Hell.com

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HELL.COM

URL	http://www.hell.com/
Type of site
Owner	BAT Flli LLC
Created by	Kenneth Aronson (CEO/Founder)

Hell.com is a website created on August 2, 1995^[1][2] that serves as "a launching pad for cool designers and leading net.artists."^[3] It has been known for being quite barren and simple; many media companies, such as New York Times, TIME, and numerous others, have taken a liking to this site as well as curious visitors and hackers. Due to this, the site has been heavily speculated by some as the frontend for a secretive global group with an unknown purpose (as suggested by this site and related others), although it could be likely to be no more than a collaboration for net.art. Despite the site's sparseness, it receives thousands of visitors daily.^[4]

Contents 1 Layout 1.1 Original layout 1.2 E-mail accounts 2 Subscription 3 Purpose 4 Relations 4.1 Net.art 4.2 Bat.Hell.com 4.3 Final.org 5 Theory of being a cult 5.1 Supporting evidence 5.2 Hell Chat 6 Further known information 7 Events 8 Site alterations 9 0100101110101101.org's version 10 Sale of Hell.com's domain name 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Layout

Currently, the main page seemingly comprises a white background with two sentences in the lower center that state "HELL.COM is a private parallel web." and "There is no access via web browser." When the mouse arrow is moved over the center of the page, the whole background turns black, prominently showing a white logo of a circle with a downwards facing arrow inside.

The logo, when clicked on, takes you to another page that has an all-black background with a Google search box in the middle. Some time ago, the search box reacted when certain "keywords" were entered (e.g. redemption, hell, answer), which would take the visitor to other pages. This search box replaced all other content of most of Hell.com's known pages other than the e-mail login some time ago.

[edit] Original layout

When the site was first introduced, the site hosted a variety of unique features; ones that gave the site a mysterious, yet intriguing, kind of feeling. In the original design, the index page featured a random aphorism in place of the logo. The aphorism took a visitor to a "links" page that consisted of three links:

• "no access"
  Contains the Hell.com logo that links to:
  • Disclaimer page
    The writing states that "this is a parallel web. there is no public access. the waiting list is approximately 18-22 months." There are two further links; "apply"- which allows you to enter an email address to send you an email asking for a payment, and "dont"- which closes the window

• "redemption"
  Contains a red link called "soul redemption program". The link sends the visitor to:
  • Questions page
    A flash page in which hundreds of questions fly towards the user through black space. Clicking one of them provides an "answer." A link to the left reading "Yes" passes onto the Payment page
    • Payment page
      This is a set of a few pages whereby, after several warnings that the payment is real, one can fill out a form to donate for a range of amount options from $10 to $10000 ^[5] and later changed to $20, $200 or $2000 ^[6].

• "search"
  Added on February 8, 2006, this link leads to the Search Page (see below)
  • Search page
    Contains a seemingly normal Google search box; however, certain "keywords" typed in the box can take you to other pages. Known "keywords" are:
    • redemption
      Links to Questions Page
    • hell
      Links to Links Page
    • answer
      This link first led to a picture of a bald, naked woman falling through darkness. Soon after that, the link sends the user to a "sister site" called cygne-noir.com. It is mostly in the same format of Hell.com and acts as a portfolio for Kenneth Aronson. It used to contain a gallery of sensual female nudes, but now only contains a logo (not the same as Hell.com's logo) and the word "cygne-noir." Some say that this is proof that Aronson is the webmaster of Hell.com: the portfolio describes Aronson as "A conceptual artist who uses photography as part of his process. His digital work has been featured at The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Absolut LA international, Robert Berman Gallery, Montreal International Film Festival, as well as exhibitions in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Korea, and Mexico." According to Aronson's personal site, he is the "CEO/ Founder of this parallel network/ [Hell.com] which is considered the enigma of the web", further backing up the notion that Hell.com is net.art.

