ATTN JMS: Genie online service finally shut down

[Paul Woolverton Jr.]

JMS,

You may be interested to know that the old Genie online service shut
down for good on Dec. 30.

I think you were still a member when I left in early 1996, when its
new owners yanked up the rates, driving off many long-time users. This
withered the content. Did you stay until the end?

Based on its long decline, I suspect that there wasn't much to Genie
when it finally shut off. Usenet posts from old members and staff say
that some of the communities have moved to other services. Meanwhile,
the owners attempted to move the content to the web and largely
failed. I'm not sure if even that "product" is still available. I know
its existence infuriated members who didn't want their stuff put out
in such a public location.

At least one forum moderator (for SFRTs 1 and 4) reportedly spent much
of December erasing her forums' archives because the members, current
and former, didn't want their old posts and documents to appear
elsewhere.

Your presence on Genie was one of the best surprises that service had
for me. I enjoyed reading your posts, and you even answered my
questions every now and then. The subtle reference in B5 to the
Genie's science fiction roundtable was a great "Easter egg" in the
show.

If you care to learn more about the final demise of Genie, read the
posts in alt.online-service.genie. It's really sad to see one of the
pioneer online services just dry up like a forgotten old man in a
nursing home.

An aside: I recall that you appear regularly in a forum in CompuServe.
I have heard recently that owner AOL is making changes to CompuServe
that will make that service far less attractive to content providers
such as yourself.

pw

[Jms at B5]

>I think you were still a member when I left in early 1996, when its
>new owners yanked up the rates, driving off many long-time users. This
>withered the content. Did you stay until the end?

Until they turned off the lights.

>An aside: I recall that you appear regularly in a forum in CompuServe.
>I have heard recently that owner AOL is making changes to CompuServe
>that will make that service far less attractive to content providers
>such as yourself.

If true that would be most unfortunate; it's been a good forum, and the one
I've been on the longest, since something like 1985.

jms

(jms...@aol.com)
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