How Jerry Pournelle was kicked off the Arapanet
Tim Shoppa
In article <6a8fbj$5...@news-central.tiac.net>,
Lawrence Woods <lwo...@shell1.tiac.net> wrote:
>Tim Shoppa <sho...@alph02.triumf.ca> wrote:
>: Of course, Jerry Pournelle also has the honor of being the only person
>: I know who was kicked off of the ARPAnet. I'll dig up the email
>: logs if anyone is interested.
>I'd be interested!
OK, here it is. The log files below have moved with me from account to
account over the years, but I believe that I originally found them
on MC.LCS.MIT.EDU in 1987 or so. These files were widely circulated
at the time; I was extremely surprised to not be able to find them
on the web today. I suppose the point-and-click generation simply
doesn't care about anything that happened over a decade ago - which
is too bad, as there's a fascinating amount of history contained
in the the attached file.
Tim. (sho...@triumf.ca)
HOW JERRY POURNELLE GOT KICKED OFF THE ARPANET
This file explains why Jerry Pournell <POU...@MIT-MC.ARPA (ex-tm)> is
no longer on the ARPANet. It's in chronological order. I hope this
clears up any misunderstanding and confusion that may exist.
Date: 19 January 1984 00:50 EST
From: Christopher C. Stacy <CSTACY @ MIT-MC>
Subject: TACACS
To: REM @ MIT-MC, BANDY @ MIT-MC, DEVON @ MIT-MC, DIGEX @ MIT-MC,
JURGEN @ MIT-MC, PINTO @ MIT-MC, POURNE @ MIT-MC, KFL @ MIT-MC,
STEVEH @ MIT-MC, GUMBY @ MIT-MC, IAN @ SRI-NIC
cc: USER-ACCOUNTS @ MIT-MC
Hi,
I didn't see your original messages, and I don't know how the NIC got
into the loop, but I am indeed the person to answer your questions.
Apparently you have encountered TAC access control (TACACS) on your
favorite MILNET TAC. TACACS is a login system based on encrpytion
codes recorded on little paper cards which authorized MILNET TAC users
are being issued. To be a MILNET TAC user, you must have a personal
TACACS account and be issued one of these cards, so that you can type
your login code to the TAC and make it happy. People establish TACACS
accounts and get cards by contacting me to get registered.
If you stick to using ARPAnet TACs, you will have no trouble, since
TACACS for the ARPAnet is going to be a little different and has not
been completely figured out yet.
MIT is not sponsoring guest/tourist usage of the MILNET; if you are a
guest, you should just switch to using a TAC on the ARPAnet and avoid
the problem. I can provide you the name of an ARPAnet TAC in your
area, but I cannot authorize you to use it or provide you with
telephone dialup numbers.
I will soon have some "Guest TACACS cards" for authorized MIT people
on our machines who need to use a MILNET TAC but have not yet been
registered for their own personal cards. These cards are confusingly
named: they have nothing to do with guest accounts and are not
available to tourists/guests.
To put it straight: in general, you are up a creek, and there really
isn't very much to be done about it. Feel free to ask me further
questions or whatever though.
Cheers, Chris
Date: Wed, 29 May 85 06:16:01 EST
From: Leigh L. Klotz <KL...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: POU...@MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA
You used the word "ARPANET" in your June Byte column three times. You
even said
"I gave Alex the local ARPANET access number to record for the
1200-baud modem and inadvertently transposed two numbers."
I don't care if Alex IS a computer -- you may soon find your accounts
on MC decremented by gov't order.
Date: Thu, 30 May 85 03:57:38 EST
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
thank you. if left to you I suppose I cewrtainly will find my accounts
terminated. Your nice private message appreciated. seppuku follows..
maybe you ought to have me dumped off the net and be done with it? or
must you work through someone else? J. E. Pournelle
Date: Thu, 30 May 85 11:23:26 EST
From: David Vinayak Wallace <GUMBY at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: Surprise!
Date: Wed, 29 May 85 07:04:16 EST
From: Leigh L. Klotz <KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA>
Do you think I chastised jerry pournelle too much for talking about
his use of the arpanet in byte?
Yes. It's embarrassing to send a message to someone like that when a
message in OFF POURNE would have done as well!
