3
50
121
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/95fd885484f2a38a7f67988530c9afa2.gif
38abc328ce88738270eca7d1888a2eb8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
Mailing List
E-mail Mailing Lists
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
transgendered people, crossdressers, transvestites, transsexual people, community allies
Years Active
Approximate years group was active online
1998-2004
Sponsor or Institutional Host
Organizations that hosted, sponsored, or maintained the forum
Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA)
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<span> Gender Advocacy Internet News (1998 - 2004) was a news service maintained by Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA) collecting information relevant to the trans community. GEA was founded in 1998 from the merger of two existing trans community organizations: </span>the American Educational Gender Information Service (AEGIS) and It's Time, America! (ITA). <br /><br /><span>GAIN grew out of ITA's existing news service and was edited by former ITA media director </span>Penni Ashe Matz until her death in 2001. From 2002 onward, it was edited by Kim Carver and Gwyneth Rhian Morgan.<br /><br /><a href="http://queerdigital.com/items/show/111" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An archive of GAIN digests covering 1998 to 2004</a> is available at the QDHP. The attached image is taken from the archived GAIN webpage (linked below).<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000815100131/http://www.gender.org/gain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archived copy of GAIN page</a> on GEA's website in the Internet Archive (archived August 15, 2000) </li>
</ul>
Year Founded (approximate)
1998
Last Year Active (approximate)
2004
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gender Advocacy Internet News (GAIN)
crossdressers
GAIN
Gender Advocacy Internet News
mailing list
transgender people
transsexual people
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/ff1773a4f7e8afd973f38c5ef33cd96e.zip
ff99b866c660cc43129f8208a8f17caa
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/cfb4606a49a6d7ca5836c202ab11c26f.gif
04d0515a11e2f4f379f86d3ed3041e1a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Archived LGBTQ Yahoo Groups
Description
An account of the resource
This collections holds archives of LGBTQ-related Yahoo Groups collected prior to the service's closure in late 2019. Each of the entries contains more information about the archive, its content, and access restrictions.<br /><br />More information on the project's methods and approach can be found on <a href="http://queerdigital.com/ygpresproject">the related page</a>.
Yahoo Group
Entry for archival copy of Yahoo Group
Group Description
Official Description of Group
The official newsletter of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition. People who would like to receive periodic news, announcements, action alerts from NTAC are welcome to subscribe to this announcement list. (From 2005)
Years Active
Approximate years group was active online
2001-2009
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
General Public
Original Access and Visibility Restrictions
Restrictions on who could access and post to the group
Members only access
Redaction and Access Restrictions
Email addresses redacted. No access restrictions to the archive.
Exterior References
Organization description (taken from their website): "NTAC, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, is a §501(c)(4) political advocacy coalition working to establish and maintain the right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination."<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20011201083605/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ntactimes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Original Yahoo Groups page</a> (archived Dec 1, 2001)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040804222934/http://www.ntac.org/pr/index.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NTAC Press Releases</a> (archived Aug 4, 2004)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20021017213937/http://www.ntac.org/newsletter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NTAC Newsletter</a> (archived October 17, 2002)</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NTAC Times
NTAC
yahoo group
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/34a2ec98be8a65b82c68ee0e51286aff.png
97e788eb1f5afd2ab8bdb4799945acdf
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/aff0e3aa9b45eea1b5736facd40c9a26.png
fc96e7c22c92a4a7f77acba12d44056d
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/04a58b144072a89b4fae53400a309039.png
55ae190f1e0ea23d4a24e0cee4a54592
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/329a6014aa2e1123ca7854031f3e7c77.png
218c712a7b034c487850990866f32795
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/168f45fdb0fdf5b0d10947aae7c5b6db.jpg
0159d3e3252ac411e4a38ef1af66c0a4
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/fb63340dc489a8e2640bbba00305dca0.jpg
a08e1567836c3e8c236793b53280bed8
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/7a928c52b152be86c07ec32a0ec42f88.jpg
8eb98aa9297b972e3b71806f61d285b6
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/f66d0a8b7e9457df2fb6d55d913386d0.png
0d5423a5b344360c77eed30370c7daf9
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/1a5b052720f9026c1499654ebb7e7ad6.jpg
6a9a491c4ffe1b502f7c86b3d30dc4d3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Joanna Clark Exhibit Items
Description
An account of the resource
Examples used in the <a href="https://queerdigital.com/exhibits/show/impfigs/clark" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joanna Clark (Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark)</a> Exhibit.
