[ih] 40 years ago net.motss was newgroup'd

[Michael Thomas]

On 8/8/23 1:43 PM, John Levine wrote:
> It appears that Michael Thomas via Internet-history <enervatron at gmail.com> said:
>> into soc.motss was the internet's first gay newsgroup. It was created by
>> Steve Dyer late of BBN. It was a purposefully cryptic name to fly under
>> the radar.
> In the 1980s I lived in Harvard Square around the corner from Steve
> and his partner whose name I don't remember but who was, if such a
> thing is possible, even nicer than he was. Everyone knew they were
> gay which, fortunately in that part of Cambridge, was not a big deal.
>
I was never quite clear what Steve did at BBN. Maybe somebody here 
remembers?

FWIW: my domain name is a result of Steve's spdcc.com. I needed to 
create LLC in a hurry and this is what popped into my mind.

But one other point is that it's funny how gay politics intersected the 
nascent internet. I don't have proof of it, but my suspicion is that a 
lot of changes especially in Silicon Valley but elsewhere as well with 
companies and HR policies were very facilitated by the internet. It's 
not like you would set up phone trees to get people to lobby HR, after 
all. The net really facilitated that and probably in a big way.

Mike