And now you've sent the message out I'll have to go and find out why
he had to mention it in the first place!
Date: Thu, 30 May 85 18:44:42 EST
From: Leigh L. Klotz <KL...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: POU...@MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: GU...@MIT-MC.ARPA
Date: Thu, 30 May 85 03:57:38 EST
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
thank you. if left to you I suppose I cewrtainly will find my
accounts terminated. Your nice private message appreciated. seppuku
follows.. maybe you ought to have me dumped off the net and be done
with it? or must you work through someone else?
J. E. Pournelle
USER-A is the mailing list created explicitly for dealing with these
sorts of issues. It is the appropriate forum for discussion. There are
eight people on user-a. You probably know better than I do, but last I
heard about 100,000 times as many people read BYTE. Thus, the issue of
privacy is the last one you should raise.
I don't particularly want to force you into ritual disembowelment;
rather, I'm interested -- and I'm not the only one -- in why you find
it necessary to flaunt your use of the arpanet. The more attention you
(and other people) draw to non-blow-em-up use of the arpanet the more
likely some Proxmire type is to start inquiring into its operations.
Date: Fri, 31 May 85 01:11:16 EST
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POU...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KL...@MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: GU...@MIT-MC.ARPA
I find this thoroughly distasteful. If you have some authority to
order me off the net, do so. If not, leave me alone.
Date: 31 MAY 1985 0225 EST
From: GSB at MIT-MC.ARPA (Glenn S. Burke)
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
i guess i haven't been paying enough attention to realize that he knew
there was any heckling going on at all.
I'm almost tempted to let him take his marbles and floppy disks and go
home.
Date: Fri, 31 May 85 09:39 EDT
From: Kent M Pitman <KMP at SCRC-STONY-BROOK.ARPA>
To: CStacy at MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: Klotz at MIT-MC.ARPA, KMP at SCRC-STONY-BROOK.ARPA,
Gumby at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: Pourne
Date: Fri, 31 May 85 01:11:16 EST
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POU...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KL...@MIT-MC.ARPA
I find this thoroughly distasteful. If you have some authority to
order me off the net, do so. If not, leave me alone.
Personally, I'd just turn off his account. It's not like it's the
first time, and he not only flaunts his use of our machines but stabs
us in the back with grumblings about why he doesn't like this or that
program of ours when he gets a chance. (Am thinking particularly of an
article he wrote which condemned Lisp for reasons amounting to little
more than his ignorance, but which cited Teach-Lisp in a not-friendly
light... The man has learned nothing from his presence on MC and sets
a bad example of what people might potentially accomplish there. I'd
rather recycle his account for some bright 12-yr-old...)
Date: Fri, 31 May 85 11:02:27 EST
From: John G. Aspinall <JGA at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA, GSB at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: just think of it...
MIT Maximum Confusion PDP-10
MC ITS.1488. PWORD.2632.
TTY 57
16. Lusers, Fair Share = 86%
*:login pourne
That account has been temporarily turned off.
Reason:
Think of it as evolution in action.
Any questions may be directed to USER-ACCOUNTS
*
------------------------------------------------
I don't know whether you guys have read Niven and Pournelle's
_Oath_of_Fealty_, but "Think of it as evolution in action." is their
thinly disguised rallying cry for do-it-yourself social Darwinism. It
would be so, so sweet to shove it back in his face.
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 85 04:37:47 EST
From: David Vinayak Wallace <GUMBY at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: POURNE
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 85 00:09:30 EST
From: Glenn S. Burke <GSB at MIT-MC.ARPA>
I.e., little jerry isn't going to get my sympathy if big bad leigh
klotz picks on him.
KLOTZ: 5'8"?
POURNE: >6'4"
Fuck it. Flush him.
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 85 16:01:51 EST
From: David Vinayak Wallace <GUMBY at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: pourne
Why hasn't he been flushed yet?
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 85 16:54:04 EST
From: Christopher C. Stacy <CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: ACCOUNTS-H...@MIT-MC.ARPA
I set the following account:
Was: POURNE NTURIS [OK] TM Jerry E. Pournelle 06/03/85
Is: POURNE NTURIS [OFF] TM Jerry E. Pournelle 06/03/85
Because: This account has been terminated due to abuse.
