According to one of the many wildly varying Internet statistics, there are about 20 million people online. Many of them are online through a connection at work or school, but I'll wager the majority aren't there for stock quotes, encyclopedias, or newsfeed: they're there for the people—for the human interaction so easily made possible with the crudest terminal, computer, and modem components. Why do people end up hanging around online for hours, days, and even years? The Internet's biggest resource is not its information sources, shareware, or recipes; it's the people online and the things they have to say. As people spend less and less time in public spaces, other than the bare minimum (such as at work, in the mall, and at the supermarket), they want more and more to talk, converse, joke, and flirt with other people; computer-mediated communication (CMC) is remarkably effective at this.
What's the worst punishment in prison? Solitary—no human contact. Humans are social by nature, and as progress rolls on in the form of more strip malls and outlet centers—and less actual "downtowns"—there are fewer public spaces for people to just hang out.
People are longing for interaction, sexual and otherwise (party lines make a lot of money). People are desperate to communicate. Even if they're not desperate, who wouldn't like the chance to participate in a good conversation, one that reaches much further than everyday chitchat? What if this conversation were available 24 hours a day? ECHO (East Coast Hang Out) offers just that.
ECHO, which takes its tone from its location, is a conference system based in New York City's Greenwich Village. ECHO came into existence in March 1990 at the hands of founder and "cybermama," Stacy Horn. A professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, Horn started ECHO after working for 10 years as a telecommunications analyst. Inspired by the WELL (a popular California-based conferencing system that Cliff Figallo talks a bit about later in this chapter), she started ECHO so that she "could stay home and write books and in between, pop online and have all these interesting people to talk to." She looks at ECHO as "an electronic cultural salon, like Gertrude Stein's living room in Paris." Although conversation in ECHO's Whitney or Culture conferences may live up to such ambitions, I'm not so sure about, say, the stream-of-consciousness rants in the brilliantly puerile Plain Wrapper conference (see the section entitled, "Conferences on ECHO.")
I stumbled across ECHO in the summer of 1991, reading an article in a local free weekly. I bought my first modem literally the next day and immediately signed up; I was enthralled, sometimes racking up monthly tallies of 60 hours. I never left; I now can count my hours offline. I've seen ECHO go from 7 modems and no Internet connectivity to 55 modems and a T-1 link to the Internet. At least nowadays, thanks to the fact that I'm co-host of several conferences, I don't have to imagine my ECHO bill growing bigger and bigger as the hours pile up.
As in any virtual community, ECHO's strength is in the quality of its users' postings. I haven't found any other place online that has the same high level of sharp, edgy, playful wit. ECHO also has a high percentage of female participants—about 40 percent; the percentage for hosts is about 50 percent. This mix of the sexes (compared to the usual boy's club ratios) makes the tone of conversation different than anywhere else I've been online. Male Answer Syndrome still rears its ugly head, but information isn't the only thing swapped; stories, ideas, and conversations are. I can't tell you exactly how it's different, but there's a dialog on ECHO that flows, ebbs, and has a life.
Out of humble hardware (four PCs, an Internet feed, many phone lines, and modems) comes a system that people of all persuasions log in to—not only from New York, but from Massachusetts, California, Montana, Saudi Arabia, Paris, and South Africa. However, ECHO is definitely a product of New York; users send real-time messages that pop up on the recipient's terminal with three beeps and a "YO!!! This message comes from_." As Echoid (what the people on ECHO call themselves) Lena Dixon puts it, "That ECHO is a superior and eccentric piece of BBS should be expected. There is, after all, only one New York. Life here plays out hard and fast. Isn't it appropriate that ECHO would reflect that?"
Echoids are students, office managers, journalists, authors, artists, TV producers, choreographers, doctors, musicians, entrepreneurs, general contractors, clerks, lawyers, teachers, playwrights, programmers, marketers, and forensic pathologists. A busy night on ECHO shows 50 or 60 users online at a time. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of responses are posted daily. ECHO, like a lot of online services, is busiest after 11 p.m. The city doesn't sleep.
ECHO's 4,000 users frequent more than 50 conferences, such as the Elsewhere conference, for Echoids interested in travel or who live somewhere other than New York City and its environs. Inside conferences are items, which are discussion topics (such as, "England, and London, Especially"). Items contain responses; each response is a user's turn in the conversation (such as my story about the last time I was in London).
People from ECHO see each other in person a lot, too: an average week sees at least one f2f (face-to-face) group get-together. There's been an all-ECHO f2f every two weeks since 1991, housed at various downtown New York taverns. There are also regular East Village, Brooklyn, and Under 30 f2fs, as well as ECHO-wide special events such as dances, picnics, bowling, and the well-publicized welcome home party celebrating convicted hacker Phiber Optik's return to civilian life.
