the newsgroup of my dreams


22 Sep 1995 12:19:49 -0700

I had a very strange dream recently. In it, I was
driving to a get-together for the folks from rec.arts.int-fiction. Since
it had turned out that everybody who posted to the group happened to live
near McLean, VA, where I live, I had only a short drive. I couldn't help
thinking, though, how odd it was that, given a newsgroup accessible
across the entire world, only people in a several-mile radius around my
home happenned to post.

I was looking forward to the chance to discuss interactive fiction in person
with folks who I knew only from their posting, but when I arrived at the
gathering, I was disappointed to discover that everybody else only wanted to
talk about Dungeons & Dragons.

The only r.a.if-er who I can remember actually appearing in the dream, by
the way, was Dave Baggett, who turned out to be a thin-faced young man
with sandy blond hair.

What does it mean? (Aside from the fact that I've been spending to much
time reading Usenet.)

-Jacob Weinstein
(Formerly jacobw@infi.net--now that I'm in grad school, I've got me a new
login name.)