I invented it
Nah...back in the day, 1996, there weren't really a lot of free sites. Actually when I started, there was really no reason to build any. There weren't any affiliate programs. But once one started, they came fast and furious and so did free sites. The first free sites were real sites. My first one at one time had over 10k pics, music, personal ads, chat rooms, stories...etc. Nothing like the crap out there these days