RIP Bolt.com: Social networking before we knew what it was

Bolt.com, best known as a video sharing site that didn't really catch on, has filed for bankruptcy and shut down. The site had been in acquisition talks with GoFish, which would have been able to cover the $10 million settlement in a copyright infringement case with Universal Music. Earlier this month, the acquisition fell through, and Bolt was essentially doomed.

But it was really MySpace, not YouTube or copyright woes, that struck the first blow to Bolt. Before it shifted its focus to video, Bolt was a teen-oriented social networking site in the days when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was probably getting beat up on a playground somewhere. You could create a profile, talk with other members in chat rooms and message boards (this was the pre-webcam era), and engage in other forms of 1998-vintage "interactivity," like online quizzes and polls.

Bolt circa 2001, thanks to the Internet Archive.

(Credit: The Internet Archive)

I was a teen in the '90s and had a Bolt profile out of curiosity, but those were the days when Internet social networking was still a very restricted phenomenon for a number of reasons: first, it was still seen as "weird" (and from parents' perspectives, dangerous) for teenagers to be socializing online rather than in real life; and second, AOL was still a juggernaut in those days. Its chat rooms and message boards, not to mention Instant Messenger, were the go-to place for kids who didn't feel like doing their homework. Then there was the fact that chatting and message board posting was, thanks to the limitations of dial-up connections, more or less all you could do. The infectious draw of viral videos and streaming music was still out of reach for many.

The critical mass wasn't there, so there was no real bandwagon effect to help Bolt grow. Then MySpace came along with its originally music-focused model--if My Chemical Romance has a social networking profile, it can't be just for losers, right?--and online social networking lost much of its "a/s/l?" stigma (that's "age/sex/location," one of the Web's oldest pickup lines, for you newbies). Bolt probably could've found some way to "evolve" and get the word out, but it didn't--the video-site makeover flopped amid the current glut of YouTube clones.

[Quiksilver7122]

Bye bolt :(

bolt was my favorite site before myspace came along. I still feel <br />that the old bolt was better than myspace. Its sad to see it go.

[micheal676]

i will miss it

i had a original bolt account back in the day. and have had one on and off even in this latest incarnation. i didn't even think video was a big part of it. what i experienced was interacting with people around the world through pictures more than anything. i preferred it to myspace and the other big ones.

[1TUCKER1]

bolt.com

join group 1tucker1 bolt.com on face book

[starsstripes00]

I Miss bolt

i miss bolt, the orginal bolt before it came a myspace type of deal. Maybe someone will start up again, and bring it back like the orignal one

[youthdynamics]

Bolt.com

Why will you miss Bolt.com.<br />What did you like or not like about it ?<br />I just ran across articles about it and it sounds interesting.

[biggpempin]

Wow! That's really sad!

I hadn't logged into Bolt for a while now (years). I tried to do it tonight for nostalgic reasons, and man was I crushed to hear the bad news. Bolt was way more impacting to me than Myspace will ever be. Forget bulletins! What ever happened to good old IRC chat &#38; the freedom that came with the commands you could use? And "going private?" And those who were savvy enough knew backdoor sites that allowed you to (in violation of user terms agreement) control chat rooms on bolt.com, which allowed you to clone user IDs and boot people, locking them out of the room altogether! Ha ha, great times!<br /><br />Oh, and a/s/l? :) I actually met a girl on bolt.com that I wound up dating. And during my second phase of Army training (the job training, or AIT), I would be at the post library chatting it up, making friendships that lasted for years, all through bolt.com. Oh well. I agree with whoever said it would be nice if someone revives it.

[themilquetoast-220152136818928]

Ah, Bolt.

I remember becoming a Bolt member when I was twelve (having lied about my age to make myself 15, as was the age requirement for Bolt in 2000) by the recommendation of a friend from school who was also a member, and was thoroughly hooked by the time I was fourteen. It was a great way to kill time with message boards, chat rooms, and "tagbooks", as I remember they were called, which allowed members to post questions on their profiles for others to answer.<br /><br />I was on Bolt2 (which was actually the original Bolt, after Bolt decided to attempt to copy YouTube) under various names until the day it shut down in early '07, being the nerd that I am, and made several good friends, who I'm still in contact with today. It had a good run, lasting ten years, and I'm sad to see it completely gone.

