User:WikiSysop

From WikiCo-op

Your Sysop at WikiCo-op

My name is David Huett. Connect with me, should you have something to offer.

I helped build what today is widely know as the Internet. I started out by doing maintenance and repair on mainframe computers in the early 1970's. Later, I helped by training electronic technicians and doing some of the electronic design on the microwave and lightwave telecommunication systems sold to Sprint, MCI, and Bell Telephone. This equipment carries much of today's telephone, Internet, and other traffic.

Since I possessed the knowledge and skills needed and was in the position to see what was coming, I set myself up as an ISP (Internet Service Provider) in the early 1990's long before AOL, Yahoo, or Google were online. At the time, all I could find on the Internet were text-based gopher servers belonging to the EDU and GOV domains. It took months before I could find another COM domain like mine which I discovered Hong Kong. I was not alone!

You can verify my claim by checking my registry record for bistar.com.

  Registry Data
  Domain Name: BISTAR.COM
  Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
  Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
  Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
  Name Server: NS951.HOSTGATOR.COM
  Name Server: NS952.HOSTGATOR.COM
  Status: clientTransferProhibited
  Updated Date: 19-may-2009
  Creation Date: 19-jul-1995
  Expiration Date: 18-jul-2010

After laboring at it for over a decade, BiStar almost died. You see, I decided to get married for the first time and was engaged for about 13 hours when my fiancee died beside me in her sleep. She was 36, and I'd know her for 10 years and was deeply in love with her. As a result of my activities and her death, I have never married and probably never will.

Anyway, life became very difficult after her death causing a serious problem for the network I built from scratch. Now, BiStar is no longer a network, and I, no longer an ISP (Internet Service Provider). Now, I am just a webmaster and sysop hosted on another ISP's network, Hostgater, other than my own.

When I became an ISP, I had envisioned the network being used to empower people in new ways. I saw it as a way to improve the quality of their life. For example, one of the pages from my network survived in The Internet archives describing my intention. To this day, despite setbacks, I am dedicated to the cause.

Here's a portion of the page I last updated over a decade ago on Friday, January 24, 1997 See the full page on the Internet Archive Way Back Machine.

   What is this domain's purpose?
   
   I built this domain, bistar.com, because of my fascination with the 
   evolving Internet. As for its purpose, I'll leave most of that up to 
   the people who wish to participate.
   
   When I announced that I was building the domain, a few people 
   contributed Web sites about themselves and businesses. That's one 
   purpose. However, the Internet is by it's nature interactive, although 
   not always by design from what I've seen on many other domains. Still, 
   I hear much about how the Internet brings interaction between the 
   participants to new heights. That's the aspect I wish to explore most.
   
   The Internet allows people to communicate in ways unprecedented by 
   other forms of electronic communication. At the same time, it demands 
   that people learn new skills to supplement the old skills so as to use 
   this new form of communication effectively. People must learn how to 
   use HTML, FTP, gopher, telnet, E-mail, and other forms of 
   people/computer interaction.
   
    
   A Relatively Unexploited Corner of Cyberspace
   
   Two years have been spent constructing this network, installing, and 
   writing software in preparation for participants. This domain has been 
   like a new frontier, empty, ungoverned, untamed, and unexploited 
   awaiting the pioneers and innovators bold enough to venture forth and 
   give it direction. Now, webmasters are moving in and giving it shape. 
   It is my hope that a virtual community will form around this activity. 
   Everyone who participates is important from the webmasters to the web 
   surfers.
   
   Information overload and rapid growth can cause confusion, disrupt 
   focus, and degrade server performance. To prevent this, our servers are 
   kept local in scope such as bistar.com's IRC server. Such servers are 
   not allowed to network with similar servers. Thus, they contain only 
   those newsgroups and IRC channels dedicated to the exclusive use of our 
   visitors and participants. Eventually, bistar.com. may allow multiple 
   connections to other servers, should other networks with similar 
   philosophies wish to join us.
   Rules? What Rules?
   
   At present, there are no set rules and no formal organization. All 
   "rules" are standing and subject to change should any participant 
   object. If we need official rules, the participants shall make them. 
   Presently, our loose association offers suggestions and general 
   guidelines. If participants realize the need to organize, they may.

As you can see, I am amply qualified to serve as your sysop, and I am still dedicated to improving our lives with this new technology as best I can. BiStar will not die!

--WikiSysop 15:41, 28 January 2010 (UTC)