ravenpaige/Falayah McCallen/and a host of others here

Ok, so here's my place for introduction, I guess. I'm not very exciting. I guess my best claim to fame is that I've been on the internet for a very long time. I started getting interested in the internet back in, I think, 94. At that time, there was a public web, but it wasn't very accessible. Mostly, you had the local BBSs and AOL (AOHell), which was just a large BBS with no internet access. If you wanted to get on the internet, first, you had to be in the right place. I was lucky because, where I lived, U of M had a satellite campus at a local high school, so they provided a local modem dialup to their central campus computers, and from there you could access the internet.

To figure out how to do this, however, you either had to be a HS student (which I wasn't), or you had to get on the local BBSs, cajole, browbeat or otherwise talk someone into giving you the information (phone number, basic UNIX), and then you had to find a time where you could actually get through to the number, since it was just one phone number and it was always busy...except at 3 AM. I got up at lot at 3 AM to explore.

Those first early sessions with Mosaic and Archie convinced me that a revolution was about to take place, and I've been hooked ever since.

That's not to say I'm necessary smart about the internet, or certainly, about Anonymous. In the ensuing 15 or so years, I've raised a family, advanced my career (sorta), and tried to learn as much as I could about website building and such. But I haven't been an activist.

What brought me more into the activist arena is basically just what I've seen going on in the world. I have kids and one grandkid. I'd like to think that I could leave the world a little better place for them, but I don't see that happening right now. I fear for violent and bloody upheaval if something doesn't change. And so I'm here, trying to evoke change.

Well, lots more to my story as I'm sure there is to everyone's, but this will do for now.

There's always more to the story, and thank you for sharing yours. The ideas are mutual. I'm too young to have kids myself, but if I ever do I want to bring them somewhere that they can be free. The world as it is now is far from it. there's going to be an upheaval soon, that much is certain. What form it will take, well that's what we're trying to deal with. If it's violent it will not end well, no matter who the victor is.

ravenpaige wrote:Ok, so here's my place for introduction, I guess. I'm not very exciting. I guess my best claim to fame is that I've been on the internet for a very long time. I started getting interested in the internet back in, I think, 94. At that time, there was a public web, but it wasn't very accessible. Mostly, you had the local BBSs and AOL (AOHell), which was just a large BBS with no internet access. If you wanted to get on the internet, first, you had to be in the right place. I was lucky because, where I lived, U of M had a satellite campus at a local high school, so they provided a local modem dialup to their central campus computers, and from there you could access the internet.

To figure out how to do this, however, you either had to be a HS student (which I wasn't), or you had to get on the local BBSs, cajole, browbeat or otherwise talk someone into giving you the information (phone number, basic UNIX), and then you had to find a time where you could actually get through to the number, since it was just one phone number and it was always busy...except at 3 AM. I got up at lot at 3 AM to explore.

Those first early sessions with Mosaic and Archie convinced me that a revolution was about to take place, and I've been hooked ever since.

I would agree, you were indeed lucky to have access to the internet so early.