~terry
Mon, Oct 27, 1997 (13:32)
seed
The WELL is the 900 pound gorilla of the virtual community scene. Huge.
Upwards of 10,000 participants. Makes me green with envy. I was on the
original WELL many, many years ago before the Internet made it possible to
telnet and to http.
The WELL can be as rough and tumble as ECHO. But there's no place like it.
Stewart Brand, Cliff Figallo, Nancy Rhine, "tex" Coate, and other legendary
folks built this community and modeled their management style after the
Tennessee Farm. fig still hangs there. He's the wise old pundit looking
for newer frontiers.
It would take several volumes to expound on the history and ups and downs of
the WELL. It's a haven for writers, SF Bay area folks, Deadheads, journalists,
photographers, and it's awesome in it's scope and breadth of conferences and
topics.
~terry
Thu, Oct 30, 1997 (23:03)
#1
I read this very heartening comment today:
110 of 112: Americ Azevedo (americ) Thu Oct 30 '97 (19:03) 8 lines
This Winter and coming Spring, I predict that Virtual Communities are
going to become the hottest business topic in the world.
Forget, the World Wide Web -- that will just be a given.
It's what happens \on top of the web\ that will really bring
people into this new world. The environment of communication is
becoming familiar and friendly enough to attract the un-tech-no masses
to the screens. They will get lost in these new virtual worlds...and
spend money.
I hope this is right. Too good to be true?
~donnal
Sat, Nov 1, 1997 (15:44)
#2
I have enjoyed and appreciated Americ's posts on the WELL.
~terry
Sat, Nov 1, 1997 (20:06)
#3
He's perhaps interested in the Spring and I've been exchanging quite a bit
of email with him lately. I like the fresh insights that he's bringing to the
scene. Quite a discussion on the WELL lately about on line bullying involving
him, Howard, fig, americ and quite a few others. And it's even spilling in to the
Spring topic in vc on the WELL.
~terry
Tue, Nov 25, 1997 (12:37)
#4
What's new on the WELL these days. Watch out, I may answer this
myself.
~stacey
Wed, Nov 26, 1997 (10:22)
#5
let's hear then!
~terry
Wed, Nov 26, 1997 (12:14)
#6
I will, and maybe americ will chime in. Later on.
~mikeg
Thu, Nov 27, 1997 (07:12)
#7
I want an English WELL - however, I seem to be the only English person that I've
met so far who a) knows what it is; b) wants it here.
England is so stagnant and far behind...I yearn for the revolutionary style
of California or similar...
~terry
Thu, Nov 27, 1997 (07:33)
#8
Just spread the word in England about the Spring and you can
use us as your incubator. Many forming virtual communities make
use of the Spring in this way. And we have all of the elements of
the WELL, even down to shell access.
~mikeg
Fri, Nov 28, 1997 (12:28)
#9
Indeed. However - and please don't take this personally - most places don't seem to capture that certain "zeitgeist" that the well did/does. I don't know why, and I don't know how it can be done. I get the feeling that the WELL was just a bunch of misfits and weirdoes who collided in one place by accident. There is just something undefinable about the place.
~americ
Fri, Nov 28, 1997 (12:29)
#10
English WELL -- yes.
Terry certainly has moved me alone by making my dream of hosting a _philosophy conference_ true.
Thank you for quoting me here. I feel very honored.
I think The Spring is really in a good position to create so newer more vital traditions in this field.
~terry
Fri, Nov 28, 1997 (12:55)
#11
I guess we're all too sane here, we just don't attract enought
misfits, but there's still time!
~americ
Fri, Nov 28, 1997 (15:41)
#12
Misfits -- that sells
the worst of stuff is what moves "talk radio"
~terry
Fri, Nov 28, 1997 (17:22)
#13
Well, let's not go that far.
~terry
Mon, Dec 8, 1997 (07:46)
#14
Some interesting WELL stats.