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 85 17:04:29 EST
From: Christopher C. Stacy <CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA
Given POURNE's obnoxious attitiudes towards USER-A and his apparent
belief that he has a god-given right to be on this machine and the
network, we have flushed him.
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 85 17:55:12 EST
From: David Vinayak Wallace <GUMBY at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: POURNE
Too late. CSTACY flushed him even from the tac database.
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 85 20:54:44 EDT
From: Glenn S. Burke <GSB at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: KLOTZ at MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: [Forwarded: topaz!RU-BLUE!LE...@seismo.CSS.GOV, Re: for those out th
ere who DON'T read SF-LOVERS...]
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Date: 11 Jul 85 05:21 EDT (Thu)
From: Mijjil <topaz!RU-BLUE!LE...@seismo.CSS.GOV>
To: topaz!seismo!band...@seismo.CSS.GOV
Phase-Of-The-Moon: LQ+1D.13H.12M.5S.
Subject: for those out there who DON'T read SF-LOVERS...
---begin forwarded message---
Date: Monday, 8 July 1985 15:45-EDT
From: "Franz Mark" at LLL-MFE.ARPA
Re: WESTERCON 38 and The Pournelle/ARPANET Split
We attended the WESTERCON 38 SF convention held in Sacramento, CA,
over the July 4th weekend. At WESTERCON we talked with Jerry Pournelle
about why he never contributed to the SF-LOVERS bb since he had an
account at MIT-MC. He said his account at MIT-MC was terminated by
some "graduate student" in charge of accounting, who felt he did not
have a need for an account. He knows who this "graduate student" is,
and he refuses to grovel so that his account is reinstated. However,
he asked us to broadcast this little story - presumably so that MIT-MC
will come to him.
BTW - if you ever get a chance to meet Jerry Pournelle, you will not
be dissappointed. Sequel to FOOTFALL:-)
HARPANET FOR PRESIDENT,
HUSENET FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
Also planned is a sequel (and a prequel) to THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.
WESTERCON 38 was run very well. In addition to Jerry, we spent several
hours talking with Greg Bear, Norman Spinrad, Robert Adams, James P.
Hogan, Larry Niven, John Brunner, and David Brin.
---end forwarded message---
He might still have an account if he could keep from using words like
ARPANET and DARPA in his column in BYTE magazine!
{Mijjil}
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 85 22:35:03 EDT
From: Christopher C. Stacy <CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: [kerch: Jerry Pournelle]
To: USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA
I'll take care of this, but I thought you might be amused by it.
Date: Wed Jul 24 13:15:44 1985
From: kerch at lll-tis-b (Berry Kercheval)
To: CSTACY
Re: Jerry Pournelle
Status: N
(Note -- I am a neutral third party)
Mr. Pournelle bids me tell you that if you intended to annoy him,
you have succeeded, and that his next column in BYTE will have a lot
to say about the ARPANET....
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 85 23:00:04 EDT
From: David Vinayak Wallace <GU...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: [kerch: Jerry Pournelle]
To: CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA
It's funny this should appear in my mail to-day. I had lunch this
afternoon with McCarthy, and in the course of conversation (we were
discussing SF) he mentioned that someone at MC had flushed
Pournelle...
As for pournelle himself: He really thinks that WE are trying to annoy
HIM??? Of course if he's vitriolic enough and all the obnoxious
turists vanish (leaving the nice ones of course) then he may have
atoned without realising it...
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1985 00:04 EDT
From: PGS%MIT...@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: "Christopher C. Stacy" <CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Cc: USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: [kerch: Jerry Pournelle]
Date: Wednesday, 24 July 1985 22:35-EDT
From: Christopher C. Stacy <CSTACY at MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: USER-ACCOUNTS at MIT-MC.ARPA
Re: [kerch: Jerry Pournelle]
I'll take care of this, but I thought you might be amused by it.
You might consider contacting Byte about publishing some note from us
to appear simultaneously with this. This is only important if
pournelle is going to say what I think he is going to say (what JMC
told me pournelle was claiming), which is that the reason his account
was flushed was because he favors the Strategic Defense Initiative,
and MC is run by a bunch of communists. This will no doubt please
darpa immensely.
