  You can see by our colophon that we now have
another way of receiving letters of comment on Mimosa. Earlier this year, we
decided to subscribe to a local service that offers access to the Internet
world-wide computer network. For the $150 a year that it costs, we can send and
receive electronic mail all over the world. As a comparison, for $92 a year, we
rent a one cubic foot hole-in-the-wall at the Germantown Post Office for hardcopy
mail (and we still have to buy stamps).But there's more. By subscribing to the
Internet, we also gain access to the Usenet discussion/user/news groups. For those
who aren't familiar with Usenet, here's a brief, oversimplified description: think
of a fanzine or amateur press association (apa) which you're familiar with and
that's centered around a single, discrete topic. Now, imagine that, instead of
appearing as a set of stapled pages, it exists only as a series of text files on
some remote computer (but one which you can still easily access through your own
computer's modem). Now stretch your conception of this fan forum: instead of
appearing every two, three, or six months, imagine that it appears daily, hourly --
or even that new articles and letters of comment (or their equivalent) are
constantly being posted by the large number of readers (including yourself).
Finally, envision that instead of just one electronic apa on one specific topic,
there are hundreds, on almost every topic you can imagine. That's Usenet.If you think that there is probably lots of
information available on Usenet, you're right -- too right. If you need information
on any specific topic, chances are there's someone in one of the user groups who'll
have it. But there's far too much in Usenet for any one person to be able to
assimilate. Luckily, each of the several hundred user groups has a descriptive name
that identifies it with a specific topic, which makes it easy to decide which groups
not to bother with.It turns out that there are several sf
fandom-related user groups (such as rec.arts.sf.fandom) available on Usenet,
as well as other related groups devoted to separate aspects of the science fiction
genre, like movies and books. Besides these sf-related newsgroups, I regularly
browse through other groups that have ongoing discussions of interest. In the
sci.energy user group, for instance, there's postings of interest to my
professional alter ego of Program Manager of Advanced Power Systems at the U.S.
Department of Energy. But there are also quite a few newsgroups devoted to
recreational topics like television, movies, sports, cooking, music, and crafts.There are so many user groups on Usenet,
that, quite literally, there's one for practically any subject you can think of.
Looking through our Mimosa mailing list for this issue I note that Lon Atkins,
for instance, might be interested in the sci.aeronautics group, while Lynn
Hickman might be more attracted by alt.pulp. Eric Lindsay may already know
about the aus.sf group, while Terry Jeeves might like to browse through the
soc.culture.british discussion group and Marty Helgesen might be drawn to the
soc.religion.christian group. Arthur Hlavaty might be tempted to check out
alt.sex.wizards, while Timothy Lane & the rest of the FOSFAX gang
could very well be mesmerized by alt.fan.rush-limbaugh. Dean Grennell could
get into rec.guns, and we all might find out some things about our
favorite pastimes in rec.collecting and alt.beer.You name it, it's there. There's something
for just about everybody on the net, all the way from sci.astro.hubble to
*shudder* alt.karaoke. It ranges from the prosaic (talk.philosophy.misc)
to the undescribable (alt.exploding.kibo).With all that information bombarding you
from every direction, maybe it's unsurprising that there are people who seem to be
overwhelmed by it all. It's pretty often that you come across a posting for, say,
information about Star Trek in a discussion group about upstate New York (one
instance that comes immediately to mind was the person who kept complaining about
the postal service in the alt.fan.letterman group). It turns out there's a
special newsgroup intended for these terminally fogged-in people: alt.clueless.
Now, whenever Nicki or I come across a person who's life appears to be ruled by the
laws of chance (and there seems to be a lot of these, lately), we say to each other,
"There's someone who belongs in alt.clueless."# # # #
And here we are with a new issue of
Mimosa. It doesn't seem like it's been more than a dozen years since the
first issue. I didn't have a clue back in 1981 that we'd still be publishing all
these years later; I remember all too well that it took us five years to even get
the second issue out. Since then, preservation of fan history has become almost a
crusade, and a driving force for continuing to publish. Right now, there are still
far too many bits of history out there that need preserving to even consider putting
the mimeograph out to pasture.Actually, though, there is one thing that
might affect our future fan publishing intentions -- the cost. Commercial printing,
at least here in the Washington, D.C. area, is just too damned expensive to even
consider (I think that all the quick print shops here must be in cahoots with each
other). So for now, that means Nicki and I have to drink a toast every New Year's
Eve to the continued good health of our ancient Gestetner. And we've also got to
hope that a supply of the soft-and-fuzzy paper (which is still the best stuff
available for mimeo) stays available.But speaking of soft and fuzzy, I've got to
make sure I leave enough room for the Chat cartoon below, and this looks like
a good place to stop. Now that we've got e-mail service, I'm looking forward to
seeing some of you on the net, perhaps to talk about fan history and preservationism.
Don't, however, expect me to speculate about what the next dozen years
might hold.On that topic, I'm clueless... - - - - - - - - - -
 Title illustration by Sheryl Birkhead Chat cartoon by Teddy Harvia |
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