Template:Did you know nominations/BowieNet

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cielquiparle (talk) 00:03, 9 March 2023 (UTC)

BowieNet

  • ... that in 1998, David Bowie launched BowieNet, a pioneering internet service provider which offered exclusive access to audio recordings, music videos, an online chat, and a virtual world? Source: “David Bowie is best remembered for his music - but he was also groundbreaking in his use of technology, not least his internet service, BowieNet, which launched in September 1998.
    In a time before Instagram, YouTube, Twitter or even MySpace, most artists provided little if any online material to their followers. But Bowie's platform not only offered a wide variety of exclusive content, but also several ways to interact with the singer himself. "In my view, BowieNet had to be the most groundbreaking reachout to fans that I have ever seen any artist ever do," Craig Carrington, one of its users, says.
    For a monthly fee, members got an @davidbowie.com-ending email address and exclusive access to audio recordings, music videos and chat rooms, which the singer participated in himself.
    The singer's fondness for new forms of communication was also apparent with BowieWorld - a 3D chat environment offered via his site, which pre-dated Second Life. "It took a couple of minutes to download, but was completely new for the internet," says Mr Carrington. "It gave the illusion that you were going through a three-dimensional city, and you saw decorations that he put all over the place - favourite posters and pictures of himself. "You had an avatar - a creature or a person you controlled - and you could move around the environment and interact with others."” BBC

Created by Thriley (talk) and 87Fan (talk). Nominated by Thriley (talk) at 23:42, 31 January 2023 (UTC). Note: As of October 2022, all changes made to promoted hooks will be logged by a bot. The log for this nomination can be found at Template talk:Did you know nominations/BowieNet, so please watch a successfully closed nomination until the hook appears on the Main Page.

General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems

Hook eligibility:

  • Cited: Yes
  • Interesting: No - just an ask
QPQ: Done.

Overall: @Thriley: Good article but I think the hook would benefit on more specifics. Like for example, what virtual world? Onegreatjoke (talk) 21:12, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

  • Thank you for your review. With the hook, I'm trying to show how broad the offerings of BowieNet were. I thought by not specifying what the virtual world was would lead to interest in reading the actual article to find out. Thriley (talk) 16:21, 10 February 2023 (UTC)
I guess it's interesting enough. Onegreatjoke (talk) 16:49, 3 March 2023 (UTC)