The following is copied from:
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2007/05/a_day_in_the_life_of_emailerta.html>
A day in the life of Emailer-talk circa 1998
Emailer-talk was a very social list. We would often go off-topic to
discuss Mac issues during lulls over Emailer issues of the day. During
one of these times, a new list mom decided to lay down the law with the
list. The result was a modern day Boston Tea Party.
The following is an excerpt from an email sent by John Gilmore to the
list shortly after hordes of subscribers began to defect:
"The Internet treats censorship as interference and routes around
it" Miss Vicky, you have killed a fine list ... but it did not die, in a
matter of but a few dozen minutes a new list has sprung up no different
from the last list save for one major difference, YOU DON'T CONTROL IT!
Omar Shahine immortalized the revolt in his "Intro to Sociology" paper.
Omar Shahine
Intro to Sociology
Tuesday, April 28, 1998
A day in the life of Emailer-talk
On January 21, 1998 I received this email:
Subject: [ADMIN] Re: Emailer 2.0v3
Date: 1/21/98 5:11 PM
Received: 1/21/98 4:32 PM
From: Vicki Lindsay, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Talk, [email protected]
This is the last time I will repeat this. This list is to discuss
Emailer not FileMakerPro, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, or
anything other application.
This list is not for discussing Claris policies; nor, should it be
for repeating rumors.
As of this message, anyone who posts off-topic messages will be
removed. No, if's and's or but's. If I think it is off-topic, your
history. End of story. No discussion.
If you don't like, tuff.
Vicki Lindsay Emailer-Talk "List Mom"
SkyTouch Communications
What followed in the moments after was one of the most interesting
social phenomena that I have experienced. Before I can tell the story of
the Emailer-talk mailing list and what members of this list refer to as
the "Vicki incident", there is some background information that needs to
be addressed.
The history of the Internet begins at the height of the cold war. What
began at the Rand Corporation, America's foremost military think tank,
has evolved into one of the most profound mediums of communication that
is available to millions of people around the world. The problem was
simple, how could the United States develop a system or communications
network that could withstand nuclear attack? Paul Baran, who conceived
of an idea for a new kind of network, proposed the answer. He believed
that instead of the traditional point to point network, where each chain
on a network was dependant on a link, a new type of network could be
built that would allow information to find its own path through a
network even if that direct link was broken (1).
Baron's idea went from conception to reality during the 1960s under the
guidance and funding of the Department of Defense's Advanced Research
Project Agency (ARPA) and grew into a small network (ARPANET) to promote
the sharing of supercomputers amongst researches in the United States.
In 1969, the first four hosts of the ARPANET were created connecting
Stanford Research Institute, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University
of Utah. Although ARPANET was a success from the beginning, its true
appeal was not the ability to access remote computers; it was email and
as a result the ARPANET grew to become a high-speed digital post office (1).
In the late 70s and early 80s the ARPANET went international and
commercial. Then in the 80s Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf developed a
technology called Telecommunication Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
TCP/IP is the common language that allows computers to speak to each
other. Concurrent with this development was the boom of personal
computer industry popularized by Apple Computer whose founders Steve
Jobs and Steve Wozniak created a "computer for the rest of us." The
Apple Macintosh introduced an inventive, mesmerizing desktop metaphor
that introduced almost every modern interface element to the
imagination: menus, icons, folders, and trash cans. To this day it
remains the standard by which all interfaces are judged (2).
For the first time in our digital culture a machine had character. From
that day till now, the success of Microsoft Windows and rise of Bill
Gates' fortune confirms the superiority of the desktop metaphor. These
events and product evolutions set the stage for the break out year of
the Internet. But before the Internet could break out one more important
development occurred. In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee posted the first computer
code of the World Wide Web. The ability to combine words, pictures, and
sounds on Web Pages and to have them displayed on the millions of
personal computers on the desks, laps, and homes of millions of people
set in motion the events that have resulted in an explosion of a new
medium. What started out as a Cold War concept to controlling the
remains of a post-nuclear society has evolved into the Information
Superhighway. The Internet profoundly affects the world we live in today
and has brought society together in the Information Age (2).
According to Steven Johnson in The Interface Culture, "the internet is
once again allowing strangers to interact with one another; though this
time without the violence and drudgery of the Industrial Revolution"( ).
In essence the Internet allows for the development of virtual
communities created indiscriminate of gender, color, race, age or any
other social or physical characteristic.
I am a member of many physical and social communities and groups. I am a
Georgetown University student and as a result belong to specific groups.
Most of my associations with people are determined by factors that are
not in my control. However, there is one community that I belong to
where I do not know the faces behind the words, and I am a net-citizen
of this community called the Internet.