The first two months on ECHO cost the usual price of one ($19.95). The $19.95 includes the first 30 hours of usage ($13.75 for students and seniors). After 30 hours, ECHO is then $1.00 per hour, with a maximum fee of $48.95, for which usage is unlimited ($42.95 for students and seniors). Full Internet access costs a one-time access fee of $25 and an additional $5 a month above ECHO usage fees. SLIP/PPP accounts also are available ($25.00 setup fee and $25.00 a month for unlimited use). The phone numbers are given here:
2,400 baud 212-989-8411
9,600 baud 212-989-3124
14,400 baud 212-989-3142
28,800 baud 212-989-8239
For more information: 212-255-3839 (voice)
Personally, I have never hung out at a place like the bar in "Cheers," a place where I knew there would always be someone I could talk to—until I got on ECHO, that is. The Internet is not just a place where people blaze from FTP site to WWW server; there are plenty of places along the way to "sit and rest a while." My own particular hangout is ECHO, New York City's answer to the WELL. My observations here are based on the years I've spent there.
NOTE Throughout this chapter are several real-life messages that actually appeared on ECHO. To protect the identities of the authors, their usernames have been changed.
The following is something ECHO Powerwoman wrote back when her online handle was still msjad:
7:33) msjad 14-AUG-91 16:47
I just figured out my persistent deja vu on Echo.
Echo is like being back in the college dorm!!!!
People awake 24 hours a day, willing to bullshit about Life, Art,
and where you can get a picture transferred to iron-on paper when
you want to Redecorate Your Room.
In my "real life", people aren't like that anymore. My friends talk
about "practical things" - where to send their kids to school, coops
and mutual funds.
I am not in that place yet in my life (and maybe never will be).
This can be called "perpetual hip" or "developmental arrest,"
depending on one's point of view.
My friends have no time to write strange, free associational verse.
They have car pool arrangements to make.
So, here I am. Where else is there a conversation going on about
The FUGS???
What a strange place! But hits the spot.
In college, a group of my friends and I would hang out at our pal Andy's house almost nightly for several hours. We discussed whatever, usually in front of the TV and with a few beers. Brilliant, hysterical things came out of those conversations, or at least we thought so; there was a level of interaction that only comes from a group discussion with a room full of great people. After graduation, as we split geographically, I lost that interaction. I was without the precious resource of great conversation, and I realized how rare it was. With ECHO, I gained it back, but on a much larger scale. Now there are 4,000 of us, and it's a much bigger living room, albeit one linked by phone lines. The following is another example:
- - - - - 57:65) Sandy 26-DEC-93 22:48
There are 3 special characteristics of Echo for me: 1) the
opportunity to express silly to serious thoughts in writing
whenever there's something I want to say (often) with the
belief that someone, somewhere will read it with some degree
of interest or resonance.
2) the fact that I'm communicating with many people with one
post. that people may have an interest in what I say without
having to have a relationship of some kind with me. I like that
and like to be part of others' audience in return.
3) conversely, getting to know people's thoughts and feelings
without (or before) knowing them. Developing an interest in
people based on more than the standard categorizations of age,
occupation, looks and gender.
Footnote to 1. the writing means you get to think before (or
after) you write (for some of us) and the oppt'y. to think about
what others have written even scroll back and reread. This
is so different from conversation. And often more satisfying. I
think this is what makes our non-Echoid friends or intimates
puzzled and perhaps resentful.
- - - - -
This form of communication, the hybrid of speaking and writing that has no name yet, is more appealing than either of its progenitors in a lot of ways. You don't have to regret not thinking of a perfect response that instantly crystallizes your thoughts; you can reason, think over a question, try several times until you get it right, and write a response. At the same time, the immediacy of CMC means you don't have to wait for your written words to make their way to others by mail or for their responses to reach you. If the person you're responding to happens to be online at the same time you are, he or she can respond quickly. This "written conversation" can progress quite rapidly.
Conference software also can add levels to conversation you don't have in real life. In an online discussion, not only can participants collect their thoughts into a written response, but they can also send each other real-time, private messages (a yo in ECHO parlance), seen by only the recipient. In a real-life conversation, you might have to make do with a quick glance at your fellow conspirator.
This "writing" form lends itself to people opening up about themselves. I've learned more about my fellow Echoids through our years of postings than I would have in any other circumstance of knowing anyone the same amount of time. I know more about some Echoids whom I don't even like than I do about some of my closest offline friends.
Some people like to socialize at a distance. You don't have to get close until you want to; you can trade ideas with online acquaintances you wouldn't necessarily want to have coffee with, but whose opinions you still value.
Given a safe distance, people unload their psyches. Some people regret this when they meet in person and find that their anonymity is far less than they thought; others let the deep confessions stand. One Echoid refers to that early time—before people know others that they're posting to, before people recognize other names online—as "the electronic confessional."
