Digital Archaeology: Codex (Floppy Disk) #10 (part 1)
A summary for those that haven't been keeping up with this series:
I found a number of 5.25" disks at a thrift store a number of years ago. I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25" disk drive and extracting the contents a while back. Since then I have been posting the contents here.
Based on the contents, at least some of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.
A specific definition of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: "This SIG, known as 'Close Encounters', is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships."
This service was text based and was accessed via whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn't be in such archives even if they existed.
This post includes the contents of BUFFERQ.DOC. It contains a poll created on October 4th, 1985 about surfing the net in the buff. Well, it wasn't exactly surfing the net then but you get the idea...
See the previous post here.
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BUFFERQ.DOC
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I don't understand the term "READ A BUFF" in this context.POLL> res
Which poll results do you want to see (type "?" for list)? a buf
A BUFF, ER', AH QUESTION., created by WUNDERKIND.
Creation date: OCT 4,1985Well.... After discovering that Ole Steg, AND I both do this.... We thought it
would be in the Public interest to settle this Burning issue... To put it, Ah,
bluntly: Do you Telecompute in the Buff? Or otherwise oddly attired? Don't
worry, your responses are Anon, and you will not be the subject of any, ah
unusual, ah, mail...
To better serve you, and our SIG.
Wunderkind.
Oh, 5.25" floppies, this brings childhood memories. I have the sound of the drive in my mind now :D
A few years ago I heard that the floppy disk manufacturing is stopped, and the stores are no longer selling floppy disks.
If anyone still have or find any valuable, useful/helpful information on floppy disks, then that should be copied to a computer as soon as possible, and depending on the nature of that information, it should be published publicly, like these "Close Encounters" files.
Yes, floppy disks are no longer manufactured nor are the drives themselves (at least the 5.25" ones). I'm sure there are lots more disks out there with interesting bits of digital history on them like this but if people don't get them transferred to more modern systems in the not too distant future then it may all be lost forever.