Celebrating 13+ Years Online

7 Comments

When I started this website more than a decade ago I did not make a note of exactly when I started it. For years, the earliest files relating to the website I could find on my computer(s) were from April of 1999. At some point last year while digging around I found files suggesting that in fact I may have started it in late 1998. Until I find conclusive proof, April 1999 will stay the “official” launch month and that means it has been 13 years since I began what eventually would become MASH4077TV.com.

During the early years, the site bounced around between freebie web hosting services like Xoom and FortuneCity (but never GeoCities, if I recall correctly). In early 2001 it moved to Tripod, another freebie host. Shortly thereafter, it transitioned to the paid Tripod service, which primarily meant no advertising. The name of the site was officially changed to M*A*S*H — Finest Kind in February of 2002. It moved to its own domain name (www.finest-kind.net) in October of 2002. For many years, it was a general “fan site” featuring an episode list, character profiles, pictures and sound files. Following a three month hiatus, the site relaunched in April of 2004 with a new emphasis on exploring the history of M*A*S*H. In August of 2007, the site switched to a blog format utilizing WordPress. After another hiatus, this one lasting six months, the site moved to a new domain name (www.mash4077tv.com) in May of 2011.

There were already a number of websites dedicated to M*A*S*H in existence when I launched mine, including Andy Lawson’s M*A*S*H 4077th Home Page (launched in 1996? mid-1995), J.W. Price’s long-defunct M*A*S*H 4077th Page (launched in 1996?), David Long’s Best Care Anywhere (launched in January 1997), and Andreas Helm’s M*A*S*H Homepage (launched September 1998). There have been dozens of other M*A*S*H sites over the past two decades, many of which came and went in a matter of months. There used to be a website dedicated solely to selling M*A*S*H collectibles and memorabilia (The Supply Tent) and another focusing on an incredible collection of M*A*S*H collectibles and memorabilia (The M*A*S*H Museum).

My interest in M*A*S*H has fluctuated wildly at times over the past 13 years. I believe I’ve mentioned in the past that I very rarely watch M*A*S*H these days. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve actually seen a single episode so far this year. Nevertheless, at the moment I have a few things in the works, including an article about M*A*S*H on VHS/DVD and another about the 2008 Malibu Creek State Park site restoration (which I’ve been meaning to write since 2008). And I have some plans on the drawing board to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the series in September.

I would be very interested in hearing about how and when people first found this website (and whether it was under the old M*A*S*H Finest Kind name). I’ve often wondered if anyone who visited the site way back in the late 1990s has followed it over the past 13 years or so and is still visiting.

7 Replies to “Celebrating 13+ Years Online”

  1. I found this site under the old name. I think I might have seen this site under the older free services. I rarely can name the episodes for your contests. There must be some really hardcore fans who can name an episode from one still frame.

    I love the series, have the box set, but still watch it on TV whenever I see it. My 17 and 13 year old daughters love MASH. My older daughter told me she never gets tired of watching it and it’s the best show on TV.

  2. Found the website on 2010, looking for some info on an episode I guess. I’m following the posts with GoogleReader since then. I’ve watched all the 11 seasons between 2009 and 2010, best show I’ve ever seen.

  3. Like most fortuitous discoveries, I found this site by accident in the summer of 2010. Been here ever since and the playing the Name The Episode game is the highlight of my week. The few players who do participate, I feel like we are all friends despite never having met or even knowing each others’ real name.

  4. The great Andy Lawson site began sometime in the middle part of 1995. I remember because that’s when our computers at work first got this thing we’d been hearing about called “the Internet” or “the World Wide Web”, and the very first thing I searched for was “M*A*S*H”, and the first site I went to was the Andy Lawson site. He had a discussion board on there at the time, and there was about 3 of us (myself included) who became the self-appointed “Answerers To Everybody’s Questions.” Several months into it, I e-mailed Andy and asked him how long the site had been up at the time I had stumbled on it, and his recollection was that it had only been up for a couple of weeks or a couple of months. So: Mid-1995 on the Andy site.

    Ahhh, and that long-ago J.W. Price site …. full of its misspellings (the typical “fan site” of the early Internet world) and stuff that had been cribbed from the other “M*A*S*H” sites…! (Yeah, including swiping of material that I had posted from my own, briefly-lived “AfterMASH” site from 1998 — the first such site devoted entirely to the sequel series!)

    1. I remember the early discussion board at Andy’s site. It was a bit clunky if I recall.

      What I remember from the J.W. Price site is a section on M*A*S*H editorial cartoons and something about a fan-organized M*A*S*H convention that never got off the ground. I wish I could remember what the proposed name was. It was not M*A*S*H Bash which would seem obvious. I was unaware that it was full of material taken from other sites (or that you had your own AfterMASH site at one point).

      Remember when the big thing for fan sites was to have WAV files? And then RealAudio came along? You could download bits of dialogue and it was a big deal?

  5. I am glad I found this site. I thought I was the only one that had such a fascination for the show. I still get made fun of because I watch it over and over again. At least here I am not alone. Thanks for taking the time to make it fun and interesting for those that havent watched the show.

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