(no subject)
Jul. 6th, 2023 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitch25 I was thinking about my early experiences with social groups on computers after reading Cat's article that I posted earlier. I hate to do a "back in my day", but when I was in high school and early college in New Mexico, I had a Commodore 64 and I used several local BBS' on dial-up. We had a few Commodore specific, but we also had another one that was multi-line and for those that remember, that meant that for the interval (you were only allowed to be online for 10-20 minutes at most before you'd get kicked to allow someone else on), you could chat live with other folks who happened to be online at the same time. I have super fond memories of that era both for the friends I was making and for feeling like I was a part of something.
Growing up a neurodivergent geek, I got Other'd a lot. I did take comfort in some measure that I wasn't always alone and us Other'd would gravitate towards each other. And boy would they Other for any reason at all. In high school, my best friends got Other'd on the spot by a teacher. They were from England and had funny accents. Didn't think much of it at the time since I had been treated that way my whole life and had stopped noticing it was not a good thing as such. Funny how that goes.
So one of the things we did on the multi-line BBS was have weekly Saturday night midnight dollar movie meetups. We'd gather a bunch of us at the IHOP by the dollar theater around 10pm and we'd socialize and hang out with late night food, and then we'd walk over to the theater and watch whatever was out that week. One of the things I quickly discovered is that ALL OF US were Other'd. Every single one of us. And this was a way for us to get together to find friends and acceptance. And mostly we did. As with all groups of folks, there were always some who brought in some toxicity, and there were always those who wanted to come into the group as Other and further Other the Other'd. Sort of the nature of humanity in that way. Most of the time, those looking to fracture us didn't manage to do that very well. And there were folks who floated in and out. But the core of us held pretty steadfast. I met my first girlfriend from within that group. I stayed on with the grouip for some time until later college when I discovered the internet (such that it was) and had an avenue to get onto it via the university and later my first internet dial-up provider.
At the time, I discovered something called ICB. This was not IRC which was another chat-group setup at the time which felt more like the Wild West. ICB was generally created by groups of university geeks at several of the major technological colleges. It expanded some beyond that, but mostly it was university students or alum. My participation in that grouping led to my first IT job when the head accountant of a local food service company needed someone else to do IT related stuff so she could get back to doing actual accounting. We knew each other through ICB and she mentioned having a position and I applied and got it! In addition to doing IT related stuff and general support and data clerking, she would sometimes throw basic accounting stuff my way for some of the less complicated balance sheets. She taught me the rudiments of double entry and I would help her do some of the data entry. Later we hired a friend of ours from ICB who moved to the area needing a part time job while he worked on his Masters of Nuclear Engineering. And later that lead to another girlfriend who was also on ICB who moved to be with me and finish up her degree. And then we opted to move to Seattle. :-)
Somewhere in there was Livejournal. And chat wise, there was ICB still, but also ICQ, AOL Messenger, MSN Messenger, and what persists as Google Chat. I can remember being very fond of the multi-chat clients that allowed me to connect to all my favorite services at once so I could have one single place to work with. I also remember the migrations as things would either disappear or become less accessible. ICQ (iirc) also got slurped up by the Russians. AOL and MSN did their thing. Various places came and went. Some gone forever.
I have a distinct memory not that long ago (except it was probably going on 20 year now) of a friend being so excited about Facebook and quitting everything else to focus there because it was the site that brought people together and the place they were able to reconnect with so many people. I've grown out of touch, but I wonder if they concern themselves with the bigger picture.
it feels like the internet is always been evolving and wandering in various directions. Facebook and Twitter gave people an anchor to build a raft in what otherwise was a fast moving river. There is something to be said about having a place to call home. There is also wisdom in learning to ride the rapids knowing that no anchor is immutable no matter how hard someone might try. One good wave and we're all scurrying. And I don't mean there are greener pastures. I mean more that it is good to consider purposeful attachments and to know when to let go and move on. And to build the skills and mindset to do that with minimal stress and discomfort.
Even if Facebook and Twitter survive, we're clearly falling over the precipice of what will be the next things. Some will zip in and out and something new may come around and stay for a while. Will be interesting to see where it goes and what becomes the next zeigeist. As it is often the case, I'm sure us Others will be leading the charge. Long may we reign.
Growing up a neurodivergent geek, I got Other'd a lot. I did take comfort in some measure that I wasn't always alone and us Other'd would gravitate towards each other. And boy would they Other for any reason at all. In high school, my best friends got Other'd on the spot by a teacher. They were from England and had funny accents. Didn't think much of it at the time since I had been treated that way my whole life and had stopped noticing it was not a good thing as such. Funny how that goes.
So one of the things we did on the multi-line BBS was have weekly Saturday night midnight dollar movie meetups. We'd gather a bunch of us at the IHOP by the dollar theater around 10pm and we'd socialize and hang out with late night food, and then we'd walk over to the theater and watch whatever was out that week. One of the things I quickly discovered is that ALL OF US were Other'd. Every single one of us. And this was a way for us to get together to find friends and acceptance. And mostly we did. As with all groups of folks, there were always some who brought in some toxicity, and there were always those who wanted to come into the group as Other and further Other the Other'd. Sort of the nature of humanity in that way. Most of the time, those looking to fracture us didn't manage to do that very well. And there were folks who floated in and out. But the core of us held pretty steadfast. I met my first girlfriend from within that group. I stayed on with the grouip for some time until later college when I discovered the internet (such that it was) and had an avenue to get onto it via the university and later my first internet dial-up provider.
At the time, I discovered something called ICB. This was not IRC which was another chat-group setup at the time which felt more like the Wild West. ICB was generally created by groups of university geeks at several of the major technological colleges. It expanded some beyond that, but mostly it was university students or alum. My participation in that grouping led to my first IT job when the head accountant of a local food service company needed someone else to do IT related stuff so she could get back to doing actual accounting. We knew each other through ICB and she mentioned having a position and I applied and got it! In addition to doing IT related stuff and general support and data clerking, she would sometimes throw basic accounting stuff my way for some of the less complicated balance sheets. She taught me the rudiments of double entry and I would help her do some of the data entry. Later we hired a friend of ours from ICB who moved to the area needing a part time job while he worked on his Masters of Nuclear Engineering. And later that lead to another girlfriend who was also on ICB who moved to be with me and finish up her degree. And then we opted to move to Seattle. :-)
Somewhere in there was Livejournal. And chat wise, there was ICB still, but also ICQ, AOL Messenger, MSN Messenger, and what persists as Google Chat. I can remember being very fond of the multi-chat clients that allowed me to connect to all my favorite services at once so I could have one single place to work with. I also remember the migrations as things would either disappear or become less accessible. ICQ (iirc) also got slurped up by the Russians. AOL and MSN did their thing. Various places came and went. Some gone forever.
I have a distinct memory not that long ago (except it was probably going on 20 year now) of a friend being so excited about Facebook and quitting everything else to focus there because it was the site that brought people together and the place they were able to reconnect with so many people. I've grown out of touch, but I wonder if they concern themselves with the bigger picture.
it feels like the internet is always been evolving and wandering in various directions. Facebook and Twitter gave people an anchor to build a raft in what otherwise was a fast moving river. There is something to be said about having a place to call home. There is also wisdom in learning to ride the rapids knowing that no anchor is immutable no matter how hard someone might try. One good wave and we're all scurrying. And I don't mean there are greener pastures. I mean more that it is good to consider purposeful attachments and to know when to let go and move on. And to build the skills and mindset to do that with minimal stress and discomfort.
Even if Facebook and Twitter survive, we're clearly falling over the precipice of what will be the next things. Some will zip in and out and something new may come around and stay for a while. Will be interesting to see where it goes and what becomes the next zeigeist. As it is often the case, I'm sure us Others will be leading the charge. Long may we reign.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-07-07 06:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-07-07 09:47 pm (UTC)I'm sure we'll bump into each other again some day. I'm not ready to give up on keeping me and the family safe, so hanging out in spaces with lots of unmasked humans is just not something I can do. So.. not any time soon. But maybe one day.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-07-07 10:21 pm (UTC)