Squidge.ORG came about in 1994, when the Internet was still not quite caught
on for most folks. A group of folks, spun off of the main X-Files mailing list
because of their fetish for actor David Duchovny, went in search of a home of their
own. After trying a couple of mailing list hosts, the list (known as The Duchovniks)
was left in the hands of Walter Hopgood, one of the only male Duchovniks at the time.
Being a bit of a geek, Walter went out and secured a domain name that "fit" the
group well, squidge.org. The first machine was an old laptop computer running OS/2
and a free list-server piece of software. Other lists were requested, and Squidge.ORG
outgrew it's initial computer. In Spring, 1995, Squidge.ORG became an early adopter
of Linux, running the Slackware version of the product, over a dialup line. The server
was connected up partially, the dialup connection going up and down many times during
the day, to process and route email.
The success of Squidge.ORG was showing, and it's popularity grew wildly. Soon, it
was running ten mailing lists, and upgraded the connection to a full-time dialup
connection in the Fall of 1995. The system was now running an updated version of
Slackware, with the SmartList add on to ProcMail as it's mailing list management
software piece.
As the popularity of the Internet grew, so did Squidge.ORG. With the implementation
of DSL in it's "backyard", Walter upgraded Squidge.ORG's connection to a true, full
time digital connection in early 1996. And with a full digital connection, came
Squidge.ORG's foray into website and email hosting. Many slash sites needed a home,
thanks to the TOS'sing (Terms Of Service) that many large website hosting providers
decided to implement. The number of hosting clients Squidge.ORG helped grew greatly.
With the large number of mailing lists and websites being hosted, Squidge.ORG went
through some more growing. With the popularity of web interfaces, Squidge.ORG abandoned
open source software for it's mailing lists, and purchased a software package called
Lyris. Though adequate, it required more resources than normal software systems.
When a free alternative that was open-source became available in 2000 (Sympa), Squidge.ORG
upgraded to it, along with an integrated "one server" approach for webhosting and
mailing list software.
Today, Squidge.ORG is eclipsing it's eighth year of being. It hosts several major and a few smaller fan fiction archives, as well as quite a few personal homepages. Domains that are hosted besides squidge.org include senad.org , Greenwoman's HalfAft , ShibbyBitch.net , Hot Hockey Players , and TheBookShop.com. The Sympa mailing list software hosts over three hundred and fifty lists, from friendship based chat lists, to slash fiction, to beta-reader request lists.
Though it's not exactly cheap to keep running (Internet connection in a major Internet Hosting company's datacenter at $250US/month and thousands of dollars in hardware and software purchases), Squidge.ORG has always been free. Free to use, free to have host, and free from advertising. It's Squidge.ORG's purpose to maintain a place where people can have freedom over what they want posted on their webpages, and websurfer's need not worry about spyware or viewing habits being monitored. Freedom and privacy are number one with Squidge.ORG.
There've been many people who have helped out with Squidge.ORG over the years, and one main person running the show. Walter Hopgood has run the show from day one, from installing and maintaining servers and software, to tech support and helping people with their webpage and listserver questions, as well as pay the bills. Patrick Mathews, Walter's partner of ten plus years, has helped out tremendously with the technology and hardware as well. When Squidge.ORG was using the Lyris product, Patrick helped with the Windows side of the setup. Beverly White has helped out over the years as well. The Squidge.ORG logo was designed by her, and she's always helped with testing new software and do usability with new webpages.
Questions? Email us at info@squidge.org