When it originally launched, the "Cities" part was quite literal. To find a free "plot", you browsed a map of a town and found an empty space, and then you had

When it originally launched, the "Cities" part was quite literal. To find a free "plot", you browsed a map of a town and found an empty space, and then you had 2 "neighbors" next to you. This was back when webrings[0] were still a thing and the web still had a bit more of a community feel to it. I remember when I tried to sign up they had a beta "empty plot search" so you didn't have to spend ages looking for a plot. IIRC it didn't work for me and I went to Angelfire or something. It quickly became really popular as a free web host (which was rare at the time) and they toned down the cities/communities aspect in favor of pure hosting. edit: I tried to find the neighborhood map on the internet archive but it seems hidden behind imagemaps and CGI scripts that didn't make it into the archive. This is as far as I got: https://web.archive.org/web/19970703013607/http://www15.geocities.com/Broadway/residence.html https://web.archive.org/web/19970703013607/http://www15.geoc... You can also see some of the community aspect here https://web.archive.org/web/19970703013533/http://www15.geocities.com/Broadway/leader.html https://web.archive.org/web/19970703013533/http://www15.geoc... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring