On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 13:19:33 -0400, Alan Sondheim <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
>The reason I asked about Fidonet - I've been to some of the archive sites
>online, and what fascinates me - and with standard older BBS themselves -
>is the very different written/communal culture that emerged.

Actually, the answer for this is "yes and no."  The BBSs were moderated
communities and function very much as BBSs do here on Internet.  Culture
was created both online and offline (as happens here today) and many groups
had BBSs/Fidonet nodes that served as an information and recruiting source
for them (everything from SCA to the NeoNazis.) Although members of the
local BBS were usually local to that area code, this was not always the
case.  I had several dial into Coyote's Den via long distance.

As with Usenet (in the days when you had to sign up to the servers to get
the Usenet threads), sysops were not obligated to carry EVERYthing (and
they didn't carry everything.  Sysops would focus on the things they wanted
to read and their community wanted to read.

is pretty much an aberration.

> Cultures come
>and go incredibly quickly online - for example, the culture that was
>centered around Kathy Jo (alt.fan.dirty-whore), a Pennsylvania bartender
>and somewhat brilliant writer, or the one centered on Doctress Neutopia,
>with the opposition 'Monster Truck Neutopians' etc. Most of these
>developed 'thick' histories and interrelationships after only a few years;
>there are already in-jokes, often publications or 'fleshmeets' etc. Then
>they disappear - mostly because of spam.

These transitory cultures disappear because they are so narrowly focused
that they cannot spread.  They are, if you will, an exclusive culture and
they rely on one or two "superstars" to keep them alive.  Once the key
people move on, there is not enough to sustain them.

> Almost all the texts I've read on
>online community have focused on the early MOOs and MUDs; I'm still
>curious, say, about the distinctive cultures that grew/grow up around The
>Palace, the various Sims and other online games, etc.

Another subject that I can yak about till you're quite tired of it.  I've
been playing RPGs of various types ever since I got online.

>This is where, I
>think, fast-forward culture's developing. I'm also curious about the
>follow-up or 'wake' - what happened to the Monster Truck Neutopians after
>the Doctress left, after spam started flooding things, as it inevitably
>does.

Deep subject, here, and one I hope to do papers on.  The types of
interpersonal relationships that develop online are often stronger than
ties of kinship, and in many ways provide mutual support (and healing) for
those who seem perpetually on the fringe of things.  It's certainly been
positive for the G/L/B/T community.