Some of these groups have tens of thousands of members. Even more frustrating is the fact that these moderated, members-only group leaders tolerate the internal festering that will ultimately kill the thing they’re trying to build. I have joined–but rarely participate in–several writer-oriented Facebook groups, and I’m dismayed by how many of them are pre-loaded with trolls, and how the trolls are the dominant presence. TKZ comes close on some levels, but the interaction here happens in slow motion, while the Writers Club was real time.įast forward to 2020. (I don’t know if the trolls were the cause of the collapse, but they are certainly the reason why I capped off that particular rabbit hole in my life.)Īt conferences, I run into some the old members, and when the topic comes up, everyone agrees that no group has ever come close to the sense of community we shared in the early days of the AOL Writers Club. One in particular went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, but he was one of the most sour individuals I have ever run across. They were uncooperative, and just plain mean to people. I don’t know that we knew them as trolls at the time, but they charged into the otherwise friendly group and started swinging bats and throwing hand grenades. More than a few of those Writers Club denizens became face-to-face friends and remain so to this day. Tom Clancy was probably the most famous person to pop in from time to time, but other regulars included Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen, Dennis Lehane and others who were just starting their careers. We got to know each other as we talked not just about craft, but about our families and whatever came to mind. Since the chats were real-time, the topics we discussed were the kinds of things you’d discuss in a coffee shop with friends. Run by a husband-and-wife team out of their apartment in Arlington, Virginia, the Writers Club provided my first opportunity to interact with writers of all stripes. My favorite of those chat rooms was the AOL Writers Club. AOL chat rooms provided opportunities to “speak” real-time with real people all over the world. It was fabulous! But it wasn’t until I discovered the wonders of the chat room that I truly understood the addiction of internet rabbit holes. As a trivia junkie and a procrastinator, I’d stumbled upon the ultimate time suck. There seemed to be no end to the rabbit holes of information diving.
I cannot get into the echo chanber strike skin#
I remember jumping out of my skin the first time that AOL voice said, “Welcome” through the speakers that I didn’t even know my computer had.
Those were the days of squealing telephone modems and pay-by-the-hour access.
In the mid-1990s, about the time when Nathan’s Run was first being published, AOL was pretty much synonymous with the internet for me.
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