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I’d like to thank Leslie Miller for her great article about Q-Link which appeared in the February 10, 2000 issue of USA Today. It was a pleasure to be interviewed for the article. :-)

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RUSS20 / RShade

Subj: Q-Link
Date: 4/29/99 10:15:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: rshade@fast.net (RWS)
To: uncleal2@aol.com

Howdy, Unk ... thanks for this site - you can reprint this if'n you like!

Just read an article in last week's New Yorker which made the comment
that AOL was the first "consumer-oriented" online service and I had to
laugh. I mean, really.

Steve Case ought to have a framed graphic of the Q-Link load screen on
his office wall - and worship at it daily. After all, Q was the one that started
it all for the online industry (and for me as well).

I was known variously as Dog Brain, Arf, and most commonly as RUSS20
and a few other left-hand type-twisters (designed to cut down OLM's while I
was busy playing in the Trivia Rooms).

Q was still pretty rough when I managed to scrape up the cash to get the
equipment I needed to sign on for the first time. I still remember my first
night - stumbling into the Trivia room just in time to answer the question
"Who murdered John Lennon?" I typed in "Mark A*****E Chapman." And
someone named Meliffer typed "Oh Dear."

Meli's still a very close friend.

I loved Trivia games and played whenever there was a game. I was soon
invited by Stique to be a co-host. Eventually, Q-Link even deigned to
award online staff with free hours - so it was no longer such a financial
hassle to play.

About 18 months into the whole experience, someone, I don't know who,
casually suggested that some of use get together in real life. A few months
later, we had our first Trivia Bash in Albany, New York.

What insanity! Got to meet Pat Bell, Ginzo, Milo, Ceilidh, Fortytude,
Deverin. All in all there were about 35 of us - in a hotel conference room,
playing online trivia. At our "banquet, Saturday night, one of the
non-attending members, a computer magazine writer, had SPAM brought
to our table --- hence the spam juggling that occurred later... Spudley did a
presentation on exotic veggies - none of us slept. I remember speaking to
everyone just before we broke camp on Sunday. I told the rest of the group
that the whole online experience would be forever altered for them - little
did I realize back then how prophetic that statement was.

Word of the bash got around quickly. Soon other groups started doing it -
the Q-Link started doing it as well. We had other Trivia bashes - St Louis
(what a time that was - Tjudge, if you're reading this, I promised I wouldn't
ever tell) - from the screwed up flight, the unexpected overnight in Chicago,
eating supper at Denny's at 6AM), Washington DC, Queens, Ocean NJ...

We all know what happened. Q ripped off most of the staff by refusing to
transfer accumulated free time to AOL (I was out 2800$ worth of free time
and, true to my word, still badmouth AOL whenever I get the chance - and I
get plenty of chances).

I got my own ISP connection, plunged into USENET, greeted the WEB,
changed careers - and now most of my life is built around computers - yup,
everyone said that Commodores were toys - but Commodore and Q (and
US, ALL OF US WHO WERE ONLINE) changed the face of the world with
what they accomplished back then. Now terms that used to draw raised
eyebrows from the mainstream - chat rooms, modem, online ARE the
mainstream. It's getting harder and harder to feel like the pioneers that all
of us were!

I still am in touch with Timely (who has settled down as health problems
continue to plague him), Meli and Mom (2 of our dearest and closest
friends), Patti and Bob - err Ceilidh and Spudley - they have their own
record company now and a CD that's doing very well), and, too
infrequently, Cait and Grizz. Last summer I drove past St Louis and wished
I could contact Fantysis and her MOM (her MOM and I did some elbow
time together at the St Louis Bash)

And you know, every once in a while I get email that starts out..."Hey - are
you RUSS20? You probably don't remember me but ......." I still get
pleasure from Q, even though it's been gone almost 5 years. I still have
several Commodores, waiting for the retro movement to catch up. Who
knows

Whoooda thunk it!!