The Beast and I

GEnie
Because of it's graphical interface Prodigy had used a special software, but most Online Services back then were text based and accessed through a communicatons program which could dial out to any number which it was given. This included regular phone numbers, but then you had to disconnect the program and pick up the phone to talk so most of us did not bother with that. Communications programs were used for dialing Online Services and Bulletin Board Systems which were little local services and about the only place where you could download anything back then, especially for free. People would upload programs and other people could download them. A kind of peer to peer thing.

A little communiations program had come with my computer; and while on Prodigy I had began visiting my local Bulletin Board Systems and downloaded a program called Telix which I soon became a regular user of, and it was this program that I first used to connect to GEnie and sign up for the service. The DOS interface did not really bother me because I was used to it in the regular operation of my computer and on local Bulletin Board Systems.

GEnie was divided into RoundTables, RTs for short, instead of Message Boards, as had been the case with Prodigy. Each RoundTable was then divided into Categories, and each Category further divided into Topics. I somehow found my way to the "Science Fiction and Fantasy RoundTable 2, SFRT2 for short, Category 15, Topic 4. "Sub: Beauty & The Beast - TV Series. Covering the series begun in 1987, the international movement it sparked a la Star Trek, and related items such as its commercial videotapes, movies, novels, and memorabilia, and actor activities." That is what it said. Copied and pasted right from old GEnie messages right into this here .html document!

On January 10, 1993, at 3:00 A.M. I made my first post on GEnie. I never was too good at keeping regular hours, and did I tell y'all that GEnie was only in operation from 6 in the evening until 7 in the morning? Didn't? Well it is true. You could only use GEnie's computers when General Electric, the parent company, wasn't using them. Well, you could, but you would have to pay business rates and who wanted to do that?

Category 15,
Topic 4
Message 151
Sun Jan 10, 1993
S.GARRETT6 [Sandra]
at 03:11 EST
Hi! I made it! *S

My first post on GEnie which soon proved not to be as easy as I thought it might. Well to begin with notice that *S? That is what you had to enter to send a post. Only you had to put in on a separate line to avoid it being seen in the post - which apparently I didn't do. And then:

Category 15,
Topic 4
Message 167
Thu Jan 14, 1993
S.GARRETT6 [Sandra]
at 05:37 EST

Charle, tonight I printed out the manual. Tomorrow, if I have time,
I'll try to get into it. Here in Jacksonville, it has been in the 80's all
week; but today a cold front came in. So this afternoon it has been wet and
nasty with more of the same forecast for tomorrow. I enjoyed the premier of
DS9, but this week I can't find it listed in my TV GUIDE. [A [A [A [A [A [A
[B [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [Ds, tonight I
printed out the manual. Tomorrow, if I have time, [B [B [B [B [B [D [D [D [D
[D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D
[D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [DIs this the week that Lita's hearthrob is
supposed to guest star.? Sandra *S
[A [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C
[C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [B [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D
[D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [D [ [C [
[A [A [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C
[C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C [C*S

Apparently using either the arrow keys or backspace key was a big no-no.

Many of you have read excerpts from what has become known as "The GEnie Posts." Among the things that were cut out of what is available online is how much time we spent talking about our computers and how to do some of the simplest tasks with them.

Soon I downloaded a program called Aladdin. It was especially for GEnie, but had a more friendly user interface which automated message and mail downloading and posting. It also automatically saved messages if configured to do so which is how The GEnie Posts came to be saved - because I did configure my copy of Aladdin to save the messages.

A lot of people who were well known in the early fandom, including George R.R. Martin, were on GEnie. It was through them that I learned that there was an active "Beauty and the Beast" discussion group over on the "Showbiz" RoundTable as well as the Science Fiction and Fantasy RoundTable 2.

The The BATB Showbiz RT was to have, I believe, 3 different topic discriptions at various times, but I one I really loved was the following:

Category 9,
Topic 50
Sun Nov 15, 1992 N.WILLIS1 [Shirk]
at 15:17 EST
Sub: Beauty and the Beast

You see what happens when you try to claim that love can go without physical
expression? You just >see<? Vincent keeps beasting out, and eventually
Catherine downright dies...

Off and on there were BATB discussion groups elsewhere on such things as fanfiction and conventions; but, The SFRT2 and Showbiz RT remained the primary outlet for our manic obsession for discussing everything BATB - and discuss it we did. For hours at a time, into the wee hours of the morning, we discussed and dissected every aspect of Beauty and the Beast that we could think of.

And somehow we discussed it without rancor. While the "Third Season Wars" raged elsewhere throughout the fandom, GEnie remained a safe haven where both classic and third season fans could discuss all three seasons openly, freely, and harmoniously. I was only aware that the debate continuing in any fashion when occasionally someone mentioned something that happened at the Conventions, and even then it was generally spoken of in the past so it was easy for me to believe that most of all the anger and bitterness had died down.

During 1995 we began discussing naming our little group; and, after a lot of names tossing a lot of names about, we decided on "GEniepipers" which was inspired by the idea of us on GEnie tapping on "cyberpipes" and sending out messages to each other like they did in the tunnels. At one point, we even had little tee shirts done. Later on, much later on, when searching for a name to call myself online, I decided on "geniepiper" because it is easy to remember and no one else seemed to be calling themselves that.

During that time, Prodigy continued its decline as more and more people exited the service in favor of other Online Services. Unfortunately, at least as we saw it at the time, GEnie was not one of those services. Those of us who were primarily interested in serious conversation liked GEnie; but, not that many were interested in our kinds of conversation and not that prepared to deal with the DOS interface to get it.

AOL was making a serious bid to become the number one Online Service in the nation and most of the new comers to the online world went there, thanks to the number of disks they sent out and the ease of signing up and use. I have briely tried out AOL a number of times, but never really took to it. One of those times was while I was on GEnie. They had a "Beauty and the Beast" discussion group there, but it was not to me as interesting as the one on GEnie.

Our little group on GEnie made an effort to get other fans to join, but the DOS interface was just too much. We got about two or three new regular members, but most of those who joined left after a couple of days.

And, to tell the truth, some of us on GEnie were beginning to feel left out. As the Internet gained in popularity, GEnie took its took developing any sort of gateway to it; and, when they finally did, the resulting program was an absolute mess, although finally e-mails could be sent between Online Services and "Of Love and Hope" came into being. It was back then what was called an e-mail loop. All messages were sent to one address, collected, and two times a week were sent out to everyone on the list.

Then in 1996 GEnie was sold to a company called Yovelle which was later taken over by the IDT Corporation. There was a dramatic hike in rates and Genie, as it was now called, began to loose even more people. Just about all of us Geniepipers hung on though until one day when all users were given a 12 hours' notice that all basic services would cease to exist, while prices of the other services would rise dramatically. It was more than I could afford. I immediately called and cancelled my membership on GEnie. Left a short message on the SFRT2 as to what I had done, but could not afford to hang around to see what anyone would say. After GEnie