It's all gone but the memories

Nowadays the internet is just - TOO much.

I remember when I was logging on with a SLIP account and a dos client, the "world wide web" seemed small enough that you might just be able to see it all. Hell, I remember before that even - we traded art through BBS networks, over 2400 baud modems that pushed packets in the wee hours of the night so that come morning i could get up and see something new from somewhere on the other side of the country, or the other side of the world. We were the pioneers. Before there was DeviantArt. Before there was Myspace. Before Yahoo or Google. None of these things were even a daydream in the minds of men, and we were packing up computer art and distributing it all over the world through telephone lines, because sharing our art was the most important thing we could do with computers then.

If you don't remember those days, I feel for you. It was a time to see.

Today, it's all just - blown up. I jump on MySpace, or LiveJournal, or any of a half dozen public forums I enjoy seeing my internet friends on, and the past is just a haze. Anyone can zap their art from one side of the world to the other in less time than it takes to light a cigarette. It's so completely taken for granted now - but I guess that's okay.

I could go on and on, but I won't - I'd just like to take another moment of your time to say I REMEMBER, and I hope some of you do too. Hats off to the BBS days, to FidoNet, AgoraNet, Oblivion, Renegade, pick your flavors.. Hats off to the ANSI guys, the Ripscript guys, the couriers, the administrators, and the fans.

We appreciate this big internet more than most, because we were struggling to do this before it was easy. We'll never forget.

fond regards,

CatBones