When I was new to ECHO, my father had died a year before, and the memory was fairly fresh in my mind. Opening up in the conference Panscan about his death seemed to me a momentous event; and without ECHO, I might not have prodded my thoughts to coalesce into a cohesive statement that summed up how I felt. I've reread my posting recently, and it's not that revelatory. At the time, though, it may have been the first time I'd really thought over and communicated how I'd felt.
Not only does CMC allow you to participate in conversations you might never have encountered in person, but it is also a great leveler. I've corresponded comfortably with people I would be intimidated to meet in person. Without the physical cues, you meet mind-to-mind and also agewise. Before ECHO, my friends were just a few years older or younger than I. Now that age span has grown to several decades.
You get to recognize people, to know people from their words and their thoughts, not their appearances. Your first impression is of someone's brain, not of their face. This strips communication to its bare minimum; but you lose all the nuances of conversation, the way a point can be elucidated by a little nonverbal gesture.
All you have to communicate with online is words. If you're sloppy with your words, you may not be able to successfully express yourself; the people who communicate most successfully online are good writers. Okay writing skills are part of the cost of admission to fully participate; the form is not democratic in this way.
Membership in a virtual community such as ECHO also presupposes a certain level of financial wealth—you have to be able to afford a computer, modem, phone line, monthly fee, and so on. As the Internet reaches further into society with the availability of publicly accessible Internet-connected machines (say, in public libraries) for those who can't afford their own, some of the entry barriers may change and allow more people to successfully participate.
Sometimes, I come across little tidbits while Net surfing that I think my pals would want to read, and I forward them, the same as I clip and mail items from the newspaper. This sharing of information is like lending a cup of sugar to a neighbor. In fact, ECHO is a community.
ECHO provides an efficient way of finding people who share similar interests. In the real world, you have to join a club and go to meetings to meet others who are enthusiasts like you. Now you can just walk over to the computer and turn on the modem.
You can get to know people before meeting them in person. Companies are moving to virtual offices; why shouldn't there be virtual water coolers? As more and more people work from their home offices, they get less and less human interaction. A modem might help satisfy that need to talk to others. If I'm working alone at home, for example, there aren't any brief conversations in the kitchen—no chats about the news or last night's game. So I pop up a telecom window and log on.
Virtual and real relationships bleed into each other. Knowing people online and offline tends to make you act more real. People really get to know you because your words aren't as "inhibited."
Dating online happens, too. You converse much more frequently over e-mail, which tends to accelerate your relationship. The same kind of late-night, lengthy conversations happen, but you get a chance to know someone before actually meeting him or her.
As with any community or network of relationships, there are house rules (known as netiquette). Get used to that. Most communities are run by people (similar to hosts on a network). However, remember that you are your own words, meaning that you are responsible for what you write. This is a new frontier, and everything's still up in the air. Various groups, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Society for Electronic Access (SEA), have formed to keep the speech as free as possible.
The Net community can become the evening's entertainment; that is, conversation occurs instead of the television talking at you. The online atmosphere is like a pub—like conversation with a stenographer present (so that you can go back and read the transcript). Invariably, the first thing I do when I get online is to see who's on. It's like seeing who's in the bar.
NOTE ECHO's history goes back to 1990, and so do some of its posts. Although posts aren't archived, they stay on record until deleted.
People have spent a good deal of time and money to get the ECHO community. They're curious. They're also motivated and will pitch in to benefit the community. For example, no one (or almost no one) ever got paid to write a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question). ECHO, like a small town, also has gossip. After f2fs, we're all a bunch of teens, ripping each other apart, commenting on what each other wears. Lisa J. Cooley says, "Some of us have created that small town on ECHO—gossip, maliciousness, and supportiveness. And we have all the characters of a typical small town." However, people look out for and care about each other. For example, I'll recommend a record I think other members of a music conference might like. A post about a life difficulty brings many sympathetic responses.
The difference between ECHO and a real community is that ECHO is self selecting; people want to be there, or they wouldn't pay the money. So they might work harder toward a better community than people whose geographical living place is determined by a lot of things other than a simple desire to live there. Geographical proximity doesn't mean you'll become pals with those near you. I've lived in my current apartment for several months and haven't said more than hiya to any of my neighbors. You can carry the ECHO community with you; if you move away, you're only a local Internet provider away from your pals. Echoids have moved to California from New York, and the common thread of ECHO stays with them.
Similar to a small town, if you step out of line, someone will tell you about it. You don't have to expect the police to take care of everyone because the citizens do. For example, if you don't follow the "house rules," a host can change your password so that you can't log on again. People band together against threats to their community—for example, to oust a particularly disruptive member who's decided to use ECHO as a social testing ground for his scatological rantings.
