The late Nineties were a fun time to be in as an alternate historian. Numerous sites took advantage of the burgeoning internet to post their own timelines for anyone to see. Few of these adhere to the standards we have, but they were fun to read if you had an afternoon to kill.
However, these sites proved to ephemeral (many of them were on Geocities, in fact), and gradually disappeared. Most of these you had to find through the Yahoo Directory, which is also gone (Yahoo now simply uses a search engine like Google and Bing). A google search for "alternate history" shows how few websites remain - the first three are this very website, the fourth is the Wikipedia article on the subject, the fifth is the Althistory wikia, six is the AlternateHistoryHub on Youtube, 7 and 8 are the Uchronia website (which only deals with published works), and the final result on the first page is an io9 article.
But, using the magic of the wayback machine, I've decided to compile links to the archived sites that once dominated the genre. Some notes:
1. As mentioned above, these websites do NOT hold up to our standards. The majority of them predate concepts like butterflies, ASB, and even Turtledove's works.
2. Because the majority of these were timelines in the most literal sense, they depended heavily on maps, which by and large are not saved on the Internet archive.
3. I will try to use the most recent version of a website available.
A History of the World, 1500-Present
I'll admit I have a soft spot for this TL as it is literally the first AH I ever read. That said, it's hard to make sense of, since it jumps from 1618 to 1765 with no explanation of what happened in that century and a half.
Alternate History Travel Guides
Hey, remember the AH Travel Guides? They were probably one of the biggest AH sites out there despite their works being solely small vignettes. They may be short and weird, but one can't deny these guys had creativity.
Dale Cozort's Site
Now, Dale Cozort is a member here, so he may have a more up to date website than this capture. Quite a few thought provoking scenarios, in any event.
Doug Hoff's Site
Before AH.com. there was Doug Hoff's site, Althist.com. This was probably the big AH website during the previous two decades before the internet ate it.
John Mullervy's Site
I think this is one of the earliest sites to NOT use Gettysburg as the POD for a CSA wins TL (How Few Remain came out in 1997, the earliest I can find this website is 1998). That said, I found the AH TV listings more entertaining.
Nacho's Site
A few timelines, but I'm mainly wondering if his bookstore still exists.
Stephen Abbott's Website
I think this one surpassed Hoff's in size, and for a while appears to be the big site where the owner isn't the main contributor.
Some other site
Now here's one I don't think went anywhere.
So, if you have any others you want discussed, feel free to bring them up. We need to both appreciate how far the genre's come and what it's lost over the years,
However, these sites proved to ephemeral (many of them were on Geocities, in fact), and gradually disappeared. Most of these you had to find through the Yahoo Directory, which is also gone (Yahoo now simply uses a search engine like Google and Bing). A google search for "alternate history" shows how few websites remain - the first three are this very website, the fourth is the Wikipedia article on the subject, the fifth is the Althistory wikia, six is the AlternateHistoryHub on Youtube, 7 and 8 are the Uchronia website (which only deals with published works), and the final result on the first page is an io9 article.
But, using the magic of the wayback machine, I've decided to compile links to the archived sites that once dominated the genre. Some notes:
1. As mentioned above, these websites do NOT hold up to our standards. The majority of them predate concepts like butterflies, ASB, and even Turtledove's works.
2. Because the majority of these were timelines in the most literal sense, they depended heavily on maps, which by and large are not saved on the Internet archive.
3. I will try to use the most recent version of a website available.
A History of the World, 1500-Present
I'll admit I have a soft spot for this TL as it is literally the first AH I ever read. That said, it's hard to make sense of, since it jumps from 1618 to 1765 with no explanation of what happened in that century and a half.
Alternate History Travel Guides
Hey, remember the AH Travel Guides? They were probably one of the biggest AH sites out there despite their works being solely small vignettes. They may be short and weird, but one can't deny these guys had creativity.
Dale Cozort's Site
Now, Dale Cozort is a member here, so he may have a more up to date website than this capture. Quite a few thought provoking scenarios, in any event.
Doug Hoff's Site
Before AH.com. there was Doug Hoff's site, Althist.com. This was probably the big AH website during the previous two decades before the internet ate it.
John Mullervy's Site
I think this is one of the earliest sites to NOT use Gettysburg as the POD for a CSA wins TL (How Few Remain came out in 1997, the earliest I can find this website is 1998). That said, I found the AH TV listings more entertaining.
Nacho's Site
A few timelines, but I'm mainly wondering if his bookstore still exists.
Stephen Abbott's Website
I think this one surpassed Hoff's in size, and for a while appears to be the big site where the owner isn't the main contributor.
Some other site
Now here's one I don't think went anywhere.
So, if you have any others you want discussed, feel free to bring them up. We need to both appreciate how far the genre's come and what it's lost over the years,
