Today, as we approach the 10th anniversary of Da Coww Farm's demise in late Spring 2000, I think it's important that we look back and reflect. Those of you that remember DCF will enjoy the look back down memory lane, and those of you that had never heard of DCF may find what's ahead interesting (or more likely... not at all). DCF was shot down in a blaze of glory during its prime, leaving nothing but apologies where a vibrant and innovative site had once stood.
While some mistakes were made and poor choices made, the fact remains that DCF was truly, in every sense of the tired phrase, ahead of its time. Today, let's reflect on the legacy that Da Coww Farm left behind in both positive and negative fashion.
Before we can truly remember DCF, I think it's important to set the scene. Let's hop in the DeLorean kids, and travel back to 1999.
In the summer of 1999... Star Wars: Episode I was tearing up the box office, the Sega Dreamcast hadn't yet arrived stateside (the PS2 hadn't even been announced yet!), Bill Clinton was still the president, I was entering my sophomore year at Washington High School, and my brother and his friends were entering 8th grade at Franklin Middle School. TCI was in the process of rolling out the @Home cable modem service across Cedar Rapids, DVD had yet to really gain mainstream acceptance (VHS was still popular!), and the Carmike Wynnsong 12 was the newest theater in town.
Are you feeling like you're back in 1999 yet? Windows XP had yet to be introduced, Mac OS X had yet to be introduced, and the iPod was over two years away from being announced. Cell phones wouldn't even have COLOR SCREENS for another 3 years. The RoughRiders had yet to play their first game in Cedar Rapids. New Veterans Memorial Stadium in CR was three years away from opening. You get the idea.
So now that we're officially in the 1999 frame of mind, let me answer the question that some of you may be wondering: what the heck is (or was) Da Coww Farm? The answer to that is simply put in today's lingo -- Da Coww Farm was a blog. Maybe one of the first blogs run by anyone in the city of Cedar Rapids. I even referenced this in the tagline for this very blog -- "back before anyone knew what a blog was, I was writing one." (My contribution to DCF was mostly as an advisory role, but I did contribute posts occasionally under a few aliases)
In those days, blogs were called E/N pages, which stood for "Everything/Nothing". These pages were about everything, and they were about nothing. While today blogs often focus on certain topics or themes, the first blogs were about almost anything the author(s) found interesting or worthy of sharing with their readership. Some blogs are still like this today (like this one!)
So how was DCF truly born? Zach and his friends were always talented writers who loved technology and humor and loved playing to an audience. I don't remember the exact order of events that led to DCF being created, but I do remember a few key components of its creation.
First off, the inspiration for starting an E/N page was derived almost exclusively from a web developer at Blizzard Entertainment named Geoff Frazier. Mr. Frazier had run his own E/N page for several months prior to DCF being started. He'd rant, give opinions, review movies, and post interesting links. In fact, a lot of the fonts and colors at DCF were quite similar to the format that he had been using. We found it clean and very readable, so we didn't want to mess with a good thing.
The name of the page came from my brother's screen name at the time -- CowwTipper. The feeling was that a lot of folks from outside this state viewed Iowans as those who tipped over cows to have a good time. The screen name CowTipper was taken, so the extra 'W' was added, which of course was carried over to the website's name.
Zach and his closest friend, Nick, were the two original writers on Da Coww Farm. They wrote reviews of recent movies they'd seen, ragged on pointless ESPN shows like HorseWorld -- a show dedicated to (what else?) horse racing, and shared favorite links. The page was updated multiple times daily, and grew to have a very dedicated readership.
Later, Nick and Zach would bring in their friends Carl and Chad to contribute to the page as well. Carl brought a different viewpoint to the table, while Chad brought comedy. They also brought in a friend named Whitney to write a gossip page. At the page's peak, there were more unique visitors daily than the entire 8th grade at their school. The page's appeal had grown well beyond just their peer group in a quick fashion.
While sometimes the page would take a tone toward subjects that perhaps 8th graders shouldn't be publicly broadcasting or using curse words more often than necessary... overall it was refreshing to see young kids valuing written content and producing their own. Particularly given the atmosphere at the time toward distrust and skepticism on the Internet by adults. Most adults still didn't "understand this Internet thing" and felt like if you posted your name on the Internet that evil Praetorian hackers were going to steal your identity like Sandra Bullock in The Net.
Heck, the concept and acceptance of a blog even among Internet types was non-existant. Despite a complete lack of understanding and support, these four guys built a page with compelling content that attracted a wide range of readers.
Their downfall came when they started to abuse their newfound media outlet for teasing others. As mentioned earlier, they had brought in Whitney to write a gossip column on occasion. When those gossip updates slowed, they looked to other ways to keep the gossip coming. We developed a form for people to submit gossip anonymously. The anonymous gossip would be posted with sarcastic responses from the contributors, often times mean or hurtful things.
These guys had acted beyond their years and ahead of the times in so many ways with this page, but in the end, they showed their actual age. Bashing other kids on the Internet was a pretty low move, and they paid the price.
The school got involved, and all of the boys were called to the principal's office one fateful day in the Spring of 2000. Parents were called, apologies were demanded and written. Here's how Da Coww Farm looked after the apologies were posted:
I also think it's bullshit (cursing absolutely necessary) that the school got involved in this. None of these guys had ANYTHING to do with the site during the school day. They did not view the site, update the site, or touch the site from school. They didn't talk about school, threaten the school, or otherwise bring it up in any way, shape, or form. So where the school got off talking to parents about something their kids were doing FROM HOME that didn't involve the school was beyond me.
I'm not saying what they were doing was right (making fun of other kids), but if a parent was concerned, they should've called my parents and dealt with it outside of school. If two kids got together at a non-school sponsored event and one kid teased another, would the parents still call up the school? I'd hope not, but I guess I can't say for sure.
While it's true that posting insults about others was not their finest hour, I feel like it's important that we recognize and honor the authors of DCF for blazing the path for others to follow. Social media is a hot buzzword today, and Zach, Carl, Nick, and Chad *WERE* social media for their peer group a decade ago.
It's a shame that the Internet Archive was unable to save a copy of DCF during its heyday. We don't have any of the original posts that graced DCF, but we do have the memories.
About a year after the shut down of DCF, we attempted to re-launch DCF. The re-launch never really took off, but you can view those posts here: DCF in mid-2001
DCF also spawned several spin-off blogs, the most successful of which was Big Boy Productions, a blog that boasted contributors spanning 3 different grade levels at our high school. Big Boy Productions would've never come into existence if it weren't for DCF.
Finally, the last blog to follow up Big Boy Productions was The Job Squad, a short-lived blog.
DCF left a long legacy after its untimely demise. However, today, I come not to denigrate DCF for its demise, but to praise DCF for its innovation, forward-thinking, and for standing out.
Thanks to Zach, Nick, Carl, and Chad for having the guts to put their thoughts, feelings, and ideas on the Internet long before it became the thing to do. You guys were truly pioneers and it was an absolute pleasure to be part of the DCF team.
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