Bomis

Bomis was an American internet company established in 1996 by Jimmy Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis. The company is best known historically for providing the commercial, technical, and financial foundation for Nupedia and Wikipedia, but its original business was a general-purpose web portal and online content operation. The name was derived from the phrase “Bitter Old Men in Suits,” a joking description used by Wales and Shell; it was not intended as a formal acronym. The name was also chosen for its resemblance to the word “promise.” Bomis began by testing several approaches to online publishing and discovery, including a directory of information related to Chicago. It subsequently developed content and navigation services aimed largely at male internet users. These included material and link collections concerning sports, automobiles, celebrities, films, television, and popular culture. The company used web rings and directory-style pages, drawing in part on the Open Directory Project, to organize large numbers of external websites. In 1999 it introduced the Bomis Browser, a utility intended to block pop-up advertising. In 2000 Bomis became one of the network partners of Ask Jeeves, and it also participated in the NBCi web-portal initiative during the period when portal companies were attracting substantial investment and advertising. The company became more commercially successful after moving heavily into erotic and adult-oriented content. Its offerings included Bomis Babes, the Bomis Babe Report, Bomis Premium, and the Babe Engine, as well as related sites such as nekkid.com and nekkid.info. Bomis described some of this material as “glamour photography,” while outside observers and scholars commonly characterized the business as softcore pornography. Advertising, paid subscriptions, and referrals to other sites formed part of the revenue model. The adult business financed the company’s other internet projects, including its encyclopedia experiments. This association later shaped media descriptions of Bomis and created reputational controversy, particularly because Wikipedia originated within a company whose commercial activities included adult material. Bomis entered the encyclopedia field in 2000 by supporting Nupedia, an expert-reviewed free encyclopedia. Larry Sanger joined the company in 1999 and became Nupedia’s editor-in-chief. Nupedia pursued a formal multi-stage review and copyediting system, but the process was slow and produced relatively few completed articles. To accelerate the creation of draft material, Bomis launched Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, initially as a companion project to Nupedia. Wikipedia quickly developed its own identity and grew much faster than the parent project because its open-editing model removed many of Nupedia’s procedural barriers. For its first years, Wikipedia operated as a Bomis-supported, for-profit project. Bomis supplied servers, bandwidth, staff support, domain-related resources, and financing. Wales used company revenue to cover operating costs, with approximately $100,000 reportedly committed before Wikipedia was transferred to nonprofit stewardship. The dot-com crash reduced Bomis’s advertising income just as Wikipedia’s infrastructure requirements increased. The company reduced its workforce, and Sanger left his paid roles in 2002. Wikipedia remained under Bomis through the end of 2002, although it increasingly operated without advertising as the volunteer community opposed commercial development. In 2003, Wales and his associates established the Wikimedia Foundation and transferred Wikipedia-related assets, copyrights, hardware, and other resources to the new nonprofit organization. The foundation initially operated from St. Petersburg, Florida, alongside Bomis. This transfer ended Bomis’s role as Wikipedia’s corporate owner and placed the encyclopedia on a nonprofit footing. Nupedia’s remaining content was incorporated into Wikipedia, and Nupedia ceased operation in 2003. Wales stepped down as Bomis chief executive in 2004; Tim Shell was identified as the company’s chief executive in 2005. By 2007 Bomis was reported to be inactive. Its lasting significance is therefore less as a continuing consumer brand than as the early commercial incubator for Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement.

