Sunshine Challenge prompt two

[turps]

What does your username mean? How is it pronounced? What's your origin story? Is it fannish?

Easy answer is, my user name is a nickname my brother gave me way back in the day.

He's called me Turps for ages, and his kids call me auntie Turps, it's just a thing. I honestly can't remember the last time he addressed me by my actual name. And how he got to turps, to him it was Terri = Ter = Terps =Turps. So, nothing more meaningful than that. I'm turps33 in some places but that was simply because when I joined LJ turps was already taken so I had to add on a random number, and for some reason 33 popped into my head. It doesn't actually mean anything.

I'm turps pretty much everywhere I have an account online, sometimes just turps, sometimes turps33. The only place I'm not is Tumblr and I haven't used that account for years, and even then only posted a handful of times.

Turps is pronounced just like the paint cleaner thing is, so again, nothing of note.

I feel like I've talked about my origin story a few times, but for the few people who don't know.

Imagine it's many many years ago where a young Terri was intrigued by this shiny new thing called the internet. However, at that time I didn't have my own computer so the only place I could get online was at the library. So, I booked a slot, sat down, stared at the screen and decided to look for information on Poltergeist the Legacy. It was a show I loved a lot then, though did go off it a bit when I found a site and it had a stupid embedded wolf howl that of course, howled loudly when the site loaded.

Not long after that I got a house with James, and one of our first decisions was to get a computer. It was huge, like a brick and you could only access the net via dialup, and even then we had to keep to the cheap hours, which at the time were between 6 pm and midnight.

Cutting the story short, I loved that computer and was soon looking up all my favourite shows. One of which was Voyager. Because of Voyager I found Yahoo Groups -- or were they E groups, I can't remember which one came first now -- and those groups had fanfic, which astounded me because stories! About characters I love. I soon became a dedicated Paris/Torres shipper and happily consumed any posted fic, sending LoCs -- remember them? -- and devouring every fic I could find.

Then I ran out of fic and went searching further and saw a Voyager group which was classed as slash. I ignored it as I didn't like horror stuff and didn't think it would suit me. Then, after one too many nights of no new fic, I clicked on that link in desperation --- and found my people.

Within days I'd become an avid Paris/Kim and Chakotay/Paris fan and from there ventured far and wide to other new fandoms due to groups I found. I joined and commented on such fandoms as A-Team, Highlander, Trek and most significant, The Sentinel, where I took my first baby steps as a writer.

And that was the start of it all.

What is your default icon about? Does it have personal meaning? Why did you choose it? What is it from? What does "fannish identity" mean to you?

My default is one of Mikey from My Chemical Romance, looking pensive, and no meaning except I think he looks good. In all my time online I've only had three default icons, I just don't change them very often.

My fannish identity? A writer I guess, a commenter, in the past a runner of challenges and comms. While I don't do those now I'm proud of all the things I ran or helped run in the past, and am happy at this point to write occasionally and read a lot.

Comments

[shadowhive]

Aww that’s really cute! 🖤

Ahh I remember the dial up days, the shriek it would make! That’s awesome that Voyager was your entry point though. I loved the show but never really read anything for it

Yay Mikey 🖤

[turps]

The dial-up days were dark times. In this age of high-speed internet, it's sometimes hard to remember when even a page could take minutes to load.

I loved Voyager so much, still do, and Tom Paris will forever be one of my OTCs, even if I don't read much Voyager fic now.

days of yore

[oldtoadwoman]

Do you remember when .wav files were a thing? My friends and I would get super excited to have a short audio snippet from something fannish. For a while, I had my "you've got mail" sound re-set to The Tick shouting "Spoon!" Anyway, a friend sent me a dozen .wav files in the same email once. I had dialup. The email program insisted on downloading my mail in order so I couldn't get any of my other email messages until the one with the "huge" audio files finished downloading. Added all together it was only a few minutes of audio. I started downloading the email. Went and took a shower. It was still downloading. Went and ate dinner. Still downloading. Dialup was the worst. Back then the idea of watching video streaming in real time was science fiction itself.

Voyager smut was some of the first explicit fanfic I'd ever read. My first fandom wouldn't allow any kind of explicit content on any of the fic collections that I knew of, which I assumed was a normal rule since I had no previous online fandom to compare it to. Voyager fandom had no such restrictions.

Re: days of yore

[turps]

I'm really enjoying the comments on this post and the memories they're provoking.

I do remember getting emails that took forever to download, though I don't think I ever had any that took as long as yours. You're right, video streaming in real-time would have been beyond my comprehension.

You've also reminded me of how I fell for Mag 7 and had to send an email for the password to the slash site. That was after Voyager so I was surprised it was an actual thing. But thinking back, I think I had to do the same for a Highlander site, so it must have been common.

Re: days of yore

[oldtoadwoman]

It's been so much fun. I've been posting about old stuff on my journal that I didn't think anyone would remember and had people do the ::pounce:squee:: "You remember that show too?!"

[glitteryv]

It was huge, like a brick and you could only access the net via dialup, and even then we had to keep to the cheap hours, which at the time were between 6 pm and midnight.

Oh, Lorde, this takes me baaaaack! Back in the early-to-mid 1990s, I would purposely nap between 6 and 9 p.m. just so I could go online around midnight and stay up reading fics til v. late into the night.

One of the first things I learned was how to lower the modem noise so I wouldn't wake up the rest of the household, hahahah

[turps]

Back in the early-to-mid 1990s, I would purposely nap between 6 and 9 p.m. just so I could go online around midnight and stay up reading fics til v. late into the night.

I relate. In these times of superfast 24/7 access, it's weird to think back to those times. The howl of the modem and not so patiently waiting for things to load.

At the beginning, I'd print fic out at the library to get my fix. The me back then would be amazed at the thought of kindles and fic that could be downloaded to read at your leisure.

We've come a long way.

[enemytosleep]

I've never watched Voyager, but your story reminds me fondly of an old client of mine who was a HUGE fan. She was probably in all the same yahoo group and email chains (she went to like every convention ever that involved the show, she was great). It was also a good time for me as I have kept staunchly anonymous online for a long time, to the point of not even acknowledging any fannish interest in person, and she helped me break that down some and realize that there are nerds among us and there's no shame in enjoying that offline as well. Reading your story brought back fond memories of her. ♥

[turps]

Reading your story brought back fond memories of her

I'm so glad.

I found the Voyager fans so lovely and in fact, a Voyager con was the first one I ever went to. Dancing with people dressed up in Starfleet uniforms and as Klingons will forever stay with me.

Finding out it's okay to enjoy nerdish things offline is such a lovely and important thing.

[frausorge]

Voyager wasn't a primary fandom for me, but I remember reading some EPIC Paris/Kim. This man is my friennnnnd!

Your Mikey icon is lovely.

[turps]

but I remember reading some EPIC Paris/Kim. This man is my friennnnnd!

YES!

That's one of my favourite moments from one of my favourite episodes.

[rikes]

though did go off it a bit when I found a site and it had a stupid embedded wolf howl that of course, howled loudly when the site loaded

I am very glad you decided to share this story again, as I had never heard this fantastic detail before. :D

[turps]

I really don't know why embedding sound was so popular. I mean, why?!

Even now, many many years later, I can remember frantically trying to shut off that howl *g*