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 (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 RODPOEM.DOC. The file is dated December 31st, 2107 so clearly the date/time was not set correctly on the computer when this file was saved. It contains a poem from Rod to Connie as part of their continuing online romance..
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RODPOEM.DOC
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.lt From: BOS1A::RODM To: CABUYS,RODM Subj: MY Poem for YOU "From a Meeting On-line" I was living in my own private hideaway Then I logged onto Delphi one day There I noticed people talking and communicating on-line And I watched for months to see what I could find Then suddenly came some chats, meetings, and fantasies exchanged And without warning my life was changed What was just days before screens of readings Had become a rush of unexplainable feelings In a panic I made a telephone call To someone I hoped could explain all In just a couple of days I was standing at the doorway Where I hoped to find why I felt this way She came to the door, I went in, we spoke Of what I felt and I asked if it were a joke I asked if these people on-line were just playing silly games Or are they real people with faces and names We talked some more, then went out to dine Little did we know this was our meeting in time How could I know that these searching questions Would lead me to such loving obsessions So I say to you that don't already know That life, via a computer, to you may show That what appears to be but a feeling on-line May begin a love, meant to be for all of time How could I have possibly known That such a beauty in life I could be shown And have this love of mine From a meeting on-line I may be saying too much, and being too bold But I think I might burst if it isn't told This beautiful person that I tell you of This beautiful person I so deeply love This person that means so much to me Is known to all of you as Connie .el