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/7ef8e2cb0624309c26c3e8319f112a27.jpg
20862290e5cbf8f748463eb7cceacbcf
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/23fa5e7d3d05a5679d09c7b428dc435d.txt
313be9bb85b713e6b2cc7e96fd887683
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/a98d4e1c487f1641de899c5928a7c883.jpg
7d643381b55334b1ac0a3b85d2880ff6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Name
Name of Forum
Critical Path AIDS Project BBS
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
214
City and State/Province
Philadelphia, PA
Year Founded (approximate)
1991
Last Year Active (approximate)
Unknown
Sponsor or Institutional Host
Organizations that hosted, sponsored, or maintained the forum
Critical Path AIDS Project
Baud Rate
Up to 9600-baud
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
People With AIDS (PWAs)
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<strong>Attached files:</strong> <br />
<ul>
<li>Cover for the October 1991 issue of the Critical Path Newsletter, sourced from <a href="https://www.bolerium.com/pages/books/270782/kiyoshi-kuromiya/critical-path-aids-project-vol-2-7-8-october-1991-the-speed-of-light-aids-information-in-the-1990s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bolerium Books</a>.</li>
<li>Photograph of Kuromiya in 1992, originally from <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/health/outraged-over-indifference-aids-act-up-is-rewriting-rules-protest-20110605.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philadelphia Inquirer</a>.</li>
<li>Press Release on Critical Path as a plantiff in Reno v. ACLU (mirrored from <a href="http://www.qrd.org/qrd/usa/federal/1996/critical.path.fights.net.censorship-02.09.96" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Queer Resources Directory</a>)</li>
</ul>
<strong>Other references:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Select digital copies of the Critical Path Newsletter available in the <a href="https://queerdigital.com/items/show/96" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AIDS Info BBS Documents Collection</a></li>
<li>Kiyoshi Kuromiya Exhibit (TBD)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19961221111705/http://www.critpath.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archived copy of the Critical Path website</a> (archived Dec 21, 1996)</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Critical Path AIDS Project BBS
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/126f17b707010a19606b1783706c221a.jpg
3b0743b68e527dee7c0def2d6eab9f5f
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/210913339fc3f3f389922d310fe7706c.png
961af136dac27740089936201bbafb4c
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/72b685701ad1d5da94bf6064c5f1c170.jpg
882ba51bea5e4e99cb83ddfd67f87f68
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/3508afdb8b0c403c22d3a0c463243f21.png
cd2bbb62c65ddfd60b20fff9c199e606
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/e5ae746b6d445b07cd28b89b99a7c69c.jpg
dfc4be8b9d8c64dd73f4f5f058580529
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/112884efef063f1cfbdec3df28d8bbef.pdf
b5f8c24c459d1a03174ec8fde666684c
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/ad1b7e82191572584a8bcaea63d948d0.jpg
3ce73bfc046a353b22a4c510c19b7b52
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/d5a11d1a538cebbafccc7798fb03a6c1.jpg
09258a399e1b0619337c4fcf164626fd
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/e016153c9c21813824680a976e416f41.jpg
6afdaaf889da641e6139f7135a0d14e8
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/3ea546591b0d984e9bd2fe95c7f4d74d.jpg
7623926af3d633dcebe182338fdea06f
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/fc4dc271cff102b914d19acca46eb369.jpg
4463c18543e22d861f895b3aeac7f275
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/3cff4c4eaa351d7c0eb244021a379253.jpg
a3d2e5ffba57734462f122cb983e3484
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/efec45c0c4ecfcb89e42457e2a914928.jpg
29d5871bde50b909959ada11bd8ad085
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/eb7616d2bf3babb83e286a24c9984362.jpg
deab1e56f27a458cc4c7ea7d5ad71984
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/6076c0493e1cbd3f68201ebcc30c3df4.jpg
4f10aa2a8c9ad22aa80698b9f20c0f46
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/4b4765770c07e9eb63ea54a0bdf93dee.jpg
80ffdedf4861492984e270501bcb0f3b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Kiyoshi Kuromiya Exhibit Items
Description
An account of the resource
Examples used in the <a href="https://queerdigital.com/exhibits/show/impfigs/kuromiya" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kiyoshi Kuromiya</a> Exhibit.
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/59b64a9a87757230bcb490f9128cd0ae.jpg
76ac4baeb5d446a2d7ed284de611424f
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/7057f23ed6db37d93b38d5fb241eeb53.jpg
f830c03e0426641ad9dcc874da1aea4e
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/1b74efaae1e84697235e7b3a70e3db10.jpg
158a034c38fb4f6752aee14d1000ec80
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/61e096aa997ca8f8d7531deda947cbed.jpg
82005a143ef988c8492665d1b5109c84
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/e04c938fdf6920c5e6899f46c5b02680.jpg
bf98fe40660e776d9421c9281edda4ac
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/278977c93602d55f4ec5b7c8a0646c75.gif
83aa5a32d5b5263e0725a7695873dcbb
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Tom Jennings Exhibit Items
Description
An account of the resource
Examples used in the <a href="https://queerdigital.com/exhibits/show/impfigs/jennings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tom Jennings Exhibit</a>.
