When I started this blog in 2014, I accurately reported that I had been sharing boot-stuff on the internet for 19 years. The 20th anniversary of my first posting on Usenet passed without fanfare sometime in the late summer/early fall of 2015. The first picture I ever posted was also the first picture I ever successfully downloaded. It was also the first picture I uploaded to The Temple of The Boot on Geocities and I believe I put it in the first fashion gallery of Thighboots.com. It was this picture of Christy Turlington in thigh high riding boots.
It's hard to believe how much things have changed in that 20 years. I bought an "Idiots Guide to the Internet" in 1995 when I bought my first 'net ready PC. I looked through it the other day. It devotes about 10 dismissive pages to the "World Wide Web," claims it's just a fad and returns to an in-depth look at Usenet, archie and gopher searches and how to configure your winsock. I'm guessing few of you have heard of any of those things.
I was shocked to stumble across this-
I haven't see this in ages and it LOOKS 20 years old, but I clearly remember writing that opening page. ".....that most sublime of peccadilloes: a boot fetish" indeed. I remember how long it took to make those .gif transparencies and how proud I was of the gold banner. I remember how long it took to make each gallery and set all the links by hand. Old-timers may recall that I cycled through with one new gallery per day (and removed the oldest gallery). It looks cheesy, common and small by modern standards, but back in the day.....
From the first moment I heard of the internet, I recognized the possibilities. I knew eventually there would be a community of boot hobbyists. I wanted to be a part of it. I'm glad I still am.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all you have done for our Hobby. Congratulations on your success with this Blog and THANK YOU for all of the support you have given me.
ReplyDeletePS - I LOVE that Christy Turlington picture. I haven't seen it in a very long time. Thanks for bringing it back.
ReplyDeleteFirst boot page I went to was "Johnny Rocket's Hot Chicks In Boots". I don't know if you went there but it was active in the late 90s. There was also a site full of links called highbootclub which was often pornographic but not always. Anyways, thank you for all the hard work you have done. - bioapfreak
ReplyDeleteI remember the early days with 56k dial up! An early site I recall was a Spanish one, famosasconbotas which has reappeared, updated from its old format. The next noteworthy place (early to mid 2000s I think) was Bootluv's forum which morphed into Boots'n'Heels. This was a good all round site until they suddenly got all hung up over heel height and I haven't visited for ages.
ReplyDeleteThe main site that caught my imagination was Celeboots, which I spent too much time contributing towards... This sadly died when the site crashed (it has since reappeared) but many of the original contributors have disappeared and it is now a shadow of its former self.
My two fave sites now are this one and John Smith's blog. I do miss the immediacey of the forum banter, but it's building again.
James Addiction
Was it 20 years ago? I remember the banner of the girl doing the splits, and many of those early pics.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of effort you've put in, and what a lot we have to thank you for.
Kyuzo
I was a frequent visitor of that site. All my findings fitted in a single floppy disk, back then.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these 20 years of work and for those yet to come.
I distinctly remember first finding "Temple of the Boot". I've said this before, but I long for the days when a photo would put such a charge into me. There were SOOOO few back then. I really wish I could go back and read some of those early issues of Thighboots.com (read, actually, as in the actual words, not just the pix).
ReplyDeleteMemories!
Temple of the boot wow I remember that site. I also now remember dialing into AOL to access the interweb to look for pictures of booted ladies. This brings back memories. I actually do in a strange way miss that modem dialing into aol, heck I even knew how fast my speed was going to be based solely on the sounds the modem made (thats sad)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the trip down memory lane. On a side note JA good to see you here and your comments made Celeboots one of the best places to visit regardless if some members couldnt take a joke
Oh and Christy Turlington is still to this day my favorite of all of the 90's true SUPERMODELS, to be fair If Christy, Claudia, Naomi and Cindy want to have a party call me I am available.
look for Bölüm İşte Benim Stilim 2016. fashion. lots of boots
ReplyDelete