People look for something different from their virtual-community relationships. Some want to talk shop or hobbies; some want to enter into lengthy, deep conversations about grand topics; some want to gleefully spout stream-of-consciousness rants; some want to get to know others offline; and some want conversation to be anything but serious. A well-rounded virtual community can offer all these things.
ECHO's frequent in-person get-togethers round out one's knowledge of the people behind the postings. This enhances the online experience and strengthens the feelings of community between the people there, perhaps in turn drawing people to additional f2fs and more insightful posts.
As ECHO gets larger, it gets more diffuse. The core users of ECHO have been there through the Internet/media boom. More members mean more posts, which means there will be more to read. However, ECHO's size (not too big or too small) means that there are more people there to post from their diverse viewpoints—but so many that more posts are made than the user has time to read. That is, unless you try to keep up with every single post on all of ECHO. Judicious conference-joining is encouraged.
Community comes from familiarity. Reading people's posts day in and day out lets you get to know them better (unlike Usenet, where you skim volumes of messages, making it harder to get to know people). Friendships can come out of such familiarity.
The effect of words typed on a screen (see the following example) is more powerful than one might think. I've screamed at the screen, I've chortled, and I've had my evening ruined by things I've read on ECHO. They're just words on a screen, sure—but there are feelings behind those words.
57:28) Aimee (And Co.) 06-DEC-93 22:40
Earlier this year, when I was pregnant, I was hospitalized to
help fight a virus that really had me down for the count. It was
a really scary time even though my doctor told us that the
baby was fine, I had my doubts. I hated being in the hospital,
and felt very lonely. My family was not terrifically
supportive.
I was just ready to work myself up into a real pity party when
the phone rang. It was Rwanga, who had called my house,
gotten the news from Bill, and called because 'the WIT women
were wondering where I was, and if I was okay'.
That was the first time, but certainly not the last time, that I
really felt part of a community that went beyond words on a
screen. A community that rejoiced with us at our wedding, and
at the birth of our son. A place that saved me from going
cuckoo when I was in the house with a newborn, and thought I'd
never be able to carry on an adult conversation again.
I know that I'll be able to show Jeff a record of his entry into
the world and all the people who were there to help
welcome him. And we joke that he'll laugh at the 'primitive
ascii interface'. But I also hope that he'll be touched, and
encouraged by the people, many of whom he'll never 'meet',
who were so thrilled to hear that he'd joined this planet.
I was so very glad that you were there to share our joy then.
And grateful no, honored I can't quite find the words
here. All I know is that I'm crying here just remembering the
outpouring of good wishes and emotions. It meant and means
so much to me.
57:29) Aimee (And Co.) 07-DEC-93
10:09
Oh, please someone else post in here!
I've stopped crying....I promise.
Since I've been on ECHO, I've seen people band together to offer support for a stabbing victim and to cheer the arrival of new births. I've also heard from a companion of an Echoid who had passed away and wanted to archive her beloved's collected ECHO writings.
The process of writing helps one think through problems and find solutions; it's easier to get motivated to write something out in response to a question, item, or posting than to write for yourself or to a friend. Sometimes the act of writing out thoughts can make you understand much better how you feel.
You get amusing conversation—and more. The more people you talk to in the world, the more you learn about the world. Something someone mentions offhandedly can change your entire life. By exposing yourself to more conversation, you expose yourself to more chances to learn, more chances to stumble on a nugget of information that could change your life—and learning about others' lives can give you insight on your own. But then, I could just be rationalizing. Spending many, many hours a month of your free time typing furiously and staring at a screen full of words teaches you to rationalize pretty quickly.
Personally, my life would be completely different had I not come across ECHO. I've met my current girlfriend there, formed a band, and made a circle of friends. Right after college, ECHO softened the blow of leaving the secure college community and of relieving the lost feeling I had after coming to New York.
As Echoid Janet Tingey says, "I've made friends here that I want to have for the rest of my life. Now, if lifelong friends aren't a serious effect on your life_. I can't imagine any other way, in this town, that I could have met so many people whom I like so much. I wonder if Stacy [Horn] really, really understands what she's accomplished here."
As more and more people come online, I think we'll see more and more conference-based virtual communities. The existing ones like ECHO will grow larger; within them, more and more subcommunities will pop up—like ECHO's Under 30 conference. When I started on ECHO in 1991, such a conference wouldn't have even been possible.
The tremendous growth of the World Wide Web (WWW) opens up all sorts of possibilities: there are larval Web-MOOs (WOOs) and Web-based conferencing systems in place as I write this, and thanks to the open-endedness of the WWW, they'll only become more sophisticated. The possibilities for adding multimedia content to text-based conferencing are exciting; an item response can be side by side with a picture of the writer or linked to a QuickTime movie of a party.