Public conference visits
Sun Nov 30 00:00:02 1997 through Sat Dec 6 23:59:14 1997
1. 6541 news 11. 1703 current * 21. 1194 sports
* 2. 4491 media * 12. 1625 tv 22. 1177 macintosh
3. 2338 genx 13. 1594 sanfran 23. 1086 tours
4. 2286 popcult * 14. 1561 music 24. 1038 cooking
5. 2214 hosts 15. 1457 byline * 25. 1026 vc
* 6. 2044 movies 16. 1334 slicker.ind * 26. 920 health
* 7. 2039 books 17. 1328 classifieds 27. 882 berkeley
8. 1832 gd 18. 1319 wired 28. 849 welltech
9. 1720 weird 19. 1228 plumage * 29. 832 science
10. 1712 words * 20. 1207 web 30. 790 horde
* equivalent conferences on the Spring
~mikeg
Mon, Dec 8, 1997 (12:32)
#15
Not sure I reall understand the stats you've just put, terry. Could
you space them out a little more clearly (maybe put them in an html table)?
Incidentally, I've just re-opened a WELL account. I've decided that if
I want access to people with a *lot* of virtual community experience, I'll
have to bite the bullet. Again :)
However, I have an account which includes telnet access now, so I'll be
able to bypass the horrible Engaged interface if I want to (and get
access to the equally horrible Picospan interface :)
~tca
Mon, Feb 16, 1998 (23:58)
#16
Last month, I gave some bad advice in the WELL virtual
communities conference. Luckily, he paid me no heed.
People at the WELL are mean to . He tends to brag about The
Spring a bit, but who can blame him? I'm gonna cancel my account
there at the end of the month.
~terry
Tue, Feb 17, 1998 (10:34)
#17
The WELL does get a bit crusty at times.
~mikeg
Tue, Feb 17, 1998 (11:35)
#18
:)
~terry
Tue, Feb 17, 1998 (20:39)
#19
More from boswell, could be called "What a long, strange trip it's been"
DEEPER
The Not-So-Virtual Life and Hot Times of the Well
In the beginning, Brand created the Whole Earth and, for it's day,
it was good.
But good times and good things all pass, and in time the Whole Earth
was passe.
So Brand stared out on space and asked, "If the Whole Earth
is no longer hot, what is?"
The heavens opened and he saw before him in flaming letters:
"It's the computer, stupid!"
And lo, it was the computer.
"But what about computers makes them interesting?", asked the Brand.
The heavens opened once again and flaming letters appeared saying,
"It's the people, stupid. If you build it, they will come."
Thus did Brand in Sausalito, California say,
"Let there be a computer
conferencing system and let it be called..?
Let it be called... hummm, something folksy and non-technical
... let it be called the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, the WELL!"
And, lo, on earth in Sausalito came forth the WELL
in the year of our Brand Awareness 1985.
And it was weird and difficult
and kludgy and unstable.
Hence, it became in time a self-selecting mechanism
that attracted a certain sort of person that was also
weird and difficult,
kludgy and unstable.
In short, nerds that were into sex, drugs, and rock and roll--
as well as computers;
.................the kind of nerds that hung out in the Haight
Ashbury in the 60s and 70s or went off on vision quests to the
Himalayas, or stuck it out in ashrams and communes in the city or
the country, who
(One!...two!.....three!...four...! Hit it!!)
Who danced with the devil in the pale moonlight
all night long to the Grateful Dead.
Who planted terminal velocity dope in among
their own alien corn.
Who burned up the wires with all night sessions
of cocaine and programming.
Who drove thousands of miles just to see each other
in the flesh, and were not disappointed!
Who had long laminating parties and boogied with
The Fabulous Fannies.
Who reveled in tales of their own profligate drug use.
Who told ghost stories that could have been true.
Who took on sexual genders that they never imagined existed.
Who picked up whips and chains with batteries included!
Who cracked root and hacked the system and then
hacked the system's systems.
Who destroyed themselves online
and then committed suicide for the sake of symmetry
dreaming of dream of smart televisions.
Who fell in love and lust
in a hundred different pretzeled combinations!
Who confessed their darkest sexual secrets
to anyone who would listen.
Who wrote down their earliest memories.
Who cried for and hated their fathers.
Who told the truth about their shameful desires
and found no shaming.
Who confessed their crimes and were busted
Who cruised the rooms looking for someone,
anyone with a perversion, a habit, a jones that was their mirror.
Who married each other online and off.
Who seduced each other online and off.
Who had group sex with strange body types
that did not repel them.