Bomis was founded in 1996 by Jimmy Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis as a for-profit internet company. Wales had worked in financial trading and research, while Shell was known to him through online philosophical discussions and Davis had been Wales’s manager at Chicago Options Associates. The founders sought to participate in the rapidly expanding commercial internet economy of the mid-1990s. The company initially experimented with portal and directory concepts. One early idea involved organizing information about Chicago, but Bomis gradually moved toward an advertising-supported content model aimed at a predominantly male audience. It built topic-based web rings and directory pages covering subjects such as sports, automobiles, films, television, celebrities, and popular culture. In 1999 it released the Bomis Browser, which was designed to reduce the impact of pop-up advertisements. The company also became associated with major portal networks, including Ask Jeeves and NBCi, although the collapse of the dot-com market weakened this part of the business. Bomis’s most commercially prominent content became erotic media. The company operated Bomis Babes, the Bomis Babe Report, Bomis Premium, and the Babe Engine, and maintained related sites including nekkid.com and nekkid.info. Bomis used advertising and subscriptions to monetize nude and erotic images, and some of its income came from adult films and blogs. The adult-content business was variously described by Wales and by external commentators as glamour photography or softcore pornography. It generated enough revenue to support experimentation in other areas, but it also became a persistent source of public criticism and reputational complications after Wikipedia became globally prominent. The company began its encyclopedia activities around 2000. Bomis financed Nupedia, a free encyclopedia intended to rely on credentials, expert review, and a formal editorial workflow. Larry Sanger joined Bomis in 1999 and served as Nupedia’s editor-in-chief. Nupedia’s process was designed to ensure quality, breadth, and neutrality, but its many stages made publication slow. Bomis therefore supported the creation of Wikipedia as a more flexible wiki-based environment where contributors could create and revise articles rapidly. Wikipedia was launched on January 15, 2001, initially as a project associated with Nupedia. It soon became a separate and much faster-growing site. Bomis provided servers, bandwidth, domain and infrastructure support, and paid personnel. Through 2002, Wikipedia remained a for-profit Bomis project even though its volunteer participants generally resisted advertising and conventional commercialization. Wales used Bomis revenue to meet the project’s early costs, and the company’s support was essential while Wikipedia was establishing its technical and editorial systems. The financial environment deteriorated as the dot-com crash reduced advertising revenue. At the same time, Wikipedia’s growth increased its infrastructure expenses. Bomis reduced its staff, and Sanger left his paid positions in 2002. Wikipedia’s volunteer community increasingly managed the project, while Wales concluded that a nonprofit structure would be more suitable for its mission and funding needs. In 2003 the Wikimedia Foundation was established to oversee Wikipedia and related free-knowledge projects. Bomis transferred Wikipedia-related hardware, copyrights, domains, and other resources to the foundation. The new organization initially operated from St. Petersburg, Florida, where Bomis had been based. Nupedia’s usable material was moved into Wikipedia, and Nupedia ceased operation during 2003. The transfer shifted Wikipedia away from Bomis’s commercial model and allowed it to solicit donations and expand independently. Wales left the Bomis chief executive role in 2004, and Tim Shell was identified as chief executive in 2005. Bomis was reported as inactive by 2007. The company’s commercial sites and adult-content history remain part of accounts of Wikipedia’s origins, but its principal historical importance is its early sponsorship of Nupedia and Wikipedia and its contribution of the resources that helped Wikipedia survive its formative period.

• 2007

  Bomis is reported inactive

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Reference accounts describe the company as inactive after its encyclopedia-related resources had been transferred to Wikimedia.

• 2004

  Wales leaves the Bomis CEO role

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Jimmy Wales steps down as chief executive of Bomis.

• 2003

  Wikipedia resources move to the Wikimedia Foundation

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Bomis transfers Wikipedia-related assets to the newly established Wikimedia Foundation, while Nupedia is discontinued.

• 2002

  Bomis reduces staff and Sanger leaves

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  The dot-com downturn and rising Wikipedia costs lead to layoffs; Larry Sanger leaves his paid Bomis-related roles.

• 2001

  Wikipedia is launched

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Wikipedia begins on January 15 as a wiki-based companion intended to accelerate the creation of Nupedia content.

• 2000

  Bomis funds Nupedia

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Bomis provides early financing for Nupedia, an expert-reviewed free encyclopedia.

• 1999

  Bomis Browser is introduced

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  The company introduces a browser intended to help users block pop-up advertisements.

• 1998

  Wales relocates to work on Bomis

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Wales moves from Chicago to San Diego and later to St. Petersburg, Florida, as Bomis develops its operating base.

• 1996

  Bomis is founded

  [1]Bomisen.wikipedia.org

  Jimmy Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis establish Bomis as a for-profit internet company.

An early commercial internet-content company that combined portal publishing, advertising, directory services, and adult-oriented media with experimental free-content knowledge projects.

• Internet portal · 1996

  Bomis portal and directory

  Bomis began as a general internet portal and information directory. It tested subject-specific approaches, including Chicago information, and later organized links and web rings around sports, automobiles, films, television, celebrities, and other popular-culture topics. The service relied heavily on advertising and external-site discovery rather than on a single proprietary database.