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/f7e398a9012afcbca3746d5ae9ff413e.jpg
36e6eb725e14aca43add4a6780b64ea6
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/478f52e1bb361281d0329aad63a8ac3e.jpg
700cb3554ec041d1a7c2e90a7b179fa4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Name
Name of Forum
28 Barbary Lane
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
206
City and State/Province
Seattle, WA
Abbreviations/Alias
Any other names used to refer to this forum
28BBL
Year Founded (approximate)
1985
Last Year Active (approximate)
1997
Baud Rate
300-28800 in 1997
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Women, Gay Men, Bisexuals
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<strong>Attached files:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>First classified advertisement ever run for 28 Barbary Lane, from the July 24, 1987 issue of <em>Seattle Gay News</em>. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.</li>
<li>Photograph of 28 Barbary Lane landing page, pulled up on a computer monitor, from the Feb 14, 1992 issue of <em>Seattle Gay News</em>. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Links:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030729194604/http%3A%2F%2F28bbl.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archived website for 2003 relaunch of 28 Barbary Lane as a web forum</a> (archived July 29, 2003)</li>
<li>"<a href="https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=SGN19850329.1.6&srpos=10&e=-------en-20-SGN-1--txt-txIN-28+Barbary+Lane------"" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28 Barbary lane - a gay community bulletin board." <em>Seattle Gay News</em> (May 29, 1985)</a>: First offical announcement of BBS launch.</li>
<li>"<a href="https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn61311684/1991-08-01/ed-1/seq-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gay bulletin board services offer everything from dates to debates." <em>The Southern Voice</em> Vol. 4, No. 12 (August 01, 1991)</a>: Discusses 28BBL in comparison to Atlanta, GA-based gay and lesbian BBSes.</li>
<li>"<a href="https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=SGN19920214.1.14&srpos=1&e=-------en-20-SGN-1--txt-txIN-28+Barbary+Lane------" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Warning: CompuDykes at 9 o'clock." <em>Seattle Gay News</em> (May 24, 1991)</a>: Discusses 28 Barbary Lane.</li>
<li>"<a href="https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=SGN19920214.1.14&srpos=1&e=-------en-20-SGN-1--txt-txIN-28+Barbary+Lane------" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dates and chat, and handles and Sysops." <em>Seattle Gay News</em> (February 14, 1992)</a>: Discusses 28 Barbary Lane.</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
28 Barbary Lane
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/d492cdbd53818d950791ff74ea391aab.png
bfc91a51e78b21e71fad36c68c68a9e9
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/0a9bd5c713e443613d37c4571df1a5d9.jpg
a4c05ce1642d89b76e5dcbaf9add6fa6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Name
Name of Forum
Emerald OnRamp
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
206; 504
City and State/Province
Seattle WA; New Orleans, LA
Abbreviations/Alias
Any other names used to refer to this forum
EOR
Year Founded (approximate)
1993
Last Year Active (approximate)
1997
Baud Rate
2400
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexual people, Transgender people
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<strong>Attached Files:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Logo for Emerald OnRamp, which first appeared when a user went to log in. Retrived from archived copy of the FirstClass installation package.</li>
<li>Advertisement for Emerald OnRamp with screenshots of the service. EOR used the proprietary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FirstClass" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FirstClass</a> software to allow users access to chat rooms, local news, and “digital storefronts.” Advertisement from the March 25, 1994 issue of <em>Seattle Gay News</em>. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.</li>
</ul>
<br /><strong>Links:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/bz60cw46s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Emerald OnRamp: A Jewel of an Idea." <em>The Ingersoll Message</em>, Vol. 1 No. 7 (September 1995)</a> (p. 13): Article on the Seattle-based Ingersoll Gender Center's new "online storefront" on EOR</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19961104040343/http%3A%2F%2Feor.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Website for Emerald OnRamp</a> (archived Nov 4, 1996)</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Emerald OnRamp
bbs
bisexual people
EmeraldOnRamp
gay people
lesbian people
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/3fbd926a48bec475e6683a3392daf652.png
ef84db308723b40c7364b9c3748779e5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
Website
A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ).