Pournelle claims that he heard at a science fiction convention that
you (chris) had said that the real reason his account was flushed was
that ``he (pournelle) is a fascist.'' Given the current political
climate, this could raise some sort of ruckus, so it would probably be
good to nip this in the bud.
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 85 14:06:21 EDT
From: Daniel Weise <DAN...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: Pournelle and Byte.
To: P...@MIT-MC.ARPA, USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA,
CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA
All we have to to is warn Byte that MIT will sue the magazine if any
incorrect defamatory comments are made by Pournelle. I am sure the
editors there have the same opinion of him that we do and will make
sure that Pournelle doesn't end them up in court.
As it stands Pournelle really doesn't understand the state of the
world. If he insists on printing his delusions then MIT's case would
be trivial to win.
Daniel
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 85 23:55:48 EDT
From: Leigh L. Klotz <KL...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
To: user-a@MIT-OZ
The following is offered without comment. It was forwarded to me by
someone who reads the Byte Magazine bulletin board.
= = B Y T E C O S Y 3.1+ = =
===========================
###### ####### ### ##
### # ### ### ##
###### ### #### (TM)
### # ### ## ###
###### ####### ## ###
===========================
BYTE Information Exchange
McGraw-Hill Information Systems Co.
COSY Conferencing System, Copyright (c) 1984 University of Guelph
Written by: Alastair JW Mayer
:j networks/arpanet
Joining conference 'networks', topic 'arpanet'. 0 new message(s).
Read:3
==========================
networks/arpanet #3, from jerryp, 377 chars, Tue Jul 9 18:22:01 1985
This is a comment to message 2.
There is/are comment(s) on this message.
--------------------------
One thing that is known about ARPA: you can be heaved off it
for supporting the policies of the Department of Defense.
Of course that was intended to anger me. If you have an
ARPA account, please tell CSTACY that he was successful;
now let us see if my Pentagon friends can upset him. Or
perhaps some reporter friends. Or both., Or even
the House Armed Services Committee.
No more unread messages in this topic
Hit <RETURN> for next active conf/topic.
Read:bye
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 85 16:45:09 EDT
From: "Christopher C. Stacy" <CST...@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: vax135!petsd!pedsgd!bobh at UCB-VAX.Berkeley.EDU
To: USER-A...@MIT-MC.ARPA
It would be a good idea if people did NOT respond to the message about
Jerry Pournelle; nothing useful can come from stirring this around
further.
Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1985 23:10 EST
From: PGS%MIT...@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: use...@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: Pournelle
Leigh read me some of Mr. Pournelle's expose' of the ARPAnet. He
pretty much said that, due to increased demands on computational
resources, guest accounts are no longer generally available on MC,
thereby saving Chris some typing.
Peter da Silva
ROFL!
In an email exchange with Pournelle after I took him to task for whining
about the Amiga or UNIX or something in his User's Column in Byte (It's a
damn shame is Mad Friend Maclean died, he used to keep Jerry under control)
he told *ME* that he and Larry Niven had left the ARPANET voluntarily
because he was tired of all the flaming.
Maybe he even believes it these days.
--
This is The Reverend Peter da Silva's Boring Sig File - there are no references
to Wolves, Kibo, Discordianism, or The Church of the Subgenius in this document
Keith Lynch
In article <6ad9ar$o3d$1...@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca>,
Tim Shoppa <sho...@alph02.triumf.ca> wrote:
> Date: 19 January 1984 00:50 EST
> From: Christopher C. Stacy <CSTACY @ MIT-MC>
> Subject: TACACS
> To: REM @ MIT-MC, BANDY @ MIT-MC, DEVON @ MIT-MC, DIGEX @ MIT-MC,
> JURGEN @ MIT-MC, PINTO @ MIT-MC, POURNE @ MIT-MC, KFL @ MIT-MC,
> STEVEH @ MIT-MC, GUMBY @ MIT-MC, IAN @ SRI-NIC
> cc: USER-ACCOUNTS @ MIT-MC
Amazing where my old addresses turn up. I wonder if spammers will
harvest that one now. And whether it still works.