• Web browser utility · 1999

  Bomis Browser

  Introduced in 1999, the Bomis Browser was intended to help users block or reduce pop-up advertising. It reflected Bomis’s broader effort to provide tools around the rapidly changing web, although the browser did not become the company’s defining product.

• Adult online media

  Bomis Babes

  Bomis Babes was a Bomis section devoted to nude and erotic images. It formed part of the company’s advertising-supported adult-content strategy and helped establish the commercial business that financed Bomis’s other online experiments. The offering later became closely associated with public descriptions of Bomis as a softcore-pornography provider.

• Adult blog and editorial content · 2000

  Bomis Babe Report

  The Bomis Babe Report, also known as The Babe Report, presented erotic images and commentary in a blog-like format. Its material included coverage of adult performers and celebrities who had posed nude, making it a more editorialized component of Bomis’s adult-media portfolio.

• Subscription adult media

  Bomis Premium

  Bomis Premium was a paid subscription area offering more explicit adult and erotic material than the company’s freely accessible pages. It used a trial-and-subscription model and represented Bomis’s effort to supplement advertising income with recurring consumer payments.

• Adult-content search engine

  The Babe Engine

  The Babe Engine was a search and discovery service for erotic material on the web. It directed users toward adult-oriented content and illustrated Bomis’s emphasis on search, indexing, and link aggregation as ways to monetize specialized internet audiences.

• Online encyclopedia · 2000

  Nupedia

  Nupedia was a free online encyclopedia financed by Bomis and edited by Larry Sanger. It sought to publish articles written or reviewed by qualified contributors through a demanding multi-stage process. The system emphasized formal review and editorial quality but proved too slow for rapid expansion. Nupedia ceased in 2003, and relevant content was incorporated into Wikipedia.

• Collaborative online encyclopedia · 2001

  Wikipedia

  Wikipedia began as a Bomis-supported companion to Nupedia on January 15, 2001. Its open-editing model enabled volunteers to create and revise articles much more quickly than Nupedia’s expert-review workflow. Bomis funded early servers, bandwidth, personnel, and operating costs. Wikipedia was transferred to the Wikimedia Foundation in 2003 and continues independently of Bomis.

• 2005

  Edits concerning Bomis’s adult-content history

  Jimmy Wales edited Wikipedia to remove descriptions of Bomis as a provider of softcore pornography. The changes drew media scrutiny because Bomis had supported Wikipedia and Wales was closely identified with the encyclopedia. Wales later said he regretted making the edits.

  Source

Read more

• 2003

  Transfer Wikipedia to nonprofit stewardshipStrategy

  Background

  Wikipedia’s growth made it increasingly expensive for Bomis to operate, while a nonprofit structure offered a better basis for public fundraising and long-term independence.

  Action taken

  Bomis transferred Wikipedia-related copyrights, hardware, domains, and other resources to the newly formed Wikimedia Foundation.

  Aftermath

  Wikipedia became independent of Bomis’s commercial business, and the Wikimedia Foundation assumed responsibility for its operation and expansion.

  Reported Bomis funding used for early Wikipedia operations. (Before the 2003 transfer)

  Source

• 2003

  Discontinue Nupedia after integrating usable contentOther

  Background

  Wikipedia’s open model had produced content much faster than Nupedia’s seven-stage review and copyediting process.

  Action taken

  Nupedia was closed and its available material was merged into Wikipedia.

  Aftermath

  Wikipedia became the primary successor project and the central platform for the free encyclopedia effort.

  Source

• 2002

  Continue Wikipedia without conventional advertisingStrategy

  Background

  Wikipedia’s volunteer community opposed advertising, while the collapse of the dot-com market reduced Bomis’s advertising revenue.

  Action taken

  Wikipedia remained under Bomis through the end of 2002 but moved away from commercial advertising and relied increasingly on volunteer participation and Bomis support.

  Aftermath

  Rising operating costs made continued corporate support difficult and contributed to the later nonprofit transition.

  Source

• 2001

  Launch Wikipedia as a faster companion to NupediaProduct launch

  Background

  Nupedia’s formal expert-review process was producing articles slowly, creating a need for a more flexible drafting environment.

  Action taken

  Bomis launched Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, initially intending it to generate draft content that could later be reviewed for Nupedia.

  Aftermath

  Wikipedia rapidly outgrew Nupedia and became a separate project with its own volunteer community and editorial culture.

  Source

1. 1Bomisen.wikipedia.org