pokrovka7.nnov.ru was the website of the Nizhny Novgorod publishing house Pokrovka, 7 (Покровка, 7), which put out five periodicals at once: the magazines "LUKOIL-Avtokuryer" ("LUKOIL Auto Courier") and "Dom, 7" ("House, 7"), the weekly "Reklamny Vestnik" ("Advertising Herald"), the newspaper "Vku-usno!" ("Ta-a-asty!"), and the people's newspaper "Nizhegorodsky Invalid" ("Nizhny Novgorod Disabled Person"), which, as the homepage stated, had been published since April 1991[1]. In the nn.ru directory the site was listed under the name of the newspaper "Pokrovka, 7" and described as a herald of city life in Nizhny Novgorod — events, news, politics, culture, society; this listing is also accounted for in our Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. According to that same study, the Wayback Machine had been capturing the domain since January 2003; the last capture is dated August 25, 2024[4].

What the homepage looked like

The homepage was not a news feed but a showcase of the publishing portfolio: five blocks, one per publication, each with a title, a teaser of the latest issue, and a "Read more" link[1]. The archived homepage text contains no address, no phone number, and no editors' names — the only thing it told visitors about the publishing house itself was its name. The name is built like a street address, and it is echoed by the title of one of the magazines, "Dom, 7"[1].

Judging by its lineup of publications, the publishing house worked across several genres at once: an automotive magazine, a magazine about homes and renovation, an advertising weekly, a food newspaper, and a social newspaper for people with disabilities[1].

Five publications

The magazine "LUKOIL-Avtokuryer" opened the page with an issue table of contents: "The Chinese Invasion," "The Best for Your Car," "For the First Time in Auto Racing History," "Oldtimer Gallery," "Bugatti Stable vs. Audi R-Zero"[1].

The magazine "Dom, 7" was represented by a piece titled "Eden Over Your Head" — about exploited (green) roofs, a concept the teaser called new for Russia but no less enticing for that[1].

The weekly "Reklamny Vestnik" put forward, as its teaser, not an advertisement but a conversation with Lipa Gruzman: the interviewee said of himself that he was not a hero but an ordinary man, that he kept notebooks to preserve the memory of those he loved, and that he strove for one thing only — to do good[1].

The newspaper "Vku-usno!" presented its issue's contents as a menu: "The Apples Have Ripened," "Currants — the Black Pearl," "Sea Buckthorn — the Orange Wonder," "Forest Friends," "Cherries — the Temptress"[1].

The last block was occupied by the people's newspaper "Nizhegorodsky Invalid." As the homepage stated, the newspaper had been published since April 1991, the print run of the first issues was 800 copies, and it circulated without kiosks or subscription: "by enthusiasts, Korchagin-style, hand to hand along the 'chain of the disabled,'" as well as by mail[1]. This is the only date and the only number the site gave for any of its publications.

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site made it into our Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating via the nn.ru directory: its Counter.nn.ru rating score was 783 points, enough to place it among the five hundred Nizhny Novgorod sites selected for review. Among the winners of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote in 2004, the publishing house does not appear[5]: like most participants of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet of that era, it kept a business-card site rather than a platform people voted for.

How it closed

The site did not die abruptly — it simply stopped. The captures from August 8, 2007[1], July 1, 2017[2], and March 14, 2022[3] match word for word: for fifteen years the homepage showed the same issue of "LUKOIL-Avtokuryer," the same roof in "Dom, 7," and the same summer menu in "Vku-usno!." The domain remained paid for and kept serving the page, but the publishing house no longer touched it.

The last capture of the homepage in the Wayback Machine is dated August 25, 2024[4]; the text of that capture is unreadable in our extraction. In our later check, there was nothing left at the address: the domain served a blank placeholder page, and our check found no redirect to a new address. All that remains of the publishing house in the open web is three identical captures of one page.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2007 (archived)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2017 (archived)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2022 (archived)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2024 (archived)
  5. web.archive.org — Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet voting results, 2004 (archived)