DotComGuy

DotComGuy was the name of a former computing systems manager who legally changed his name to DotComGuy from Mitch Maddox in 2000. His project was to live for one year (beginning on January 1, 2000) without leaving his house in Dallas,[1] Texas, ordering all food and necessities off the Internet and having them delivered. The house was monitored 24/7 and several video feeds were streamed online.

The project had a large number of sponsors including United Parcel Service, 3Com, Network Solutions, Piper Jaffray, Travelocity and an online grocer (now defunct) called GroceryWorks.com.

Despite initially attracting a lot of media attention, public interest in the project gradually faded away. In early 2001, a web site run by "Pud" Kaplan claimed that due to the end of the dotcom bubble in mid-2000, Mitch did not get the roughly $100,000 cash bonus he had been promised by some investors for successfully living "online" for the entire year. It was later claimed that this was a mutual agreement, that had been required to pay for keeping the project online for the entire year.

In the end of the project, DotComGuy legally changed his name back to Mitch Maddox and auctioned off the domain name DotComGuy.com. As of 2007, the domain name was no longer in use by Kaplan.

Every year on December 30 DotComGuy joins in a day-long irc chat session. [2]

Maddox is now a Technology Evangelist for Ultimate Software. [3]

The domain, dotcomguy.com, is now in use by one of the investors for a new IT services business.

References

  1. ↑ Couldry, Nick; McCarthy, Anna (2004-01-07). MediaSpace: place, scale, and culture in a media age. Psychology Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-415-29175-0. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "DotComGuy Fan Chat Reunion". Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "FEI Portland Chapter Newsletter". Retrieved 30 April 2015.

External links