Bring back the BBS!

Posted by stuart as BBS

When I first got into computers (around 1994), I bought a shiny new Mac LC 475. I thought it was great, until I started to get bored with the software which came pre-packaged in the box.

I bought some Macintosh magazines, and started to order the floppy disks advertised in the back of the magazines. You know the ones (well, if you’re around my age you do), the disks filled with shareware games and software. Those were the days, when a magazine disk (a 1.44Mb floppy) could hold an untold array of software for your entertainment.

Then I saw an ad for what was called a BBS (Bulletin Board System for the uninitiated) which was located right here in Adelaide. This changed my world.

I took myself off into the city, and bought a state of the art 14.4kbps modem ($300!).

Whilst I was in the city, I dropped into the offices of this BBS and grabbed a floppy with their software (Telefinder - a graphical BBS system for the Mac).

When I got home, I loaded the software, installed the modem (anybody else out there remember modem init strings?) and dialled in.

My life had changed forever.

What I found was a vibrant community of like minded Mac heads, who enjoyed chatting (early stages of instant messaging), discussing all manner of things in the forums, and the uploading and downloading of software provided me with a new world of time wasters for my new toy.

I made some great friends through this BBS, the kind of friends who if you weren’t online for a few days would contact you to make sure everything was OK. Every time I logged on I’d be breathless with anticipation to see if I had any new emails. (This wasn’t real internet email, just email between users).

Over time, I joined other local BBS’s, more PC based ones with text interfaces, but none of them matched the slick graphical interface of telefinder, or the community at my first Mac BBS.

Anybody else who reads this blog an ageing throwback from the BBS days? Care to share your thoughts?

Have you touched anyone lately?

Posted by stuart as blogging, blog

I’ve been away from my blogs for the last week or two, but keeping an eye on the feed-reader whilst working feverishly on coding a site for a new graphic designer I’ve started doing some work for.

The time away has been refreshing, and given me pause for thought about the blogs I write. I’ve started to ask myself some questions:

1. Why do I do it?
2. What do I hope to get out of blogging?
3. What do my blogs give to their readers?
4. Will I still be doing this in five, or even two, years?

It’s certainly made for some interesting thinking. I wouldn’t even pretend that I blog for the money. The only real easy money to be made from blogging is in the paid posting arena, and I’ve had my fun with that, but it seemed a little too much like a job.

I can make as much in a couple of hours slicing and coding a template for my new graphic designer friend as I make in six months of blogging daily, so why do I do it?

Do I hope to reach out and touch someone? I’m not sure. I know I’ve made some of what I would loosely term “friends” through both this and other blogs I write, and blogs I read and leave comments on. The kind words from Tom and Will in my last post attest to that.

I religiously check my feed reader daily, sometimes more often, studiously taking in all that these blogs have to offer, but most days I’m left with a slightly empty feeling after reading the latest entries. What was I hoping for? I don’t know, but it seems that there’s rarely anything new in the posts. Every now and then someone will come up with a gem, but they’re so rare as to almost be non-existant. It’s nice to read that others are having the same struggles as me trying to turn a buck online, and there’s certainly a laugh to be had from time to time, but where is it all heading?

Will we all still be writing in two or three years time about the same stuff, how we had a good AdSense day, making $5, or we made a sale from an affiliate site, or got ranked number three in Google for a keyword?

I know I’m rambling, I just don’t know why I do it. I guess I just hope that in some small way I might be able to brighten someone’s day, give them a laugh, or let them know that there’s someone else at the same place as them.

Blogwhore explosion

Posted by stuart as BlogWhore

The last few days has seen an explosion in subscribers to BlogWhore.

BlogWhore is a site where bloggers can list their site in the hope of being contacted directly by advertisers, with no middle man taking their cut, as is the case with Performancing Partners or Text-link-ads.

I’m not sure where the subscribers are coming from, but there’s been somewhere in the vicinity of a dozen join up in the last couple of days.

Now I just need to find the time to list them all in the database!

U2 rocks Adelaide

Posted by stuart as u2

The owner of this little corner of the internet was one of the 60,000-odd (strangely middle-aged) bodies crammed into Football Park in Adelaide last night to be reminded once again that there is little in the world which compares to a good old fashioned rock concert.

U2 had brought its full stadium show back to Australia, after cutting their tour short in March due to an illness in the family of lead guitarist The Edge.

This was a concert for the ages, combining the hard rock that carried U2 to the mantle of the worlds biggest rock act in the eighties, and the (not unexpected) plea from front man and actiist Bono for the world to not “become a monster to slay a monster“, whilst urging the three significant religions of the world, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism to coexist.

But most of all, this was a rock concert of the highest order. Rather than “phoning it in”, as so many huge international acts seem to do on coming to Australia at the end of long and arduous international tours, Bono engaged the audience with a freshness and warmth that had every audience member feeling as though they were being presented with thair own private audience with the great man.

For this old stager, who counts AC-DC, Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits among his favourites, this was a trip down memory lane. Giant video screens had the audience reminiscing of the extravagances of the Pop Mart tour, whilst the haunting version of Sunday Bloody Sunday left nary a dry eye in the house.

This was two hours of emotional highs, leaving this author feeling like he had been beaten senseless with rock, but it was all ok in the end, as we were pulled into the embrace of possibly the worlds greatest showman.

ten out of ten.

Competition reminder

Posted by stuart as adwords

Just a quick reminder about a  competition I’m running.

I’m giving away fifty of my hard earned reddies to the person who can find the funnies AdWords ad.

See this previous post for the details

I’ll be putting the matter to a vote to choose a winner once I have 30 entries