[edit] E-mail accounts

A page found on Hell.com contains a login screen used for e-mail accounts. Apparently, "@hell.com email accounts are 'given' to patrons who made a donation to the project."^[7] These "patrons" are people who are on the guestlist up to 2005.^[7] By paying twenty-five dollars, a person receives a one year e-mail address; those who pay $100 will become a patron for life.

The e-mail account is "mailPLUS", a high level of service provided by everyone.net. The service consists of "pro SPAM filtering, increased storage space, direct POP3 access to the server, (and) customer support," as well as having a "@hell.com" in the e-mail address itself. It states that "these services are billed directly by them and have nothing to do with HELL.COM."^[8]

By 2005, Hell.com stopped selling e-mail addresses due to "an enormous percentage of delinquent accounts." However, e-mail addresses are apparently still available if a donation of $250 dollars is made. ^[9]

[edit] Subscription

It is possible to navigate to a page where you use your credit card to pay for a subscription to Hell.com, apparently opening up certain hidden areas and explaining more about what the site is. However you cannot know what you are buying, and it costs $50 initially, followed by an unlimited bill of $10 a month. Furthermore, it explicitly states that discovering what the site is about will take several years, and no answers will ever be given.

[edit] Purpose

According to CEO/Founder Kenneth Aronson^[10], Hell.com exists for the purpose of providing a forum for the creation of *ar , or alternative reality.^[11][12] He defines that "*ar is the creation of something new. Whereas a virtual reality is an attempt to simulate the real world in virtual space. ar* is something new created in virtual space that becomes a reality in the physical world." Its aims are documented and well known from the site final.org^[13] and a New York Times article written in 1998.^[14]

On SweetCucumber.com, Hell.com was described as "a very private and somewhat mysterious place for Net-artists to hang out and create Web-art (or Net-art, as it was called in the late nineties), without being directly visible to the grand public."^[15]

A past version of Hell.com states that:

HELL.COM is a private non commercial project devoted to establishing an alternative reality. it has absolutely nothing to do with theology, religion, cults, adult content, entertainment, or art. HELL.COM is not associated with any business nor organization. it is supported entirely by a few individuals, its patron members, guest contributions,and the sale of official product.^[16]

Hell.com draws its membership from the art, design, programming, and theoretical realms, but is open to those who are willing to explore new possibilities in communication. It also seeks strategic alliances with media labs, universities, individuals and organizations experimenting in media and human communication.^[17]

A "sister site" of Hell.com, bat.hell.com tells:

HELL.COM is a private parallel network comprised of acknowledged visionaries with diverse skillsets working from 20 nations. Described as the 'bleeding edge of the web' by the BBC, the project has been pushing the boundaries of the internet to discover new levels of human communication.

– BAT.hell.com text, HELL^[18]

[edit] Relations

[edit] Net.art

All that can be surmised as to the purpose of the site is that its members, at least partially, are creative designers, specialising in creating sites like Hell.com that are abstract, dark, intractable, but mysterious. They have run at least 2 projects ("surface" and "HL2") where members have anonymously collaborated to create "projects", end-results that are non-informative webpages like Hell.com for people's viewing pleasure (HL2 apparently takes 90 minutes to explore). On this level, Hell.com is an example of net.art. However these creative projects seem to be only one facet of the larger Hell.com group.

[edit] Bat.Hell.com

BAT is described as the "creative thinktank" of Hell.com. It claims to excel in "simple effective solutions", "alternative perspectives" and "extreme ideas"^[19]. As well, under the title "INVISIBLE", BAT states that it works "confidentially as a mercenary resource", apparently for "leading advertising, communications, and technology companies."^[20]

[edit] Final.org

On Aronson's Portfolio's "cultural" page, a link to the site has been made under the link to Hell.com, being labeled as "overview."

In May 2006, the layout of Hell.com's index page had similarities to Final.org's. They both take on the same structure of word layouts and both share a white background.

