Scott M. Fulton IIINov 20, 2022

For most of my career, I have been a member of whatever online service was the underdog. In the heyday of #CompuServe and #GEnie, my home was #Delphi. I was DFSCOTT. I knew the management. I worked alongside them in the creation of astounding new features. We were the first "96 kilobaud" crowd. We accomplished way more than anyone else did.

We also built friendships on that service that were human, strong, and life-affirming. I hope we can do that here.

#modem #social #twittermigration

Show threadBryan Ruby
@SMFulton3 Starting at 300 baud modems I remember how jumping to 1200 baud was "fast". I was so into the BBS scene in those days as a teen and early 20 something. All those changes in modem tones never prepared me for what could be heard from the 56K modems. Not sure I ever felt CompuServe was the underdog but Prodigy definitely did change the user base to more mainstream.
Nov 20, 2022 at 4:16pmWeb
Show threadKitsynNov 20, 2022
@bryanruby @SMFulton3 I used to play #BritishLegends on #CompuServe on a 300 baud modem. When I upgraded to 1200, it not only cost more per hour, but delivered text so fast it totally threw off the rhythm of my game.
Show threadBryan RubyNov 20, 2022
@kitsyn @SMFulton3 I seem to recall now that CompuServe charged more for faster rates. Honestly, I only used the service occasionally because I couldn't afford them being a poor high school and then poor college student. One of the reasons I spent more time on local Bulletin Board Systems. Prodigy nickel and dimed (and censored) you too which is why I think America Online blew everybody out of the water as it was more budget friendly.
Show threadScott M. Fulton IIINov 21, 2022

@bryanruby @kitsyn One great thing about being a sys-op on Delphi is that you were sponsored, which meant your publication would pay your online fees. But back then, dialing up through Telenet or some other service, incurred a separate charge.

I had Southwestern Bell install me a separate online phone line. They wanted to charge me $495 per month for it, unless I could prove it was not entirely for a business purpose. I showed them the Atari mag I wrote for, and they waived the fee.

Show threadKitsynNov 21, 2022
@bryanruby @SMFulton3 I was a practicing lawyer at the time and I couldn't afford them either, given the number of hours I played #BritishLegends and talked on the CB Simulator! I was thrilled when unlimited time for a monthly fee became a thing. As I recall, that's why I switched to AOL.