Chapter . On Pigs, The WELL, and 1992
My first avatar was a string of six letters. I mostly used it to make friends and abuse strangers.
In the fall of 1993 I traded a painting for a modem. It arrived in the mail in a cardboard box, couched in marketing and manuals, about as complicated as an FM radio, and included give-away software. Part of that software was a subscription to America Online. I popped in the floppy disk and was asked for my screen name.
On a moment’s inspiration I typed in PigHed. A friend that day had called me pigheaded, which I am, and pigs have always attracted me because they seem been both horrific and adorable, and I suppose that Lord of The Flies had something to do with it, too. I would have typed in Pig Head, but the ...
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