Readers share their memories

REDMOND, Wash. - It wouldn’t be a birthday party without some friends over to help us blow out the candles, so we asked you to share your memories of the last 10 years.

For many people, our coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was a key turning point, not just in how they saw MSNBC.com, but in how they saw Internet news generally. Some people wrote in to praise gone-but-not-forgotten tools from the early days, such as News Alert, while others wrote in to say they were new fans of MSNBC.com.

Teachers told us of using our content in their classes; new mothers told us we gave them a way to stay connected to the outside world. Two women even wrote in to say they’d met their future husbands on our old message boards.

We also heard complaints, both old and new, about video, about Firefox and about all the ads. Others wrote angrily about our politics (both too left and too right), or about whether celebrity news belonged on the cover. One reader suggested a proofreader would make a nice birthday present.

What follows is an edited selection of your e-mails. Individual e-mails may be edited as well. And don’t forget to weigh in with your views on our   10^th anniversary message board.

‘I will never forget 9/11’
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, your website was where I first learned about what was going on in New York City. … It was one of those moments where you had to stare for several seconds at the fireball and smoking black hole two-thirds of the way up the WTC towers, under the headline "TRAGEDY IN NEW YORK", before reality finally kicked in. In those early moments and hours, time basically stood still in our office as everyone tracked the attacks and their aftermath through MSNBC.com. I remember it clearly to this day.
Mike, Hartford, CT

The site was extremely busy (on 9/11), but MSNBC.com did an excellent job of keeping me well informed during the crisis and also confirming my instinct -- Bin Laden was behind the terror. This is most certainly a defining moment in my lifetime, and MSNBC.com provided complete coverage to not only my defining moment but also a pivotal moment in our country's history.
Jennifer, Round Rock, Texas

I will never forget 9/11. MSNBC.com was a great site to get up to the second information when it mattered most.
Matthew Carpenter, Plano, TX

I think most Americans would agree that September 11, 2001 was the biggest news story in which the Internet played a crucial roll. For all of us East Coast office workers that had already arrived at our cubicles for the day, MSNBC.com was the main connection between our windowless offices and the outside world that day.
Stacy, Greenwich, CT

I'll never forget listening to the MSNBC.com live radio feed on the morning of September 11, 2001. In the middle of the morning broadcast, a reporter mentioned early reports of a commuter jet hitting the World Trade Center in New York. As reports began coming in that it was something more than that, I stayed glued to my live feed, listening to the most traumatizing event of my life unfold.
Ariel Boggess, Charleston WV

I have been reading my news on MSNBC since 9-11. I was at work as a school nurse and heard the news from one of the teachers. We turned all the TVs off because of the students (2nd and 3rd graders). I still wanted to know what happened so I got on MSNBC and watched it all day until I got off. It was slow that day as I'm sure many people were doing the same. I have been using MSNBC as my daily news since then.
Alana Maddock, Joplin, Missouri

I remember on Sept. 11, we didn't know what was going on. I was at work, and everyone in the office kept "refreshing" the MSNBC web site to find out the latest updates. It was the first time that I remember the Internet, and especially this site, being central to the general public for up to the minute (and accurate) information.
Kristel, Cleveland, OH

Katrina, the shuttle and more
I recall when the jury had reached a verdict for Timothy McVeigh, I didn't have a television or radio but had MSNBC.com at work. The home page gave the time that the verdict would be read, and I refreshed the page every few seconds. After a couple dozen clicks to refresh, the page was changed to read "GUILTY". MSNBC.com has been my home page at work and home for several years, and I have never been disappointed.
Moses P., Lakewood, California

My earliest memory of MSNBC.com came during the attacks at Columbine High School. I had taken the afternoon off from work and was surfing the net when I clicked on MSNBC.com. There were photos of the chaos changing every few minutes. It was surreal to sit at the computer and watch the tragedy unfold. I stayed with it for over 3 hours on that eventful day.
Chris, Quincy, IL

During the confusing and upsetting days after the 2000 election, you were my source for the very latest updates on who would end up being president. I worked in an office and there were no TVs or radios, so I kept you on my computer desktop. Even though the result wasn't what I'd hoped for, I appreciated the coverage. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Debbi Greene Barer, Easton, CT

The morning the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated. … I was awoken by a phone call from a friend saying "something happened to the shuttle" ... the first place I turned was MSNBC.com, where to my horror there was a picture of the flying debris and the headline COLUMBIA LOST. Your coverage of the whole story was applaudable.
Jeff Kupke, Flanders, NJ

MSNBC was a critical link during Katrina. The blogs from your great reporters (especially the stories on the pets) were awesome. I take your news quiz every Friday and I look forward to it. I also appreciate the link to Newsweek and Washington Post articles.
Anonymous

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