The GEnie Files 1992-1995
Before the World Wide Web and the internet we know today, Frank was heavily involved in the GEnie Bulletin Board System. GEnie was a system of RoundTables which were discussion areas with message boards and chat rooms organized by topic. Frank had been involved with various bulletin boards systems during the 1980s. We do not remember how Frank heard about GEnie, but he lept in full throttle. GEnie charged users by the hour and rates varied considerably between “prime” (up to $36/hr) and “non-prime” ($5-$6/hr) hours. We were poor, so Frank only used GEnie during the non-prime hours … the evenings and on the weekends.
At this time, Frank was living with Linda Mac and Mikee LaBash on Peralta Avenue in Berkeley, California. Mikee (LaBash) had a day job and commuted to San Francisco during the week, so Linda and Mikee generally went to bed for a short, 4-hour night’s sleep while Frank was up all night at the computer on GEnie. Frank was still using his motor chair, so many mornings he motored himself to the bedroom to wake us up at 5:30 am.
The message boards were moderated and Frank faced many battles about his posts being “off-topic”. If a moderator was particularly stubborn, Frank would generally solve the issue by creating a new bulletin board topic. GEnie opened a new way for Frank to meet and interact with a new community of people, and he was able to talk shop with other artists, people in the pagan community, people into shamanism and talk to people on a very personal level about their relationship problems. For example, the play that Frank directed, "No Tongue Will Live To Speak, No Ears Will Yearn To Hear" (https://eroplay.com/Cave/no-tongue/), came from the friendship he formed with Chief Distant Eagle (Jim Audlin), the writer of the play, who was also very active on GEnie.
After Frank left GEnie, to get on the web, he created the E-Salon, a free-form, interactive email community inspired by his experience on GEnie, that we have continued to this day.
We are currently going through a large tote filled with print-outs of conversations Frank had on GEnie from 1992 to 1995. There was a depth and scope to these conversations and a respectfulness of all of the members to each other’s opinions that simply does not exist online today (at least we have not found it). We will slowly be posting gems from this material here on The Frank Moore Archives.
After we moved a couple blocks away, to the house we bought on Curtis Street, one day when we ran into our old next-door neighbor on Peralta, he told us he missed seeing Frank at the computer when he went out to get into his car to go to work each morning. He and Frank often waved to each other.
Here’s an idea how much Frank was hooked on GEnie …
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Topic 7 Fri Aug 23, 1991
MODEM.MOM [Diane] at 02:34 EOT
Sub: Modem.Mom's Bar and Grille
Come on in for a byte! A very UNIX experience.,.
Last reply in this topic
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Category 8, Topic 7
Message 186 Sat Jan 25, 1992
F.MOORE7 [SHAMAN] at 03:33 EST
pour me a giant strong cup...and listen to my tale...BTW, i love our talks, diane, i like your openness, anyway, i think i'm a genie junkie, we were going out tonight to dinner to our friends [ex-d.a. and her husband, an ex s.w.a.t. cop]. but running through my head was WHAT WILL I MISS ON GENIE?... that’s a sure sign of a junkie, but mike came home from work sick...so here i sit in the ASHRAM/SALON OF ALL POSSIBILITIES with blinking x-mas lights and an orange neon peace sign in the window, talking on the computer while mike and linda nap.. i'm a little overwhelmed by the other boards genie...too big. that's why i call calif board...and great coffee! BTW, diane, how many people read this board?
stavros, let me know what you think of what i sent you. see you on the 7th. we are getting a lot of calls!
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