dzr.ru ("All of Dzerzhinsk") — an information server of the city of Dzerzhinsk in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, in operation from 2001: that is the year given in the copyright line on the home page[1]. The nn.ru catalogue described it in a single line — "A server of the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast"[3]. The site carried city news, directories and an events guide, ran a forum and a chat room, and handed out addresses to other Dzerzhinsk projects. By 2013 the domain opened not the portal but a login form for a webmail interface[6].

What the server looked like in 2001

A snapshot of 3 December 2001 catches the site under the heading "All of Dzerzhinsk Information Server". The page description calls it "the first and most complete resource containing a variety of infomation about the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast" (spelling as in the original)[1]. The top-level menu consisted of the sections "News", "History", "Government", "Industry", "Education", "Transport", "Communications", "Companies", "Ecology", "Culture", "City Map", "Site Map", "Guest Book", "Classifieds", "Photographs", "Mail" and "Contest"[1].

Below the menu came a fact box about the city: Dzerzhinsk is a city of oblast subordination, OKATO code 22421, founded in the 1920s, granted city status in 1930, formerly known as the settlement of Rastyapino, telephone code 8313, latitude 56°16', longitude 43°30'[1]. The news feed was updated almost daily: on 3 December 2001 the server announced "It has happened!!! A full-fledged map of the city of Dzerzhinsk", on 30 November came the item "Sintez left without funding", and on 29 November three pieces at once about OAO Korund and OAO Dzerzhinskoye Orgsteklo (Dzerzhinsk acrylic glass), among them "Dzerzhinskoye Orgsteklo: Overcoming"[1]. Alongside hung the poll "Does this portal need a CHAT?": of the 85 people who answered, 61 (71.76%) were in favour[1]. From 21 to 30 November the editors ran a contest among readers, "Find Our Mistakes", with prizes[1].

A separate block was taken up by the city's listings: the repertoire of the drama theatre ("Persian Lilac", "Pygmalion", "Not All Is Shrovetide for the Cat"), of the puppet theatre ("Rocky the Little Ostrich", "Visiting the Puppets"), showings at the "Rossiya" and "Sputnik" cinemas, a concert by the band Poyushchiye Gitary (The Singing Guitars) at the DKKh on 16 December, an "Evening for Those Over 30" at the "Korund" Palace of Culture, the Scriabin Hall and clubs[1]. At the bottom of the page stood a warning: "When citing information, a reference to www.dzr.ru is mandatory"[1].

The portal of the mid-2000s

By the snapshot of 2 August 2007 the set of sections had grown noticeably: the earlier ones had been joined by "Weather", "TV Guide", "Telephone Directory", "Dzerzhinsk Chat", "Dzerzhinsk Forum" and "Advertising"[2]. The fact box about the city had gained figures: population 285,000, "internet audience: 5,000 people", postal code 606000, elevation 98 m above sea level[2].

Business tables appeared. One showed the prices of chemical enterprises' products as of 21 December 2006: Sibur-Neftekhim and Kazanorgsintez — 28,500 rubles per tonne each, Nizhnekamskneftekhim — 26,500 rubles per tonne[2]. The second brought together the exchange rates of eight banks: ZAO "VOKBANK", Sarovbusinessbank, OAO KB "Khimik" (Chemist), NBD-Bank, KB "Oksky", Nizhegorodpromstroybank, the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation[2]. A poll on the home page asked: "Who will you vote for in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast?" — with the options United Russia, the Russian Party of Life, the Russian Party of Pensioners, the Communist Party, the Union of Right Forces and the LDPR[2]. A banner dated 15 August 2006 marked the server's fifth anniversary: "RIVER TERMINAL WWW.DZR.RU 5 YEARS"[2].

By that time the copyright line read "©2001-2007", yet the freshest news item on the home page was dated 28 February 2006, and those following it — 31 and 29 January of the same year — dealt with the Dzerzhinsk city administration and the city duma[2]. By the day the snapshot was taken the feed had not been added to for more than a year, although the price table was updated until the end of December 2006.

Its place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The prominence of dzr.ru can be measured. On 29 November 2003, in the nn.ru catalogue section "Projects : Internet : Portals and General-Purpose Servers", the "All of Dzerzhinsk" Information Server stood seventh out of 28 entries by the Counter.nn.ru rating — 824[3]. Higher in the same section were only "Nizhny Novgorod On-Line" (21,835), nnov.ru (17,384), R52 (7,715), Kempo (1,723) and the "www.nizhny.ru Information Service" (1,472); immediately behind the Dzerzhinsk server came the project "All of Nizhny Novgorod" (765)[3]. Two other city portals in the same list trailed by several times: "Business Dzerzhinsk" — 148, the "Dzerzhinsk Information Portal" — 126[3]. That is, in the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Dzerzhinsk was represented first and foremost by this site; how such cross-sections are counted is explained in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

The server also worked as a platform for other people's projects. The catalogue section "Projects : Entertainment and Leisure : Communication" listed forum.dzr.ru with the note "The first Dzerzhinsk Forum on the All of Dzerzhinsk information server" and a rating of 309.39[5]. A subdomain was also home to the site castaneda.dzr.ru, "All the Mysteries of Carlos Castaneda", which at the 2004 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote gathered 62 votes by e-mail and one by SMS in the "Best Personal Site" category[4].

"All of Dzerzhinsk" itself took part in the contest from its earliest years: back in 2001 the home page reported — "Our portal has become a participant in the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day 2001 contest"[1]. In 2004 it was entered in the "Most Useful Site" category, but received one vote there by e-mail and none by SMS[4] — even though the leader of that category, the Nizhny Novgorod car forum, took 212 and 36 votes respectively[4].

How it closed

Snapshots of 20 June 2013 and 17 December 2014 show one and the same page in place of the portal — a Roundcube Webmail login form with Username and Password fields[6][7]. By then the domain served mail, and the city site was no longer on it. The last snapshots holding the content of "All of Dzerzhinsk" date from 2007[2].

The liveness check carried out while compiling this census found no living content at dzr.ru: since 2021 the domain has been occupied by a placeholder page. Of the information server of the city of Dzerzhinsk only archived copies remain.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2007 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — nn.ru catalogue, "Portals and General-Purpose Servers" section, 2003 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day voting results, 2004 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — nn.ru catalogue, "Communication" section, 2002 (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — Home page, 2013 (archive)
  7. web.archive.org — Home page, 2014 (archive)