But no matter what kind of bells and whistles are on the cutting edge, text-only virtual communities won't die out. As fast as the fastest modems or ISDN lines are, there'll always be users with old equipment and a relatively slow connection to the Internet.
Cheap local Internet access providers are popping up everywhere (which is a very, very good thing), but for the ECHO or other conferencing systems, Internet access is only the icing on the cake. Their purpose isn't to solely provide an Internet connection, but to create a place for people to get to know each other and converse in depth. Especially as the number of Internet users swells, the worth of a comfortable space to call home can only increase.
The following conferences are currently on ECHO; conferences tend to come and go and hosts change, so caveat emptor. Note that the descriptions (in quotation marks) of the conferences are the hosts' descriptions.
NOTE Not all conferences are listed, but this list should give you an idea of ECHO's variety. ECHO hosts' handles are used if they have them.
2600
"A place to talk about 2600 magazine and the growing hacker community."
Host: Emmanuel Goldstein
Item 2 Off The Hook radio program, Wednesdays 10 to
11 p.m., WBAI (99.5 FM)
Item 4 The Hacker Forum
Item 5 COCOTS—Plague or what ?!
Ads
This conference lists special offers for Echoids only.
Host: Stacy Horn
Item 3 American Symphony Orchestra
Item 5 The Children's Museum of Manhattan
Item 7 The New Museum of Contemporary Art
Books
Hosts: M.G. Lord and Berg Man of Alcatraz
Item 2 Thomas Pynchon
Item 63 What I'm Reading Right Now_
Item 77 Book Design
Central
This is the conference you see when you log in to ECHO. It has discussions of importance to all users, as well as general "what's happening in your life?" items.
Host: Stacy Horn
Item 138 Pointers to Items in Other Conferences
Item 139 Through the Peephole
Item 140 New Users! INTRODUCE Yourselves!
Classifieds
Host: SuZin
Item 1 Cheap and Free
Item 63 Where do I buy a_?
Item 111 Jobs AVAILABLE
Computers
"Where people go to gripe, recommend, ask advice, and play guru."
Host: Kevin Krooss
Item 91 You're so NeXT
Item 115 Driveway hardware rebuilding at R&Y's place
Item 177 Good Marks! (For Products/Vendors/Service
People Who Deliver!)
Culture
"It's about the little and big things you stay up late talking about in somebody's kitchen at a big party_and you think you're going to leave but you just want to say one more thing_"
Hosts: The Strange Apparatus and Topper
Item 387 Reasons To Be Depressed Again and Again
Item 380 Connoisseurship of Everyday Objects
Item 449 Life's Little Rituals
Don't Panic
"The goofy conference where fun-lovin' Echoids go to gently mock the other conferences and to make puns on the word goat."
Host: Kilgore Trout
Item 44 Items that Are Too Stupid, even for Plain
Item 52 The HATE conference
Item 53 LAMBADA
Elsewhere
"The conference for those of you not in NY and those of you who wish they weren't."
Hosts: camel, cham, and Mal
Item 157 It's 4:00 AM. Do You Know Where Your Bagels
Are?
Item 170 Those Elsewhere Things You just _can't_ find
in NYC_
Item 184 Wanderlust and the Armchair Traveler
Feedback
This is the conference where Echoids discuss what they love and hate about ECHO, as well as where ECHO's policies are discussed.
Hosts: Abby Bowen and Sue Grady
Item 63 (52) Lurkers of the World, Unite!
Item 3 What I Don't Like About ECHO
Item 42 Private Conferences on ECHO
Food
"Hungry? This conference is for you!"
Host: Blu
Item 32 STUPID COOKING QUESTIONS
Item 29 The Best in Cooking Equipment
Item 10 What a Friend We Have in Cheeses <tm jimb>
Group
Group is a private group therapy conference; e-mail yvette for information.
Host: Yvette Colon, M.S.W. (yvette)
Health
Host: B.J. Mora, M.D. (beej)
Item 3 Diets
Item 13 Vision Quests (Eye Care)
Item 37 Vitamins'R'Us: Too Much Is Never Enough?
Humor
Host: Danny Lieberman
Item 2 Tell me a Funny Story
Item 52 The Bush Vomit Haikus. The Compleat Set
Item 7 That's not Funny, That's SICK!
Internet
"This conference is where you can find all kinds of questions and answers about the wild, wacky, wonderful, information-rich world of the Internet!"
Hosts: MoNo and Gabriel
Item 2 Internet? What's That?
Item 22 OTIS: Net Accessible Art—{Not Just SuZin's
Cat}
Item 24 News Readers: What's Available?
Into the Mystic
This is ECHO's spirituality conference.
Hosts: Yankee Rose and Dorje
Item 2 What Does Spirituality Mean to You?
Item 26 Tarot Cards (ported from Culture)
Item 48 Number One Profound Experiences
Jewish
This conference is intended for people interested in Jewish religion and culture.
