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Webring Systems
Many people believe that their particular webring system is the only webring system.
In fact there are many webring systems.
This page describes and links to the various providers of webring services.
What are webring systems?
Prior to The Assimilation by Yahoo!, the Original WebRing system was the best known. The alternatives were hardly known.
After Yahoo! conducted The Assimilation the alternative host systems became more prominent. One of them, RingSurf, experienced astronomical growth beginning on the day of The Assimilation. Another, Ringlink, created before The Assimilation, also experienced substantial growth.
This page provides a kind of mini-directory of alternate webring systems.
If you would like to suggest another listing, please email me.
Webring Systems
 50megs.com: This ring system is specifically for sites that are hosted in the 50megs.com system. Any site can join, but the home site must be a 50megs.com site. It appears to have been almost completely
inspired by the Yahoo! WebRing system. Almost exactly like Yahoo! WebRing, the system uses JavaScript to retrieve the navbar, provides links to the webring list page, previous, next and join, uses a 5x50 pixel navbar graphic, and enables custom colors for background and border. Also, just as Yahoo! WebRing did, it avoids any direct support for the critical home function. The site name is limited to 30 characters (too short for me) and the description to only 200 characters (again too short).
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Bomis:
A ring system. Sorry. I don't know anything about this one.
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ChristianWebrings.org:
Rudy Brinkman created this one. The Plebius Script (see below) powers it. BrinkhostDotCom hosts it. It hosts webrings for a fee, guarantees
advertising free webring pages, but may place Christian advertising on the ChristianWebrings.org site.
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LoopLink:
A ring system. Sorry. I don't know anything about this one. [NB: no longer available a/o 15.Apr.2003]
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MIMAnet Webring Zone:
This site appears to be new. As of this writing (12.Nov.2000) the "About Us" page doesn't exist yet. It has apparently acquired the assets of the
Plebius.org site, including Martin Kretzman's perl script to operate a webring. They are operating what they call the MIMAnet Webring Zone.
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WebRing.com System:
The latest successor in interest to the Original WebRing. On 12.Oct.2001, it was "spun off" from Yahoo! to become the WebRing.com system. The system just calls itself "WebRing". But I call it the "New
WebRing system" to distinguish it from all the others.
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Page-Ring.com:
The owner wrote me that "It's as unlike Yahoo as [he] can make it." There is no required registration, no cookies and no tracking of users. The system includes automatic daily pruning of both pages that
won't load and pages without the webring code. RingMasters can delete sites at will and can download email addresses for the membership. [NB: no longer available a/o 15.Apr.2003] ««»»
Plebius Webring:
Update:
Martin has abandoned this effort and transferred everything to
MIMAnet.com. This new site appears to be creating another webring hosting system.
Original Entry:
Martin Kretzman created this is a free perl script to operate a webring. He also posted a September 14, update. It is free for personal use if you leave the link, $20.00 for commercial or to eliminate the link.
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Ringlink:
Gunnar Hjalmarsson created this open source perl script system to operate webrings. It is completely free. I have personally installed and am using it to host my Web Guard
Webring and have nothing but great things to say about it. There is also a Ringlink Mailing list (go to the site to register) providing assistance and allowing suggestions. There is an independent Ringlink FAQ (originally created by Rachelle) and a directory of Ringlink Systems that can help people find hosts if they cannot host themselves. Finally, a recent addition is the
directory of Ringlink Webrings.
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Ringlink Mailing List:
Keeps everyone updated on new features and issues of the Ringlink system.
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Ringlink FAQ:
Created by Rachelle, this FAQ is the primary FAQ for the Ringlink system.
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Directory of Ringlink Webrings:
This helps people find Ringlink based webrings.
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Directory of Ringlink Systems:
This helps people find Ringlink hosts.
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Ringo:
Aside from the fact that it is administered by Kaloyan Tenchov and hosted at Headoff, I don't know anything about this one.
