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c'est moi
Heya! So, hmm, about me. Well, as is probably common, I'm completely fed up and stressed out with the trolling and the hatred and the harrassment and, well, you know, on so many social networks and comments areas and just everything. What may be less common is that I've been doing the online thing since the early 80s -- from BBS user to BBS sysop to UUCP Usenet and email user to Internet email and MUD user/programmer/runner to early web adopter to... well, to here and now, I guess. And it feels like it gets worse all the time, which makes me sad -- I met my wife of 26 years because of BBSes, many of my best friends to this day (and at least one former boss) via MUDs, etc etc. So I'm looking for a little shelter, I guess.
I'm a system administrator for a state university computer science department -- I've been doing that or something very similar for over 25 years now. I have two children who we adopted (on separate occasions) from Calcutta and they are teenagers but nevertheless good kids. :-) I like doing web programming on the side for fun (yes really), I'm a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (and a peer, if you know from that), and currently I'm one of those Hamilton fans that just listens to the album over and over and over and over and over. I have one song or another from it stuck in my head basically all the time now.
I'm a Christian. One of the nice ones. I'm into David Lipscomb and Leo Tolstoy and Christian anarchism in general. I am not into arguments. I do like the sound of my own voice, maybe too much. I'm decent at Esperanto and I read some of the Bible in it daily. That's probably unusual, I guess. I'm okay with that.
I guess the rest will come out in time. :-) Hi!
P.S. My name is R. Francis Smith but it wouldn't let me save this draft with that as my real name. Sigh. It's not like that's the first time I've had that problem, though.




Another old-timer here: my first async net access was through a FirstClass server.
My name also follows your pattern (with an initial initial). I tell people to put "X space John" in the first name field, and "Smith" in the lastname field. That way meatworld folks call me by my preferred name.
I don't have any religious connections now, but have known and worked with radical Christians who live their faith. They're awesome.
Yeah, I think I have the name thing working, I just had a transient problem when I posted that.
When I started BBSes the rage was, umm, T-Net for Apple IIs, GBBS for same, and I think a T-Net knockoff called C-Net for Commodore 64s. I'm pretty sure I was on all of those types (and I ran a C-Net from my dorm room later before I got a Mac...Plus.)
Hey welcome! I don't know if this will interest you, but I found it a beautiful read on the state of American Christianity: https://thepointmag.com/2016/criticism/wildness-of-things
i'm a christian too! i will have to google "christian anarchism" because i don't know what that means. ;) thank you for introducing me!
I remember BBS's! I particularly enjoyed rec arts mystery.