Don't touch that screen -- there's green comments on it.

A bit of nostalgic rememberance from the two places which can't be held responsible for the results. Let's just say I'm known as Violet Tendencies, the Green Seamen, Ishmael, Blondye, and a few other names I can't remember at the moment (no great loss?).

Melvyl, which you'll find at the above link, is the UC Online Library Catalog. First place I learned how to browse and search for stuff, good training for the internet. Also home, briefly, to a very slow, very public, chat group called "Dilcue" ("Euclid" backwards), for the keyword we used to find our messages, which were posted as "comments". Two week round trip. Long story. We were "shut down" when the DLA (Department of Library Automation) stopped posting "unanswered comments". Several old Dilcuds still post with their handles from time to time, and a few current undergrads seem to pick up the trick each year.

Like many virtual online communities, Dilcue actually resulted in a number of friendships, parties, relationships, and at least one marriage. And I do occaisionally bump into some of the gang from time to time. Our goal is still to liberate "the Dilcue Tapes" from the clutches of the Chronic DeLAy.

So here's to Mooselicker, Blue Rose, Kor, Rawhide, Aristo, Romana, Argon, Ithil Istari, Sherahi, Scupper Drain, and the rest of the crowd.

Late 1999 update. Melvyl is impotent. No more COM(ments). The interactive comment feature was disabled toward the end of 1999, so dies an era.

2000 update. From the it's-a-small-world dept., while attending US LoC copyright hearings at Stanford University over the summer, I ran into Karen Coyle, of the California Digital Library Project -- and, you guessed it -- the former Department of Library Automation....and a woman whom I'd met first through Melvyl/Dilcue. There's something so 1960s about running into your ex at the protest meeting.... Turns out Karen is also active on the CNI-COPYRIGHT mailing list, a legal discussion of copyright and other IP law issues, and had noted my name there.