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RingSurf:
This system experienced massive growth immediately after The Assimilation. Once the Yahoo! WebRing takeover became a reality, many ringmasters moved to RingSurf. One of the appeals is that it "looks" a lot like the
Original WebRing in terms of functionality and navigation HTML. Their September 17th, 2000 post says a lot about their growth. Their Status Page tells an interesting story of doubling the webrings and quadrupling the membership just during September of that first year. They experienced some stress and growth pains, but they admitted that and were open and forthcoming about the status. They are earned high praise for their communications. In recent
months, the management of RingSurf has been unavailable for direct contact. While this is both puzzling and troubling for many of us who had such direct contact and who acted as system volunteers, the system seems to still function well. For ringmasters unable or unwilling to host their own Ringlink system, I still heartily recommend RingSurf.
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RingWorld:
A fee based perl script to host webrings.
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SiteRing (Bravenet):
A ring hosting service.
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Yahoo! WebRing:
The successor in interest to the Original WebRing. On 12.Oct.2001, it was "spun off" to become the WebRing.com system.
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Webring
News and Announcements
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WebRing.com
Changes Big Time --- It was October 2001 that WebRing.com came into
existence following the end of Yahoo! Webring. Now, 5 years later, WebRing.com
is changing again. Moving from primarily a free service to primarily a paid
service, the system is undergoing massive change. Stay tuned.
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Ringlink
Activity --- While
Ringlink has not released a new version
since
Version 3.2
on 21.Feb.2005, the system seems to be getting a lot of activity. Many people
are discovering this great webring system and moving their webrings here. If you
don't know about Ringlink,
definitely check out this great webring system. I personally recommend
it.
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WoW
--- The World of Webrings features the World of Webrings discussion list. It offers a forum for both
webring owners (ringmasters) and webring members to discuss the latest hot topics about all webrings, including WebRing.com,
Ringlink
,
Alt-Webring, RingSurf, Bravenet and others. If you belong to any webring in any webring service, you should join this list.
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RingSurf
Passes 3 Year Anniversary --- It was 3 years ago, on 16.Aug.2003 when the WoW list list noted that RingSurf's domain name registration had changed.
Then the new owner came forward. A RingSurf Feature List was developed and debated. Then, on Thanksgiving day, 27.Nov.2003 the new owner posted on the WoW list that the new RingSurf is up! If you haven't checked it out lately, see what has happened in the last three years.
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Article About Webrings --- Check out this excellent Salon.com article about the history of Yahoo! and WebRing.com:
The Strange Saga of Yahoo and Webring
. For some, it will bring back memories. For others, it will explain the history.
Now, I wonder if they will update it to talk about the latest WebRing.com
changes.
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Webrings: General Information
Webring Sections and Subsections
The Webring Section is a large section of my website. I have divided it into four major "subsections".
- General Information
- The WebRing.com System
- Webrings I Own and Belong To
- The Wazillion Navbars Project
Each "subsection" has it's own special "logo".
As you travel in the various subsections you will find, near the bottom of each page, links to pages within that subsection and also links to the other subsections. To go to any subsection, just click on the "logo" or on the text link for that subsection.
The WebRing.com System
This subsection includes specific information about the WebRing.com system.
While not the only webring system on the net, it is the best known and the most used. I own many webrings in this system and belong to many webrings in this system. (I also own and belong to many webrings in other systems as well.) Click here or on the graphic.
The Wazillion Navbars Project
This subsection is a historical section about the Yahoo! WebRing system. It was begun during the early days of problems with the Yahoo! WebRing system in September 2000.
It ended when the Yahoo! WebRing system spun off into the independent WebRing.com system in October 2001. I maintain it for the historical record. Click here or on the graphic.
Webrings I Own and Belong To
This subsection shows all the webrings I own and links to all the webrings to which I belong. This includes webrings in Ringlink, RingSurf, Bravenet and the WebRing.com system as well.
If you are looking to join one of my webrings, this is a good place to start. If you wonder about the webrings I belong to, this is the place to go. Click here or on the graphic.
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19.Jan
