MindVox FC (First Cataclysm)
The Whole Entire Story in its Complete Totality
by Tomwhore (Tom Higgins)

art by Voidmstr (Dennis Wilen)

"There's a shadow just behind me, shrouding every step I take, making every promise empty, pointing every finger at me; why can't we not be sober... I just want to start this over."

--Tool (Sober)

MindVox

(1999 Earth Time)

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 regularly reported on in various media for their exploits.

So what happened to MindVox? In short its 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.

(All typographical errors, innovative usage of grammar and creative spelling,
are Copyright © 1999, Tom Higgins. Plus, also ™ and ® and possibly ?.)