About this: >And they charge $5 per month, so >the sustainability is more clear. In 1996, Geocities began offering a deal: pay $4.95 a month and no ads will

About this: >And they charge $5 per month, so >the sustainability is more clear. In 1996, Geocities began offering a deal: pay $4.95 a month and no ads will be shown on your site, and you get to use your own domain for your website. I signed up immediately. 3 year later, Geocities was acquired by Yahoo. 10 years later, Geocities was closed: http://geocities.yahoo.com/index.php http://geocities.yahoo.com/index.php There is nothing really permanent about any of these services. Ma Bell may have offered a reliable phone service for almost 100 years, but in the era of the Internet the half-life of consumer sites tends to be much shorter.