DIGEX was Doug Humphrey, who went on to found a company of that name
seven years later, and who sold it for tens of millions of dollars
last year.
Amazingly, I've met all but two of the people mentioned in that To:
line. And exchanged e-mail with those two. I still have current
e-mail addresses for most.
> To put it straight: in general, you are up a creek, and there really
> isn't very much to be done about it. Feel free to ask me further
> questions or whatever though.
> Cheers, Chris
Imminent death of the net, film at 11. In the 70s and 80s it looked
like the net was always on the verge of going away or becoming
inacessable. At least for unofficial users like me.
Chris Stacy started as another guest user, but he was hired by MIT to
keep the rest of us guest users in line. He soon gained a reputation
as "the incredible flushing man" for his eagerness to delete accounts.
Tim Shoppa <sho...@alph02.triumf.ca> wrote:
> Of course, Jerry Pournelle also has the honor of being the only
> person I know who was kicked off of the ARPAnet.
Hardly. It was trivially easy to get kicked off in those days.
Most guest users eventually were. However, I *still* have a guest
account at MIT, even though I no longer need it. So does Doug
Humphrey, even though he needs it even less.
The good side was that spamming was unimaginable. There was *one*
instance of a chain letter in the 80s, and only one of its recipients
forwarded it to anyone else. The original sender and the forwarder
both permanently lost their accounts within an hour, and probably
faced criminal charges.
Note that Jerry Pournelle was kicked off simply for *mentioning* the
net in a magazine article, and for not apologizing or promising never
to do it again.
The *last* person to be kicked off the net was the infamous Sanford
Wallace, in October of last year. To get kicked off, he had to send
several BILLION spams, over and over to the same recipients, and
refuse to honor any remove requests. And then it took over a year.
(In another decade, when net access will be more important than having
a phone or a drivers license, I bet he'll regret it.)
I think there's some middle ground. It shouldn't be extremely easy
to get someone kicked off the net. But neither should it be almost
impossible, if they're deliberately and repeatedly harassing tens of
millions of people and refusing to stop.
--
Keith Lynch, k...@clark.net
http://www.clark.net/pub/kfl/
I boycott all spammers.
Christopher Stacy
I usually read this newsgroup, but seem to have missed this thread.
However, someone mailed me an excerpt from one of the messages
attributed to Keith Lynch. Just about everything in that message was
incorrect, including: the nature of my work at MIT, the ITS tourist
policy there, and why and how Jerry Pournelle lost his network access.
When writing stories on the net, one would be wise to remember that these
things are widely distributed and permanently archived, and that you are
entirely liable for such publications; it's a good idea to at least get
one's facts straight.
David Ness
This is particularly interesting, but it would be even more so if
you would give us a pointer to some of the `real facts'.
It is all fine and good to bemoan the communication of bad information
on the net (of which there is, no dobut, a great quantity), but
it would be more helpful to then a least point in the `right'
direction...
Keith Lynch
Christopher Stacy wrote:
> I usually read this newsgroup, but seem to have missed this thread.
> However, someone mailed me an excerpt from one of the messages
> attributed to Keith Lynch. Just about everything in that message
> was incorrect, including: the nature of my work at MIT, the ITS
> tourist policy there, and why and how Jerry Pournelle lost his
> network access.
In article <34D2A65E...@ibm.net>, David Ness <dn...@ibm.net> wrote:
> This is particularly interesting, but it would be even more so if
> you would give us a pointer to some of the `real facts'.
I agree. I just reread my message, and I will stand by it. Every word
is accurate to the best of my recollection. Did Chris actually read my
message, or just someone's excerpt?
I admit I could be wrong about what Chris Stacy was hired for.
But not about that fact that he *did* police guest accounts with
sufficient vigilance that he was often called "the incredible flushing
man". I am quite sure about the MIT guest policy, since I had a guest
account on one or more ITS systems from the time they instituted
passwords (1979?) to the time ITS was finally shut down (May 1990),
and know lots of others who had them, many of whom lost them. I am
quite sure about the reasons why Jerry Pournelle was flushed, unless
there were some hidden reasons not discussed in the messages that I
read online at the time, and which were distributed at SF conventions
by Hobbit (Al Walker) shortly afterwards, and which were just reposted
here by Tim Shoppa on the 24th.