Who had children, well and sick, alive and dead,
in and out of jail.
Who died.
Who mourned for the dead.
Who wrote messages to nobody
for a thousand and one nights
and then another thousand nights
and yet another thousand nights --
telling stories,
sending messages,
making the scene,
leaving the scene,
and coming back again..
And all in a thousand dim rooms,
mostly alone,
mostly at night
with only the glowing screen of a million colors
shining in front of them like some odd God on an
altar of silicon whose miracles were never quite mastered.
And the messages going out and going out
into what had to be only nothing, but could be, might be
-- somewhere somehow -- some sweet connection
in the imagined starry vault of cyberspace with
someone or some many who would at last understand
and signal back across the impossible distances
that they too had the same dreams, sins, fantasies,
ideas, insights, insanity,
hates or loves.
Who wrote things that had never been told
even to their most intimate friends and lovers.
Wrote them because they needed to fill the long, long nights
after everyone else in the house was asleep
and the village asleep and the suburb quiet
and the downtown avenues hushed.
And the typing went on,
signaling what they knew,
what they hoped,
what they had seen,
what they had done
what they wanted to do....
sometime, somewhere, somehow.
All thrown into the deeper part of the Well
where, like candles dropped into some dark pit,
they glowed smaller and smaller and seemed to be
fading out of sight
when, miraculously, the light turned
and loomed larger and larger coming up from the Well
with an answer, a signal, a symbol,
an emblem that in the labyrinth of the system
someone somewhere somehow had heard and answered.
And the Well kept these records for year upon year,
until a decade out the tales that it knew,
and the voices it heard came back
from the depth of the machine and asked,
"Who WERE the hands and the faces
that night after night built the single system
with a memory of the years of its own creation?"
Asking who, if they were made to stand and unfold themselves,
would testify that this one strange system,
created as an afterthought, with little to recommend it
in the way of technology, survived as the one place
in all of cyberspace with a memory and a history
of the people that were of it.
of the WELL, but not of the body.
And what happened along the way.
Who lived? Who loved? Who died?
Who fell? Who was left behind?
On the single system where those that rode it
nightly across the years could truly say,
"What a long strange trip its been."
~mikeg
Tue, Feb 17, 1998 (20:50)
#20
Amazing!
~KitchenManager
Wed, Feb 18, 1998 (17:18)
#21
seems we got some catching up to do...
