10 Years of iFroggy

ifroggy-10-years-oldOn this day, 10 years ago, I registered the ifroggy.com domain name.

10 years is such a long time but, of course, it just flew by. I couldn’t even begin to quantify it. 10 years ago, I was still in high school. I was 15. It’s crazy to think about. One of the questions I get asked with some regularity is: how did you come up with the name iFroggy?

10 years ago, there wasn’t any $10 a year domain name registration. It was 2 years, $70 at Network Solutions and that was that. $70 is no small amount and that was especially true back then. I didn’t necessarily even see myself registering a second domain name. I believe my parents paid for it and I still have the invoice (view). Notice how it says January 3. That’s how things worked then. You submitted the registration on January 1. It was completed on January 3.

The site I wanted to originally run was an everything portal or, more like, an as much as I could cover portal. I spent a fair bit of time coming up with names and picking the one I felt was best. I aimed to pick something that was fun, memorable and easy to spell. I still have that list of names and, for the most part, they are not very good. So, I think I lucked out with the name that I selected.

I did the portal thing, in a few iterations. The second iteration, I believe is right around where I began to launch other sites and the iFroggy Network concept began. This can be seen in the May 10, 2000 Archive.org result. On October 12, you can see another design change. What I found, though, was that the idea of a portal like was a bit much for a one man show and that I preferred to focus a site on a particular topic and try to be the best at that.

By Feburary 2001, though I am not sure I knew it yet, I had left the portal idea behind. Eventually, I came to this conclusion and opted to keep the iFroggy name as my banner brand, placing all of my sites under the iFroggy Network.

I don’t know what the future holds. I’m not really sure what this year holds. I’m in a state of change right now as I work on clearing my plate some and focusing on fewer ventures, in order to open myself up to other opportunities.

But, I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me to get to this point. My friends who have been continually supportive. The great people who serve or have served as volunteer staff members on my sites. All of the people who visit, subscribe and post on the various sites that I run. Everyone who has spread the word, helped, contributed and believed. Thank you.

Patrick O'Keefe

Managing online communities since 2000, I publish a collective of websites known as the iFroggy Network. I wrote the book Managing Online Forums and, as a public speaker, have presented for organizations like CNN, institutions like Australian National University and conferences like SXSW. More about me.

8 Comments

Chrispian

about 14 years ago

Congrats! It's been a pleasure to watch you grow your sites and help out from time to time. I look forward to seeing what you do with the next 10 ;)

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Patrick

about 14 years ago

Thanks Chris. :) I appreciate it and all of your support over the years.

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Martin Reed

about 14 years ago

Loved the journey down memory lane, Patrick! Would love to see more posts in the future talking about your early days of starting new websites, etc. Oh, and congratulations on turning 10! I bought my main website's domain name in March 2000 - so we share an anniversary year ;)

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Patrick

about 14 years ago

Thanks Martin. :) I appreciate the support. I may try to write more about the "early days." Making me feel old. Patrick

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headpieces

about 14 years ago

10 years in this business is like two lives in other branch! Surely this is something to admire. With this experience you must be one of the most competent web and blogging experts.

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Patrick

about 14 years ago

Thanks for the kind words, headpieces.

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Ramona

about 14 years ago

Patrick, CONGRATULATIONS. You deserve all credit for this. YOu have worked like crazy and proved to be an excellent developer. For many years you've been my example of "it can be done" and I am happy to hear about this anniversary. Many many years with those amazing projects only you can come up with ;) Happy New Year too

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Patrick

about 14 years ago

Thanks so much, Ramona. I appreciate all of your support over the years. :)

Reply

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