I apologize for harping on this. I know that it's boring to read
defenses like this. But I dislike being falsely accused of posting
inaccurate information.
Wayne J. Rasmussen
Keith Lynch (k...@clark.net) wrote:
: In article <6ad9ar$o3d$1...@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca>,
: Tim Shoppa <sho...@alph02.triumf.ca> wrote:
: > Date: 19 January 1984 00:50 EST
: > From: Christopher C. Stacy <CSTACY @ MIT-MC>
: > Subject: TACACS
: > To: REM @ MIT-MC, BANDY @ MIT-MC, DEVON @ MIT-MC, DIGEX @ MIT-MC,
: > JURGEN @ MIT-MC, PINTO @ MIT-MC, POURNE @ MIT-MC, KFL @ MIT-MC,
: > STEVEH @ MIT-MC, GUMBY @ MIT-MC, IAN @ SRI-NIC
: > cc: USER-ACCOUNTS @ MIT-MC
: Amazing where my old addresses turn up. I wonder if spammers will
: harvest that one now. And whether it still works.
: DIGEX was Doug Humphrey, who went on to found a company of that name
: seven years later, and who sold it for tens of millions of dollars
: last year.
: Amazingly, I've met all but two of the people mentioned in that To:
: line. And exchanged e-mail with those two. I still have current
: e-mail addresses for most.
: > To put it straight: in general, you are up a creek, and there really
: > isn't very much to be done about it. Feel free to ask me further
: > questions or whatever though.
: > Cheers, Chris
: Imminent death of the net, film at 11. In the 70s and 80s it looked
: like the net was always on the verge of going away or becoming
: inacessable. At least for unofficial users like me.
: Chris Stacy started as another guest user, but he was hired by MIT to
: keep the rest of us guest users in line. He soon gained a reputation
: as "the incredible flushing man" for his eagerness to delete accounts.
: Tim Shoppa <sho...@alph02.triumf.ca> wrote:
: > Of course, Jerry Pournelle also has the honor of being the only
: > person I know who was kicked off of the ARPAnet.
: Hardly. It was trivially easy to get kicked off in those days.
: Most guest users eventually were. However, I *still* have a guest
: account at MIT, even though I no longer need it. So does Doug
: Humphrey, even though he needs it even less.
How did you manage to keep yours? I lost my MIT guest account back in 1989.
Supposedly, they were getting rid of guest accounts. You must have a lot
of connections.
wayne
Christopher C Stacy
Most likely his connection was me; I've known KFL since 1980 or 81.
Keith Lynch
In article <wjrEnp...@netcom.com>,
Wayne J. Rasmussen <w...@netcom.com> wrote:
> How did you manage to keep yours? I lost my MIT guest account back
> in 1989. Supposedly, they were getting rid of guest accounts.
Probably because I assisted other users. Others kept their accounts
because they made themselves useful in various other ways, such as
helping to write and debug the software.
> You must have a lot of connections.
No. I did briefly visit MIT in person in 2/86 (when I was in town for
Boskone), 2/87 (Boskone) 1/89 (IAP), 9/89 (Worldcon), and 1/90 (IAP).
(Boskone and the Worldcon are science fiction conventions. Boskone
was held annually in Boston through 1987. It's now held annually in
Framingham. The Worldcon is in a different city every year. It was
last in Boston in 1989, and won't return there before 2004 at the
earliest. IAP is an annual event, open to everyone, held by MIT.)
Being seen in person, even if only for a minute, *does* make a
difference, if you want to call that "connections".
Manuel Aaron
Rich Alderson
> On Tuesday, February 3, 1998 at 2:00:00=E2=80=AFAM UTC-6, Keith Lynch wrote=
--
Rich Alderson ne...@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen
Dave McGuire
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, President/Curator
Large Scale Systems Museum
New Kensington, PA
Rich Alderson
> On 7/30/23 17:09, Rich Alderson wrote:
>> Manuel Aaron <zann...@gmail.com> writes:
>>> AYEESH
>> 25.5 years later...
> SO, WHY did we let Google fart around with Usenet, again? ;)
> -Dave