I had NahenaheNet running well before then, but converted it to a blog-like format mimicing Dave’s “Scripting News” in late-October of 1997. Here are the archive pages from 1997 and 1998. It was Frontier managed, and it remained this way until Userland shipped “Manila”. I got one of the first EditThisPage.com sites on Dec. 4, 1999, and still use it for Nahenahe.
I many not be a pioneer, but I know one when I see one.