[cdw724]

I'll miss it.

I made an account there in 2000 and for several years was there everyday. I loved it. The "tagbooks" were my favorite part, where you could ask questions of other members. It was always really interesting.<br />I had no idea that Bolt had been shut down. I found this article because, for the first time in who knows how long, I'd remembered it and decided to check to see if my account was still valid. So, now I'm kinda sad since I was ready to look at everything I'd done on there for the last seven years, and now it's just all gone.

[Reckless_Ambition]

Good Riddance!!!

A couple of years ago when I had signed onto Bolt after not using it for a few years I found the site overloaded with young girls with revealing sexual photos of themselves. There were tons of open forums and sex advice chats filled with young girls and older dirty men. Needless to say it was disgusting. I had emailed the website several times and made moderation suggestions that seemed to be ignored and/or deleted. I emailed letters and saved screen captions to the authorities. No one really seemed to give a crap. <br /><br />Anyway, I'm glad to see it's gone. That's just one less cest pool of a website.

[aaaandy]

Re: Good Riddance!!!

Yeah, you gotta watch those "cest" pools.

[dr-doctor]

HOORAY!!!! Bolt's back

[DiamondRose1976]

If people think that Bolt is dead and gone they obviously haven't surfed the web lately. I'm a member of Bolt and while it is just recently up and running and not yet to it's full potential it is most definitely back. The original Bolt had a HUGE following and a lot of people, teens mostly, were very upset when it was gone. If you were a member of Bolt and didn't know it's back then please come rejoin us. If you have never been to Bolt then please check it out before you put it down. It has a long way to go before it gets back to it's glory, but it's getting there and we Bolters support it!

[acanaday]

Yeah, I went to bolt.com, and it just turned out to be some sort of dumb search engine or something. If bolt really is back, I kind of wish you would have put their actual address in your comment. But, oh well. From what I see, bolt is truly gone, and it will be truly missed. I first became a member of bolt in 2000 and was hooked from the first day. I can't tell you how many friends I had made in the couple of years that I used bolt. Frankly, life changes changed how much I continued using it, and after a while, I just stopped; until today, when I thought I'd try to log on again just to see the things I had done and the people I had met, and wanted to check my tagbooks, which were probably one of the funnest parts about bolt, but saw that it had gone under. I never really care about stuff like that, but for some reason that hit me. Bolt is what started my internet interaction with people and where I made some of the coolest friends. I had so much fun with that site. Unfortunately, I heard in another comment that it turned into something different after a while, and I'm not that crazy about that. So, in that sense, I'm glad it's gone, but I'm also upset that the old bolt was gone in the first place. I'm also glad I stopped using it when I did, so I can have the memory of the old bolt, versus what it turned into near the end. It will be missed, it would be nice if it reincarnated, but if and only if it turns out to be the same as the old bolt and doesn't change. It was great the way it was. RIP Bolt.com.

[mutchkin21]

"In January 2008, WildSites, a company that buys and monetizes domains, acquired the assets of Bolt.com from bankruptcy and relaunched the site in April, only to see it close again in October 2008. The Bolt domain is currently a doorway page registered by Funddom, LLC in Irvington, NY." <br /> <br />From http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/10/30/where-are-they-now-bolt-com?page=0%2C1 <br /> <br />Totally sucks that bolt.com is gone. I hope one day they bring the old bolt back. I like doing the Tagbooks and go into the forums. <br /> <br />My best friend got me on there when we was like 13. She recently passed away in June and before that, we actually brought up the fact that teentalk and bolt.com was our "learning" area when education nor parents would help us. It was our way of getting information, socializing and making use til we where picked up at the library at school. <br /> <br />If they bring back bolt.com again, it better stay the old style, not "updated" it to be like youtube or myspace. That is why bolt was so interesting and fun.

