[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> The End of an Era: the Internet Hits Ground

["R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>]

--- begin forwarded text


Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 23:54:33 -0800
From: Somebody
To: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>
Subject: Re: <nettime> The End of an Era: the Internet Hits Ground

What a crock.

The "dotcom madness" was a Madison Avenue phenom.
It was using graphic arts and kewl scripts to make websites
"sticky", then renting ad space on those sites, then developing banner
blipverts, counting clickthroughs, producing multimillion dollar superbowl
TV ad campaigns, breathlessly promoting companies and feeding
the hype to the "news" media, dealing the investment bankers in to
monetize the whole thing.  It was a truly amazing engine to see -- more
like a tornado or a tropical storm which kinda sucks energy out of the
environment and builds in strength.  Everything was working together,
and I've got to believe a bunch of advertising executives have beautiful
new yachts on Long Island Sound.  Then the music stopped.

As part of the Madison Avenue circus, it was necessary to repeal a
few basic laws of economics -- or should I say engage in a willing
suspension of disbelief.  But when the houselights came back up, it
was clear that the sets were painted flats, not Camelot.  Revenue,
cashflow, margins...all came back into focus.

But let us not throw out the revolution with the broken down dotcom
ad campaign.  Toysrus, Barnes&Noble, Schwab, and WalMart may
be showing that clicks and mortar is effective, but it is likewise in-
conceivable that they could ignore eToys, Amazon, Etrade or Buy.com.
The ecommerce revolution is in full swing.  And don't mistake all the
stupid internet laws (ban gambling site access, DMCA, the Hague
Convention, kiddie filters) for a resurgence of the Nation State.  It is
simply the incoherent babbling of increasingly irrelevant legislative and
executive bodies.

The internet is still different.  The scent of upheaval is still in the air.
You can hear Yankee Doodle playing somewhere close to hand.



"R. A. Hettinga" wrote:

> --- begin forwarded text
>
> Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 17:19:33 -0500
> To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
> From: Felix Stalder <stalder@fis.utoronto.ca>
> Subject: <nettime> The End of an Era: the Internet Hits Ground
> Sender: nettime-l-request@bbs.thing.net
> Reply-To: Felix Stalder <stalder@fis.utoronto.ca>
>
> [A slightly different version was published on Telepolis
> (http://www.heise.de/tp) a few days ago. Posted here with friendly
> permission.]
>
> The End of an Era: the Internet Hits Ground
<Snip of Death...>
--- end forwarded text


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'


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