A
BBS created in the early
90's by two ex
hackers(
dead lord and
lord digital). It's
public birth was announced by an article called
Voices In My Head - MindVox The Overture penned by
Patrick Kroupa aka
lord digital. This
article spread across the
net and ink, spreading from local
BBS's to
glossy mainstream magazines
Mindvox became the first
New York City ISP and one of the early
media darlings of the
internet. Famous memebers included
Billy Idol,
Kennedy,
Charles Platt, but more
importantly the
hype of
Mindvox drew a vocal user base. A book by
JC Herz called
Surfing The Internet focused on the denizens of the
Mindvox user base.
Voices In My Head set the
stage for
Mindvox’s rise. The
BBS shifted from
hacker hobby board to a free form
threaded thoughtscape. It’s user base spent large
chunks of their
day on
Mindvox contemplating life, the
universe and where to go get
drunk. Across the country several groups of
Voxxers would routinely
meet up to
extend the
virtual thoughtscape out into
the real world. By 1994
Mindvox and its users were regualry
reported on in various
media for their
exploits.
So what happened to
Mindvox? In short it's
customers happened. Under the
strain of pleasing a
paying customer base, watching a
hobby turn into an
industry and simply getting caught up in its own
hype Mindvox tumbled into a
soap opera nose dive of
sex,
drugs and
mismanagement
There is still an IRC channel (
EFnet #mindvox) that
bears its name, but little or
nothing of
Mindvox's spark remains there.
Many of its
memebers have gone on to
infest the
Net with their
works.