Kat, I am looking at your numbers and comparing to others with the time you came, it is about right. I am pretty sure Gervase was here first, not that it makes much of a hill of beans. That time when you, Rick, and Spaw came really was the beginning of the fast growth. I was lucky enough to stumble on it during the end of the initial growth, so I still had exposure to the early comers. Alice, Wyowoman, Animaterra, Peter, alison, all those were already here, in addition to the ones already mentioned. It was really a fascinating time, because we were discovering all the neat things we could do, in addition to discovering what we could do over the internet.

One of the cool things that I remember was when we discovered ICQ. On there we figured out we could chat like we do now in Mudcat Chat, but alison and I figured out we could use the talk function, like an internet phone call, and do real time conversation for free. We could also use a camera to see each other. I remember that I started THIS THREAD asking for help. Go read the thread (it is short) for a flavor of what the Mudcat was like in those days. It is also the one where I started my "shameless pursuit over cyber hill and dale" of THE FAIR ONE known as alison. Anyway, we hooked up over the internet, she called me a big lump of an eejit, and then taught me a song I needed for a performance, her in Sydney and me in Wayland, Michigan, USA. It was a great moment.

All the best,

Mick