Tales of Fidonet: The SF Echo
Apr. 3rd, 2015 03:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tbutler(I've been putting this off hoping to find my lost archive of Fidonet messages, but so far it's still missing. :( I did find an online copy of the Acronym List, though... )
Back before the Internet and Internet newsgroups were open to the general public, those of us who couldn't get it (or who were university grads going through withdrawal) had Fidonet. Fidonet forums/message boards/etc. were called Echoes; I hung out on the Fidonet SF Echo.
The SF Echo was moderated by David Dyer-Bennett, one of the loose conflagration of Minnesota SF fans known as the Minneapolis Mafia; his loose but effective style was generally very effective for keeping things running and the signal-to-noise ratio good while still maintaining a 'friends and family' vibe. Conversation there was generally intelligent, the regular participants were charming and witty, flamewars very rare and quickly snuffed out. A lot of cool people hung out there, including a lot of midlist SF/Fantasy authors. (The MM and the Scribblies had a fairly large representation.)
I still miss them. :(
Back before the Internet and Internet newsgroups were open to the general public, those of us who couldn't get it (or who were university grads going through withdrawal) had Fidonet. Fidonet forums/message boards/etc. were called Echoes; I hung out on the Fidonet SF Echo.
The SF Echo was moderated by David Dyer-Bennett, one of the loose conflagration of Minnesota SF fans known as the Minneapolis Mafia; his loose but effective style was generally very effective for keeping things running and the signal-to-noise ratio good while still maintaining a 'friends and family' vibe. Conversation there was generally intelligent, the regular participants were charming and witty, flamewars very rare and quickly snuffed out. A lot of cool people hung out there, including a lot of midlist SF/Fantasy authors. (The MM and the Scribblies had a fairly large representation.)
I still miss them. :(
