Well, in the interest of sparking new discussion, here's a new topic:

Why were you a POPnetter?

That is.. what drew you to POPnet, and made you call back?

I'll start by saying it was safe and fun social interaction. It was a lot easier to type messages on CB to people than walking up to strangers in junior high/high school. I also found a different kind of interaction with people on POPnet than the people I knew in real life. I didn't know many other people who had a computer and that kind of thing.

-- Cathy Pearl (cpearl@acm.org), July 14, 1999

Answers

Well, I got into POPnet because my brother (Mark Nelson!) had discovered it through his friend Max Headroom (Kevin Plazak). Unfortunately, the reason I found it all so fascinating was because 1) most things Mark ever did I thought were neat and 2) I had a terrible crush on Kevin, so it was a different way to "talk" to him. I know, I know, but we do silly things when we're young.

I kept calling even after the initial novelty wore off because I felt there weren't so many pretenses in the communications as there were in highschool. I was a dorky kid in H.S. (ok, some things never change!) and I enjoyed not feeling like I had to be or act a certain way on line. I felt I could just be myself, and I think I ended up having better and more interesting conversations on line than in H.S. On POPnet, we all got to know each other more quickly because we could hide behind a screen of anonymity to take risks in sharing ideas and things about ourselves that we might not have otherwise discussed face-to-face with other kids in highschool. I remember feeling daring at times just by hitting that "enter" key! "OHmygodIcantbelieveIsaidthatREALLY!!!!" Not only that, but like Cathy said, the majority of POPnetters had a lot in common, computers and whatnot. I didn't, but every system needs a comedy relief. Right? I mean, I don't think I ever even played Traders once. Really! Whatever! But that was ok, since everyone was generally accepting of everybody, regardless of how odd we were (are). I think that was the best part, and the most distinguishing feature from the regular highschool scene.

So. I'm a more fulfilled, complete human being as a result of POPnet and I wrote a book about it, so if you want to just send $19.95 plus $5.95 S&H to me, I'll send it to you. :)

-- Kristin Nelson (skikitt@aol.com), July 18, 1999.

First off, I'm very happy this message board exists. I'm really enjoying hearing about how everyone is doing. Many of you called during the late 80's, when I was an obnoxious guest, but a few of you may remember me during my registered days of the 90's.

I think what attracted me to POPnet is that I was welcome to hang out and be myself. Unlike high school, I didn't feel the pressure to conform to any certain kind of behavior. Being naturally to the shy side, the online communication, combined with face to face communication at socials, made things easier. I just found it cool to be able to shoot the breeze with someone you knew who just happened to log in at the same time. I also like how you could have 2 or 3 private conversations at once, along with a CB chat with several other people. Best of all, it was all local people allowing me to put a face and a voice to the person's words as they appeared on the screen on my Apple 2C (with a 1200 Baud Modem). I never do the IRC thing mainly because the people are strangers and there is no "real world" interaction. The locality of POPnet gave me the chance to make friends.

I also liked how POPnetters could be perfectly happy doing something simple. Hanging out at Heather Farm's or Fenton's for an evening provided some of my best memories of the early 90's - even better than the multi-keg college parties or some big dance. We joked that we had no life and that we were losers or loners, but, looking back, nothing could be further from the truth!

-- Keith Rosicker (Kiko) (keithfr@ix.netcom.com), August 01, 1999.

I got into POPnet because of my older brother ("Asterix the Gaul"). I found it was great fun and I had to comment on this because I, too, like Kirsten, had a crush on Max Headroom....how funny is that?

-- Vanessa Benford ("Griffin") (vanessa.benford@arthur.andersen.com), October 01, 1999.