~terry
Wed, Nov 11, 1998 (12:28)
#22
Single folks on the WELL:
http://www.well.com/conf/singles/gallery.html
~sprin5
Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (19:41)
#23
Topic 4 [fuck.pri]: The WELL's Fuckers
#539 of 544: Jef Fucking Poskanzer (jef) Tue Jun 13 '00 (09:37) 205
lines
New fuck stats! The top 200:
Rank Userid Responses Bytes Topics New topics
TOTALS 48548 100% 3900416 100% 36048 100% 290 100%
1 wjamesau 878 1% 60434 1% 581 1% 10 3%
2 jerod23 648 1% 308506 7% 341 0% 10 3%
3 dam 603 1% 36753 0% 339 0% 0 0%
4 josh 564 1% 33066 0% 472 1% 1 0%
5 tnf 556 1% 39551 1% 423 1% 10 3%
6 jet 478 0% 28956 0% 360 0% 2 0%
7 rbr 475 0% 34176 0% 371 1% 1 0%
8 jef 475 0% 31134 0% 335 0% 10 3%
9 axon 474 0% 35059 0% 333 0% 1 0%
10 nycjag 446 0% 40232 1% 264 0% 3 1%
11 jeffreyp 446 0% 25687 0% 256 0% 2 0%
12 gjk 442 0% 31042 0% 303 0% 0 0%
13 digaman 426 0% 32684 0% 216 0% 0 0%
14 vard 424 0% 32945 0% 322 0% 2 0%
15 swoopcat 424 0% 30256 0% 267 0% 0 0%
16 jrc 418 0% 29803 0% 319 0% 0 0%
17 riffraff 412 0% 30571 0% 218 0% 1 0%
18 alden 367 0% 63576 1% 242 0% 4 1%
19 saiyuk 352 0% 22105 0% 242 0% 0 0%
20 jstraw 351 0% 20421 0% 292 0% 4 1%
21 mz 350 0% 19908 0% 277 0% 0 0%
22 duck 338 0% 23305 0% 212 0% 1 0%
23 kadrey 314 0% 20435 0% 234 0% 0 0%
24 slf 295 0% 20357 0% 245 0% 0 0%
25 scraps 287 0% 18915 0% 216 0% 1 0%
26 grifter 276 0% 20603 0% 173 0% 0 0%
27 arice 267 0% 20019 0% 191 0% 0 0%
28 miles 266 0% 18000 0% 185 0% 3 1%
29 dsg 261 0% 18423 0% 143 0% 0 0%
30 lizabeth 256 0% 20895 0% 168 0% 1 0%
31 gary 252 0% 21628 0% 169 0% 4 1%
32 filmmag 246 0% 13940 0% 207 0% 2 0%
33 brady 245 0% 17579 0% 153 0% 0 0%
34 mnemonic 241 0% 18892 0% 160 0% 0 0%
35 rab 237 0% 20798 0% 189 0% 0 0%
36 bradburn 237 0% 12160 0% 114 0% 1 0%
37 plettner 230 0% 17737 0% 176 0% 0 0%
38 brock 227 0% 20351 0% 105 0% 0 0%
39 bandy 224 0% 11697 0% 126 0% 0 0%
40 mim 222 0% 15840 0% 150 0% 2 0%
41 joeyx 216 0% 9699 0% 140 0% 0 0%
42 streak 215 0% 14404 0% 173 0% 0 0%
43 lala 210 0% 8533 0% 128 0% 3 1%
44 cromis 210 0% 27658 0% 138 0% 1 0%
45 plum 207 0% 11573 0% 157 0% 2 0%
46 tpy 203 0% 12887 0% 150 0% 1 0%
47 spingo 196 0% 10050 0% 140 0% 0 0%
48 brook 196 0% 15073 0% 154 0% 3 1%
49 belly 193 0% 12825 0% 113 0% 1 0%
50 almanac 191 0% 13928 0% 146 0% 0 0%
51 evilsofa 190 0% 16040 0% 152 0% 12 4%
52 rafeco 185 0% 12123 0% 135 0% 0 0%
53 rik 184 0% 11550 0% 162 0% 0 0%
54 rusirius 183 0% 13282 0% 127 0% 7 2%
55 ty 182 0% 11315 0% 122 0% 0 0%
56 ndjd88 182 0% 9962 0% 130 0% 3 1%
57 steve 180 0% 10473 0% 143 0% 0 0%
58 ernie 178 0% 11942 0% 117 0% 0 0%
59 duca 176 0% 22654 0% 33 0% 0 0%
60 jonl 175 0% 12669 0% 112 0% 7 2%
61 jpettitt 173 0% 29584 0% 9 0% 0 0%
