Weblogs.com
Encyclopedia
Weblogs.com is a site created by UserLand Software
and later maintained by Dave Winer
. It launched in late 1999 as a free, registration-based web crawler
monitoring weblogs, was converted into a ping-server in October 2001, and came to be used by most blog applications.(Web-services like Feedster and Technorati
monitor Weblogs.com for its list of the latest blog posts, generated in response to pings via XML-RPC
.) The site also provided free hosting to many early bloggers.
In mid-June 2004, Winer temporarily shut down free blog-hosting services there, without any notice, citing server and personal problems. Criticism from many bloggers was intense. Dave Winer, who had originally promised to get the blogs back up and running within a two-week period, was able to restore them much faster thanks to help from Rogers Cadenhead
.
According to Wired Magazine, "What was decried as the death of a blog universe when Dave Winer shut down free blog host Weblogs.com turned out to be little more than a four-day server outage surrounded by a heck of a flame war."
In October, 2005, VeriSign
bought the Weblogs.com ping-server
from Winer, promising that services currently free there would still be free. The podcasting
-related web site audio.weblogs.com was also included in the $2.3 million deal.
In May 2009 Weblogs.com was sold to a private investor group as part of the deal that saw Moreover Technologies
divested from VeriSign.
UserLand Software
UserLand Software is a US software company founded by Dave Winer in 1988. UserLand sells Web content management and blogging software packages and services.-Company History:Dave Winer founded the company in 1988 after leaving Symantec in the spring of 1988...
and later maintained by Dave Winer
Dave Winer
Dave Winer is an American software developer, entrepreneur and writer in New York City. Winer is noted for his contributions to outliners, scripting, content management, and web services, as well as blogging and podcasting...
. It launched in late 1999 as a free, registration-based web crawler
Web crawler
A Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner or in an orderly fashion. Other terms for Web crawlers are ants, automatic indexers, bots, Web spiders, Web robots, or—especially in the FOAF community—Web scutters.This process is called Web...
monitoring weblogs, was converted into a ping-server in October 2001, and came to be used by most blog applications.(Web-services like Feedster and Technorati
Technorati
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
monitor Weblogs.com for its list of the latest blog posts, generated in response to pings via XML-RPC
XML-RPC
XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism. "XML-RPC" also refers generically to the use of XML for remote procedure call, independently of the specific protocol...
.) The site also provided free hosting to many early bloggers.
In mid-June 2004, Winer temporarily shut down free blog-hosting services there, without any notice, citing server and personal problems. Criticism from many bloggers was intense. Dave Winer, who had originally promised to get the blogs back up and running within a two-week period, was able to restore them much faster thanks to help from Rogers Cadenhead
Rogers Cadenhead
Rogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
.
According to Wired Magazine, "What was decried as the death of a blog universe when Dave Winer shut down free blog host Weblogs.com turned out to be little more than a four-day server outage surrounded by a heck of a flame war."
In October, 2005, VeriSign
VeriSign
Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Dulles, Virginia that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc and .tv country-code...
bought the Weblogs.com ping-server
Ping blog
In blogging, ping is an XML-RPC-based push mechanism by which a weblog notifies a server that its content has been updated. An XML-RPC signal is sent to one or more "ping servers," which can then generate a list of blogs that have new material. The technology was first introduced by Dave Winer to...
from Winer, promising that services currently free there would still be free. The podcasting
Podcasting
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
-related web site audio.weblogs.com was also included in the $2.3 million deal.
In May 2009 Weblogs.com was sold to a private investor group as part of the deal that saw Moreover Technologies
Moreover Technologies
Moreover Technologies is a provider of business intelligence and news aggregation products for enterprises, also offering free news feeds for consumers...
divested from VeriSign.