[edit] Theory of being a cult

The main site itself seems to suggest that Hell.com offers a new way of life to its members, some kind of semi- or pseudo-Christian redemption via "facilitating" the transaction of "buying back your soul". This, it tells you, is why your subscription to the site costs so much: how much do you value your soul?

You are re-purchasing your own property at the value that you set. We are just facilitating the transaction. As only you know the amount required to redeem yourself, we can only accept your payment on good faith as a donation. Subsequently, there are no refunds or guarantees. all payments are final.

– Hell.com text

The site also gives many warnings that it has potentially distressing content (although little has been found beyond flashing images) However; it could be found that the website is distressing because of its bleak nature and terror-invoking name, which could possibly leave the feeling that something may pop out at any time. It exists on "many levels" (perhaps an allusion to Dante's Inferno) one of which is "the reality in which you currently exist".

[edit] Supporting evidence

It is possible to navigate to further pages including a User Login. One of these pages includes a FAQ for users, which answers one or two questions about the process of the site. Most notably, these two answers stand out:

• In response to a question about spam emails that a user had received:
  "we share nothing with no one...ever"^{[citation needed]}
• "where can i get more info about HELL.COM?"
  "our goal is to provoke questions...not answer them"^{[citation needed]}

Hell.com has a link to a further flash chat zone you can access which is located in final.org. The chat zone seems to have minimal protection for entry from non-users. Before entering the Chat zone, final.org states the following:

this is not a game. there are no support services of any kind. HELL.COM is only providing you access to this environment. the circumstances and the people that you will encounter are real. this project exists on many levels of reality including the one that you presently are living in. you are advised to use your best judgement at all times and proceed with extreme caution

– final.org warning message [1]

[edit] Hell Chat

The chat itself involves a type of console by which you apparently link to the Hell.com parallel web. You are able to access a number of flash animations by typing certain words known as "keywords" on the grey bar located on the upper left corner of the screen. The animations differ depending on which keyword you type in. The chat zone also allows you to see how many users have logged in.

Two chat users have posted information about the chat zone on their sites. These users are "beggs" and "Halo". According to the references on this section there was a sense of communion between the final.org chat users. There is a section in beggs' site which reveals all the "keywords" and has links to files located in final.org that cannot be normally accessed.[2]

There are no links on the final.org index page that lead visitors to the chat zone anymore, however there is still an entry to the chat zone that is still working and a link to a list which shows the name and location of people who have entered the chat zone since January 6th 2007 posted in Halo's site.

Guests are able to enter the chat environment from the profile but are unable to chat. The only ones who are able to form part of the conversations are the users mentioned above and a few others that haven't been identified since they appear to be nameless.

The relation between final.org/hell.com and these individuals is unclear.

[edit] Further known information

Kenneth Aronson has a MySpace profile^[21]

[edit] Events

Hell.com has hosted three events in the past couple of years:

• "s u r f a c e"
  Opened on January 1, 1999 and closed on January 26, 1999, it was Hell.com's first event^[22] and "is a self contained immersive experience of selected content from the projects parallel web." It was a presentation of "the collaborative work by 17 members of the HELL project."^[23] During the first 48 hours of its release, 0100101110101101.ORG downloaded the site's files and created a copy as anticopyright.

• "skinonskinonskin"
  Opened in September 1999, this event is a network installation by Auriea Harvey (Entropy8) and Michael Samyn (Zuper!)^[24][25] The site has a pay-per-view entry, costing eight euros for five days on access and €100 for a lifetime access.^[26]

• "chaos"
  Released in November 2000

[edit] Site alterations

Every now and then the site's normal set of pages becomes inaccessible to be replaced with some different, usually one-paged frontend. For instance:

