-=> Quoting Damon A. Getsman to Nancy Backus on 01-May-2015 09:34 <=-   
      
    NB>> We come to the hobby from different places... :) I came for genealogy,   
    NB>> where real names are the lifeblood of the area... :)  Games (mostly   
    NB>> word types or trivia) were an addition... as was getting somewhat   
    NB>> involved in messaging in the local areas, getting to know the other   
    NB>> users and the sysop better.  It helped that the sysop of that early   
    NB>> board was a friendly sort, and encouraged good interaction.  :)   
    DAG> Yeah I was definitely a naive kid who'd gotten into coding   
    DAG> beforehand and had really romanticised dreams from reading the book   
    DAG> 'Hackers' by Steven Levy and wanted to change the world through freedom   
    DAG> of information and coding.  The persona was the really interesting   
    DAG> aspect to it.  Struggling to have a life with more meaning in a   
    DAG> pre-portioned society, I guess, at least that's what it felt like at   
    DAG> the time.   
      
   Yours was following a dream, mine was finding a tool...  ;)   
      
    DAG> 'Course I spent plenty of time with the online gaming, as I   
    DAG> got telecommunications ability and I found that now I had software for   
    DAG> the computer that I'd salvaged and no longer had to write my own.  It's   
    DAG> kind of a shame, really.  I would've come a lot farther with my   
    DAG> programming and sysadmin skills probably if I would've kept that hobby   
    DAG> going as strong through my teens as it first started in my pre-teens.    
      
   Pluses and minuses to having things handed to you... ;)     
      
    DAG> I didn't really resume it in force until almost my mid-twenties, and   
    DAG> even then it was only my minor, while my major was in partying.   
      
   Water under the bridge now... but yeah, not so great...  ;)   
      
    DAG> The first couple of boards that I was on, as far as local dialups,   
    DAG> didn't really have that sense of community so much.  I guess they were   
    DAG> really indicative of the culture in North Dakota, now that I reflect on   
    DAG> it a little bit.  It was when I first got some cracked accounts to   
    DAG> access major online BBSes (ie ISCA BBS) that I first started to feel a   
    DAG> real sense of community. There weren't any people in my community who   
    DAG> responded very well to my sense of repression fighting for outlet...    
      
   Rochester always has seemed to have a good sense of community, on many   
   levels... bbsing being only one of them...  back in the day, with a   
   number of good bbses to choose from, there wasn't much rivalry (and what   
   there was was rather good-natured at that) and there was a lot of   
   cooperation... There's less of that now locally on the bbs scene, but   
   with telnet and all, the community just widened out globally..  :)   
      
    DAG> Going against those grains instead of just taking what was handed to   
    DAG> you in play was kind of frowned against.  Nobody could understand that   
    DAG> a kid with problems might be a product of parents with problems...  I   
    DAG> don't know, I could write a million page essay on all of that crap, but   
    DAG> it's really neither here no there anymore.  It taught me to be a better   
    DAG> father, that's all that should really matter at this point.  Well that   
    DAG> and to fight to find things that can help me to keep those haunting   
    DAG> nightly revisitation hours under control where the demons of the past   
    DAG> try to pour back out at me.  ;)   
      
   It's good to find good lessons in the bad things of the past... :)  And   
   then to let the demons loose, to not torment you any more... :)   
      
    NB>> There was some of that here, too.  And for some, I'm sure it was a   
    NB>> similar lifesaver as for you.  :)  I remember one teen boy I spent some   
    NB>> intensive time in chat on one bbs (he'd started by trying to "hit" on   
    NB>> me, until I told him I had a son already out of college, at which point   
    NB>> he responded by asking for advice on how to deal with his parents)...   
    DAG> Heh.  I think I've probably made that mistake a few times myself.  I   
    DAG> think that the whole atmosphere of online interaction can be really   
    DAG> great for kids in that situation, where they're repressed and kept   
    DAG> from normal socialization by parents or whatever cause.    
      
   It didn't bother me... I just figured his reasoning was, any female on   
   the scene must be young, "old ladies" wouldn't be interested...   And   
   of course, there's no visual clues as to age...  :)   
      
    DAG> Unfortunately I've seen the opposite, too.  It doesn't help much that   
    DAG> the internet has been so popularized at this point that it doesn't   
    DAG> really require a sense of community in the discussion boards or   
    DAG> anything of the sort.  I don't think quite as many people experience   
    DAG> the original senses of community that were so helpful to people in my   
    DAG> position when they were younger, now-a-days.    
      
   I'd tend to go along with you on that.  And I suspect that some of that   
   lack of real community is what encourages the somewhat resurgance of the   
   bbs scene lately...  :)   
      
    DAG> Though no doubt the reblogging and soul dumpings   
    DAG> on facebook, diaspora, tumblr, and [maybe even] twitter spurts still   
    DAG> serve the same purpose.  It's just so much more likely to get lost in   
    DAG> the flood.  Plus the newer media makes it a lot easier for people to   
    DAG> just spend their time reblogging and 'liking' the different content   
    DAG> that other people put up, instead of spending time in really meaningful   
    DAG> interactions.  Kind of reminds me of people sewing band patches and   
    DAG> other people's quotes onto their clothing so that they can be an   
    DAG> 'individual'.  *looks guiltily at bathrobe emblazoned with many band   
    DAG> patches and other designs*    
      
   [grinning]  I suppose there's a place for that...   I have to agree   
   that what exists nowadays in social media is generally a poor substitute   
   for real interaction.  I'm sure there are some pockets of it, but the   
   medium doesn't really encourage it... it tends to be pretty impersonal..   
      
    DAG>> I hope that I can roll out this shell that I'm working on to them   
    DAG>> soon here so that I can give back a little bit to the community   
    DAG>> that gave me so much.   
    NB>> A nice repayment..  :)   
    DAG> I'm just sad it's taking so much longer than I thought it would.    
    DAG> Such is the curve for projects of this size though, I guess.  Well,   
    DAG> that, and I'm hampered a bit because of the fact that I've never coded   
    DAG> with frameworks, never coded with testing, never learned any decent   
    DAG> software engineering techniques.  I've only worked on my own code, and   
    DAG> that's bitten me in the bum a bit.  Especially since I've had somebody   
    DAG> else contribute good portions of work to this project, now, and I'm   
    DAG> having trouble getting up to speed on the flow of their code in order   
    DAG> to fix it where it's broken with recent additions.  Regardless, I hope   
    DAG> some of them appreciate it once I iron out these last 3 bugs that are   
    DAG> keeping me from putting it up public.   
      
   I'm sure it IS a learning curve...  :)  Sounds like you'll manage ok   
   with it though...  :)   
      
   ttyl      neb   
      
   ... Rumors of the death of the BBS have been GREATLY Exaggerated   
      
   --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F   
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - Oshawa, ON, CA http://tinysbbs.com (1:229/452)