The Story of Assyrian Voice – 27 Key Milestones
- The Homework Spark
The website was officially born on April 15, 1999, immediately after I finished my Grade 12 ESL homework.
- The AltaVista Origin
It all started out of boredom when I typed “create my own website” into AltaVista, the dominant search engine long before Google. In fact, and while I don't remember the exact details, I had a book that was gifted to me about how to create a website in Front Page, which I also used to further develop the site.
- The Original Name
At launch, it wasn’t called Assyrian Voice-it was known as the “Assyrians in Canada” website.
- The Political Landscape
At the time, Bill Clinton was President of the United States, and Saddam Hussein was still ruling Iraq.
- The Dial‑Up Hustle
Of course, I didn’t even have high speed internet at home and had to rely on slow dial-up internet (remember the interesting modem dialing noise?)
- Demographics of 1999
When the site launched, there were still over one million Assyrians living in Iraq. In fact, speaking of Iraq, since its inception, we have seen a total of over 14 Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac patriarchs come and go. In other words, Assyrian Voice has been in existence for so long, we have seen it all, not to mention all the wars, political crisis, and so much more...
- Filling the Vacuum
In October 1999, Atour Chat shut down (after NOL had shut down its chat service in late 1998/early 1999. Assyrian Voice stepped in to fill the void, giving Assyrians a new digital home when they had nowhere else to go.
- The ICQ Era
Promotion was done through ICQ, the instant messenger of the time-long before Facebook, MySpace, or MSN existed.
- Voice Chat Pioneer
In December 1999, the site added Voice Chat via HearMe, allowing the Assyrian diaspora to hear native accents and language online for the first time.
- The 200% Explosion
The addition of voice chat triggered the first major traffic surge, with site hits jumping by over 200% almost overnight.
- The Meaning of “9/11”
In 1999, “9/11” referred only to the emergency number for police—global events would change that meaning two years later.
- Tech of the Time
The world was obsessed with the Nokia 8210 and other similar versions, and playing Snake. Smartphones were still science fiction.
- The Official Rebrand
In early 2000, I purchased AssyrianVoice.net to reflect the platform’s mission of giving the community a literal and symbolic voice.
- A Virtual Concert Hall
The site became the first to host live voice interviews with icons such as Ashur Sargis, Evin Agassi, and Julie Yousif, allowing real‑time listening and interaction.
- The First Message Board
Launched in March 2000, this was the precursor to modern forums. Many users were so new to the internet they didn’t yet understand how message boards worked.
- The Midnight Save
In September 2000, I nearly shut the site down due to moderation stress-until two users, one from Toronto and one from Holland, convinced me to keep going. Can't thank them enough!
- Sports Legends
1999 marked transitions in sports history: Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls, and Wayne Gretzky played his final NHL game.
- Crowd Control
Text chat became so popular-and chaotic at times-that we had to reduce room capacity from 50 users to 25 to keep things manageable.
- The “Assyria” Directories
In 2001/2002, we launched MSN Assyria and ICQ Assyria, registering over 3,000 community members in the first year.
- The 10 Million Milestone
Despite the global shift to social media apps, the site has now been visited over 10 million times. - Saved by a Second
In 2002, the domain name nearly expired due to a misplaced email. It was renewed at the very last second.
- Speaking of domain names, there is a long story here too, where it took us 22 years to chase and finally get AssyrianVoice.com, after it was registered but rarely used by an individual from Chicago. You can read all about it here.
- The Tim Hortons Tragedy
In June 2004, I accidentally left my laptop on my car roof while leaving a Tim Hortons location. It was lost forever-along with 11 unreleased photo albums.
- Hacked During Finals
On April 17, 2005, the entire server was hacked just two days before my university final exams, forcing me to rebuild the site while studying.
- The Million Mark
The site reached 3 million hits in 2005, followed by 4 million in 2006. And since its inception, it has now registered well over 10 million hits, despite losing most traffic as majority of users migrated to social media apps and platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, and lately to AI)
- Early Video Adoption
In 2007, anticipating the rise of YouTube, the site launched its own dedicated channel on youtube (and under AssyrianVideo.com)
- The Ultimate Survivor
Launched in 1999, Assyrian Voice is a rare digital bridge between centuries. While nearly 95% of Assyrian websites created between 1999 and 2010 no longer exist, AVN proudly remains. In fact, I did some research on this topic and majority of websites don't last beyond 5 years, rarely beyond 10, and extremely rare to last 20 years or more. We happen to be in the 'extreme rare' despite all the waves of technological change and we are extremely proud of that. Moreover, we are forever thankful and give great sense of gratitude to all the thousands and thousands who have visited us, interacted with us or contributed to us in any way possible.
ASHOOR
Last edited:
