the
story)!
Anyways, I read through everything over there and since reading,
I've decided to
change my mind a bit on how I was going to write this up. So,
starting from scratch. It's
been 6 years for me. I was here from the beginning, and I hope
that my stories are
interesting . I think the reflections and stories below will show
you how important my
time with YT has been for me.
September 8, 1995 was really when
Youth Tech launched. It wasn't on AOL, but it was
on eWorld, Apple's online service at the time. We would be at
eWorld for another
five months. Our crew was small, we didn't have many members.
Actually, eWorld
itself was extremely small. But we actually did become a
relatively viable site towards
the end. How did I get the deal with AOL? Mostly, this comes down
to us demonstrating
that YT was a success on eWorld,and could be on AOL. Woo hoo-we're
on our way
now. But it didn't happen that easily. eWorld would close in March
of 1996, and we
wouldn't start our tenure on AOL until that August.
But wait wait wait. let me back up a
little. I was 15 years old and I couldn't even drive yet.
I was a kid (still am, I guess? If 21 counts.). Oh boy,
those were the days. Meanwhile,
it was the summer of 1995 and we were working on building YT-eWorld.
I had a partner,
Patrick Rue. Actually, I was a host for a short while in a forum
called ImaginEngine. It was
a small site for kids on eWorld. I didn't stay there very long,
but I have fond memories of
my days there. The manager of the site went by 'BENNY'. BENNY was
great, and all the
kids on eWorld loved her-she was so supportive of my efforts to
launch YT and she was
even the one to bring Patrick and I together at the time. I don't
know where BENNY is
today-but if you're reading this, thank you for everything. You
were a true inspiration. I still
can't believe she let me host. I really had no idea what I was
doing! Well, again, thanks
BENNY!
We launched on eWorld, September
1995. The site was small, there wasn't much content
and we didn't have all that many members. But it wasn't just us-eWorld
itself had just come
onto the online services scene too late and was really doomed for
failure. The service as
a whole had about 500,000 members at its peak. They were scheduled
to launch a version
for Windows, but never did-eWorld's biggest problem: it was only
for Mac users. The closing
of eWorld was pretty emotional for me. Youth Tech was my
life, and I developed a pretty
strong connection to the people I had met through our five month
tour there. I knew we had to
continue on though. We had built some great membership bases, and
I felt that letting go of
YT was unacceptable. How did we go on? Actually, the big
folks up at eWorld were leaving
Apple and starting up their own internet service, which later
became TalkCity. They offered
us some space there. So for a couple of months, this was where YT
was. But soon, we
moved to a more permanent home at the time with AOL.
I had some great help at the time.
Audrey, and Becky-thank you both so much for your dedication,
particularly during these times. I simply can't describe the
levels of support I
received from these two fine people. Thank you both for backing
me, and giving your all
to YT. Becky, you have really done a great job building Youth Tech
after I left-thank you for
your leadership, and your outstanding effort. Also, while I'm at
it, thanks to the crew through
all the years-the YTCC list of the last 6 years is amazing. Thank
you all!
Ok, back to my story. Around this time, I was turning 16. a little
before Youth Tech was turning
1. So lets talk about my birthday. they even had my mom in on this
one. The YT crew
decided they would surprise me online for my birthday. And I
didn't have a clue. Somehow,
Audrey had got in touch with my mom, and my mom's job was to make
sure that I got online
at a certain time. I honestly forget how she actually got
this to happen (I didn't listen to her
much when I was 16.). But in any case, she got me online and I
went into the chatroom and all
of our crew was there, waiting to type Happy Birthday-let me just
tell you what a great birthday
that was!
So onward we go. Youth Tech would
grow a lot on AOL. Everyone figured we wouldn't be
around long. We didn't have a paid staff, and the person that was
running the thing was 16.
We didn't even have any corporate backing (except for AOL, of
course). How did we keep
going when all the odds were against us?
I think about this question a lot-I
could sit here all day and think about reasons and analyze
so many factors. But I think it comes down to this: Youth
Tech had a pretty hard lesson with
eWorld. We had to pull together to keep the community alive. I
really believe that this spirit
never died, even to this day. Youth Tech may be an internet
service, but at the heart of the
'service' is a community so strong, and so amazing. Most of
you probably don't know who
I am, except for those that go way back. My involvement with
Youth Tech hasn't been minimal
in the last 3 years or so. You might ask. why would someone
that put his or her life into something, suddenly stop? It's
not an easy question to answer. Youth Tech really did so
much for me- I met so many interesting people, learned about
running an internet site, and
learned about people. In a sense, Youth Tech helped me grow up.
But three years ago, I
decided I wanted to broaden my horizons. I wanted to do some more
high school things
-hangout with new friends, and be a kid rather than an
entrepreneur. It's not that I didn't love
Youth Tech or the people in YT-in fact, a day really doesn't go by
where I don't think about
Youth Tech, or a person that I met while working with YT, etc,
etc.
Where am I now? (This one's for
those of you that know who I am). I'm a junior in college, at
George Washington University. I'm studying Information Systems
(basically a business
degree with focus on computers/technology). I spent this past
summer interning for the U.S.
Dept. of Education, where I did some computer work for them.
Thank you for all of the
memories. As a member of YT, you really keep this service alive.
And that's good for me,
because I like to come visit! I've really had some great memories
with YT. I do miss the
"good old days". There were some great people I
met along the way-whether that be in the
chatroom, or at business conferences, or computer shows/expo's. My
life simply wouldn't
be the same without YT (I don't even want to think about where I'd
be right now!). I'm glad I had
the chance to tell you my story. Please feel free to email me at Jeremy@youthtech.com
anytime. I'm curious to hear some of your stories-and for those
that I haven't spoken with in a
while, please do email! Before I go, I just want to say thanks.
Thanks to our members. Thanks
to the folks who gave us contracts. Thanks to my friends through
the years that supported me.
Thank you to the crew for continuing the spirit of Youth Tech.
Thanks to our partner contacts.
Thanks for six years of Youth Tech! Now, it's time to go
make
the next six just as awesome.
--Jeremy
Jeremy@youthtech.com
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