FORKNI-L
Digest - 12 Dec 2012 to 13 Dec 2012 (#2012-226)
Thu, 13 Dec 2012
There are 2 messages totalling 110 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. How the List Was Founded (Lengthy)
2. Happy Anniversary!
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Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2012 01:43:25 -0500
From: Jean Prior <phoenix@s.......>
Subject: How the List Was Founded (Lengthy)
I'm fairly sure I don't have an original of this document, but I still
/do/ have the fanzine it was printed in, Forever Net #1, September
1993. I really think someone should transcribe this entire fanzine to
electronic format if it hasn't been done already. Ironically, back in
1993, we were also discussing the various broadcast versions of the
show, because FN#1 has excerpts from various posts in it. C'est la
change, c'est la meme chose...
--- Original excerpt ---
It was a dark and stormy night. OK, so it was a cold windy sunny day in
December. How did I know it was a cold windy sunny day? I looked out
the window. Who am I? My name's Jean. I'm a net.geek. I don't wear a
badge, cos this isn't Dragnet. I'm a work-study student at Penn State
University. Home of Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions. I nearly ran
JoePa over once while he was jaywalking downtown, but that's another story.
The birth of FORKNI-L
This story concerns the Forever Knight mailing lists, FORKNI-L and
FKFIC-L, and how they came about. This particular December day saw me
at work, merrily performing my duties as a slav-- er, work-study student
at the place of my employment. It is a computer lab affiliated with
PSU's College of Ed. We, in the course of our work, utilize electronic
mailing lists to confer with educators from around the world on using
computers in the classroom, and other such fun things. This day, this
cold and sunny and windy day in December, I was talking to my boss about
other mailing lists, and how they cover a myriad of subjects. A thought
was percolating in my mind... so loudly that my boss asked what I was
thinking about.
I asked my boss if there were lists for TV shows. He replied yes. I
asked how one sets up a mailing list on PSUVM, the local piece of junk
we call a mainframe. He told me to go talk to a professor I am a
teaching assistant for. Later that day, still sunny and cold and windy,
I set on the trail for home. After having dinner in the dining hall
(bleah), I went to the nearest computer lab and logged on. With a quick
NOTE command, I sent mail to Dr. Santoro (call 'im Gerry - we all do
here). Since even the great Gerry Santoro cannot answer mail if he's not
online, I went home, to my dorm, where my roommate had the Christmas
lights blinking and the music up so loud, people heard it in
Bellefonte. I grumbled, still a bit frozen from my trek, and threatened
to hack off her nose with my sword if she didn't turn the damned things
off. Eventually, the night of threats and counterthreats ended when I
put in my tape of last night's Forever Knight, which my roommate thanked
me for taping. At least she wasn't watching Rush Limbaugh on my TV.
The next day dawned... you guessed it... cold and sunny and windy. After
my morning classes, I checked my mail and saw a reply from Gerry.
Reading it, I was apprised of the local Postmaster's name and userid,
with a comment warning me that an undergrad might not be able to be
listowner of a list here at PSU. Throwing caution to the wind, I sent
mail to the Postmaster, noting Gerry's comment.
I was jittery the next day when I read my mail. For there was a note
from the Postmaster. Fearfully, I hit the PEEK command. Instead of a
paragraph saying, "No, you can't have one," I saw the simple line: "What
do you want to call it?"
Literally bouncing in my seat in the lab, I hit the REPLY command and
told the Postmaster I wanted to call it FORKNI-L, which conformed to the
specs of the local listserv program. Later that same day, I added
myself to the member list and started putting in the names of the people
who had sent mail to me a looooong time ago when I asked them if they'd
like a list for Forever Knight. And that, dear friends, is how FORKNI-L
was born.
--- End of excerpt. ---
So much stuff has changed in the interim, but yet, some things remain.
I'm still a fan, and apparently still overly fond of clauses and commas
and being a smart alec.
I hope you all enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. Somewhere, in
one of the boxes in my library, is the little blue notebook I wrote down
the names and email addresses of the founding members of the list. When
I go cleaning the library this weekend, I'll see if I can find it and
trot out some names. :)
Jean
List Founder and Elder Stateskitty.
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Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:59:48 -0000
From: Lorin <vachesang@1.......>
Subject: Re: Happy Anniversary!
Wow, 20 years! Thanks Jean for posting the story of the founding of the
list, and many, many thanks to you for setting it all in motion, to McLisa
for keeping us all in order (mostly!) and for Don for being ListGardener
extraordinaire.
Lorin
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End of FORKNI-L Digest - 12 Dec 2012 to 13 Dec 2012 (#2012-226)
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Knight graphics and parchment background created by Melissa Snell and may be found at http://historymedren.about.com/
