Subject: old chat map
Date: Mon Aug 1 11:19:06 2022
User: MrFixit
Message:olblue brought this to light and I hadn't seen it for ages. We used to have a rather labyrinthine chat room layout and a pretty lively chat. Judging from the date on the file looks like this is from over 21 years ago.
The map is very detailed with clickable pictures of some of the locations and the major players who had their own rooms.
I miss all this social interaction but I tried a number of time to revive chat and I guess we've all moved on in our lives or something cuz it was totally dead no matter what I did.
MrFixit aka Denny
Link: old chat map
Date: Mon Aug 1 12:01:35 2022
User: olblue
Message:That chat room was a great place to visit in its prime. We had chatters from not only all across the United States but from literally all around the world. I remember chatters from Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, and although they weren't really regulars I seem to recall Israel and Belgium being represented as well. There may have been other countries as well but these are the ones I remember right now.
I can remember the chat room having 20 or 30 chatters present and most all of them commenting and the lines of chat scrolling by so fast it looked like a teleprompter on steroids! And who can forget the infamous dropped dot tells! Great memories and fun times.
Date: Mon Aug 1 12:45:17 2022
User: ejchap
Message:yes I really enjoyed the old chat room. Yesterday I came across a sheet with the names of the chatters and where they were located
ejchap
Date: Mon Aug 1 13:46:27 2022
User: joeygray
Message:(from the wikipedia article on MUDs):
"Research has suggested that various factors combine in MUDs to provide users with a sense of presence rather than simply communication."
That's why we applauded, Denny, your attempts to restart it, and always said pshaw to stuff like "we got facebook for that now." Because it was more than just communication.
Date: Mon Aug 1 16:09:01 2022
User: olblue
Message:I'd love to see people that came into chat share some of their memories of their time in chat. Maybe about the other chatters that used to be in there or some of the events that took place like the annual halloween "costume party".
Date: Mon Aug 1 16:31:48 2022
User: yoda
Message:Fun times were had!
Date: Mon Aug 1 17:20:15 2022
User: kangaroo
Message:I think olblue got more anvils dropped on him than anyone else. Can't think why!
He always replied "ouch?" which gives a clue as to why he got them.
Date: Mon Aug 1 17:55:59 2022
User: olblue
Message:That's a fact, kangaroo! I still have knots on my head to this day! .laugh
Date: Mon Aug 1 19:15:32 2022
User: BBUJ
Message:Really miss the chats. Used to be a regular for about 10 years and talked with many countries. Learned lots about the lives and how some survived almost total darkness for months of the year. Really could not live that kind of life. They also couldn't live with smoke from fires for now 8 months of the year.
Date: Mon Aug 1 19:58:38 2022
User: MrFixit
Message:FWIW you can still go into chat via the link below. You need to type:
.login MrFixit SuperSecretPw (obviously substituting your credentials)
And then you end up in a pretty noisy room with lots of entering and exiting cuz I'm using chat for those win messages.
I just dropped an anvil on olblue.
MrFixit
Link: chat
Date: Mon Aug 1 20:21:16 2022
User: olblue
Message:Must have been one of those stealth anvils! .grin
Date: Mon Aug 1 21:00:07 2022
User: smake
Message:I learI remember all the weird stuff that would happen with soome of the dot commands, like flowers or different colors. .smile
Date: Tue Aug 2 00:16:03 2022
User: Mellenvy
Message:I, too, appreciated the old chatter. I didn't participate much, partly because i was trying to figure out how to fit in. I remember the birth of Denny's son with warmth and some shared excitement, too. At some point I lost access, not having fugured out how to recover my password. This renewed discussion motivated me to spend that time. One name i remember: Munchkin. Anyone out there know (her?)[I didn't know how to ask politely---or by PC--- about gender, either!. ]
Date: Tue Aug 2 03:52:39 2022
User: olblue
Message:Mellenvy, Munchkin was a young lady who came to us from Madchatter, a chatroom on this site that was geared more to the younger folks. She was probably still in high school when she first started coming to our chat....today she's all grown up, married and doing fine the last I knew.
Date: Tue Aug 2 10:49:54 2022
User: MrFixit
Message:So there are still folks lamenting the loss of chat. I'll go over it all again for those who've just joined us.
I made numerous attempts to get chat back to life but no one showed up. And it was embarrassing to have a "chat" click that took you to a dead, empty room.
Now there are folks who thought the changes to chat affected things. I was threatened with a lawsuit over the private conversations in chat and I don't have to time or resources to get sued. So I tried to remove all the private stuff because one thing I've learned is it sucks to get sued. You have no idea how far the other party will take things and your defense expenses in terms of both time and money can mount very quickly. So I decided all conversation should be logged at the link below so it's at least in one sense public.
So we'll let the big sites deal with the lawsuits because they have departments of people and I just have me.
Bottom line is most folks show up here to play a quiet game of freecell and they don't want to talk. The chat room is still there (see link above), it's just not linked to the game anymore.
MrFixit aka Denny
Link: chat logs
Date: Tue Aug 2 11:17:15 2022
User: olblue
Message:Denny, I think most all the regulars from chat know the reason it pretty much died out. No one blames you for doing what you felt you had to do to protect yourself but that doesn't mean some of us don't still miss what the old chat used to be. Lots of friendships were started there, many hours of fun were spent there, there were even marriages that happened because the people met in that chat room! People look back with pleasant, nostalgic feelings about things from the past and there's nothing wrong with that. To me it's no different looking back and missing the chatroom here than it is looking back and missing your first car or your first significant other or anything else you once had but no longer do. This is still a great site and we all appreciate the work and long hours you've spent creating and keeping it going all these years. Thank you!
Date: Tue Aug 2 11:35:45 2022
User: outskirts
Message:Back then (first time 2003 for myself) we had all heard about the nasty dangers of chatrooms, and were pleasantly surprised at the niceness of it.
Date: Sun Aug 7 19:34:56 2022
User: BBUJ
Message:Just saw the 4pm to chat. Been around in the 70's until chat disappeared. I guess most of the old timers from back then have passed away. I know the feeling as I am now 74 and get around with a walker. I had many chat people that relied on California fire news because they had family here and their area didn't get any reports, Used to log in about 3AM to talk with Australia. I hate to say it but I forgot the country for the raindeer farmer that lived where there was no sun for months of the year. Learned a lot about how he lived in total dark. Lost a favorite chat in Salt Lake City in the early 2000's. Always wanted to take a vacation and see her. Well haven't seen any of my old chats logon but will keep an eye to see if any show up.
Date: Sun Aug 7 19:51:12 2022
User: TNmountainman
Message:Here ya go. Good stuff, to say the least. And one can click on his name to see pics he posted.
Link: sisususi and his story
Date: Sun Aug 7 21:55:00 2022
User: olblue
Message:I just left the chatroom and had a really nice time with several folks. Beverley, ejchap, candle, and ican were there.
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