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 VENDORS.DOC from November 1985. It contains an announcement of and some discussion about a new shopping area on Delphi.
See the previous post here.
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VENDORS.DOC
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list vendors
7369 7-NOV-15:25: FLAgShip Archives
SIG Shopping News
From: DEB To: ALL MEMBERS (NR)
Friends, I need your input on something for for the SIG. You've been hearing
rumors and promises that a shopping area for online ordering would be ready
"Real Soon Now" for the last several months. Well, guess what? We've been
testing it, and it looks to be ready! There will be some guidelines to those
vendors using it, but more than anything else, I wanted everyone here to be
able to add your ideas to the pot. Essentially, right now, here is what will
be happening:
*> Vendors must prove to my satisfaction that they are a viable business,
and will back up their products with reasonable warrantees.
*> Vendors must provide me with their business address and telephone
numbers.
*> Vendors will be entering the inforration into the shopping database
in the prescribed manner--so that products and key words will be easy for
everyone to find.
*> Vendors will be responsible for promptly answering orders, inquiries and
for shipping all orders in a timely manner.
*> Vendors will be approved/rejected or cancelled by me. I will demand that
all participating firms adhere to strict and proper business procedures.
*> In the event of any complaints, the Vendor will be immediately removed
from the shopping database until the issue has been satisfactorily resolved.
We really are seeing the realization of things that we've only read
about in the past!!! Electronic shoppiip is certainly on the frontier of
our small electronic community! The vendors who participate within this area
will be here as another service to all SIG members, not as an advertising
device for either Delphi or the *FlagShip/*StarShip*. You will be dealing
directly with those involved at the firm, only in a little more convenient
way than US Mail.
As long as this addition to the SIG does not require oodles and oodles of
my time to administrate, these vendors will _not_ be charged advertising fees.
I believe that because of this, we will all benefit by *bargains* from any
online ordering!
Both the *FlagShip* and the *StarShip* will be able to share the exact
same shopping database, so there will be no need for either members or vendors
to go running back and forth from SIG to SIG to see what is new. I thank
Delphi for the ability to design this kind of flexibility!!!
The shopping area will be divided into major categories. Each category
will have 3-10 specific searchable fields. The SEARCH capabilities for the
Shopping database are similar to those of our program databases, you will be
able to specify the field upon which you want to search by keywords, and you
will be able to narrow or expand the search to include other parameters in any
other field!
I'd like anyone else's comments and suggestions--we're implementing much
of this right now, and are inviting the first vendors to enter their products
right now.
deb!
WS> list shopping
2254 4-NOV-17:48: Shopping Online
Shopping (again)
From: DEB To: ALL
Ok, now that Shopping works again, we're going to start using it, I hope.
I have a couple comments to make on the WAY it is used.
*> The SEARCH function still seems confusing, perhaps it shoulld ask what
FIELD you want to search in, or something like that?
*> The READ command works differently in shopping than it does _anywhere_ else
on Delphi. Why is this not consistent?
and why must the members learn something differently??
**
2255 4-NOV-18:51: Shopping Online
RE: Shopping (again) (Re: Msg 2254)
From: PAN To: DEB (NR)
Read command works the same as Announcements and Topics Available, doesn't
it? The only Read command that it totally different from anything else
is the Database, where you *must* specify READ ... rather than just a #
or letter.
Maybe I'm used to it, but SEARCH seems fine to me now ... I especially like
howtwo '?'s will scroll out all indexed keywords.
<<<shrug>>>
* P *
2306 8-NOV-16:17: Shopping Online
shopping enhancements
From: CHIP To: ALL
I have just installed a few enhancements to shopping. These are
designed to make it a little easier to use and to work faster.
1) I changed the format of the user's payment file. It is now
easier for the user to change things within that file and the
system gets information out of the file faster. Users who
have filled out the old version of the file will be required to
fill out the new version again (don't worry, the system will prompt
them to do this if they try and order anything).
2) I changed the format of the Vendor directory. I took it out of the
IAMWHOIS format which caused much confusion. Instead, it is in a simple,
straightforward format that should be easy for the vendors to update, and
easy for the users to browse through.
The old vendor file is still compatible with the system. So profiles posted
by vendors will still function properly (if they did before). However, when
they get the chance, old vendors should repost their profiles.
Note: VENDOR PROFILES need to be reposted, not PRODUCTS. The changes
have no affect on the product postings themselves. So if you have spent
hours posting products, have no fear, I have not invalidated your efforts.
Managers can change the vendor profiles from the Manager Menu now (there is
no longer the confusing MAINT command in the advertiser directory). Instead
there is a menu item "Vendor Listing" in the Manager Menu that allows you
to edit the vendor listing.
Finally, you will notice that the Advertiser Profile in the Shopping Menu
still contains the old IAMWHOIS file and format. This is because I have
to change those menus one at a time and I haven't got around to do that
yet. If you want to see what it will eventually look like to the users,
take a look at the Advertiser Directory selection in the insiders shopping
menu.
I believe the changes made will make the shopping areas faster and less
confusing. Let me know what you think.
Chip
WS> ^Z
