I think Beckdawreck is channeling Kim, one of the most beloved posters on the old alt.fan.cecil-adams newsgroup. For years Kim regaled us with tales of life in the small town of Malone, New York. Daily life revolved around her interactions with the neighbors and odd citizens of Malone and her recalcitrant husband who spent much of his time in the Harley Barn with his buddies.
The stories were legend.
The haunted house next door with an old lady who never opened her curtains. Eventually Kim got to meet her after snooping around and she turned out to be a nice, lonely lady with numerous odd habits.
The Colombian lady who moved to town and turned out to be a man eater and went after every guy who smiled at her, pretty much wiping out the pool of datable men.
I especially remember the time her husband promised to modernize the kitchen. Things went fairly well with hubby’s friends all lending their questionable talents until it came time to cut the hole in the new countertop for the sink. Nobody had a suitable saw. In a burst of genius hubby uses his new man-tool, a plasma cutter! Sparks flew, beer was consumed and somehow the sink went in.
Malone was the home of The Redneck Games and Kim hated it since it only dragged the low life citizens to even worse behavior.
Her daughter’s life was a succession of drug using husbands/boyfriends. Kim dreaded the police interactions and the problematic cable company, her link to life outside Malone. She even had a food to die for like Beck’s corn dogs – the Chinese buffet in town.
Kim’s greatest moments came from summarizing televised trials, particularly Robert Blake’s. Her second by second commentaries with delightfully funny insights were so well written she attracted the national news services.
Google groups is one way to access Usenet. Many colleges still have their own connection. You can pay a commercial site for better access (including the binary groups), etc.
I’m glad that Beck is here. She brings an old-time touch to this board–and Beck, I don’t mean that in a bad way.
I mean that there used to be a lot more personal stories on the SDMB, especially in MPSIMS. And we’d laugh, or commiserate, or comment, as appropriate. Beck and her “bad, bad” threads are bringing those back, and I, for one, am enjoying them.
Stay as you are, Beck, and stay here. We need you.
I can’t say that i remember there being a ton of Beck style posts, but I do remember there used to be more just a few years ago.
Then
1 Opal died
2 suddenly such posts were met with responses of “quit blogging” or the like more often
3 Hi Opal
4 I dunno, maybe it was a period of mourning for the Board Collective
Anyway, obviously resistance was futile and Beck, ya seem to have returned a measure of joy to us all
There was a story back when I was a lurker (and I lurked for a long time before finally joining) that was one of the funniest, most well written, personal anecdotes that I ever remember reading. I’m almost sure it was the Dope, but I could be wrong.
It involved the poster’s visit to a blood mobile and becoming smitten with another patient but being unable to do anything about it due to continually passing out during the procedure. I’ve searched, but cannot find the story.
It was the combination of personal stories like those along with the ignorance fighting that set this board apart for me.
Keep up the good work Beck and others, it’s appreciated.
