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 USERBRD.DOC dated October 20th, 1985. This appears to be some announcements about a trivia contest, including the rules. I’m guessing these were announcements that might be displayed when the user enters the SIG but having never used Delphi I don’t know exactly how that worked.
See the previous post here.
===
USERBRD.DOC
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5 10-OCT BRIEF CONTEST REMIND
Hello sig members.
Earlier this week, we installed the first in a series of trivia
contest messages in the forum section < MSG: 238 >. A check of the
contest account reveals that no one has responded to the contest
message.
Stop in to the forum next chance you get and read message as noted.
Be sure to dmail your answers to LADYLOVE. Thank you.
8 6-OCT BRIEF CONTEST 1
The first set of questions in the Close Encounters Sig Sexual Trivia
Contest is now available in the forum. <see msg 238>
The official answers, winning entries, as well as the winner's and
runner-up's names will be posted some time Sunday, October 20.
Entries must be completed by midnight Saturday, October 19.
9 5-OCT BRIEF CONTEST RULES
Close Encounters Sig
Sexual Trivia Contest Rules.
This month in Close Encounters, we will be starting
a 'sexual trivia' contest with the official questions
and answers being taken from the game of the same name
and other sources.
Each month on the second Sunday, we will post in the
forum under the 'playground' topic, the 10 questions
for the month.
All members of the Close Encounters Sig are eligible to
play regardless of when they joined.
Answers to the questions are to be sent to LADYLOVE
via dmail only. Any answers <replies> posted in the
forum section will be automatically dis-qualified and
deleted.
The winner will be the first person to get either all the
questions correctly answered, or the most correct answers.
You may answer any or all of the questions at any time up
until midnight of the second Saturday following the posting
of the questions, however, the winner <and runner up> will
both be determined by the date/time stamp on the mail file
listing for the last entry. The decision of the judges will
be final.
Restrictions do apply
We would expect that if you have access to the game 'Sexual
Trivia', that you will dis-qualify yourself from
participating since this will give you an unfair advantage
over others who do not have the game or access to it.
In an effort to keep the game interesting and competitive,
and as fair as possible, the winner of one game will be asked
not to participate in the next months game only.
Of course there will be prizes.
Otherwise why have the contest at all? The winners will
receive a payment to their Delphi accounts of $1.00 for each
correct <or most nearly correct as determined by the judges>
answer from SLG ASSOCIATES.
The runner-up in each months contest will receive a prize
of $4.00 also paid to their account.
The winning answers.
The winning answers along with the official correct answers
and the names of both the winner and runner-up will be posted
in the forum section as soon as possible after the current
contest.
Disclaimer
The above contest rules are subject to change without notice
as is the value and method of issue of prizes. SLG
Associates warrants only that all questions and answers will
be exactly as they are presented in the sources of such
information and will not be responsible for the accuracy of
such sources.
Also, SLG Associates responsibility for collection and
accounting of valid entries will extend only to such
entries actually received via the electronic mail facility
of Delphi in accordance with the rules stated above.