Host: David S. Green
Item 9 Women and Judaism
Item 16 Intermarriage
Item 46 Passover!
Lambda
"It's the Gay '90s where queer issues are everyone's issues. Bring an open mind and an honest opinion. (Sense of humor optional but highly recommended.)"
Hosts: Jane Doe and Stephen Kopp
Item 7 Domestic Partnership
Item 40 Homo-Happenings in NYC
Item 44 Queer Families—Found or Turkey Basted?
Love
"The thinking person's guide to the most enigmatic emotion."
Hosts: Neandergal and Janet Tingey
Item 29 When Did You Know it Was Over?
Item 30 Ask Dr. Lovelady :{+
Item 108 First Kisses
Matrix
"An Opinionated Review and Catalog of Other Online Places, Virtual Communities, and Other Virtual Entities."
Hosts: Steve B. and Spaceman Spiff
Item 51 Virtual Organizations
Item 56 Prodigy: Plodigy no Longer?
Item 57 ECHO as a Virtual Community
Media
Host: Xixax
Item 44 NY Radio: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Item 6 The Thin Line Between News and Entertainment
Item 56 Pixelvision: Kid Vid Tech and Other Low-Tech
Media
Moe (Men on ECHO)
Moe is a private conference for men only. E-mail The Lonesome Drifter for entry.
Host: The Lonesome Drifter
Movies & TV (M/TV)
"For fans, buffs, industry types, and hoi polloi."
Hosts: Jonathan Hayes and Erin, a.k.a. EB
Item 6 Bad Movies To Rent <at your own risk>
Item 12 LINK (a new kind of Movie Ping Pong)
Item 25 The 90210 Item: Walsh with Some Strangers
Music
Hosts: Jneil and Joey X
Item 2 What's New? Hype Your Latest Musical
Discovery
Item 178 What I'm Listening to Right Now
Item 184 Music For The Hypno-Tiki Bachelor Pad.
New York
This conference is all about the best and worst NYC has to offer.
Host: Twang and James Sanders
Item 94 Park Slope—Theme Park For Yuppies?
Item 127 Celebrity Watch Continued
Item 161 RESTAURANT REVIEWS II
Off Central
This conference is for public announcements that aren't quite as important as the ones in Central, such as f2f organizing.
Host: Lisa J. Cooley
Item 3 What should you *REALLY* be doing right now?
Item 7 The ECHO Addicts Online Support Network
Item 139 So, Are We Gonna Go Bowling this Year, Or
What????
Panscan
Panscan is ECHO's combination of art, philosophy, and mail art conferences. Or something.
Host: Panman
Item 4 Postal Art History
Item 25 The E-Mail Poem—An Online Experiment
Item 253 The Sociology of ECHO
Parents
This conference is "for sharing thoughts and experiences about being a parent or having parents."
Hosts: Sarah/M and Dan Swerdlow
Item 2 Why Have Children (or Not)?
Item 8 Teenagers—Threat or Menace?
Item 35 PARENTING OUR PARENTS
Performance
"This conference is a free-for-all exchange of opinions and ideas about performance."
Hosts: Mark Russell and flying fish
Item 7 American Splendor: Trash Culture and
Wrestlemania
Item 27 Back-Stage Slap Fights: The Dish Item
Plain Wrapper
"The F*** You! Anti-Conference."
Hosts: Scottso and JoRo
Item 828 C'mon! Admit it! You STILL HATE YOURSELF!
Item 906 The Second Most Boring Item On ECHO
Item 969 RAGING BLOWHOLE DEBATES
Item 773 Son of Revenge of the Angst Item
Item 781 The Stickboy Mocking Club
Item 571 THE BERT CONVY FAN CLUB
Item 599 That Really Really Fat Guy with the Braids
Died
Politics
This conference is about global, local, and personal politics.
Host: Margaret
Item 98 The Politics of Education
Item 113 The Rodney King Verdict
Item 153 Clinton In Transition: How's He Doing <tm ed
koch>
Psych
This conference covers everything you want to know (but are afraid to ask) about psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and the psyche.
Hosts: Neandergal (Liz Margoshes, Ph.D.) and Dr.
Willie (Willie Kai Yee, M.D.)
Item 3 Finding the Right Therapist
Item 13 Lucid Dreams
Item 123 Did Your Parents Destroy Your Life?
Science
"Where Echoids express and satisfy their curiosity about the physical universe and the everyday manifestations of science."
Host: Gabriel
Item 20 Getting It Up—Space Technology
Item 83 Calling All Urban Zoologists!
Item 53 Sociobiology—The Beast Within
Sex
Sex is a private conference. E-mail KZ for entry.
Host: KZ
SF
"Exploring the imaginary universe."