Local URL
The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website
www.technodyke.com
Year Founded (approximate)
2000
Last Year Active (approximate)
2008
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Lesbian women; Queer women; Trans women
Exterior References
<ul>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000701000000*/TechnoDyke.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archived copy of TechnoDyke.com</a> (first archived March 10, 2000)</li>
<li>Included in <a href="https://cyberfeminismindex.com/#/technodyke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The CyberFeminism Index</a>, developed by Mindy Seu</li>
<li>Discussed in relation to the Lanham Trademark Act in <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Attorneys-find-Dykes-on-Bikes-patently-offensive-2655626.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The SF Gate</em></a> (July 14, 2005) and <a href="https://208.87.242.233/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/09/30/the-idiotic-history-of-deeming-trademarks-scandalous-immoral-or-disparaging/?__cpo=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The Washington Post</em></a> (Sept 30, 2016)</li>
<li>Discussed in Chapter 4 of Jo Reger's <a href="https://archive.org/details/everywherenowher0000rege/page/n7/mode/2up?q=technodyke" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Everywhere and Nowhere: Contemporary Feminism in the United States</em></a>. (London: United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2012.)</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
TechnoDyke.com
Language
A language of the resource
American English
lesbian people
lesbian youth
queer women
transgender women
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/740fb401ed31af00e943471b6355504a.pdf
c9b8a3869a217bbc1d5fbf16439b3f4c
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/c041b2a0e5bf31ca838db8c098ff9cb6.mp3
e301e79c37579a39bb67b7c26d4ebef4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Read/Write Memories Oral Histories
Description
An account of the resource
<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://queerdigital.com/images/RWM_Logo.png" width="750" height="229" alt="" /></div>
<p>The Read/Write Memories Oral History Collection documents the personal narratives of queer/LGBT individuals who used early digital platforms such as bulletin board systems (BBS), Usenet, mailing lists, proprietary platforms, or early websites. These histories chronicle the role digital communications played in queer life, particularly before such systems were commonplace. Beyond oral histories, the R/WM Collection also hosts Personal Accounts, which contain written firsthand narratives of individuals’ experiences with early digital platforms.</p>
<p>These remembrances offer a window into digital communication’s larger impact in a narrator’s life, as well as their wider community. Given the ephemeral nature of BBSes as well as the limited archiving of commercial platforms, these interviews and accounts represent a largely undocumented history of the early Net.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All interviews and Personal Accounts (unless otherwise negotiated) are released under a </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Creative Commons Attribution—NonCommercial 4.0 International license (BY-NC)</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Both formats may be published under either one’s professional name or a commonly known pseudonymous online handle, and the attached personal image may be either a personal photograph or a distinctive profile icon. As part of the project, oral history recordings and associated documents will also be held and made publicly available in the </span><a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Oral History Collection</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of our institutional project partner, the Computer History Museum.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re interested in participating, either via an oral history or a Personal Account, please contact curator Avery Dame-Griff at </span><a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com"><span style="font-weight: 400;">admin@queerdigital.com</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Avery Dame-Griff
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Max Vasilatos
Location
The location of the interview
Conducted remotely via Zoom
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
01:27:08
Interviewee Biography
Short biography of narrator.
Max Vasilatos, they/them. With formal education in: Music, Nursing, Economics, Art, Languages, Criminal Justice, and Forensic Psychology. Much of my work has been in Geriatric Health Care, Network Engineering, and Law Enforcement. I sell specialty knives, chain mail, and cast bronze. Services: tech support, research, consulting, writing, and teaching. An ongoing focus has been underground markets. As of 2022, I draw portraits of deceased pets for their people, to honor their friends in grief and memory. (Provided by narrator.)
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Max Vasilatos
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 10, 2021
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Transcription edited and cleaned by <a href="https://www.mmonier.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mel Monier</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution—NonCommercial 4.0 International license</a> (BY-NC)<br /><br />Please contact the QDHP if you'd like to reuse portions of the oral history.
Language
A language of the resource
American English
mailing list
oral history
soc.motss
Usenet
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/4e931479215013ad3f3c2169ba023247.gif
559852ea7ae7e25ea01d51d8bd8a037d
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/a8e07deb5defbb3eeeb555dcf9ad62c4.png
24c9d986125fcaf893f59e973db736a9
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/21d4f216c73c5e2d9508b606d95760f2.png
6be4f126ac5848540425f2d240d1741d
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/88379ba6e0cbb45fef6fcd8b893a7b5d.png
72b747d41739afb88f085c5acaa88c07
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
Proprietary Forum
Forum on a proprietary platform (AOL, Livejournal, etc.)
Network/Platform
Networks or Platforms the forum participated in
WorldsAway and CompuServe
Year Founded (approximate)
1996
Last Year Active (approximate)
2000 (as Queery Universe)
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Gay and Lesbian people
Exterior References
Attached screenshot taken from Pride! Universe homepage and <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/pride-universe-slideshow/2554822">a slideshow</a> produced by former community manager Kelly Kuhn.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19971108123255fw_/http://www.pridemedia.com/universe.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pride! Universe homepage</a> (archived Novermber 8, 1997)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19991127104132/http://queeryuniverse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queery Universe homepage</a> (archived November 27, 1999)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19971108123544fw_/http://www.pridemedia.com/release-universe.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Press Release announcing the launch of Pride! Universe</a> (October 2, 1996)</li>
<li>Discussed in "<a href="https://archive.org/details/BAR_19961114/page/n9/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wired2BGay cruises Middle America</a>," <em>Bay Area Reporter</em> v.26, n.46 (November 14, 1996)</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.renoproject.org/index.php/Conference_with_Senior_Producer,_Greg_Oberfield_-_January_29th,_1997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Interview with Greg Oberfield, producer of Pride! Universe for Fujitsu</a> (January 29, 1997)</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.renoproject.org/index.php/Timeline#1996" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timeline of Habitat Worlds, including Pride! Universe</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.renoproject.org/index.php/WorldsAway_Newsletters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archive of WorldsAway newsletters, including the announcement of Pride! Universe</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.renoproject.org/index.php/Meeting_with_Tim_Lavalli_-_July_12th,_1998" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Discussion of WorldsAway including mention of Pride! Universe with Tim Lavalli</a> (July 12th 1998)</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.renoproject.org/index.php/Dreamscape_Pricing_Hearing_-_August_21st,_1997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dreamscape Pricing Hearing (August 21st, 1997)</a> - Includes mention of Pride!'s impact by several members.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.vzn.eddcoates.com/worldpride.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VZ History: Pride/Queery Universe</a></li>
</ul>
(Some links and information generously provided by Stuart Cass at the <a href="https://renoproject.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reno Project</a>.)
