Leisure in Nizhny (xgirls-nn.narod.ru) — a Nizhny Novgorod amateur site about paid intimate services in the city, running on a third-level domain in the narod.ru zone in 2003–2004. The home page presented the project as a "guide to the city's seedy spots" and promised to tell "everything about venal love in our city"[1]. The Nizhny Novgorod affiliation is also confirmed by the directory: the site was listed in the nn.ru directory, in the "directory of Nizhny Novgorod sites," under the category "Projects: Entertainment and leisure: Sex, erotica, leisure," with the description "A guide to the city's seedy spots"[4]. The page copyright read "Copyright 2003 PiratesStudio lnc. All rights reserved"[1].

What the home page looked like

In November 2003 the site menu consisted of the sections "Intro," "News," "History," "Where to start?," "Choosing," "Tricks," "Don't get caught!," "Laughing," "Site map," "Dictionary," "Black list," "Write to us," "They write to us," and "About the project"[1]. By December of the same year "Mess" and "Contest" were added[2], and by March 2004 "Where to start?" had turned into "For newcomers," and "Site map" had disappeared from the menu[3].

Most of the home page was taken up by an introductory text with disclaimers about the project's nature. As the home page stated, "this is not an advertising site, but a guide to the city's seedy spots"[1]. The authors pre-empted the accusation of advertising intimate services: "Some people have formed the opinion that we are engaged in promoting intimate services, but this is by no means the case"; they called their occupation "not promotion, but rather exposure" and promised to tell "who is worse and why," unlike advertising sites[1]. Right there was also a direct disclaimer: "The authors warn that all lustful adventures are in every way bad and immoral, and possibly punishable," and "we do not advise you to embark on the path of debauchery"[1]. Above the text were three slogans: "Information should belong to the people!," "And they should not have to pay money for it!," "We are for a free Internet!"[1].

Side sections and the project's household

Besides the main topic, the home page carried a "Miscellaneous" block with links to 3D, music, "Video and DVD," and the computer section — components, programs, system recovery, web design[1]; by December 2003 the list had changed to "3D, Music, Video and DVD, Programs, Drivers, Magazines, Games, Articles"[2]. Visitors were invited to post an ad "for sale, purchase, or exchange at the Nizhny Novgorod flea market"[2], and in March 2004 — on the "Bulletin board"[3]. Under the heading "Services" stood an ad for the "Express Leisure" service with a six-digit city phone number[1]; by March 2004 the same line had shortened to "Leisure"[3]. Feedback was handled by a guestbook and the mailbox xgirls-nn@yandex.ru[1].

The project's material situation is illustrated by a notice posted on the home page in December 2003: "The project needs permanent hosting on terms of your advertising across the entire top banner"[2] — meaning the site had no permanent platform of its own at the time, and the authors intended to pay for it with someone else's advertising.

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

In a snapshot of the nn.ru directory from January 13, 2004, the "Sex, erotica, leisure" category counted 24 sites; thirteen of them had a numeric "Rating" line next to their description, the rest had "none." "Leisure in Nizhny" had 220[4]. That was the eighth-highest value out of thirteen: in the same category the Sex-NN site had 683, the "Nizhny Novgorod gay site" had 497, the "Nizhny Novgorod Informatorium" had 307, the "Kommunar" night club had 22, and the category's highest value reached 4311[4]. In the samples of counter.nn.ru tables preserved in our records, the site does not appear as a separate line; on how these samples were compiled, see Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. Nor does it appear in the surviving results table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote in 2004[5].

Relocation and closure

By March 2004 the project had split in two. The top line of the home page announced: "Since New Year a new version of 'Leisure' at AL52.COM!," and below it explained: "Since 2004, all the most explicit topics of 'Leisure in Nizhny' can be found at: www.dosug-nn.al52.com." On the "people's version of the project," as the page itself called it, remained the guestbook "and other useful topics"[3].

The last snapshot of the home page in the web archive is dated May 18, 2004[6]; the further fate of neither the xgirls-nn.narod.ru address nor the dosug-nn.al52.com site can be traced from the materials available to us. For the history of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, the site remains a characteristic example of an early-2000s amateur project: a third-level domain on someone else's hosting, a search for a permanent platform in exchange for advertising, an incidental file-sharing block and a bulletin board on the same page as the main topic, and the relocation of the "hot" part to a separate address that the archive never followed.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, November 27, 2003 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, December 4, 2003 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, March 22, 2004 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, category «Sex, erotica, leisure», January 13, 2004 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — Last snapshot of the home page, May 18, 2004 (archive)