62 obizuth 172 0% 12114 0% 148 0% 0 0%
63 flanagan 172 0% 12961 0% 105 0% 0 0%
64 truejim 170 0% 15331 0% 102 0% 0 0%
65 cynsa 170 0% 9779 0% 105 0% 0 0%
66 justride 169 0% 10357 0% 152 0% 1 0%
67 jukevox 168 0% 8923 0% 119 0% 0 0%
68 cooljazz 168 0% 9979 0% 48 0% 1 0%
69 mucas 167 0% 14988 0% 142 0% 1 0%
70 jdevoto 163 0% 11424 0% 137 0% 0 0%
71 badbongo 163 0% 8740 0% 83 0% 0 0%
72 aud 161 0% 10037 0% 107 0% 0 0%
73 kls 159 0% 11961 0% 124 0% 1 0%
74 crow 159 0% 9440 0% 137 0% 0 0%
75 chelbell 157 0% 7789 0% 93 0% 0 0%
76 lolly 155 0% 9309 0% 120 0% 0 0%
77 buck 153 0% 9957 0% 70 0% 0 0%
78 virginia 144 0% 10527 0% 116 0% 0 0%
79 mcdee 143 0% 10469 0% 96 0% 1 0%
80 magdalen 142 0% 11086 0% 116 0% 0 0%
81 jon028 142 0% 9820 0% 95 0% 0 0%
82 lisa 139 0% 7351 0% 101 0% 0 0%
83 mikejs 138 0% 9072 0% 103 0% 0 0%
84 woodrow 135 0% 10648 0% 103 0% 4 1%
85 angus 132 0% 8471 0% 115 0% 1 0%
86 cruella 129 0% 9644 0% 108 0% 4 1%
87 mariposa 127 0% 8988 0% 95 0% 0 0%
88 marybeth 126 0% 6842 0% 103 0% 3 1%
89 bryan 126 0% 7986 0% 93 0% 1 0%
90 blueduck 126 0% 8652 0% 92 0% 0 0%
91 maya 125 0% 8840 0% 95 0% 0 0%
92 techgirl 124 0% 4939 0% 48 0% 1 0%
93 doctorow 124 0% 10904 0% 76 0% 0 0%
94 srhodes 123 0% 8482 0% 98 0% 0 0%
95 heyjude 122 0% 7827 0% 92 0% 0 0%
96 philcat 121 0% 8964 0% 86 0% 1 0%
97 ruz 119 0% 7564 0% 108 0% 0 0%
98 kyee 118 0% 7960 0% 94 0% 0 0%
99 chimpowl 116 0% 8030 0% 90 0% 0 0%
100 bijou 116 0% 6867 0% 98 0% 0 0%
101 dgault 115 0% 6102 0% 98 0% 0 0%
102 jnfr 114 0% 5116 0% 71 0% 1 0%
103 ivanski 114 0% 9764 0% 90 0% 0 0%
104 bruces 112 0% 13694 0% 51 0% 0 0%
105 mandel 111 0% 6682 0% 97 0% 1 0%
106 mtrbike 108 0% 6595 0% 79 0% 1 0%
107 editrix 108 0% 6308 0% 69 0% 0 0%
108 thanne 107 0% 6668 0% 89 0% 0 0%
109 pdl 107 0% 8618 0% 84 0% 1 0%
110 doxy 107 0% 6038 0% 98 0% 0 0%
111 zippy 106 0% 7172 0% 74 0% 0 0%
112 rghaggart 106 0% 8681 0% 55 0% 0 0%
113 dkline 106 0% 7647 0% 66 0% 0 0%
114 danlevy 105 0% 7073 0% 91 0% 0 0%
115 reid 102 0% 6895 0% 83 0% 1 0%
116 maj 102 0% 24856 0% 54 0% 0 0%
117 ledelste 101 0% 7475 0% 76 0% 2 0%
118 hlr 100 0% 7360 0% 91 0% 3 1%
119 green 99 0% 8539 0% 89 0% 2 0%
120 cthroid 99 0% 6696 0% 76 0% 1 0%
121 rreiss 98 0% 6753 0% 73 0% 0 0%
122 molsk 98 0% 5662 0% 76 0% 0 0%
123 mc2 98 0% 8227 0% 69 0% 2 0%
124 natalied 96 0% 6345 0% 71 0% 0 0%
125 wiggly 95 0% 4929 0% 72 0% 0 0%
126 farren 94 0% 6321 0% 85 0% 0 0%
127 brad 94 0% 4499 0% 61 0% 0 0%
128 zimby 93 0% 6186 0% 66 0% 0 0%
129 pstemari 93 0% 6118 0% 86 0% 0 0%
130 markmcc 89 0% 4556 0% 77 0% 0 0%
131 mag 89 0% 7423 0% 65 0% 0 0%
132 goolie 89 0% 5874 0% 66 0% 1 0%
133 naomi 88 0% 7380 0% 62 0% 0 0%
134 xanadu 87 0% 5673 0% 59 0% 0 0%
135 mcow 87 0% 8130 0% 73 0% 0 0%
136 hedge 86 0% 5489 0% 63 0% 1 0%