Platform-specific rules, information, etc.
Platform-specific aspects of the community structure, governance, etc.
Rebranded as Queery Universe in 1999 as part of a partnership with <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19991127104132/http://www.queery.com/">Queery</a>, an LGBT-specific search engine
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pride! Universe
Compuserve
WorldsAway
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/9729628c9f9957f7f936fb6a239ab1ed.png
da3c70962d4e81f3a0e1a61fda14d743
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/8d9682987ac3a950b99ff79cd17d4c5e.png
c072378194356d480248a686bcb57dc5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
415
City and State/Province
San Francisco, CA
Abbreviations/Alias
Any other names used to refer to this forum
Kinky Computer, Kinky Kumputer III, Kinky KumputerIII
Year Founded (approximate)
1984
Last Year Active (approximate)
1994
Network/Platform
Networks or Platforms the forum participated in
GayCom
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Gay Men
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<ul>
<li>Discussed in "<a href="https://archive.org/details/Kilobaud198110/page/n27/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bawdy Bauds</a>" (<em>Kilobaud</em>, October 1981)</li>
<li>Discussed in <a href="https://archive.org/details/JacquesValleeTheNetworkRevolution/page/n161/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The Network Revolution: Confessions of a Computer Scientist</em></a> (1993)</li>
</ul>
Attached clipping about the BAYOPS consortium (where Kinky Kumputer was a member) from <a href="https://archive.org/details/BAR_19870730/page/n19/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 30, 1987 issue of the <em>Bay Area Reporter</em></a>.<br /><br />Attached advertisement from the <a href="https://archive.org/details/BAR_19880630/page/n45/mode/1up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">June 30, 1988 issue of the <em>Bay Area Reporter</em></a>.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Kinky Kumputer
bbs
gay people
Kinky Kumputer
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/ec6ba7e2369c06cb8ad77034702dccca.png
e858c8f04c28a354f16dbc5f79b473b0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
404
City and State/Province
Atlanta, GA
Year Founded (approximate)
1990
Last Year Active (approximate)
Unknown
Baud Rate
Unknown
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Gay Men, Lesbians
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<strong>Attached Files:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Photo from article in August 01, 1991 issue of the <em>Southern Voice</em>, "<a href="https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn61311684/1991-08-01/ed-1/seq-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gay bulletin board services offer everything from dates to debates</a>."</li>
</ul>
<strong>Links:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>"<a href="https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn61311684/1991-08-01/ed-1/seq-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gay bulletin board services offer everything from dates to debates." The Southern Voice Vol. 4, No. 12 (August 01, 1991)</a>: Discusses OUTline along with several other BBSes, including Seattle-based <a href="https://queerdigital.com/items/show/131">28 Barbary Lane</a>.</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
OUTline
bbs
gay people
lesbian people
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/708b7f115f134c57a5f6d93f347a1dc0.jpg
cfa10b428803c4c247d6e7da1a5c34ee
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/24428e5263d89614ad8deee09e14f697.jpg
be4c549d9bb5eec40c1e1f60cfa87214
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
Proprietary Forum
Forum on a proprietary platform (AOL, Livejournal, etc.)
