Clone Club

In 1983, when I was a teen-ager, my brother told me that you could reach a BBS—an early online community—through our phone line, using a modem. I dialled in, and was met by that digital shrieking sound, the now nostalgic “handshake.” The sysop greeted me with a message in neon-green letters, something like “Hello, friend.” Unnerved, I signed off, and didn’t go online again until college.