When I got on Compuserve, I used the Navigator program to minimize connect time, and then I got a free-ish account. It is my recollection that they gave authors free time of the Sci-Fi Forum, though I would not have known details.
I recall in 1997 that Tom Veal tried to use a new credit card to pay for his Genie account, it rejected his card because it had an expiry date in the year 2000. His comment was that he supposed they didn't expect to be around by then.
I never used Genie; when I saw people using it, the interface looked kludgy. I did meet some great friends through Compuserve; I have also met some great people who used to use Genie. I got internet accounts in 1994 (from io.com and io.org, which confused people), and didn't look back.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-08-28 09:22 pm (UTC)I recall in 1997 that Tom Veal tried to use a new credit card to pay for his Genie account, it rejected his card because it had an expiry date in the year 2000. His comment was that he supposed they didn't expect to be around by then.
I never used Genie; when I saw people using it, the interface looked kludgy. I did meet some great friends through Compuserve; I have also met some great people who used to use Genie. I got internet accounts in 1994 (from io.com and io.org, which confused people), and didn't look back.