I had a short but interesting conversation last night that started with seeing this post: https://bsky.app/profile/goldy.horsesass.org/post/3m2v53lblys26

>> "One of my first jobs after college (circa 1985) was creating and maintaining the first online version of the MMWR, and I can't overemphasize how much they drummed it into our heads how important this publication was, and how important it was for us to get online right."

MMWR is the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The history of the Internet, and the internets before it, is one of my top interests, so I asked:

>> "1985! That would have been pre-Internet. Is there anywhere you've written about the process of getting things distributed online on those early networks? I assume this was ARPANET or Fidonet or something along those lines."

And got a rare look at history:

https://bsky.app/profile/goldy.horsesass.org/post/3m2v6ooqkqs26

>> "It was on the short-lived "Health Information Network" which was delivered using ITT-Dialcom's text-based dialup timesharing system. We shipped VT-100 terminals to subscribers, mostly doctors. CDC would fax us a copy of MMWR a day in advance and we had to type the text into the system by hand."

>> "It was a terrible business model. The idea was to be Westlaw or LexisNexis for doctors. But attorneys bill their clients for research while doctors don't, so they were reluctant to pay the high subscription and usage fees. We also had a similar service for dentists in collaboration with the ADA."

I looked it up and could only find mention of "ITT-Dialcom." Of course, everyone knows the VT-100. These posts might be the only record of the existence of this short lived "LexisNexis for Doctors" online.

And I wondered: how much of this is out there? How many people created short-lived things that were so rare or ephemeral that almost no one heard of them? Was there an early YouTube on FidoNet? Maybe a Digg for Gopher. Did you make or use something rare and interesting back in the early digitally-connected world? Talk about it.