Mindvox:

April 8, 2002 9:27 AM

Mindvox: The original cooler-than-thou online community. What is it now? What was it then? Anyone else here still searching to discover the person ahead of you in the grocery store line is 3jane or Simonmoon?
posted by milkman (18 comments total)

What is it now? Umm... it appears to be... closed. And has been, for at least half a year now.
posted by Perigee at 9:45 AM on April 8, 2002

1. dunno
2. dunno
3. no
posted by quonsar at 9:52 AM on April 8, 2002

Way to miss the point of the post, Perigree. It's been closed for longer than half a year, but once in a while there are mysterious updates suggesting a resurrection, and discussing what's going on with Patrick and some of the other founders. I hadn't seen the most recent update yet, and I'm intrigued. I wonder what they'll do when they come back...their cutting-edge-ness ended with the site, but never had time to fade. It's like contemplating a modern sequel to Tron.
posted by bingo at 9:55 AM on April 8, 2002

Well. I suppose it's my fault for pretending to some kind of in-the-know coolness in the tone of my post when it was intended to be an honest inquiry.

but then i was never very good at in-the-know cool.

i never knew that the new site had really launched. after being completely and happily oblivious for like 5 years or so, somebody happened to point out the site to me a few months ago, and i haven't seen any change -- just the suggestion of something coming.

although i would congratulate you, Perigee, on evoking the tone of MV in the old days by being snarky, vague, and cooler than me.
posted by milkman at 9:56 AM on April 8, 2002

It has been closed longer than that. Something on the order of 4 years or so. The sites owner every now and again has sort of started the process of getting it back up, but then it will sit dormant. In the meantime, the former users have dispersed across the net, including MF.

It was an interesting place in it's heyday, although the level of brutality between users was astonishing at times. Still, it brings back some memories, many good, but it never was really my cup of tea.
posted by lampshade at 9:57 AM on April 8, 2002

I actually didn't miss the point on purpose; I had never heard of the site before. I went to check it out, and couldn't get further than the splash page and the announcement made 5 months ago that they were 'dangerously close to opening'. There are no archives, no explanations, nothing to see. ~shrug~

It seems strange to reference a site where either

a) There's no discernable content to discuss, or

b) You would have had to have previous knowledge of the site in order to comprehend the empty link.

In a way, it kind of goes against the spirit of the posting guidelines. Not that I'm bitching about the technicality, but it was like opening a door and walking into a brck wall, cyber-style.
posted by Perigee at 10:04 AM on April 8, 2002

Perigee, go back to the site, and in the left hand column there are some roll-over catagories that have some things you can click through to. I'm not saying they make any sense, but there is a lot to read there.
posted by Faze at 10:09 AM on April 8, 2002

Excellent - thanks. I was honestly curious, but didn't see any way to make headway.
posted by Perigee at 10:10 AM on April 8, 2002

Quite possibly the post would be better suited to this forum.
posted by anathema at 10:14 AM on April 8, 2002

I thought the WELL was the original cooler-than-thou online community. Or maybe space bar.
posted by jjg at 10:25 AM on April 8, 2002

What was the alternate to space bar? The place with the little evil grinning critter, started by the bald guy from GeekCereal? I went there a few times - scared the bejesus out of me.
posted by gsh at 11:20 AM on April 8, 2002

I had a Mindvox account back around '94 or so. It was pretty cool, my roomate knew Bruce & Patrick so we got a comp'ed acct.
posted by jbelshaw at 11:35 AM on April 8, 2002

Metafilter is cooler than the well. Except they have more famous people. Oh darnit, I want to be in the well! I admit it!

Howard Rheingold has a mini-well set up at:

http://brainstorms.rheingold.com

And it's a decent space.
posted by mecran01 at 11:55 AM on April 8, 2002

anathema: mindvox is not a weblog, and in fact it pre-dates them as far as I know...
posted by bingo at 1:46 PM on April 8, 2002

Voxxer html saved my lovelife.
It's mid-1997 and I have no idea how to re-enter the dating scene. I altavista the phrase "I just want to be friends" and soon I'm commiserating with voxer Joelogon's Foolproof Guide to Making Any Woman Your Platonic Friend. Later I explore his site and the linkage leads me to the homepage of Barton of the Voxxen and to Advice for the Lovelorn. Exactly the blend of attitude and crispy html required.

1997 becomes a better year after that.
posted by otherchaz at 5:00 PM on April 8, 2002

bingo, you're right. sorry.
posted by anathema at 6:25 PM on April 8, 2002

i was hoping somebody might have some information about whether they're actually planning on opening it, and what it's supposed to be like if they do?
posted by milkman at 6:46 AM on April 9, 2002

hmm -- for the younger generation of BBSers, I recall &TOTSE being quite the place (it seems to have vanished mostly into the relative obscurity of a couple of snapshots and my fond pre-teen memories).
posted by fishfucker at 4:12 PM on April 9, 2002