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Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by wand3r on Monday May 15, 2017 @01:31PM (#14343390)
> Expert Sex Change

You may want to edit...

Edit: Well; that explains why the service didn't take off

Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by throwanem on Monday May 15, 2017 @01:33PM (#14343406)
And I may not. That was the constant nickname back in the day, occasioned by the fact that their original domain was "expertsexchange.com". They later moved to one with a hyphen, but by then the damage was done.

(Edit to your edit: It did take off! It was the best we had for years. That best was just very, very bad.)

Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by ryanmarsh on Monday May 15, 2017 @01:39PM (#14343449)
Remember joking with colleagues back then about sourceexchange.com and how that sounded out loud.
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by jaredsohn on Monday May 15, 2017 @01:50PM (#14343545)
penisland was another famous site from the time with this property.

Edit: It was a site that sold pens; I think the alternative pronunciation of their domain name was unintentional.

Edit 2: I think I was wrong. Snopes says they did sell pens but they chose the name intentionally: http://www.snopes.com/business/names/domains.asp. Some other such names from that link: powergenitalia.com, molestationnursery.com, and whorepresents.com.

Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by throwanem on Monday May 15, 2017 @02:22PM (#14343808)
Did it ever actually sell pens? I always understood it to be a joke; if it's been anything else, I'd love to know more.
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by throwanem on Monday May 15, 2017 @06:25PM (#14345700)
Snopes talks about penisland.net, which is still up now and clearly a joke - a rather disappointing effort, in fact, with a few rather broad double entendres and nothing further to offer.

I was curious about the (presumably) original .com, which is now squatted, and about which there seems no historical information easily to be found.

Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by doug1001 on Monday May 15, 2017 @09:40PM (#14346769)
don't know about the website, but "Pen Island" is/was a small shop on Regents Street in London (not far from Picadilly Circus tube station) that sold high end fountain pens, mechanical pencils, etc. Don't know if it's still there, but it was list time i was in the UK (2007)
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by andlrc on Monday May 15, 2017 @03:23PM (#14344346)
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by wand3r on Monday May 15, 2017 @01:54PM (#14343591)
Pen island? What was it supposed to be?
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by throwanem on Monday May 15, 2017 @01:59PM (#14343617)
A joke - a "domain hack" avant la lettre.
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by eriknstr on Monday May 15, 2017 @05:21PM (#14345224)
penis land
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by Jugurtha on Monday May 15, 2017 @02:27PM (#14343853)
Here's Peter Norvig explaining this stuff: https://youtu.be/yvDCzhbjYWs?t=24m37s
Re:What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack O... by pacificleo11 on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @12:06AM (#14347300)
true . Other such nameswere therapistfinder -> The Rapist Finder Whorepresent -> Whore Present