The WELL: inkwell.vue.69: Happy 15th Birthday to the WELL!

#22: I kiss your hand... (coop) Mon 17 Apr 00 17:00

Mon, 17 Apr 2000 17:00:00 PDT

The Well....well, I can't say it *changed my life, but it certainly has added to it! I was dragged into the Well, oh, what, I donno, maybe five years ago by a colleague and her husband after fine conversation at a Berkeley restaurant whilst I was visiting them during a conference. (I'm an east- coaster.) Mr. Jereva said, at the end of the evening, "So, your against gun control, against the death penalty, and don't have an ethical problem with cannibalism. We need you on The Well."

I've been helped by friends here through tough times, and have celebrated wonderful times. I now have more friends and family in the Bay area than I do here at home!

Happy Birthday, Well! [Read entire topic]

#21: David Gans (tnf) Tue 4 Apr 00 12:26

Tue, 04 Apr 2000 12:26:00 PDT

It's changed my life more than a leetle. [Read entire topic]

#20: Libbi Lepow (paris) Tue 4 Apr 00 11:01

Tue, 04 Apr 2000 11:01:00 PDT

I've been here almost eight years, having logged on for the first time from <reva's> home office in May, 1992.

Has the WELL changed my life? Hmmmm. In 1992, I was about to move into my house in Cherry Hill, NJ. I was married and working at a nuclear power plant in Salem, NJ.

Unless something significant changes in the next two months, I'm now living in the Bay Area (thanks to a job I got through a woman in WOW), with my life-partner <dlee> (whom I met f2f when I responded to his post in the News conference about the death of his fiance), and working at one of the more interesting .com companies in the Silicon Valley.

Yeah, I guess you could say the WELL has changed my life jest a leetle. [Read entire topic]

#19: Mary Elizabeth Williams (marybeth) Tue 4 Apr 00 08:09

Tue, 04 Apr 2000 08:09:00 PDT

The WELL totally changed my life - gave me a new career, gave me a godmother for my baby, introduced me to some of my best friends, hooked me up with writing connections. When I finished college, I wondered if I'd ever again have that feeling of day to day connection with a group of people I wanted to talk to all the time. And that's exactly what I got when I got online. Six years and counting.... [Read entire topic]

#18: Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (peoples) Mon 3 Apr 00 16:46

Mon, 03 Apr 2000 16:46:00 PDT

I am now in my eighth year as a member of this community. It's been an amazing ride. I've laughed my ass off at some of the funniest conversational threads I've ever run into. I've wept tears of shared pain and grief when a fellow community member committed suicide. I've developed crushes on various WELL members' brains from time to time, and been mad enough at others to want to smack them silly. All virtually, of course.

For those who might wonder if it's "real," I say Yes! It's as real as talking on the phone, as real as exchanging hardcopy letters, as real as the emotions that course through all of us. You can't touch your emotions, you can't measure them, weigh them, draw them. But they're real and true, just like The WELL.

So I'd like to thank The WELL for being here, for making me laugh and cry and rant and rave, for introducing me to a whole new world of communication. [Read entire topic]

#17: Gail Williams (gail) Sun 2 Apr 00 21:29

Sun, 02 Apr 2000 21:29:00 PDT

<minow> that risks alert is classic in every sense of the word. [Read entire topic]

#16: idea junkhouse (castle) Sun 2 Apr 00 21:03

Sun, 02 Apr 2000 21:03:00 PDT

I rather fancy this one. [Read entire topic]

#15: news about mutants (satyr) Sun 2 Apr 00 18:16

Sun, 02 Apr 2000 18:16:00 PDT

Couldn't resist! ;-) [Read entire topic]

#14: Richard Evans (rje) Sun 2 Apr 00 17:43

Sun, 02 Apr 2000 17:43:00 PDT

In contrast to most the WELL is, for me, quite literally a virtual community. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and while this can sometimes make my sense of connection to the WELL feel somewhat tenuous, with all these references to people and places in some other continent, the distance is also part of the appeal with the WELL acting as a kind of mutant news source. And then there are the opinions and humour and other postings from certain individual WELLperns which are a joy to read. And not to forget those postings which are not, from my personal perspective, a reading joy but which contribute to the ambient textual texture. And speaking of text one of the most unique aspects of the WELL is the archiving of past conversations which can sometimes lead to fresh banter, sometimes merely constitute a great read- it's a bit like walking into a bar which was formerly a famous hangout only it is typed text which lingers rather than the smell of cigars. It's an idea junkhouse, amongst other things, and virtual home to more than a few fascinating people. [Read entire topic]

#13: Reva Basch (reva) Sun 2 Apr 00 16:46

Sun, 02 Apr 2000 16:46:00 PDT

What Roberta said. Going on 12 years for me, now. [Read entire topic]