45 born · 5 peaked · 3 died
Born in 1995 45
- ▲3D Pinball: Space CadetThe one pinball table bundled with Windows from the mid-1990s to XP, played by everyone w…
- ☠AOL KeywordA word you typed instead of a URL, printed at the bottom of every advert. Died when it be…
- ☠AltaVistaThe first search engine that indexed the whole web, and the first to be beaten by a clean…
- ●Amazon (1995)The online bookshop Jeff Bezos opened in July 1995, chosen as a starting point because bo…
- ◐Asterisk Action*hugs* — an action in asterisks, from IRC's /me command into every chatroom, as the way t…
- ☠AuctionWebThe online auction market Pierre Omidyar launched in September 1995, two months after Ama…
- ●BBL'Be back later' on IRC for twenty-five years, and then, from about 2020, a cosmetic surge…
- ●BloatwareSoftware you did not ask for and cannot remove — a 1990s term for programs that had grown…
- ●BotAn automated account, and, since 2016, the accusation — 'you're a bot' — levelled at anyo…
- ●Bruv'Brother' — 'bruv' — as the London address for anyone, and the record's entry for the wor…
- ●CanonWhat officially happened in a story — canon — as opposed to headcanon, fanon, and what sh…
- ▲Chain Letter (Email)'Forward this to ten people or you will have bad luck' — the email chain letter, as the 1…
- ▲Command & ConquerA real-time strategy game with live-action cutscenes, a bald cult leader called Kane, and…
- ◐CraigslistCraig Newmark's list of San Francisco events, started as an email in 1995 and a website i…
- ▲Dot-comA company whose product was its URL. Died in the spring of 2000 taking a sock puppet and …
- ●DoxxingPublishing someone's real name and address. Older than the web and now in the dictionary,…
- ●FanficFiction written by fans about someone else's characters — fanfic — from 1960s zines into …
- ◐FlamebaitA post designed to provoke a flame war — flamebait — as the Usenet ancestor of ragebait, …
- ●GGGood game, typed at the end whether it was or not. The one piece of sportsmanship the int…
- ●Grammar PoliceThe commenter who corrects your spelling instead of your argument — the grammar police — …
- ☠GuestbookA page where strangers wrote that they had visited. The first comment section, and the la…
- ↺GyaruTan, bleached hair, dramatic lashes, platform boots, and a deliberate rejection of Japane…
- ↺Hit CounterAn odometer at the bottom of the page announcing you were visitor number 000412. Most wer…
- ●Hype CycleA consultancy's chart shaped like a mountain and a hill: a technology climbs to a peak of…
- ●IANAL'I am not a lawyer' — the disclaimer before legal advice from someone who is not a lawyer…
- ●ID10T ErrorAn error code that spells 'idiot' — the helpdesk's way of noting on a ticket that the use…
- ●IRL'In real life' — the world outside the screen, named as if it were the other place. From …
- ☠Internet ExplorerMicrosoft's browser, launched in August 1995, which won the browser war by being free and…
- ●LagThe delay between doing and seeing — lag — as the oldest excuse in online gaming and, sin…
- ↺Marquee TagText that scrolled sideways across the page for no reason. Outlived the blink tag by pret…
- ◐Match.comThe dating website that went live in April 1995 and turned a personals column into a data…
- ●NP'No problem' — the reply to thanks, in two letters, from IRC to now, and the record's ent…
- ☠Netscape Now ButtonA badge insisting the page looked better in the browser you were probably already using. …
- ●NewgroundsEverything Flash, by everyone, unreviewed. Outlived Flash itself, which nobody expected, …
- ●Nigerian PrinceThe email from a royal who needs help moving a fortune and only your bank details will do…
- ●Old HeadAn older person — 'old head' — who has opinions about the current version of things and a…
- ●PEBKAC'Problem exists between keyboard and chair' — tech support's code for 'the user is the pr…
- ●Reply AllThe button that sends your reply to everyone, pressed by mistake — reply all — as the sou…
- ●Safe'Thanks', 'okay', 'good' — 'safe' — as the London slang word that does the job of five, a…
- ●ShookShocked, rattled, unable to cope — 'I'm shook' — from a 1995 rap record into the 2016–18 …
- ●TMI'Too much information' — the reply to a detail nobody asked for, from 1990s forums into e…
- ◐TTYL'Talk to you later' — the sign-off of the instant-messaging era, when conversations had e…
- ●Thx'Thanks', compressed — 'thx', 'ty', 'tysm' — as gratitude with the minimum of keystrokes,…
- ↺Under Construction GIFAn animated workman, digging, forever. Admitted that a page was unfinished — a form of ho…
- ◐WormsCartoon worms in trenches lobbing bazookas, exploding sheep and a holy hand grenade at ea…
Peaked in 1995 5
- ▲Eternal SeptemberThe month AOL opened Usenet to everyone and the newcomers never stopped arriving. Thirty-…
- ▲Floppy DiskThe removable disk — 8-inch in 1971, 5.25-inch in the late 1970s, and the rigid 3.5-inch …
- ☠Information SuperhighwayA metaphor for the internet used exclusively by people who had not been on it. Died the m…
- ▲LamerA person who is not skilled, not cool, and not welcome — a lamer — as the BBS era's word …
- ▲MystA silent island of pre-rendered stills and puzzles, made by two brothers in Washington st…
Died in 1995 3
- ▲Blast ProcessingSega's 1992 marketing term for a feature of the Genesis that made it, according to the ad…
- ▲GopherMenus of text nested in menus of text, one year older than the web and considerably tidie…
- ▲Prince of PersiaA one-hour dungeon escape whose running, jumping prince moved like a real person because …