I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago (we are talking late 1990s probably). 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, 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 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 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 DM0127.DOC. It contains what looks like an e-mail reading session with e-mails dated in late January 1985. There are only a couple of e-mails here including one from a new member of “TFC”, presumably referring to “The Friendship Circle” Special Interest Group. This was either another Special Interest Group run by “Connie” or it became “Close Encounters”.
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DM0127.DOC
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MAIL #1
From: CSG01 27-JAN-1985 11:28
To: CABUYS
Subj: JUST TO SAY HI!
Sorry I missed you ..chatted with Grey Wulfe..and he said
you were an extremely busy lady..Your who/is also
shows that..Catch you again..sometime..
Thanks for the TFC passwords..just getting started with
this hobby..and afraid am hooked on it!..
Warmest regards,
Sarah..
exit
MAIL> re
To: CSG01
Subj: RE: JUST TO SAY HI!
Enter your message below. Press CTRL/Z when complete, CTRL/C to
quit:
Sarah, Iit's true that I'm busy, but I always try to make
time as soon as I can for new TFC members.
I'm glad you joined us. But, beware! it is very addicting
and very exciting! <smile>
Talk to you soon!
-Connie
^Z
Press RETURN to return to reading your mail
MAIL> d
MAIL>
MAIL #1
From: DEOGBURN 27-JAN-1985 11:54
To: CABUYS
Subj: RE: some suggestions
Some very good points connie. Yes, no more sessions on Saturda
y I promise.
Please be aware that an a agenda was sent out to all of you 2 w
eeks ago, however
we did tend to jump around quite a bit, but we did cover everyt
hing I planned, some
a little to brief than I planned.
Thanks for the suggestions, the one on using /Send for hellos
and bye's I will enforce.
Chris
MAIL> d
MAIL>