Network/Platform
Networks or Platforms the forum participated in
Minitel
Abbreviations/Alias
Any other names used to refer to this forum
GPH
Year Founded (approximate)
1983
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
gay men
Exterior References
Attached Images:
<ul>
<li>Advertisements for GPH, date unknown.</li>
</ul>
External Links:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/cab97017654/salon-de-l-erotisme"><em>Salon de l'érotisme</em></a> (<em>Antenne 2 Le Journal de 20H</em>, March 16, 1985)- Short news piece on erotic art <em>salon</em> in Paris. At 02:39 it includes footage of <em>Gai Pied</em>'s Minitel site.</li>
<li><a href="https://minitel.us/memorabilia-ephemera/minitel-follies">"Minitel Follies"</a> (<em>Gay Comix</em> Spring/Summer 1988) - Short comic on using gay services on Minitel.</li>
<li>Duyves, M. (1993). "<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J082v25n01_13">The Minitel: The Glittering Future of a New Invention</a>." <em>Journal of Homosexuality</em>, 25(1–2), 193–203.</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170325123111/https://www.france.qrd.org/media/gai%20pied/">Le Biotux, Jean. "Le guêpier des années Gai Pied."</a> - History of<em> Gai Pied</em> by the founder that discusses Minitel</li>
<li>Livia, A. (2002). "Public and Clandestine: Gay Men’s Pseudonyms on the French Minitel." <i>Sexualities</i>, <i>5</i>(2), 201-217. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460702005002004">https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460702005002004</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tetu.com/2021/03/19/3615-gay-histoire-rencontre-minitel-telephone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"3615 factures exorbitantes et rencontres à l'aveugle... c'était la drague sur minitel."</a> tetu (March 19, 2021) - Reflections on mens' experiences using gay Minitel sites, including GPH</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gai Pied Rézo
gay people
minitel
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
919
City and State/Province
Raleigh, NC
Abbreviations/Alias
Any other names used to refer to this forum
GLIE
Year Founded (approximate)
1989
Last Year Active (approximate)
1993
Sponsor or Institutional Host
Organizations that hosted, sponsored, or maintained the forum
The Front Page Newspaper (beginning in 1992)
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
gay men, lesbians
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
<ul>
<li>Discussed in <a href="https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn90018324/1992-10-30/ed-1/seq-3/"><em>The Front Page</em> (Oct. 30, 1992)</a>, including Front Page takeover</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gay and Lesbian Information Exchange
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/8a67ad6e5688eeeff2218331e9c4d442.png
d98d8f462362798140d103939c284110
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
BBS
A computer server running software that allows users to connect remotely via modem. to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator. Sometimes also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS).
Area Code
Area Code of BBS
704
City and State/Province
Charlotte, NC
Year Founded (approximate)
1986
Last Year Active (approximate)
1993
Network/Platform
Networks or Platforms the forum participated in
GayCom
Baud Rate
2400
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
gay men, lesbians
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
American English
Exterior References
Attached Images:<br />
<ul>
<li>Advertisment for MetroLink from <a href="https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/2006225405/1991-08-01/ed-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Q-Notes</em> (August 1, 1991)</a></li>
</ul>
External Links:<br />
<ul>
<li>Discussed in <a href="https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn90018324/1992-10-30/ed-1/seq-3/"><em>The Front Page</em> (Oct. 30, 1992)</a></li>
<li>Discussed in "<a href="https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/2006225405/1993-03-01/ed-1/seq-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bulletin Board Systems cater to gays & lesbians</a>," <em>Q-Notes</em> (March 1, 1993) </li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
MetroLink
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/3f1c88af2ddb3f74289b06cdac1e2ed9.png
0d1b98f83565e261104a4dc38e95bb90
Website
A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ).
Local URL
The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website
https://transgriot.blogspot.com/
Year Founded (approximate)
2006
Last Year Active (approximate)
2020
Exterior References
This scrape of <a href="https://transgriot.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgriot.blogspot.com</a> was completed 7-28-2025 using <a href="https://www.httrack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HTTrack</a>. It includes copies of the core index pages, embedded images (when still available) as well as individual blog entries, including comments. Pages for applied "labels" were not scraped to reduce file size, though they are currently available on the live web version. While the page has been archived by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, this scrape is intended to independently preserve the site, as well as to provide the site as a possible corpus for textual analysis.<br /><br />Due to the file size (506 MB, .7z archive or .warc.gz), the scrape is available by request - simply email admin AT queerdigital.com. To browse the mirrored site (.7z archive), open index.html in the top-level folder.<br /><br /><strong>Checksum (SHA-256): </strong> f7485f5285ee89a9dcbcfebdb0d2bd1d652b7b1579c891bc8eb95131a9084968<br /><br />----<br /><strong>Bio:</strong> Monica Roberts (May 4, 1962 – Oct 5, 2020) was an African-American journalist and transgender activist, based out of Houston, TX. Her blog <em>TransGriot</em> focused on trans issues, particularly African-American and other trans women of color. She was especially noted for her coverage of trans homicide victims in the United States, which brought national attention to these cases. <br /><br />Included below are links to other information on Roberts:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thetaskforce.org/news/monica-roberts-in-her-own-words/">Roberts's acceptance speech for the Sue Hyde Award for Longevity in the Movement</a> (Jan 16, 2020)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.them.us/story/monica-roberts-transgriot-profile" target="_blank" rel="noopener">them.us profile of Roberts</a> (Feb 26, 2020)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/us/monica-roberts-dead.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times obituary</a> (Oct 13, 2020)</li>
<li><a href="https://19thnews.org/2023/02/monica-roberts-transgriot-legacy-media-advocacy-trans-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19th News retorpsective on Roberts' impact</a> (Feb 21, 2023)</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
TransGriot Web Scrape
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Completed 07-28-2025
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.7z archive or WARC (warc.gz, proccessed using <a href="https://coptr.digipres.org/index.php/Warcit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warcit</a>)
Language
A language of the resource
American English
website
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/a58833183c411c1f396a6915ca35c774.png
d13bad30b79922a5cb5662c600af5cd3
Website
A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ).
