THE SPRING
Austin, Texas community town hall!
Everyone’s Texan here!
spring.net · est. 1996 · modeled on the WELL
»» THE SPRING BBS ««
Thirty conferences. Thousands of topics going back to 1996. Every topic accepts new replies. Pick a handle to post.
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users guide
What you’re looking at: This is a recreation of the Spring’s contents page as it appeared on October 31, 2000, archived by the Wayback Machine from spring.net/contents.htm. The Spring was one of Austin’s first online communities — a web-based virtual community with 77+ discussion conferences, member-hosted websites, and a culture modeled on Stewart Brand’s WELL in San Francisco. It was written up in Newsweek, Texas Monthly, and the Austin American-Statesman.
The Conferences
PORCHWhere we all meet to chat. 70 topics, 8,278 responses.
girlhoopWomen's basketball — WNBA, college, global, Texas HS. Official girlhoop.com community. NEW
MoviesLet’s go to the movies. 41 topics, 2,214 responses.
ArtVisual arts, painting, drawing, sketching. 39 topics, 1,958 responses.
MusicJazz, rock, country, reggae, r&b, rap, disco, classical, more. 76 topics, 3,408 responses.
AustinAll about Austin, Texas. 45 topics, 1,247 responses.
NewsSpring News and Announcements. 36 topics, 3,158 responses.
BooksFiction, nonfiction, all types of books. 29 topics, 1,758 responses.
PoetryPoets and their poems and poetry in general. 40 topics, 1,689 responses.
CarsDiscuss our motored friends. 30 topics, 571 responses.
PoliticsPolitical life worldwide. 20 topics, 784 responses.
CraftsHandicrafts and folk-art conference. 20 topics, 132 responses.
RadioTalk radio, ham radio, radio stations. 33 topics, 625 responses.
CulturesAround the world, spiritual influences. 29 topics, 1,406 responses.
RestaurantsAll flavors of places to eat. 75 topics, 1,847 responses.
Drool!Discuss your favorite movie stars. 93 topics, 35,469 responses!
SpiritualityBuddhism, Zen, Protestant, Catholic, paganism, atheism.
FarmDiscussion the Farm in Summertown, TN. 11 topics, 142 responses.
SportsSports, sports, more sports! 52 topics, 2,595 responses.
FoodYummy! Italian, vegetarian, diet, cookbooks, recipes and more. 62 topics, 5,803 responses.
TravelAll manner of places around the world. 45 topics, 1,420 responses.
GardenPlanting, weeding, composting. 35 topics, 757 responses.
TVTelevision. 51 topics, 1,434 responses.
GeoEarth sciences and environment. 36 topics, 5,539 responses.
UnixUnix in all forms. 20 topics, 114 responses.
HealthEyes, ears, nose, throat, illness, recovery. 11 topics, 193 responses.
VCVirtual communities. 28 topics, 576 responses.
InternetTelnet, FTP, all about the internet except the web. 39 topics, 538 responses.
WebWorld-wide web hot spots. 67 topics, 929 responses.
MediaPrint and electronic journalism. 40 topics, 1,265 responses.
WindowsWindows 95, NT, Millenium. 22 topics, 96 responses.
BronteThe Bronte sisters — Charlotte, Emily, Anne. 76 topics.
AustenJane Austen — her novels, adaptations, fandom. 5 topics.
Austen TestJane Austen testing/dev conference. 9 topics.
MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot and the Victorian novel. 11 topics.
AppsApps, software tools, and Consummate Winsock Applications (after Stroud). 390 topics.
ScrewedTales of getting screwed — venting, support, solidarity. 166 topics.
BabesBabes! Male and female celebrity appreciation. 101 topics.
CollectingCollectibles, antiques, and hobbyist treasures. 65 topics.
SpiritSpirituality, faith, meaning — Buddhism, Zen, Christianity, paganism, atheism. 51 topics.
CFPComputers, Freedom and Privacy — civil liberties in the digital era. 43 topics.
PhilosophyBig questions: ethics, meaning, mind, existence. 37 topics.
TodayWhat happened today — current events, news of the day. 31 topics.
MotorcycleBikes, riding, gear, road trips. 31 topics.
HomeHome improvement, design, household life. 29 topics.
