reforma.nnov.ru was the site of the Nizhny Novgorod information center "Reforma," a supplier of IBM computer hardware and software[4]. The office was located in Nizhny Novgorod at Gorkogo Square, 4/2, on the fourth floor; at the bottom of the home page were the phone/fax numbers (8312) 30-41-95, 30-05-69, 30-06-37 and the email address ref@reforma.nnov.ru[1]. The address has been known to the web archive since December 12, 1998[3]; our census of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet includes the text of one saved copy of the home page — from February 5, 2003[1]. Today the site does not work and is listed in the census as closed.

What the home page looked like

The page title in the 2003 copy is "GP \"Reforma\"," and the caption at the bottom names the owner in full: "Nizhny Novgorod Information Center \"Reforma\"," with a copyright date of 2002[1]. The home page was arranged as a news feed: a "Latest News" block, a "News Topics" directory with three sections — "Information Technologies," "Reforma News," and "Delimitation of State Ownership of Land" (as in the original) — and an "News Archive" link[1].

Besides the news, the page had a "Your email:" field with a "Manage Subscription" link — that is, a subscription to updates — and a "Site Map" link[1]. The saved text does not show either the size of the feed or the number of subscribers: only one copy of the home page made it into the census.

What "Reforma" sold

Three news items made it into the saved copy of the home page. On January 30, 2003 — a report that IBM's Japanese division had announced ten new models of ThinkPad R40-series laptops; this is news about the manufacturer, not about "Reforma" itself[1]. On January 25, 2003 — that on December 25, 2002, computers under the "SKAT" trademark had passed certification by the State Standard of Russia (Gosstandart), with certificate number POCC RU.AYA74.B01045 given[1]. Finally, on December 1, 2002 — "Inexpensive SKAT Computers + a Gift": from that day, as the page reported, the company was offering an inexpensive computer "intended, above all, for home use"[1].

In the nn.ru directory listing, from which the address entered our sample, the firm's line of business is described in one line: "Supply of IBM(R) computer hardware and software"; the listing was placed in the section "Computers and Office Equipment: Trade in Computers and Office Equipment"[4]. Who manufactured the "SKAT"-branded computers and how the brand was connected to "Reforma" is not explained by the materials we have preserved.

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

A third-level domain in the nnov.ru zone; the first web archive record for this address is December 12, 1998, with 45 records total in the web archive index[3]. "Reforma" was not, however, a notable participant in the city's internet life: the address does not appear in the list of sites that took part in the voting for the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day in 2004[2], the rating field in the directory listing reads "Rating: none"[4], and the site does not appear in our saved samples of the Counter.nn.ru rating — there is no attendance data for it in the materials of the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

How it closed

Our data does not contain an exact closing date: no trace of activity at this address survives, and there is no information about a move to another domain either — the census marks the site as dead. The most recent news in the saved copy is dated January 2003, and the caption at the bottom of the page still carries a 2002 copyright date[1]. There are no later texts of the home page in our census: from the Nizhny Novgorod information center "Reforma" we are left with an address on Gorkogo Square, three phone numbers, and three news items — about ThinkPad laptops and "SKAT" computers.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Voting results of Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day, 2004 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Snapshots of reforma.nnov.ru in the web archive (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, section "Trade in Computers and Office Equipment," 2002 (archive)