podkova.nn.ru is the site of a Nizhny Novgorod maker of horseshoes and farrier equipment that operated from 2000. At first the domain belonged to the company "Nizhegorodskaya Podkova" ("Nizhny Novgorod Horseshoe"), which listed its address as OAO Yamnovsky Metal Plant in the village of Yamnovo, Bor District, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, postal code 606487, phone and fax (8312) 69-09-93, and email podkova@nn.ru[1]. By 2004 the site had passed to OOO Kuznechnaya Kompaniya (Forging Company) with an address in Nizhny Novgorod itself — 3g Tsvetochnaya Street[2]. Under this name the page lived on for another decade and a half; the last snapshot of the home page in the web archive is dated 23 June 2019[4].

"Nizhegorodskaya Podkova": 2000-2001

The early version of the site was arranged as a small trade catalogue. The menu had ten items: "General Information," "Services," "Dealers," "Programs," "Horseshoes," "Nails," "Studs," "Tools," "Price List," "Place an Order"; separate sections for nails, studs, and tools show that the business traded in the full range of farrier equipment, not just horseshoes[1]. Next to the contacts were links to a "news archive" and "subscription" — the site ran its own news feed and offered a mailing list[1].

As the home page stated in an entry dated 1 January 2001, the company specialized in supplying goods "for horse breeding and equestrian sport" (the Russian word for "supplying" was misspelled in the original), sought to produce inexpensive, quality goods, and to expand its range. The address to visitors closed with the wish "May 'Nizhegorodskaya Podkova' bring you luck," signed by the director, Alexei Georgievich Kokorin[1].

A second news item on the same page was dated 30 February 2001 — a date that does not exist — and recommended books on horseshoeing on the outside site koni.spb.ru. The footer read: "(c) 2000-2001 'Nizhegorodskaya Podkova'"[1].

Kuznechnaya Kompaniya: change of owner and address

In the snapshot from 4 June 2004 the old name is gone: the page is now signed by OOO Kuznechnaya Kompaniya. The menu had shrunk to four items — "General Information," "Dealers," "Horseshoes," "Forged Products" (spelling as in the original, with a doubled letter). Yamnovo and the factory phone number were gone, replaced by postal code 603144, Nizhny Novgorod, 3g Tsvetochnaya Street, and a single contact — the mobile number 8-9107958991[2].

The sole news item of this version, dated 22 March 2004, reported the modernization of the production line and promised updated horseshoes for trotting races, for summer and winter use; it added at once: "Our enterprise does not currently produce work horseshoes." The footer copyright read "(c) 2003-2004"[2].

Last version: horseshoes across all of Russia

By 2016 the site had been rebuilt on a new engine with a "Request a Call" form and an email address hidden from spam bots. Menu: "About the Company," "Horseshoes for Horses," "Decorative Horseshoes," "Service," "Contacts"; the header carried the phone and fax (831) 220-80-39, plus the mobile numbers 8-920-252-10-06 and 8-903-849-52-03, and the email forgingcompany@yandex.ru. A separate notice in the header warned of a change in the office number[3].

The order process was laid out in four steps: a request by phone or email specifying the item name, quantity (front or hind), the buyer's details, and the shipping company; an invoice issued within the day; the order started after payment, including by transfer to a Sberbank card; and shipment, typically within one to two weeks. The sales area was described as "not only across Nizhny Novgorod and its oblast, but across all of Russia"[3]. At the very top of the page was an unrelated link, "Elektroland"; the footer read "Kuznechnaya Kompaniya @ 2012" with the signature naviarh[3].

The snapshot from 23 June 2019 shows the same page with two differences: the notice about the office number change has been removed, and a phone number, (831) 439-79-75, has appeared in the lower contacts block — even though the header still showed (831) 220-80-39[4]. This snapshot is where the domain's history in the web archive breaks off; today podkova.nn.ru is not working.

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site is known to us chiefly through the nn.ru directory, whose data underlies our Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. In the surviving catalogue page it is listed as "Nizhegorodskaya Podkova" with the description "Manufacture of farrier equipment," linked to the Counter.nn.ru counter under number 1650, with a rating value shown alongside of 68. Its neighbors in the same category were far more visited factory sites with values of 337 and 275, so "Nizhegorodskaya Podkova" remained a visible but niche entry in the catalogue.

In the final voting table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day for 2004, which lists over two hundred sites, podkova.nn.ru does not appear[5]. For the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, this site is of interest for another reason: it is one of the few surviving examples of a small manufacturing enterprise from a district of the oblast registering a domain in the nn.ru zone as early as 2000, then carrying the same storefront through a change of owner, name, and address for nearly twenty years.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2016 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2019 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Voting results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, 2004 (archive)