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[This Just In]

ON THE WEB
Connections

BY NINA WILLDORF

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2:44 P.M. — With phone lines down, many Americans turned to the World Wide Web to share stories and gather information about Tuesday’s terrifying events as they unfolded.

Just as the Gulf War played out on TV, with 24-hour CNN coverage, today’s beefed-up Internet venues raced to compete, as chat rooms and Web sites exploded with late-breaking news and views. And as the Gulf War effectively cast CNN as the around-the-clock news network, what’s being called " Black Tuesday " is likely to make the Web, which adds personal accounts and immediate responses to what’s being reported on the news. Sure enough, by early afternoon, Reuters reported that CNN.com was at maximum capacity, MSNBC.com and MSN.com added new servers, and AOL saw a spike in its volume of Instant Messages. We added to the traffic, scoping out the online scene.

Across the Web, anecdotal first-person accounts abounded. On a site called Diaryland.com, Riot718 shared her story:

The women’s community site iVillage.com started a " When Crisis Strikes " chat room, and people all over the world furiously banged out stories, rumors, and good wishes.

Tooldog wrote, " Up until recently I walked by the Trade Center each morning, about the time the first plane hit, on my way to a dot-com job about a block away from there. That company went bust in August and now I’m a stay-at-home-dad. I would have been right there in the middle of it. Even if I made it to my office, I’m sure the windows would have blown in, or worse ... "

On Slate.com’s community Web forum, " The Fray, " MBD dubbed the series of events " Black Tuesday. "

He writes: " Again I am reminded of the hysteria and rumors swirling around the obvious terror bombing and skyjacking of airliners: what my parents and grandparents went through in the hours after Pearl Harbor, almost 60 years ago. I hope to God Bush and the military pinpoint the monsters and send them and their loved ones to hell. "

AOL’s Digital City swiftly set up a room called " Offer Condolences and Support. "

HELLS HAIR wrote: " I know where my tax refund is going. The Red Cross will need an astronomical amount of supplies. I am forwarding my tax refund to them. "

Craigslist.org, a community-bulletin-board Web site with locations in various US cities, created a board in New York called " 9/11 Disaster Forum " with this cautious reminder: " As rumors fly about the perpetrators, let’s not compound this terrible tragedy by bashing ethnic or religious groups for the acts of fringe extremists. "

The international papers had stories up within hours:

Headline from Italy’s daily newspaper, Corriere Della Serra: attack on the usa, planes like bombs.

From Britain’s Guardian: the latest dispatches under the heading america’s day of terror.

Top headline on Worldnetdaily.com: — day of infamy 2001 — us at war with terror, suicide jetliners destroy world trade center, pentagon in flames in pearl harbor–style attack.

Meanwhile, while the rubble was still dropping, thousands were stuck in debris, and planes were still unaccounted for, Palestinian Media Watch offered " Talking Points on the Catastrophe " :

Still, there was one Web site that was consistently unavailable: www.wtc-top.org, the Top of the World Trade Center.

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Issue Date: September 11, 2001






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