GEnie (the Internet Service Provider)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I saw another thread with “Genie” as the title, and was hoping it was about the ISP. But it wasn’t - so I’m starting one of my own.

Does anyone know what’s become of them? They were my first ISP back in late 97/early 98 - I had a Brother Word Processor w/ modem, and I could get limited internet and email only with GEnie. They were technologically (sp?) behind the times, but were a cozy little group. Now when I go to their home site ( http://www.genie.com ) they don’t really give much information.

Anyone else ever use GEnie? Anyone else know much about them? I am assuming that they used to be a much bigger ISP than they are now.

Polydactyl Cats Unlimited
“A Cat Cannot Have Too Many Toes”

2

Avoid GEnie at all costs. I once used them several years ago and had a terribly difficult time cancelling the service. I could not contact anyone to stop the account so I had to tell the bank to stop payment on the drafts which kept coming.

3

I was on GEnie for six years, starting in 1989. Now, Genie is dead, though the horror continues for those who remained…

First of all, they never were really an ISP; they were an information service like the original Compuserve. When I left, they still had only Lynx as a web browser.

I was a very active member of the Science Fiction Round Table (SFRT), which for several years was THE place for science fiction online (now it’s SFF.net). Great people (including many well-known authors), great conversation. It’s the only place I’ve found that actually kept track of your place in each conversation so you could pick it up automatically.

GEnie was run by General Electric. Then, they decided to sell it. Instead of making a deal with their sysops, they accepted considerably less money for a phoney “Yovelle Corporation” which was a front for IDT, Inc.

IDT was known for sleezy practices – double billing, etc. Once they took it over, they ran Genie into the ground. No improvements. No marketing. Nothing. What had been a thriving community just died out to nothing.

On December 31, 1999, IDT pulled the plug on Genie. There’s a website that hasn’t been updated in four years, and that’s it.

I know several people who hung on to the end. Get this – they are still being billed for the service. People have been billed for service in March for something that went kaput in December. Their customer service has done nothing to stop the billing or to credit the accounts. Some people had had direct withdrawal from their checking; they’ve been billed for January and February and IDT won’t give the money back. Their customer service makes you provide proof you quit, even though they cancelled the service. There have even been cases where people quit Genie months or years before it closed down and are suddenly being billed again.

The entire matter is being taken to the New Jersey Attorney General. It won’t be the first time they investigated IDT (or the first time IDT was forced to pay a fine).

“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.

www.sff.net/people/rothman

4

Wow, thanks Reality (and Padeye) for this information!

I had no idea they’d gone belly up. It is truly a shame that they did, I enjoyed the chat. I don’t usually like chat, my experience GEnie was the only time I enjoyed chat. I was only with them for a few months. I always thought that maybe, if GEnie got their shit together, and upgraded, I’d get a limited (few hours a month) account with them. I guess I’m nostalgic.

Like I mentioned before, I got this “smart typwriter”, a Brother word processer with communication capabilities, back in late '97. (It was my introduction to the Internet.) Through GEnie, and only through GEnie, this word processer could do email, and access their little online community. It was really funky, getting email on this weird little small LCD screen on my word processor! I had great fun - GEnie’s sysops were really friendly, and chat was nice. I got to know a few people by name. It was just a nice cozy little community.

However, it didn’t take long before I outgrew the word processor, and had to get a “real” computer. I got online with AOL and Earthlink, but hung onto GEnie (to keep the email address) for about half a year. The thing that amazed me was that GEnie just didn’t seem at all interested in upgrading or improving their service. I mean, how could they compete with all the other internet services out there? You couldn’t even access the Internet with anything other than Lynx, and they charged like $20 a month for 9 hours. Absurd. When I left they told me they were working on “upgrading” so they could have real access to the Internet, but that was about 2 years ago. Obviously it never happened.

This is sad, but you’re right, Reality - they drove themselves to the ground.

Polydactyl Cats Unlimited
“A Cat Cannot Have Too Many Toes”

5

In its prime, GEnie was a great service. A terrific community was built up.

True story: one person literally had her life saved by GEnie. She collapsed alone in her apartment and was unable to move for days. Someone on GEnie noticed she wasn’t posting and became concerned. Eventually paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital.

GEnie was also used to get messages in and out of San Francisco when the Loma Prieta quake hit in the early 90s.

I made many online friends on GEnie, but left the day IDT officially took it over, primarly so I wouldn’t have to go through the billing hassles people are currently suffering from.

“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.

www.sff.net/people/rothman