emf.sar.ru — the website of the Faculty of Economics and Mathematics of the Sarov Physics and Technology Institute (SarFTI), launched in 2000. The faculty was located in Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Region: the home page listed the postal address "607190 Nizhny Novgorod Region, Sarov, Dukhova St., 6" and a phone number with the Sarov code — (83130) 39012[2]. The site was made as a graduation project by a student of the faculty and remained online until the mid-2010s[1][3].

What the site looked like

The earliest surviving snapshot of the home page is dated March 2, 2001. The page title read "Faculty of Economics and Mathematics of SarFTI MEPhI," and above the content stood a greeting: as the home page put it, "We congratulate you on the opening of our site!"[1]

Navigation was arranged as a list of eleven items: "News," "About the History of the Faculty," "Faculty Divisions," "Forms of Study," "Specialties," "External Relations of the Faculty," "Student Research Work," "Faculty Alumni," "For Applicants," "Photo Gallery," and "Guest Book"[1]. By 2006 the set of sections had barely changed: the items "Forms of Study" and "Specialties" were merged into one — "Specialties and Forms of Study" — and "Useful Links" was added[2].

The home page featured two elements typical for the time. The first was a "Yandex Light" search form[1]. The second was a visitor poll with a "Current Results" link. In 2001 the faculty asked: "Do you like the design and layout of our site?" — with options ranging from "Yes" to "No" through "Rather yes than no" and "Don't know"[1]. By 2006 the question had turned to a social one: "Do you support the reform of the Russian system of secondary and higher education?" with options "What is that?," "I support it!," "I don't support it!," "Rather yes!," "Probably not!," and "I don't care!," along with a separate "More about the reform" link[2].

A signature line at the bottom of the page served as the contact line. In 2001 it read: "©2000 EMF SarFTI MEPhI 607190 Sarov, Dukhova St., 6. tel. (83130) 11812, E-mail emf@sar.ru"[1]. Later it gained a mention of the region, and the phone number changed to (83130) 39012[2].

A graduation project that became the faculty's website

The origin of the site was stated directly on the home page: "This site is the graduation project of Svyatoslav I. Plaksin," with A. B. Makarets listed as supervisor[1]. From there the page kept its own record of maintenance: the 2006 snapshot names Vladimir A. Akamsin as the site's maintainer for 2001—2006, with Andrei B. Makarets as project supervisor[2]. In the 2014 version Akamsin's term of service is given as 2001—2007, with Dmitry G. Solovyov named as the current maintainer[3].

The site's birth date was fixed by a celebratory line on the home page: "On June 17, 2003, our site turns 3!"[2] — meaning the count began on June 17, 2000, which matches the year in the copyright notice[1].

The institution's self-designation in the header also changed over time: "SarFTI MEPhI" in 2001[1], simply "SarFTI" in 2006[2], and "FGOU VPO SarFTI" (State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education SarFTI) in the last snapshot[3].

Its place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The Sarov faculty site belonged to the wider Nizhny Novgorod circuit: it was listed in the nn.ru directory — under the keywords "higher education, courses, economics mathematics Faculty of Economics and Mathematics SarFTI EMF Sarov" — and appeared in the Counter.nn.ru sample with a score of 201.78[5]. For the Nizhny Novgorod Internet of that period, this was a notable but not record-setting level: the site survived not on traffic but on being the sole point of entry for applicants and alumni of that particular faculty.

In the surviving results table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote for 2004 — 227 rows — there is no emf.sar.ru address, nor any other address in the sar.ru zone[4]. Sarov's sites did not enter the regional online competition of that era, remaining within their own city zone; on the methodology for measuring reach see the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

How it closed

The site died slowly and unnoticed: it was not shut down all at once, it simply stopped being updated. The 2014 snapshot almost word-for-word repeats the 2006 one — the same poll on education reform, the same menu, the same line about the third anniversary — but the copyright notice in it is stretched to "©2000 — 2007," and the maintenance term is given as 2001—2007[3]. In other words, the page's substantive life stopped around 2007, and the page itself remained online for roughly seven more years.

The last home-page snapshot in the web archive is dated June 6, 2014[3]; the first is dated March 2, 2001[1]. At the time of our check the domain emf.sar.ru no longer responded[5]. What remains of the site are archived snapshots of its home page, with an address on Dukhova Street, two phone numbers, and the names of the four people who made and ran it.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2006 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2014 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)
  5. — Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet based on counter.nn.ru rating data