ComputerComputers, hardware, OSes, troubleshooting. 29 topics.
GenXGeneration X — culture, nostalgia, what comes next. 28 topics.
DeeperDeeper conversations — psychology, growth, the inner life. 26 topics.
SexSex, sexuality, relationships, intimacy. 21 topics.
CapCityCapital City — Austin politics, news, civic life. 20 topics.
FitnessWorkouts, training, health, athletic pursuits. 19 topics.
HomepageMember homepages, personal sites, web design. 15 topics.
PhinishedFinishing your dissertation — PhD support. 13 topics.
MindsPsychology, the brain, cognition, consciousness. 13 topics.
EducationSchools, teaching, learning, kids. 11 topics.
ParentParenting, kids, raising humans. 10 topics.
HistoryHistorical events, periods, figures. 10 topics.
Austin MayorAustin mayoral politics, local elections. 10 topics.
MedievalMiddle Ages — history, culture, fantasy. 9 topics.
CommunityBuilding community, civic engagement, social capital. 9 topics.
Tech BusinessTech startups, business models, the dot-com era. 9 topics.
DSMMental health discussion — Diagnostic & Statistical Manual. 7 topics.
DPODomestic Partnership Order — relationship structures. 7 topics.
JusticeLaw, courts, civil rights, social justice. 6 topics.
HammerHeavy metal, hard rock, metal scene. 6 topics.
PhotoPhotography — gear, technique, sharing shots. 6 topics.
TestTest conference — system experiments. 5 topics.
UnpluggedAcoustic music, unplugged sessions. 1 topics.
SoftwareSoftware discussion, dev tools, applications. 4 topics.
NHNew Hampshire — local discussion. 4 topics.
SpringArkSpring's Noah's Ark — preserving member projects. 56 topics.
ATXbbsDiscussion of the ATXbbs BBS software powering this site. Bug reports, feature ideas, hosts wanted.
The Porch
The Porch was the heart of The Spring — the first place you landed when you logged in, the conference where everyone gathered to talk about whatever was on their minds. Named after the front porch of a Texas home where neighbors sit and visit, it was the social glue that held the community together. If you wanted to know what was happening on The Spring, you checked the Porch.
How It Worked
The Spring ran web-based conference software — threaded discussions you could read without logging in, but you needed an account to post. Members could view the last 50, 100, 333, or 500 posts across all conferences at once, giving a real-time pulse of the entire community. The Spring also hosted member websites and offered webhosting services.
Membership was the lifeblood. The site ran on memberships, donations, and affiliate partnerships (including a deal with Visto where every signup earned The Spring $2.00). There were no ads in the conferences themselves — it was a community, not a portal.
History
Founded: 1996 by Paul Walhus in Austin, Texas.
Modeled on: The WELL (Whole Earth ’Lectronic Link) in San Francisco, Stewart Brand’s pioneering online community.
Domains: spring.com → spring.net → austinspring.com
Peak membership: Over 1,000 members.
Conferences: 77 discussion areas (recovered from a peak of 85+) covering everything from Austin life to Unix to poetry to spirituality.
Press: Written up in Newsweek, Texas Monthly (“Gone to CyberTexas”), and the Austin American-Statesman.
Legacy: The Spring evolved into the WholeTech Network — 108 live websites across 108 domains, still running in 2026. AustinSpring.com is where The Spring lives now.
What The Press Said
“The Spring was a one-thousand-member virtual community headquartered in Austin that was modeled on the WELL in San Francisco, with forums on business, law, entertainment, and topic areas focusing on everything from local nostalgia, romance, and religion to Generation X.”
All 77 Conferences (1996–2014)
The grid above is the complete list of conferences recovered from Wayback. We started from the October 2000 contents page (30 conferences listed there) and pulled every additional conference Wayback ever indexed, ending up with 86 conferences total, 3,965 topics, and 235,078 responses spanning 1996 to 2014. Every topic is open for new comments. If you remember a conference that's missing, email terry@austinspring.com and we'll hunt it down.
Originally seeded from spring.net/contents.htm (Wayback capture, October 31, 2000) · expanded to 86 conferences via deep Wayback recovery
Recreated April 17, 2026 ·
AustinSpring.com ·
WholeTech Network