[daMoonatik]

i am proud to say that i am/was/and forever will be Lord_Acid from Bolt.com!!

[Ryudragonfire]

Wow...In decemeber... I have GOOD news for all you bolt fans and BAD NEWS for all you who "RIP" bolt fans... First and far most... in 2009 BOLT.COM the "ORIGINAL" what do i mean original?...When bolt.com first came out in 1998 as the original bolt.com (non of that youtube BS)..anyway back to what i was saying the ORIGINAL bolt.com is comming back (Why you ask?!?...Why more trouble? why more bs? why why why???) One moron thought in gofish that..umm... Why cant we just bring back the old bolt?... DUH... Minus the video's and such that can be copy righted... Bolt.com has a better plan, new ideas lesser cost and no more sueing for crying out loud... Universal Music is just..yeah..yea..yea.... Infact... i wonder if it was even contracted that this lawsue was aviable..i think people who made the music just wanted the money just because "omg...my ass is on this site and...they didnt ask permission..." heres a thought... *** were u doing being a music pop star"!?!?... Do you not THINK people are gona steal your face?!.. moron for dummies...anyone and everyone in the..anyway its all over rated... Welcome back Bolt.com &lt;3

[Ryudragonfire]

Who ever wrote that commin, this Ryudragonfire guy is crazy =)~... Will forever and always be Ryudragonfire - Bolt.com woohoo!!! GO BOLT...(its like football.. or world of warcraft..or...umm myspace? naw, Bolt.com BLOWS myspace out the waters!)

[Dead_Poet]

I hope the original bolt is coming back. I always did say that the domain was still good so there was a chance it could be revived. I really want to see all the bolt people back home and happy again. I know they miss that place. As far as lawsuits...not sure what you are trying to say. The other bolt was sued, not the original. From what I know of the origina bolt there isn't even an uploading feature for music is there? But no matter I am sure they won't get sued if gofish is buying bolt because gofish is a member content site. What is your source for this information anyway?

[Ryudragonfire]

Gofish resource website had a link up about bolt.com commin back in 2009, if u look at bolt.com, at the bottom it says its commin back. Its true they are..Im not sure where the website is ill look it up again and post it

[crystalc_6]

Bolt.com just popped into my head after not logging on in two years and I wanted to see all my old pictures and tagbook questions, and board posts so I went looking and found that the site shut down. bummer. I used it all the time between the time I was 15-18 years old. I had so much stuff on my profile. So many memories. Is there anyway I can get some of this stuff back somehow? wouldn't it be archived somewhere? they have to atleast have my pics still right? does anyone know how I can see my old profile and reminisce again?

[Ryudragonfire]

Your pictures are gone and done, once a website shuts down for a period amount of time, they have to get rid of the infromation they also consumed. They arnt paying anymore for it. Well not till they come back in 2009. If u read at the bottom of bolt.com they even stated they are comming back. Im sure everything was Archived..But i highly doubt they would let you into that archive just to get pictures... all that is gone onless u call up gofish company its self and write a really mean letter or something. Good luck tho.

[Triccy00]

Like most people i had an account for years and decided randomly to log in...its so sad that it's gone and i totally agree that if the original Bolt.com came back it would be so awesome! I was triccy on bolt.com! Anyways heres hoping it comes back. :)

[livexlove]

I was a member of Bolt.com from 1998, and I totally remember seeing Lord_Acid around a lot :) ! <br />I was l0stwun. I made my first "homepage" on Bolt.com. When they got rid of homepages, I moved on to Homestead.com, and then I learned HTML and was eventually part of the whole teen personal domain craze. haha <br />I probably posted on my first message board at Bolt.com aswell. The message boards were great, and the social aspect of tagbooks wow'd me at the time. <br /> <br />Bolt.com was as influential as Mavis Beacon, ICQ and Napster for me :P

[Jonboyz]

i was on bolt all them years ago was 16/17 at the time loved it on there the chat rooms were jsu tthe best around and meet alot of people on there as well. some of witch i still talk to.<br />pitty it was closed down and then reopened with this crap site that only has the same name.<br />will miss it.