Megalextoria

A summary for those that haven’t been keeping up with this series:

I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago (sometime in the late 1990s to the best of my recollection). I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a several years back. Since then, I have been occasionally posting the content here.

Based on the contents, most or all of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.

The following description of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: “This SIG, known as ‘Close Encounters’, is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships.”

This service was text based and was accessed via a modem and whatever terminal program you had available for your computer to dial in with. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I am not aware of any archives in existence today that contain what was on Delphi in the 1980s.

This post includes the contents of LORDMHM.DOC. It contains a single e-mail dated January 27th, 1985. It’s from somebody with the handle of JOHNWG (presumably JWG are his initials). It refers to a prior conversation and seems to be about promoting the Close Encounters Special Interest Group. I have no idea if any of the items mentioned here ever came to fruition.

=-=
LORDMHM.DOC
=-=

—

"MINDSPEAK" by GRENDEL, Aug.  2, 1984 at 23:26 MT about WHAT
*DOES* HAPPEN ON THE GREEN SCREEN? (66 notes)

66 (of 66) LORD TORGARTH Dec. 25, 1984 at 11:50 MT (1068
characters)

There is another aspect of teleconferencing that I have heard
pointed out elsewhere, but I haven't seen stated here.

The green screen acts as something of a buffer, a shield if
you will. In person, when you meet someone new, you always
have a bit of a guard up; you are wary, and worried about
their reaction to you.  Via the green screen, you feel "safe",
so you are more open.

Also, superficiality is reduced.  You cannot see the person 
you are talking to, so are not distracted by physical
appearance, etc.  You converse with the *person*, not the
body.

I know I am not expressing myself as well as I usually do -
chalk that up to inaction; I haven't been online for 6 months
or so.  But I hope that I am getting my meaning through;
teleconferencing is a great aid to meaningful communications.

Of course, some people misuse this tool, and hide behind false
facades, but then, people do that in the analog world as well
 - whereever you go, you will find phonys.  A sad fact of
human nature.

                                Sincerely;
                                Lord Torgarth of Imroth-Aenor

A summary for those that haven’t been keeping up with this series:

I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago (sometime in the late 1990s to the best of my recollection). I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a several years back. Since then, I have been occasionally posting the content here.

Based on the contents, most or all of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.

The following description of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: “This SIG, known as ‘Close Encounters’, is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships.”

This service was text based and was accessed via a modem and whatever terminal program you had available for your computer to dial in with. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I am not aware of any archives in existence today that contain what was on Delphi in the 1980s.

This post includes the contents of ITSOVER.DOC. It contains a single e-mail dated December 10th, 1984. It’s one person’s opinion (going by the handle of FTF) of the sexual revolution and it is tied in to the topics discussed in the Close Encounters Special Interest Group. It looks like this was sent to three people including the manager of this particular SIG. Contents included below:

=-=
ITSOVER.DOC
=-=

—

From:   FTF            10-DEC-1984 20:46  
To:     PRINCESS,JOHNMYSELF,CABUYS
Subj:   IT'S OVER!

The sexual revolution is over!

And I am not sure any of us can say who won...

Sure, you say to yourselves, thats just a gimmick to get us to
read more and perhaps that is part of what lies behind these
words.  But consider, for a moment some concepts regarding
trends of this sort. I certainly will concede that sex is
alive and well in this United States and most certainly in the
electronic world! 

But it's different now for some reason.  Look at the types of 
encounters that get discussed just here for example.  Loving 
Submission.  Multiple person relationships.  Casual and quite 
serious relationships.  The Main Event.  Even two years ago,
would it have been possible on an individual level to discuss
these events with such an open attitude?  I maintain it would
have been difficult. 

The sexual revolution was not so much an effort to make more 
types of sexual contact acceptable.  Behind the closed doors
of countless bedrooms the variations have always been
occurring.  No. That was not the point of all of the front
line actions.  The revolution has always been directed towards
making us comfortable discussing it and engaging in it.  To
take the word *dirty* out of what was already happening in the
trenches. To let us say to ourselves first and later to others
"You know,  I like sex!"  And then to go one step farther and
say  "I wish my lover/friend/spouse would try this or not do
that" and be honest about it.  To find the societal acceptance
to be able to say that one does indeed have needs and desires.

Of course with the greater awareness of the pleasures come the
increased awarenesses of the potential dangers as well  - the 
unwanted diseases - the greater risk of pregnancy - the fact
that sometimes lovers aren't terribly honest about themselves.
But those were always there.  We just didn't talk about them.

The sexual revolution is over. I think we all won!