Comments on: Fear, Loathing And Anal Sex… On A Dial-Up: The Other Side Of CPCN’s First Philly Internet Community http://www.philebrity.com/2008/08/29/fear-loathing-and-anal-sex-on-a-dial-up-the-other-side-of-cpcns-first-philly-internet-community/ philly's longest-standing cityblog Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: spygirl108http://www.philebrity.com/2008/08/29/fear-loathing-and-anal-sex-on-a-dial-up-the-other-side-of-cpcns-first-philly-internet-community/comment-page-1/#comment-6331 spygirl108 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:36:15 +0000 http://www.philebrity.com/?p=14732#comment-6331 I was one of the first users on CPCN. I signed up the second that I spotted an ad in the back of a CityPaper in either late winter or spring of 1994. (So it actually was a little older than stated above.)Yes, it was very bare bones, but then again, I was one of the original Prodigy users, so it wasn't that bad, just another BBS. I was hoping that at least this one would maybe be less nerdy because it was advertised in the back of the City Paper. And I was right (by comparison, mind you...)I met a lot of people through that site, some of which I still keep in touch with today, or were future Dummytown members. So it wasn't all bad. Afterall, this was a site where Jen (the author above) met her husband. Yes, some of the people's morals were questionable - after all, her future husband was my boyfriend at the time...But as Jen wrote, on CPCN there weren't any rules, but would rules have stopped any of the bad behavior? Probably not. People will do horrible things to each other, like post each other's addresses or bitch each other out in a flame war that never dies down. No, that takes a moderator or two, and CPCN didn't have those resources as far as we could tell.But that is exactly what made CPCN so special. I was friends with some of the most troublesome online personalities (not the address posting scumwad). They did it for "shits and giggles" and to rile people up, and because they could. Also, because CPCN didn't put any measures in place to keep them from doing so. Essentially they were testing the limits of a BBS that was set up with absolutely no foresight or control measures.Remember, you're in hacker territory ... and there is no internet yet. A lack of a firewall and a wealth of knowledge was a beautiful thing in the winter of 1995-1996. A few keystrokes is all it would take for these computer-savvy wonders and all of a sudden, we could see entire conversations scroll on the screen before our eyes.And after all, CPCN became one of the many influences for starting up Dummytown and for that - I am very thankful. Knowing what and what not to do, who should and who shouldn't be in the same place at the same time, and above all else - that there should be at least one moderator watching and making sure that people are at the very least decent and respectful of each other while voicing their opinions instead of just shitting all over each other for fun.Megan I was one of the first users on CPCN. I signed up the second that I spotted an ad in the back of a CityPaper in either late winter or spring of 1994. (So it actually was a little older than stated above.)

Yes, it was very bare bones, but then again, I was one of the original Prodigy users, so it wasn’t that bad, just another BBS. I was hoping that at least this one would maybe be less nerdy because it was advertised in the back of the City Paper. And I was right (by comparison, mind you…)

I met a lot of people through that site, some of which I still keep in touch with today, or were future Dummytown members. So it wasn’t all bad. Afterall, this was a site where Jen (the author above) met her husband. Yes, some of the people’s morals were questionable – after all, her future husband was my boyfriend at the time…

But as Jen wrote, on CPCN there weren’t any rules, but would rules have stopped any of the bad behavior? Probably not. People will do horrible things to each other, like post each other’s addresses or bitch each other out in a flame war that never dies down. No, that takes a moderator or two, and CPCN didn’t have those resources as far as we could tell.

But that is exactly what made CPCN so special. I was friends with some of the most troublesome online personalities (not the address posting scumwad). They did it for “shits and giggles” and to rile people up, and because they could. Also, because CPCN didn’t put any measures in place to keep them from doing so. Essentially they were testing the limits of a BBS that was set up with absolutely no foresight or control measures.

Remember, you’re in hacker territory … and there is no internet yet. A lack of a firewall and a wealth of knowledge was a beautiful thing in the winter of 1995-1996. A few keystrokes is all it would take for these computer-savvy wonders and all of a sudden, we could see entire conversations scroll on the screen before our eyes.

And after all, CPCN became one of the many influences for starting up Dummytown and for that – I am very thankful. Knowing what and what not to do, who should and who shouldn’t be in the same place at the same time, and above all else – that there should be at least one moderator watching and making sure that people are at the very least decent and respectful of each other while voicing their opinions instead of just shitting all over each other for fun.

Megan

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