Local URL
The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website
https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/
Year Founded (approximate)
2000
Last Year Active (approximate)
2024
Exterior References
This scrape of <a href="https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/">https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/</a> was completed 7-30-2025 using <a href="https://www.httrack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HTTrack</a>. It includes copies of all pages and files currently available on the University of Michigan servers. While the page has been archived by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, this scrape is intended to independently preserve the site, as well as to provide the site as a possible corpus for textual analysis.<br /><br />Due to the file size (960 MB, .7z archive or .warc.gz), the scrape is available by request - simply email admin AT queerdigital.com. To browse the mirrored site (.7z archive), open index.html in the top-level folder.<br /><br /><strong>Checksum (SHA-256): </strong>92ee27551fab512b7c8f6e3d4d3aa55511f371d93980b0f6f13802fa4739df0c<br /><br />----<br /><br /><strong>Bio:</strong> Lynn Ann Conway (January 2, 1938 – June 9, 2024) was a computer scientist and transgender rights activist. Professionally, she is best known for her role in revolutionizing microship design. Early in her career, she was fired from IBM in 1968 when she revealed her intent to transition under the care of Dr. Harry Benjamin. Following transition, she worked at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) for many years before becoming a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. In 2000, Conway began to talk about her tranistion and earlier experiences through her website. The site grew to include a variety of informational resources on trans topics, a gallery of successful trans women and trans men, and records of her ongoing activism, including her campaign to challenge J. Michael Bailey's theory of "autogynephelia" and his associated 2003 book <em>The Man Who Would Be</em> <em>Queen</em>.<br /><br />Included below are links to other information on Conway:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://vault.library.uvic.ca/concern/generic_works/be4d1f53-36ce-4cf9-a1a7-f707e8aa9e3a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oral History with Lynn Conway</a>, conducted with Evan Taylor (Feb 04, 2020)</li>
<li><a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10148834" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Interview with Lynn Conway, published in <em>IEEE Annals of the History of Computing</em></a><em></em> (April-June 2023)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/technology/lynn-conway-dead.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times obituary</a> (June 15, 2024)</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lynn Conway's Website Web Scrape
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Completed 07-30-2025
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.7z archive or WARC (warc.gz, proccessed using <a href="https://coptr.digipres.org/index.php/Warcit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warcit</a>)
Language
A language of the resource
American English
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/09dd5fcbf3592ae6a25c8f2434c7a9db.png
a8803fb9541eab340a14566632f6876d
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/1bb2e5c2f8c94fe835ccaa632bfd1450.zip
8ccf9705e121835d3dcb2cd56c7d7049
Website
A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ).
Local URL
The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website
https://www.ftmguide.org/
Year Founded (approximate)
March 2004
Last Year Active (approximate)
May 2017
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Trans men and trans masculine individuals
Exterior References
This scrape of <a href="https://www.ftmguide.org/">https://www.ftmguide.org/</a> was completed 7-30-2025 using <a href="https://www.httrack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HTTrack</a>. It includes copies of all pages and files currently available. While the page has been archived by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, this scrape is intended to independently preserve the site, as well as to provide the site as a possible corpus for textual analysis. <br /><br />To browse the mirrored site (.zip archive), open index.html in the top-level folder. WARC available by request - simply email admin AT queerdigital.com.<br /><br /><strong>Checksum (SHA-256): </strong>31c185c4a1716f670b8d9880cd7188eb2e3ce63aed2b34b5bcdc7eefdd93c759<br /><br />--<br /><br /><strong>Bio:</strong> Hudson's FTM Resource Guide is one of oldest resource sites available online. Inspired by Lou Sullivan's book <em>Information for the Female to Male Cross Dresser and Transsexual</em>, the guide offered information on a variety of topics relevant to trans men and trans masculine individuals.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hudson's FTM Resource Guide Web Scrape
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Completed 07-30-2025
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.zip archive or WARC (warc.gz, proccessed using <a href="https://coptr.digipres.org/index.php/Warcit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warcit</a>)
Language
A language of the resource
American English
website
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/a8323eb680d4834ebf4a57656a52da17.png
2b983209173735679c16437be3b35f93
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
Website
A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ).