I have been using a computer since the 4th grade and was first
introduced to the concept of online community through America Online
(AOL). However, I was not introduced to the Internet until my freshman
year at Georgetown University in the fall of 1994. Since then I have
embraced this amazing resource yet it was not until my sophomore year
that I was an active user. Until then my activities on-line were limited
to emailing and forwarding messages to friends around campus; I had no
real reason to use email beyond campus. In the fall of my sophomore year
I purchased a program called Claris Emailer. Claris is a software
company that is owned by Apple Computer, and in 1995, it purchased
Emailer from a start-up company called Fog City software. It was truly a
revolutionary product because it allowed fellow Macintosh users to
connect to various on-line services like Compuserve, AOL, RadioMail, and
any Internet provider to send and receive email. Emailer was the first
universal inbox and outbox that delivered the convenience and the real
promise of an email application that had a wonderful interface. Much
like the Macintosh user interface hid the drudgery and ugliness of
previous computer incarnations, Claris Emailer provided a unique and
elegant approach to communicating with others. Many people look at
computers as tools and applications to accomplish a task, but there are
many people out there that use computers in many more ways. They need to
know how and why a computer works and how to make things work better. I
am one of those people, and as a result of my desire to learn more about
this program, I joined a mailing list called Emailer-talk.
A mailing list is essentially a group distribution list. Once an
individual subscribes to a mailing list you are allowed to send messages
to the list. When a message is sent to the list everyone that is
subscribed to the list receives a copy. As a result you do not know who
the messages are going to, but anyone who is a subscriber can read the
message and choose to respond to the message in which case the entire
list of subscribers will also see the response. The benefit of such a
list is obvious: other people can offer their assistance and answer
questions that you cannot. I initially joined the list because I wanted
to know more about Claris Emailer.
What I did not know is that over a period of 2 and 1/2 years I would get
to know the personalities and intricacies of many people. The list has
developed into a community of individuals who interact on a daily basis.
The list is run by SkyTouch communications, which was founded in 1992
with the explicit purpose of developing innovative, high-quality,
personal computer software solutions. Eric Thauvin, the founder of
SkyTouch, hosts this list and was the original list administrator or
"List Mom." The administrator is responsible to make sure the topic does
not drift or people are not abrasive to each other. They may reprimand
people by removing them from the list.
Unlike many other lists, Emailer-talk frequently drifts off-topic. There
are many reasons for this; sometimes issues surface where a subscriber
can offer some unique perspective on a computing issue that no one else
can, or some one can offer advice to another subscriber, or some people
may feel it is necessary to talk about grammar and sentence structure.
However, one of the reasons I joined Emailer-talk was that it was the
first time in my life that I could actually talk to the creators and
testers of a program, and the amazing thing is, they listened to me. It
made me feel like I was a part of something, mainly the evolution and
changes of a product. We could ask questions like "why is this button in
the right corner of the window and not the left corner?" or say things
like "I hate this feature". For many, this was the initial appeal to
staying on as a subscriber. I was truly impressed by the dedication and
effort of the members of the Emailer team that worked at Claris. With
the second release of the program it was clearly evident that they were
listening. This year, Claris Emailer version 2.0 went on to win a
prestigious award given out annually by MacWorld Magazine. However,
shortly after, Apple Computer re-absorbed Claris and the entire
development team either left Apple or was assigned to new projects. As a
result, the Emailer-talk list was subjected to an enormous volume of
email that our new "List Mom", Vicki Lindsay, did not like one bit.
The actions of Vicki's words in the email she sent to the list members
did not show an understanding or respect for the community many of us
felt we are a part of. In response to her email, Jud Spencer, the lead
programmer, of Emailer, wrote:
I know this isn't my place any longer. But, this list is like a
coffee-house, people gather to discuss events of the day as it pertains
to a common topic. They just don't come here to drink coffee. Many have
been here longer than the term "listmom" has been in existence. If this
list were purely for the discussion of Emailer features/bugs and not its
future, I doubt anyone would stick around. In my opinion the future of
Emailer is very pertinent to this list.
Many people felt that if valuable members of the list were no longer
going to remain then they did not want to be a part of the list anymore.
Others simply did not like the attitude and actions of Ms. Lindsay and
unsubscribed as well. In a matter of hours after Ms. Lindsay's email
something amazing happened. Tom Carstensen, a member of the list,
created his own Emailer-talk for those who wished to continue
participating in our on-line community. In the first hour of Tom's
Emailer-talk there were 35 subscribers and many remained on both lists
for the following days while others went back to the old list once Eric
Thauvin returned as list administrator having relieved Ms. Lindsay of
her former duties.
It was amazing to witness the reaction of the list members to Ms.
Lindsay's email. The willingness of Tom to host a new list and the
reactions of the members put many things in perspective. Just as Paul
Baran envisioned 30 years ago, the Internet is not a direct link from
one point or person to another, but a fishnet where information finds
its own path even if a section of network had been destroyed. The
following is an excerpt from an email sent to the list shortly after
hordes of subscribers began to defect:
John Gilmore immortalized these words:
"The Internet treats censorship as interference and routes around
it" Miss Vicky, you have killed a fine list ... but it did not die, in a
matter of but a few dozen minutes a new list has sprung up no different
from the last list save for one major difference, YOU DON'T CONTROL IT!
