Re: XyWriters: XyWWWeb Needs Your Help! Please read...

["J. R. Fox" jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

Robert Holmgren wrote:

> You have Word Processing BBS (Kisor)?

Yes, more of that than the others.

> How about Wicked Scherzo maybe??????

Should be quite a bit of that too, but subject to the caveats mentioned earlier. I tried
not to retain stuff that did not appear to have future reference value _to me._ Editing
down also maximized storage space -- remember, we were relying heavily on floppies in
those days.

> That was *such* a great place.

There's no denying it.

> Jordan, you were at the very tip top of my list to ask
> privately, because I know you're a methodical pack rat.

Believe me, this does have its drawbacks, also. Quick, what's worse: going looking for
something important and possibly rare that you actually threw out, or keeping a lot of
(possibly) borderline stuff that you _might_ need again some day, but then trying to find
it again turns into a major expedition ?

> You didn't mention TTG

Yup, quite a bit of that too.

> Are you willing to scrounge around?

Yes, but it will take some time.

> It's incredible fun to poke around in this old stuff, especially if you were there.

I was. And I recall there were some scintillating exchanges you had with various people,
not all of whom were legit.

> I'm simply stunned that the solutions people came up with back in 1990 are 100%
> relevant
> today, and the general tenor of discussion at such a high level. As Carl
> observed, very robust. There were so many experts back then.

Yes -- even just on Henry's BBS. Do you remember Scott _____ (something), the Reverend,
for example ? Quite interesting to hear that some of that info is still useful.

> Where are they today I wonder?

Good question. I doubt too many of them stuck with Xy. Took the path of least
reistance, I'm sure. (Did you know that Britt Hume was a XyWriter, at least back in the
day ?)

> Henry told me that Bob Locher was still XyWriting as recently
> as two years ago, and fussing terribly about a job-compelled switch to Word.

A story oft told, alas.

> The consolation in doing this grunt work is that once it's done, for any given
> year or source, it's done: you can put it on a CD and send it up on a
> spacecraft.

Now that it's done, I wish we could borrow your search engine for use on the OS/2 Help
List I subscribe to, but their List software is totally different, and, worst of all, **
I don't think they've ever bothered to archive the messages. **


Jordan