, and after that, judging by the archive, the site was not updated further: the text of the "about the creators" page in the December 2003 snapshot matches the April 2001 snapshot word for word, including the promise to finish the Sleepy Town Manufacture site "in early March"[2][3]. Snapshots of the working site continue up to 12 December 2003[4], and already by 7 February 2004 the address was serving the hosting provider's service page: "The address www.6x6.sinn.ru you requested does not exist on the server"[5].

In the 25 May 2004 snapshot, the same stub page listed round-the-clock technical support at +7 (8312) 30-30-94, the address webmaster@sinn.ru, and a link to the home page of OAO "VolgaTelecom"[6]. By the last archived snapshot, 3 November 2010, only the webmaster's address on the stub page had changed — to webmaster@mts-nn.ru[7]. The web archive has not recorded any content of its own at this address since December 2003; in the archival study's registry the site is listed as dead[8].

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — "About the creators" page, April 2001 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — "About the creators" page, December 2003 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, December 2003 (last snapshot of the working site) (archive)
  5. web.archive.org (archive)
  6. web.archive.org (archive)
  7. web.archive.org (archive)
  8. proto.nnov.ec — Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet: site card in the nn.ru directory (archive)