Hosts: Danny Lieberman and Barbara Krasnoff
Item 20 Philip K Dick: Not Just Yer Average Dead SF
Writer
Item 42 Why Do You Still Read SF? (That stuff'll rot
yer brain kid!)
Item 57 Samurai in Orbit: The Misuse of Japanese
Culture in Science Fiction
Sonic Cynic
"What's overrated, who's a joke, where not to go, and how do you make a Martini?"
Host: Amy McCutchin
Item 14 Pimple, Corns, Dandruff? You May Be Entitled
to Cash Rewards
Item 17 Sonic Cynic MARTINI—only f2f
Item 22 Cat-fight!
Sports
"There's room for everyone to play."
Hosts: Don King and The Strange Apparatus
Item 8 Sports and the New York Media Experience
Item 30 NFL
Item 39 YANKEES MOVING WHERE?
Under 30
"The is the place where 20somethings, slackers, gen xers, and other members of our godforsaken generation talk about life, sex, families, careers, dope, and other fun stuff."
Under 30 is private, and restricted to, yes, those under 30.
Host: SuZin
Item 1 Can I See Some ID, Please? (The Introductions
Item)
Item 17 CALLING ALL PARTY PEOPLE THE TIME HAS COME!
Item 43 PRANKS!!!!
Unix 'N' Caucus
ASCII a stupid question, get a stupid ANSI.
(Caucus is ECHO's conferencing program).
Host: Jim Baumbach
Item 11 Caucus BUGS <well, it bugs me, anyway!>
Item 14 Problems Sending Mail Outside ECHO?
Item 19 StUPiD UNiX TrICkS
Welcome!
"A place to introduce yourself and get basic technical help."
Host: Eric Hochman
Item 6 Frequently Asked Questions: The 20 Most
Common ECHO Questions
Item 23 New Users! *I[]T R O D U C E* Yourselves!
Item 31 ECHO Staff: Who To Call/Email For What
Wishcraft
"Team up with us to reach your personal dreams: a conference for brainstorming and barnraising."
Hosts: Arsinoe and Barbara Lynn
Item 2 Notes on "Wishcraft" Method and Philosophy
Item 11 Hard Times: What To Do When the Going Is
Rough?
Item 13 Neandergal's Wish
WIT (Women in Technology)
"WIT's candid, informative, and supportive discussions on a broad range of topics are both enlightening and compelling. What makes this conference unique is that it is for women only."
WIT is a private conference. E-mail the hosts for entry.
Hosts: Faith Florer and Lynn Varsell
Working
A conference about "the world of making, doing, fetching, carrying, buying, selling, earning, and spending that we call work."
Host: David S. Green
Item 5 Freelancers Lounge
Item 7 The Recession
Item 21 When and Why To Change Jobs?
Writing
"Where established professionals can network and exchange information and newer writers can gain support and help."
Host: Lisa J. Cooley
Item 2 "Unblocking" and Other Agonies
Item 76 How Did You Get Started (And What's Your
Workday Really Like?)
Item 88 Scriptwriters forum
'Zines
"Where to go to talk about DIY print media and the like. Yeah! and stuff like dat!"
Hosts: Spingo and Xixax
Item 9 Non-Print 'Zines—ezines and hyperzines, etc.
Item 11 The Office Supply and Copier Machine Fetish
Item 14 The Zine Community
Zulu
"A less restful alternative to sleep," Zulu is an invitation-only, late-night hangout that's only open from 11:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
Hosts: Jim Baumbach and Topper
Item 2 Best Fun
Item 10 What I shoulda posted in that OTHER item
Item 17 Situations Seen, Conversations Overheard
The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link) was founded in 1985 and grew out of concepts practiced and promoted by Whole Earth publications of Sausalito, California. These print publications, which included several Whole Earth catalogs and the Whole Earth Review magazine, had long recognized their readers not only as customers, but as valuable contributors to their innovative and leading-edge information databases and articles. From the beginning, the WELL was envisioned by its founders, Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant, as an "online community," regionally based in the San Francisco area, but with global access. Rather than provide prepackaged online products and "features" to sell to its customers, Whole Earth's idea was to attract interesting people to the WELL and sell them mutual access to each other.
Today, the WELL is known worldwide as an example of how community interaction—the exchange of knowledge and ideas through an electronic network—can be an end in itself in online systems, stimulating the development of new concepts and viewpoints. The WELL's product is its community and its digital conversations. It is a recognized major cultural center on the global Internet and has been referred to, in the metaphor of the times, as "the Route 66 of the Information Highway."
From its early days, the WELL's management has focused on encouraging user involvement in all aspects of the WELL's development, from policy to software. It has hired most of its staff from the ranks of former users. It also has bartered free time on the WELL for expertise and cooperation in the creation of user-friendly tools and entertaining online participation. WELL staff members maintain a conspicuous and participatory presence online, blurring the line between staff and user community.
