FIDOnet  . . . ?

     To explain, we need to go back to 1989, or 1990, or somewhere there abouts.  Back to the days of BBSs, 2400 baud modems (a definite improvement on the pokey 1200), and 5 1/4 inch floppy disks that really were floppy.  Operating systems had numbers -- DOS 5.0 -- and if things didn't work to your satisfaction, and little reading allowed one to change things.

     ASCII art was a pretty cool thing, almost like being able to send pictures on The Dog.

     What Dog?

     FIDO.

     FIDOnet was to the Internet like vinyl records were to cassette tapes.  Like 8 track tapes to CDs . . . BETA video tapes are to VHS video tapes . . . VHS video tapes are to DVDs.  

     You had your computer dial up the local BBS of your choice using the latest version of the mail packet handler, and if there was an open line, you got connected, and then went to the mail room, to see how many mail packets were there.  I can't remember now the exact number of messages each mail packet contained, but I do believe there was a set number of messages in each packet.

     I found Writing first, then Bardroom.  Writing was an echo devoted to the nuts-and-bolts of the craft of writing and was set in a virtual Tavern, where saying something like, "The drinks are on me" received a number of messages reading "*splash*".  About the time I found them, they had recently created a new echo called Bardroom, because, well, keeping writings on topic is like trying to herd cats. 

     Bardroom was a play area for the Tavern.   If a Writing conversation wavered off topic, it was sent to the Beach.  There were two rules on the Beach: Be Good, and Play Nice.  If you think about it, those two rules cover a lot of territory.  

     Mail was erratic, depended on how The Dog felt.  Some posts arrived as quickly as 2 days, and as slow as 3 months.  Every so often mail just plain disappeared.  Gone To The Great Bit Bucket In The Sky.

     The Windows operating system hadn't quite caught on yet, and most everything was done in DOS, with EGA monitors and floppy disks.  And the worst thing that happened when you hit Ctrl Alt Del is that you lost whatever you hadn't saved yet, and could turn the computer right back on and with a few brief keystrokes be right back where you were; a mouse was something the cat dropped on the keyboard when you'd been sitting there too long..

     At the end of messages were short little one-liners. Taglines.  A tagline could be just about anything that could be encapsulated in a single line.  Most were inspirational, pithy, funny, rude, crude, racy, and/or thought provoking, some were quotes from movies, TV shows, plays, song lyrics, and the written word.

     As the Internet gradually became popular, BBSs started folding, I had amassed quite the collection of taglines.  Kicking and screaming, I was dragged out onto the Internet, and thrust into the world of Windows (and Windoesn't) and the tagline collection quietly settled into the bottom of my writing folder.

     So, several computers later, I discovered them and present it here for your entertainment.

--->PLEASE BE AWARE<---

     Some of the following taglines have both implied and obvious adult content, so if things of that nature bother you please click >here<.

Go back to Peppy's Kids; Lisa's hobbies-------> [HERE] 

Go to the Taglines-------> [HERE]