For me this statement puts the actions and events into perspective. Many
of us reacted in the same way: we were upset and mad, and exercised our
rights to leave the old list in order to continue interacting without
heavy handed intervention by a person who made no effort to understand
our list and its culture. As result of these actions I conducted a
survey via email of those who left Emailer-talk to join Tom's list. I
asked 30 individuals to participate and 12 expressed an interest. I have
received 11 completed survey's to date.
I asked the volunteers some simple questions about the Internet: how it
influences society, why they left the list and some demographic
questions. The range of the respondent's ages was from 22 to 60+ and all
were residents of the US except for one individual from Canada and
another from New Zealand. All the respondents were male except for two
females and all but one were subscribers to Emailer-talk for over a
year, some as long as the product's life (late 1993). All of the
respondents joined the list to learn more about Claris Emailer. One
respondent stated that he joined Emailer-talk "to get opinions and tips
(and to give them). Emailer seemed such a nice, almost revolutionary way
to handle mail..." This statement captured much of the feeling and
atmosphere of the list. There were many people on the list that enjoyed
helping others by offering their knowledge and willingness to learn more.
In response to a question asking why the respondents left the Emailer-
talk list after the "Vicki incident" someone replied: "I've made a lot
of good friends on the Emailer-talk list. I've learned more about
computer related stuff there than on any of the other lists I've been
on. Tom's list is a way to continue the conversation." The survey also
asked the respondents to comment on this statement: "The Internet treats
censorship as interference and routes around it." In response one person
said, "I definitely think it's true. The Emailer list almost vanished
overnight after the "Miss Vicki" episode. The ease of creating new lists
makes it very difficult for tyrants to rule." It is interesting to
witness the responses that people have to interference, especially in a
medium that is still in its infancy. To some the Internet is the Holy
Grail of communication and will have no part in stifling its movement.
The Internet consists of many technologies right now. Our society is
bombarded with buzzwords that have little or no meaning to a vast
majority of people. Things like VRML, XML, cyberspace, information
superhighway, net-bots, and HTML are discussed by many net-savvy users,
yet for many the most important buzz-word is still the written word.
Largely unchanged through the centuries this is one method of
communication that has flourished in the Internet Age. As humans we are
used to dealing with people, faces, and we learn a lot from body
language and expression. On the Internet the only thing that separates
individuals from each other is the computer interface that allows them
to interact in a virtual world. Distance is no longer a barrier
separating people with common interests and experiences.
I have learned a lot from my experiences on the Emailer-talk list. What
started out as a curiosity in a computer application has transformed
into a new method of social interaction. David Orgel, a long time
subscriber to Emailer talk wrote, "Emailer-Talk is the first instance of
a real Internet-based community that I encountered. I've subsequently
started my own mailing list, consisting largely of [Emailer-talk]
subscribers, and this has become a very tightly knit community, sort of
a "virtual commune." I find it fascinating and encouraging that it's
possible to get to know people well and become close to them, solely by
means of the written word."
Vicki Lindsay failed in her duties for one particular reason. She made
no attempt to understand or learn the culture and atmosphere of the
list. Much as a foreigner may visit a new country or culture and fail to
gain an appreciation for its differences and offer no respect of their
way of life, Vicki treated the list and its members as something she
could control. Many people realize that the best way to gain the respect
of another person is to make an effort to understand and appreciate the
person's culture. Ms. Lindsay failed in this way and what resulted was a
reaction that was appropriate in both the virtual world and the real
world. When asked why so many people left the list to join Tom's new
list, Jurgen Schaub responded, "as a real world analogy, a bunch of us
are sitting in a coffee house, and the waitress gets really rude. A few
of the more animated members decide to go to the other coffee place down
the street. We all get up and leave."
For me this is the first experience of a real world social reaction in
the virtual world. The Internet is proving to be a powerful force in our
lives and social experiences. The traditional group is no longer limited
to any continent or physical separation and as a result we will have to
learn how to be responsible members of this large community. The
experiences I have had on Emailer-talk reveal just how dynamically a
group of people can interact. The list continues to amaze me: we laugh,
fight, complain, rejoice and talk to each other and as a result I feel
that the most powerful method of communication is still the written word.
Acknowledgements:
Timothy Bates
Lynda Bates
Anonymous
Craig L. Stevenson
Edward B. Hanna
David Orgel
Dan Dixon
Dan Crevier
Jurgen Schaub
The Claris Emailer Team
All the list members of Emailer-talk
FWIW, I'm Anonymous and I still belong to one of the spin off lists that
was created from this revolt.
After college, Omar worked with the MacBU on Outlook Express and then
Entourage. He is now Senior Program Manager Lead for Hotmail.
Tags:
* Emailer
* Emailer talk
* Entourage talk
* Omar Shahine
* censorship
* history
* social phenomena
Posted by Diane Ross on May 20, 2007 5:35 PM Permalink
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