There are many overlapping subcommunities on the WELL. Of note are the Deadheads—a community that arrived largely intact on the WELL in its early years—as well as the very knowledgeable, well-connected population of networking policy experts and consultants who frequent such conferences as Telecommunications, Information Technology, and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The creation of the EFF—the influential nonprofit advocate of fair play in the use and development of electronic communications law and policy—was inspired largely by ongoing discussions on the WELL of free speech and privacy issues in the online environment.
As of this writing, the WELL claims close to 10,000 paying subscribers and supports several hundred fully or partially subsidized accounts for users who "host" conferences and provide technical services. Compared to the CompuServes and GEnies of the online world, the WELL has been a small, slow-growing system. Slow growth allowed its community aspects to develop. However, the days of undercapitalization appear to be over, and its complex, but very flexible, interface may get a face-lift soon. At the beginning of 1994, it was announced that the WELL had been purchased in full by its former half-owner, the Rosewood Stone group—a well-endowed company that promises to invest in technical upgrades to ensure good system reliability and performance, and to provide an alternative, easy-to-use graphical front end. The obstacles that have deterred many users from joining or staying on the WELL and have kept the WELL's growth to a minimum for 10 years may soon disappear, positioning the system for very accelerated growth.
Technically, the WELL offers text-based conferences and e-mail running on a UNIX system, and uses a software interface called Picospan to support its conference/topic structure. It has more than 200 public conferences, as well as many private conferences. It categorizes its conferences as follows:
Each conference covers a general subject area and has a "host" who helps moderate or stimulate discussion and keeps the conference's "topics" up to date. Some busy conferences can have as many as several hundred topics, and topics can run into the hundreds of responses. Conferences also can feature databases of relevant files and articles that can be displayed in read-only formats or downloaded.
Users of the WELL have the option of directly logging in to Picospan or UNIX shells. UNIX software tools are available for use by WELL users, but knowledge in their use is not necessary to participate in conferences or e-mail.
WELL users also have full Internet access, including the capability to Telnet to other sites, FTP files, and use network search tools such as the WELL's Gopher client, Veronica, and the WWW.
The WELL is accessible through direct dial modems, through the CompuServe X.25 packet network, and through Telnet over the Internet. Its current fee structure is as follows:
The WELL prefers billing to MasterCard or Visa and charges a $25.00 registration fee for invoiced accounts.
New accounts are credited their initial five hours of WELL use at $2 an hour.
The WELL also supports its own Gopher site, the WELLGopher, accessible through the Internet. Its contents come largely from articles and material published in Whole Earth publications and from submissions by WELL members; so it is mostly original material, not linked in from other Gopher servers. WELLGopher's current top-level menu looks like this:
1. About this gopherspace (including a quick "How To" guide)/
2. See the latest additions to this gopherspace/
3. Search all menus on the WELLgopher <?>
4. Internet Outbound (*New!*)/
5. Art/
6. Business in Cyberspace: Commercial Ventures on the Matrix/
7. Communications/
8. Community/
9. Cyberpunk and Postmodern Culture/
10. Environmental Issues and Ideas/
11. Grateful Dead/
12. Hacking/
13. The Matrix (under construction!)/
14. The Military, its People, Policies, and Practices/
15. Politics/
16. Publications (includes 'zines like FactSheet 5)/
17. Science/
18. The WELL itself/
19. Whole Earth Review, the Maga'zine/
20. Whole Systems/
This is an example of a second-tier menu:
Community
1. About this area of the WELLgopher.
2. Civic Nets, Community Nets, Free-Nets, and ToasterNets/
3. Advice about Privacy and Security for People New to Cyberspace.
4. An (almost) complete Privacy Toolkit, by Robert Luhn.
5. Innkeeping in Cyberspace, by John Coate.
6. Stephen Gaskin's The Farm as reported by Al Gore.
7. Protection and the Internet, by Steve Cisler.
<SB2 BOX>
8. The WELL: Small Town on the Internet Highway System, by Cliff Figallo
9. Virtual Communities, an essay by Howard Rheingold.
10. Book List of Communities, Co-ops, Collectives 2/93.
11. The Presidioconverting a Military Base to a Public Park/
12. A Biased Timeline of the Counter-Culture, by Judith Goldsmith/
13. About EFF-Austin (Grassroots Organizing in the Virtual Community)/
Voice: 415-332-4335
Direct dial modem—2,400 bps max: 415-332-6106
—9,600 bps 415-332-8410
CompuServe Packet System: call 1-800-848-8980 to find your local CompuServe access number. Have your modem dial that number and enter well at the Host> prompt.
From the Internet, Telnet to well.sf.ca.us.
Mail address:
The WELL
1750 Bridgeway #200
Sausalito, CA 94965.