137 earl 86 0% 6575 0% 69 0% 0 0%
138 gberg 85 0% 5950 0% 68 0% 0 0%
139 booter 85 0% 5628 0% 71 0% 0 0%
140 the-voidmstr 84 0% 5346 0% 80 0% 1 0%
141 kafclown 84 0% 5612 0% 79 0% 0 0%
142 nboy 83 0% 5582 0% 64 0% 0 0%
143 lperson 83 0% 6056 0% 53 0% 1 0%
144 debbie 83 0% 7836 0% 56 0% 0 0%
145 tbaum 82 0% 6096 0% 59 0% 0 0%
146 noah 82 0% 6223 0% 55 0% 0 0%
147 lagoon 82 0% 5647 0% 73 0% 0 0%
148 tkiriluk 81 0% 5206 0% 72 0% 1 0%
149 carolen 80 0% 4852 0% 65 0% 0 0%
150 aleonard 80 0% 4288 0% 71 0% 0 0%
151 um 78 0% 4090 0% 60 0% 0 0%
152 gareth 78 0% 5776 0% 58 0% 1 0%
153 fom 78 0% 5218 0% 65 0% 0 0%
154 seabrook 77 0% 6454 0% 45 0% 1 0%
155 jstrahl 75 0% 5454 0% 36 0% 0 0%
156 barryp 74 0% 5301 0% 62 0% 0 0%
157 ludlow 73 0% 5472 0% 51 0% 0 0%
158 kuhrig 73 0% 4762 0% 34 0% 0 0%
159 jenslobodin 73 0% 6819 0% 49 0% 0 0%
160 mbuff 72 0% 4187 0% 43 0% 0 0%
161 kevins 72 0% 5185 0% 51 0% 0 0%
162 caferace 72 0% 3888 0% 46 0% 1 0%
163 spudboy 71 0% 5435 0% 47 0% 3 1%
164 rosebud-lee 71 0% 4194 0% 34 0% 0 0%
165 marcus 71 0% 4909 0% 58 0% 1 0%
166 gregoryp 71 0% 8648 0% 48 0% 2 0%
167 ajbelan 71 0% 5152 0% 54 0% 0 0%
168 matisse 70 0% 4162 0% 57 0% 0 0%
169 zorca 69 0% 2982 0% 60 0% 0 0%
170 vvanderer 69 0% 4407 0% 54 0% 1 0%
171 starla 69 0% 3537 0% 53 0% 0 0%
172 ssabrina 69 0% 4720 0% 59 0% 0 0%
173 stevebj 68 0% 5667 0% 52 0% 0 0%
174 rgehr 68 0% 4395 0% 57 0% 0 0%
175 pdil 68 0% 4478 0% 51 0% 0 0%
176 raemo 67 0% 6060 0% 52 0% 0 0%
177 nitewalk 67 0% 4864 0% 41 0% 1 0%
178 mcarp 67 0% 5676 0% 22 0% 0 0%
179 lilyb 67 0% 4689 0% 59 0% 0 0%
180 tigoe 66 0% 3873 0% 56 0% 0 0%
181 shmo 65 0% 5637 0% 29 0% 0 0%
182 roger 65 0% 4624 0% 59 0% 0 0%
183 finn2 65 0% 4114 0% 50 0% 0 0%
184 ewile 65 0% 4283 0% 48 0% 0 0%
185 croz 65 0% 5054 0% 10 0% 0 0%
186 sunbear 64 0% 3473 0% 61 0% 0 0%
187 jleft 64 0% 4698 0% 51 0% 0 0%
188 cynthiar 64 0% 4544 0% 47 0% 0 0%
189 arturner 64 0% 4104 0% 60 0% 0 0%
190 amicus 64 0% 4248 0% 56 0% 0 0%
191 mfasev 63 0% 2255 0% 36 0% 0 0%
192 kieran 63 0% 4305 0% 54 0% 0 0%
193 humdog 63 0% 3477 0% 52 0% 0 0%
194 halle 63 0% 4112 0% 35 0% 0 0%
195 chel 63 0% 3859 0% 46 0% 0 0%
196 ssol 62 0% 3982 0% 46 0% 0 0%
197 monalee 62 0% 3930 0% 49 0% 0 0%
198 explode 62 0% 3769 0% 43 0% 0 0%
199 evan 61 0% 4295 0% 57 0% 0 0%
200 boswell 60 0% 4941 0% 49 0% 0 0%
~MarciaH
Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (20:12)
#24
Sounds like a more hostile environment than Spring. *cringing* Not going there! Are you allowed to use that term on the internet??!
~MarciaH
Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (20:15)
#25
Guess, by their standards I am one of those ignominions people of the four-letter-word infamy......sigh