Exterior References
<strong>Attached Files:</strong>
<ul>
<li>Screenshot of archived landing page for Chainsaw Records Message Board (archived April 13, 1997)</li>
</ul>
<strong>Links:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://eminism.org/michigan/19990608-chainsaw.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archived message board thread discussing Mr. Lady Records & The Butchies choice to perform at Michigan Womyn's Music Festival</a> (MWMF) (1999)</li>
<li>"<a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/music/who-signs-their-graffiti-22602/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who Signs Their Graffiti?</a>," Portland Mercury (Aug 3, 2000): Article on the implementation of user registration on the message board</li>
<li><a href="https://magazine.plazm.com/post-utopic-jd-samson-on-art-sincerity-and-the-l-word-bb10886f14b1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Post Utopic: JD Samson on Art, Sincerity, and the L Word."</a> <em>plazm magazine </em>#28. (2008): Interview with JD Samson that discusses message board and its impact</li>
<li><a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/19/think-out-loudnorthwest-punk-band-team-dresch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Pioneering Northwest punk band touring for 30th anniversary," Oregon Public Radio (Sept 19, 2025): </a>Interview with Team Dresch that discusses message board</li>
</ul>
Local URL
The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19970413015027/http://www.chainsaw.com/cgi-bin/post/post.pl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chainsaw Records Message Board (archived April 13, 1997)</a>
Year Founded (approximate)
1996
Last Year Active (approximate)
2007
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
queer youth
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chainsaw Records Message Board and Chat
message board
queer people
-
https://queerdigital.com/files/original/d9930b4ba578dd6a606311046f0aadf3.png
d64183a86aad35542f7c43710f987e34
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Queer Digital Community Catalog
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This catalog collects basic information and resources on LGBTQ-related online communities prior to 2010, particularly those from the so-called Web 1.0 period. Each catalog entry includes information on the group’s format, its approximate dates of activity, its audience and topical focus, and links to other materials discussing the group, such as editorial columns, personal essays, or archival materials.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One of the driving impulses for the creation of this catalog was to offer a starting place for research into early LGBTQ life online. In early web research, simply knowing the name of a place or person could, in some cases, be key to one's success. Beyond just its research utility, however, this catalog is also meant to preserve the memory, if not the content, of communities and groups whose names might otherwise be lost or forgotten.<br /></span></p>
<h2>Why a Catalog?</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The QDHP has chosen to focus on a catalog, as opposed to an archive, for several reasons. Firstly, at its most basic level, an archive is focused on primary material—in this case, the content of posts. However, archiving for most online groups from the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s is often incomplete at best, so in many cases, there’s limited to no archival material available. Instead, what exists in many cases is secondary material, writing describing or reflecting on posters’ experiences with and in these spaces. The catalog, ideally, links these disparate materials together in order to give a slightly fuller picture of the online landscape at any given time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, posters in early LGBTQ groups often wrote (sometimes in detail) about close and personal issues in their lives under the assumption that their posts would remain private within the group. Given this, the catalog has been designed to respect posters’ initial expectation of privacy. Linked content has all been previously published in other venues, and any other detailed personal reflections submitted by users specifically for the catalog have been made public with their consent.</p>
<h2>What Qualifies A Community For Inclusion?</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>There are no specific criteria determining inclusion in the QDCC. However, many of the communitites currently listed in the catalog have multiple references in contemporaneous periodicals, newsletters, web guides, or other LGBTQ-related informational websites. These sources are key for establishing not only the existence of a space, but its particular attributes.</span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>On Audience Labels</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of the communities cataloged include descriptive metadata culled from various sources, including contemporaneous listings in print publications and online reference guides. However, the terminology used in archival sources does not always match current preferred terms. <a href="http://notchesblog.com/2017/11/28/troubling-terms-the-label-problem-in-transgender-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As has been discussed elsewhere</a>, retroactively applying labels with which individuals or spaces might not have identified is a politically fraught act. The QDHP's metadata practices, then, follow a policy similar to that of the <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Transgender Archive</a>: whenever possible, we use terminology included in contemporaneous decriptions. If terminology is not used or a detailed description is not available, we categorize using terminology derived from the archival reference.</p>
<h2>Adding Communities to the Catalog</h2>
<p>This catalog is by no means complete, and the QDHP is always looking for new groups to add, if additional information is available. Please feel free to suggest a community for inclusion using <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9oGcXtpUNGXXhEBIYdZlb40HTj3EDzG_fk4xltxxcCck6AQ/viewform?usp=sf_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this form</a>, or email Curator Avery Dame-Griff directly at <a href="mailto:admin@queerdigital.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admin@queerdigital.com</a>.</p>
Mailing List
E-mail Mailing Lists
Intended Audience
The forum's intended audience
Transgender People
Year Founded (approximate)
1995
Last Year Active (approximate)
2019
Sponsor or Institutional Host
Organizations that hosted, sponsored, or maintained the forum
Hosted in York University's servers
Primary Language
Primary language used by participants
Canadian English
Exterior References
<ul>
<li>Attached screenshot: Mentioned in <em>The Monarch Reader</em> (Issue 51). 1999.</li>
<li>Listing in <a href="http://www.qrd.org/qrd/trans/tgc-l">Queer Resource Directory</a></li>
<li>Mentioned in annotation on <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/3b591857h" target="_blank" rel="noopener">handout for JoAnn Roberts' 1995 Fantasia Fair workshop, "Navigating in Cyberspace."</a> </li>
<li>Discussed in Gilbert, Michael (Miqqi Alicia). "<a href="https://archive.org/details/transgendertapes9820unse/page/12/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prof. Miqqi Goes to Work [12 November 1996]</a>." <em>Transgender Tapestry</em> #98 (Summer 2002).</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Transgender Canada Listserv (TGC-L)
mailing list
transgender people