venetasystem.nn.ru was the site of the Nizhny Novgorod firm "Veneta System NN," which sold and refilled cartridges for printers, fax machines, and photocopiers[5]. The domain belonged to the Nizhny Novgorod zone nn.ru, and the site's entry appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod site directory on the nn.ru portal — under "Directory: Firms (Enterprises): Computers and Office Equipment: Cartridges and other consumables"[5]. The earliest surviving snapshot of the home page is dated September 30, 2000[1], and the last one is dated September 30, 2002[4].

What the site looked like

The site was a small corporate presence of a few pages. The home page menu led to the sections "About the Company," "Technology," "Our Prices," "How to Find Us," "Contract," and "Home"[1]. The top of the page carried an advertising slogan set in capital letters: as the home page put it, "WHO HAS MONEY TO THROW AWAY? WE OFFER TO SAVE IT!!!!"[1].

Below that came the actual pitch. "We refill any cartridges using modern technology," the home page stated; a refilled cartridge, according to the site, cost roughly half the price of a new one, and the refilling operation could be repeated "up to twenty times," with matrix, inkjet, and laser printers, fax machines, and photocopiers all accepted[1]. A separate line listed the equipment brands served — HP, Epson, Canon[1].

Three short blocks at the bottom explained the rationale. "Savings" repeated the point about the twofold price difference and repeated regeneration, "Quality" promised "100% quality" thanks to exclusive consumables, and "Ecology" reminded readers that used cartridges are "a special kind of waste, seriously polluting the environment," and that reuse reduces their volume[1]. The page closed with a link, "More about the stages of cartridge refilling and refurbishment"[1].

The firm presented itself as part of a larger structure: the home page mentioned "Veneta System technology" and the operations of "VS Russia," which, the site claimed, benefited "both the firm's staff and its clients" economically[1]. Neither an address nor a phone number appeared on the home page — contact details, judging by the menu, were held in a separate "How to Find Us" section, and we have only the home page snapshots at our disposal[1].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

In the nn.ru directory, "Veneta System NN" was described in one line: "Sale and refilling of cartridges for all types of printers, fax machines, copiers"[5]. In the snapshot of the category from June 20, 2002, it listed 23 sites sorted by rating; "Veneta System NN," with a rating of 23, occupied the sixteenth line, while the category leader, "Computer Commission Shop" (Компьютерная Комиссионка) FOMENCO.RU, stood at 1725[5]. That is, the site sat noticeably below the middle even within the narrow consumables category, let alone the Nizhny Novgorod Internet as a whole.

In the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter, on which the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating is based, the domain does not appear. In the final voting table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day for 2004, the site is likewise absent[7] — by the time of the contest, judging by the archive, it was no longer being updated.

How it closed

Over two years the home page barely changed: the 2000 and 2001 snapshots match word for word[2], and in the version from January 26, 2002, a single menu item disappeared — "Contract"; everything else stayed the same[3]. The September snapshot of the same year repeats the January one unchanged[4].

The last home page snapshot in the web archive is dated September 30, 2002[4]. Indirect confirmation of the end comes from the directory itself: in the snapshot of the same nn.ru category from September 16, 2003, the "Veneta System NN" entry already carries no number — the rating column reads "none"[6]. The directory entry outlived the site: the firm's description remained in the directory even after updates to the home page had stopped.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2000 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (January) (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (September, last snapshot) (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, category «Cartridges and other consumables», 2002 (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, same category, 2003 (archive)
  7. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)