It was founded in California first as simply WIRE in 1992, an acronym that stood for Women's Information Resource & Exchange, and could be accessed via telnet for a subscription.
Women's WIRE was conceived of by self-taught computer programmer, Nancy Rhine and then co-founded with entrepreneur, Ellen Pack.
In the dot.com bubble of 1999, Women's WIRE began to suffer financial losses and was eventually acquired by iVillage in 2001.
[2] When Pack posted on The WELL about starting a network for women online, Rhine contacted her about her idea.
[6] Pack helped provide the funds of $100,000 she raised from family and friends, and Rhine, who was a self-taught computer expert, developed the site.
[12] Rhine said the decision to settle was based on money so that Women's WIRE could focus on growing their business.
[18] The purchase deal, which included cash and stock, was worth $47 million and merged Women.com and iVillage.
[23] The merger itself created "the world's largest and most comprehensive destination for women on the web" at the time.
[27] Women's WIRE, now known as Women.com, had continued to expand their range of content in 1999 in order to bring in more visitors to the site.
[14] The site was more radical early on, reflecting the preferences of co-founder Nancy Rhine, who wanted to emphasize community and feminist principles.
[5] Women's WIRE was initially run on software called First Class BBS.
[9] If users needed help connecting to Women's WIRE, they could receive support from their own customer service.
[11] In 1994, Rhine and co-founder Ellen Pack had to make a decision about moving to the World Wide Web.
[1] In 1996, Women's WIRE moved away from a bulletin board service and encouraged subscribers to join a forum set up on CompuServe.