• Around Christmas of 2005, the site became nothing but links to World Hunger Year and Debt AIDS Trade Africa, with a red-tinted image containing Santa Claus and an African boy. There was also an image with the text "Nohell", a presumed reference to Noël and Christmas. The site's title was "PLEASE", suggesting that the site owner wished one to donate to these organizations.^{[citation needed]}
• Around March 2006, the frontpage aphorism ceased to be a link, meaning that the site again thus only had one page. Accompanying the aphorism was a Google search box which didn't respond to the standard "keywords" (see above, Site Map - Search page).^{[citation needed]}
• Around April 2006, the site underwent a massive change. The front page now presents one with a selection of links which take you to various similar-looking pages filled with adverts and news. It is possible to navigate to the chat zone (see above) directly from the site now. It is not known if these changes are permanent.^{[citation needed]}
• As of June 2006, the + sign at the bottom of the index page takes one to http://final.org, from which can be accessed the chat zone. It is now known that at least some other participants in the chat zone are actual people.^{[citation needed]}
• As of August 2006 accessing the front page produces a non-linked random aphorism. The website is not compatible with Firefox at this time.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 0100101110101101.org's version

Sometime in 1997, the website 0100101110101101.org acquired the webpage code of Hell.com during the first 48 hours of one of its events and created a similar one as "a digital monument to the principles upon which the Internet runs," and an anticopyright.^[27] "'The belief that information must be free,'" explained at the time (by) Renato, (a) 0100101110101101.ORG spokesman, 'is a tribute to the way in which a very good computer or a valid program works: binary numbers move in accordance with the most logic, direct and necessary way to do their complex function. What is a computer if not something that benefits by the free flow of information? Copyright is boring.'^[28]

About two hours later, after the acquired code was made into a separate site, an e-mail from Hell.com was sent to 0100101110101101.org in response as well as accusing them of stealing work of Hell.com's members:

“

cute... please immediately remove this material from your server you are in violation of international copyright laws which are clearly posted in the copyright information contained in our source code. also of note, it appears as though you have violated the copyrights of quite a few of our members individually::::::::::::::: http://www.0100101110101101.ORG on behalf of these individuals we request that you also remove these materials from your server as well[29]

”

In reaction to the questions "So what was the idea behind taking this site?" and "To access a formerly closed system, that was open only to a self-proclaimed elite, and make it accessible to everybody?" 0100101110101101.org answered that "the feeling that Hell.com was exactly the opposite of what we think that the web could and should be, but this is not really our own idea."^[30]

In an interview, Aronson stated that "'Anyone can spin this any way they want, but in the final analysis, it is just simple theft. It's a publicity stunt to create awareness for a bunch of people who have no apparent talents.'"^[31]

Despite the fact that "HELL.COM has ... threatened legal proceedings for copyright violations", the event is still readily available and 0100101110101101.org has not removed the pages from their site.^[32]

[edit] Sale of Hell.com's domain name

On April 2000 Anderson attempted to sell Hell.com in an auction with an eight million dollar reserve bid,^[33] but decided against it.

In an interview with Domenico Quarenta of the magazine Cluster, Aronson stated that having the most visible address is "negative for us, but has a large value... which could be exchanged for resources to help further the goals of the project." Then, to explain the first sale, he announced that he "held off announcing the sale ... During this time the dot com crash happened and what was worth 8(eight) million became saleable at only a couple of million... so i decided to wait until the market recovered."^[34]

Then, on October 27, 2006, it was reported in the Wall Street Journal that the Hell.com domain name would be sold that day in a live auction by the domain company Moniker. An one million dollar reserve bid made placed and Kenneth Aronson announced that the proceeds would be used to benefit the hell.com community. However, CNNMoney announced that Hell.com was not bought by any of the bidders even though Aronson said that, "'Branding experts said the name is recognized more than Coca-Cola.'"^[35]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Official:

• HELL.COM (may not work in Mozilla/non-Java browsers)
• HELL.COM's e-mail login
• FINAL.ORG
• BAT | out of hell
• kenneth aronson | public art Kenneth Aronson's website
• C Y G N E N O I R Kenneth Aronson's portfolio

Site Detail:

• Alexa Hell.com stats
• Internet Archive for Hell.com

Events:

• skinnonskinonskin Hell.com event during 1999 created by "entropy8" and "Zuper!"