FidoNet Star Wars Echo

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History

Founded on February 25, 1991 by moderator Eli "Skip" Shayotovich, the Star Wars Echo quickly became one of the most popular forums within FidoNet. Launched a few months before "The Thrawn Trilogy" novels, the Echo was uniquely placed to become a focal point of on-line Star Wars fandom just as the Expanded Universe was coming into focus, and leading up to the announcement of and discussion of the prequel trilogy of films.

The arrival of the Internet quickly eroded the use of BBS systems and FidoNet, but Echo members made the migration and created some of the most important early Star Wars fan web sites (such as Echo member Mike Farnham's [http://members.aol.com/mikefjedi2/front.htm Star Wars Inter-Fido] site.) Naturally, many Echo members also became involved in the [http://www.shavenwookie.com/orhp/ rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc] (RASSM) newsgroup, and there was a friendly rivalry between the two groups for a time. Some Echolites can still be found lurking around the message forums on [http://forums.starwars.com/ StarWars.com] and fan sites such as [http://boards.theforce.net/ TheForce.Net] .

Contributors

Noteworthy participants in the Echo message forum included Star Wars authors Roger MacBride Allen, Kevin J. Anderson (who included a reference to FidoNet in his early Star Wars novels), Brian Daley, Barbara Hambly, Shane Johnson, Vonda McIntyre, L. Neil Smith, Kathy Tyers, Tom Veitch, Timothy Zahn — along with occasional Lucasfilm representatives, West End Games freelancers, and employees of Dark Horse Comics.

Important fan contributors to the success of the Echo included co-moderators Brent Lynch, David Sentz and Mike Schwab -- along with Kevin Cox, Mike Farnham, Dave Thomer and Mike Hollis, among others.

Achievements

Due to the participation of the early Star Wars authors and some current and future West End Games freelancers, Echo members can be credited with helping to flesh out some of the early Expanded Universe material.

The Echo pioneered a parallel message forum devoted to playing the Star Wars Role-Playing Game on-line.

The Echo organized barbecue gatherings for members, called the "BYOE BBQ" (for "Bring Your Own Ewok.")

In November 1994, the Echo launched a monthly on-line newsletter/fanzine entitled "Out of the Maw". Echo member Rich Mason also compiled his own fanzine, entitled "Starfighter Command".

In late 1994, some members of the Echo attempted to compile a CD-ROM containing all of the Star Wars digital media -- images, sound files, text documents, etc. -- that were available on-line at that time (very little by modern standards). It was a non-profit endeavor, asking members to pay only the cost of the blank CD-ROM. However, when members approached Lucasfilm's licensing department for permission to create the CDs, that permission was denied, and the CD-ROM was never distributed.

However, this attempt by the fans did encourage LucasArts to create some early commercial Star Wars media compilations -- and it was also the initial impetus for Lucasfilm to begin thinking seriously about how to interact with networked on-line fans, and to develop a strategy to deal with the protection of their intellectual property on-line.

Trivia

Echo moderator Skip Shayotovich later served double-duty as president of the America Online Star Wars Fan Club ( [http://www.uncleowen.org/ link] ), but was unsuccessful in having his personal BBS, "Star Wars Central", officially sanctioned by Lucasfilm. A letter from Shayotovich was printed in the comic book "Star Wars: Dark Empire" #1, which is now highly collectible.

References

*Knight, Chris. (May 9, 2001). [http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/050901.asp "In The Beginning... Star Wars Comes To A Wired World"] . "TheForce.Net".
*Schwab, Mike (Ed.). (November 1994). [http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/OutOfTheMaw1.txt "Out of the Maw" (Vol. 1, No. 1)] . "FidoNet Star Wars Echo".
*Schwab, Mike (Ed.). (December 1994). [http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/OutOfTheMaw2.txt "Out of the Maw" (Vol. 1, No. 2)] . "FidoNet Star Wars Echo".
*Schwab, Mike (Ed.). (March 1995). [http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/OutOfTheMaw3.txt "Out of the Maw" (Vol. 1, No. 3)] . "FidoNet Star Wars Echo".
*Schwab, Mike (Ed.). (July 1995). [http://web.archive.org/web/20030415151822/http://www.geocities.com/jjehrnwa/internet/ootm4.txt "Out of the Maw" (Vol. 1, No. 4)] . "FidoNet Star Wars Echo".
*Farnham, Mike (Ed.). (September 1995). [http://web.archive.org/web/20041225125429/http://www.geocities.com/jjehrnwa/internet/ootm5.txt "Out of the Maw" (Vol. 1, No. 5)] . "FidoNet Star Wars Echo".

ee also

*Star Wars
*Science fiction fandom
*FidoNet
*Bulletin board system

External links

* [http://www.shavenwookie.com/orhp/history/ The RASSM History Archive] discusses the history of the Internet's rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc newsgroup, in which many Echo members played a part. (Since both groups were operating in parallel for a time, many of the debates and issues discussed on this site applied to the Echo as well.)
* [http://echostation.com/roleplay/echorpg.htm Echo Station RPG Section History] , explaining its roots in the Echo.