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. I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a while back. Since then I have been posting the contents here.
Based on the contents, at least some 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.
A specific definition 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 whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn’t be in such archives even if they existed.
This post includes the contents of CONTEST.DOC which is dated September 17th, 1985. This appears to be an e-mail sent to all SIG managers regarding a recruitment drive contest. Basically, the SIG manager who signs up the most new Delphi users would win a free trip. Well, not really…they were much cheaper than that. You got a free weekend at a Ramada Inn or Hyatt in the city of your choice but you had to pay your own travel expenses.
See the previous post here.
===
CONTEST.DOC
===
dirread 3
#3 17-SEP-1985 16:31:29 MAIL
From: BOS1A::KELLY
To: @[KELLY.IPS]SIGMGRS.;
Subj: MEMBERSHIP CONTEST
FALL MEMBERSHIP CONTEST!!
Now through October 25, 1985, DELPHI will be sponsoring its
annual Membership Contest. The prize is a Weekend Get-away
at a Hyatt or Ramada Inn in the city of your choice, arranged
by Fresh Pond Travel of Cambridge, MA. Travel expenses
excluded.
To participate in the contest, all you do is have friends,
relatives, and co-workers sign-up for DELPHI at a discounted
price of $10 (for a life-time membership and one free
evening hour).
To sign-up at the special discounted rate, have the person
dial the DELPHI number (617) 576-0862 and type CONTEST
as the Username and then the username of the person who
refers him as the Password.
DELPHI will keep track of how many new members sign-up using
your Username and award the prize to the Username that has
the most new members as of October 25, 1985. There is a
minimum of 10 sign-ups needed to qualify for the contest.
MAIL>
