The WELL is the SF Bay areas conferencing community. It's where I first got started. Some interesting stats: Public conference visits Sun Dec 1 01:35:51 1996 through Wed Jan 1 01:33:13 1997 1. 21903 news 2. 14289 media 3. 11094 genx 4. 8345 gd 5. 7959 movies 6. 7029 books 7. 6698 current 8. 6556 music 9. 5964 slicker.ind 10. 5926 sexuality 11. 5864 byline 12. 5451 web 13. 5328 tv 14. 5264 popcult 15. 4269 sanfran 16. 4264 wired 17. 4148 sports

Funny that the water in the San Francisco area does not come from a Well, but the hetch-hetchy, an Aquaduct which delivers water from glaciers in the Sierras.

That is irony.

i liked the old well alot. it was pretty loose, free, and nobody tried to censor me. i used to spend a lot of time there, playing, and writing poetry, and such. it was a great place. what is interesting i think about the well is that it is a place from which much activity and idea about the direction of the net has happened, and i think that its sort of Motherness has onlly been slightly recognized. i am speaking of course of the old well, and not of the post 1994 well. i have suggested, and do suggest, that the old well went to the river, and then to eMinds. i also suggest that one of the most interesting things that happened on eMinds that i observed was the way that the cycle of relationship speeded up. i think that there are very definite, trackable social cycles in cspace that are different from earthspace.

I think all of this is loosing it's purpose. This type of forum should be defensed and preserved for the right generations to come. Technoligy cannot and willnot be monoplized by those "choosen few". This is my first time here and I really enjoy the fact that people can come together and express themselves without the reprecussions of being fired or replaced. Technology should make life easier not more oppressive.

We're trying to insure that the words here will continue in perpetuity. We're setting up a trust to carry the Spring and our words past our lifetimes. What's up with the WELL and Maria Wilhelm these days. And Bruce Katz?

i think that these forums have a certain lifecycle. the trick is to understand it, and to work with that cycle.

Are you saying the WELL might be at the end of a cycle? Minds certainly is standing at the chasm.

it seems to me that electric minds is part of the well community, an offshoot, just like river.org is an offshoot. people wanted different communities for whatever reason, and so they formed them. i saw on eminds that about three different cycles happened: the howard cycle: discourse as product the ruthm cycle: cspace as proust the zeit/nancy cycle: fixing howard's end now i think there is a cycle forming on spring, from well/eminds; it's like ocean wavelets, signaling the dispersion of the well community. it suggests that the 1994 acquisition of the well by katz had tremendous repercussions for virtual discourse. i think that these offshoot communities have to be seen as well-diaspora, because that is their root.

I'd certainly agree that many of the new communities springing up on the web and other places are derived from The WELL, it's ideas and ideals. Is that a bad thing or a good thing, do you think?

I know this is not the Intros Topic, but since I was directed here from a topic in the WELL, I will post my first response here. Until six or seven months ago I had never been on a conferencing system, chat line, or BBS. At that time I became a WELL member and I am now hooked. (started an .ind conference and put up a Web page over there.) Recently I figured I should find out what the rest of the world is like and so I have registered on the Spring, Utne Cafe and Electric Minds. My main interests are philo ophy of science, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, information theory, mathematics and biology. For relaxation lately I've been learning Java. Oh, I also hike and read. :-)

Hmmm. Something I need to know about word wrap here? No cut and paste, just entering this in the response box in my browser. I guess I should also try the telnet interface sometime.

Cut and paste should work on the web interface. Or copy and paste. I do it pretty frequently. In the telnet interface you can use your favorite UNIX editor like vi or pico if you don't like the native built in editor. Just type :e on a line by itself to go in to your editor. These are some heady interests, philosophy of science and all, and I hope we can find some folks to join you with the same interests here. Feel free to create new topics where you deem appropos. And most of all, Welcome to the Spring.