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Vol. 1, No. 2

December 21, 1996

Welcome to the holiday issue of the Tripod Insider. This is the issue that almost never was. Not long after I sent the previous newsletter, I managed to delete the email addresses of every member of Tripod... no joke! After my brief career flashed before my eyes, I rushed downstairs to inform the tech guys of the mishap. Jeff, my tech savior, proceeded to flog me with his new wristpad while shouting UNIX slurs before eventually restoring the database from a backup.

Aside from that little incident, it has been an incredibly busy few weeks at Tripod. We continued to add new content and services to the site and Tripod also grew as a company, adding three new members to the team. And as if that were not enough to keep us excited, NEA, a nice venture capital firm in Baltimore thought we were cool enough to give us a little bit of money. They actually met all of us and still gave us the money. More money can only mean one thing...that's right, more T-shirts to give away!

The new kids on the block include Bruce Ludemann, a suit type who turned in his voice mail for email and is slowly teaching us kids a few things about running a business. Another new face is Jonathan Butler, who on his first day showed up bright and early at 9:00 AM, a good three hours before any of his tech department co-workers wandered into the office. The newest member of the team is Margaret Gould, who's main goal now that she's living in Williamstown is to learn how to ballroom dance and play Jenga. If she has time after that, she'll be Tripod's new creative director.

----+-----+------| Content & Services |------+-----+----

Tripod Today boasts a new format and is now updated twice daily. Tripod Today has cultivated quite a loyal following of members who faithfully answer the daily survey and check in for their dose of news, sports, weather and more.

HERE, Tripod's own graphical MOO, is up and running. It's a wonderful new medium for arguing; just ask Emma, one of our staff writers. Kara, our Director of Advertising, has become a MOO addict. She plays in the MOO with people from Iceland, Alaska, and even the office next door.

Tripod recently introduced Contraceptive Contemplation, Conversation and Concentration. It's better than a reference book, it's more interactive than a talk show, and it's a little more risque than the game you play with regular cards. This feature fills you in on some of the things you've always wanted to know about safe sex. And if you already know everything, submit your own story to the conversation.

Job Genie, another new feature, depends on contributions from Tripod members. We can't think of everything, you know. Now, every two weeks work advice from your fellow members is integrated with advice from professional career advisors.

Tripod Homepage Builder should now be called Tripod Web Site Developer. You've asked for it, and now it's here: Homepage Builder has FTP access! You can now use your own files with your Tripod Homepages by uploading them individually to the "upload" directory at www.tripod.com via anonymous ftp and then transferring them to your own "userland" directory using the 'Create a generic web page' option of Homepage Builder. For those who have no idea what I just said, don't worry, a tutorial should be up shortly.

Tripod is also opening up more of the site so you don't need to enter your member name and password right away. Although this should have no noticeable effect on how you use Tripod, as members you will continue to have complete and free access to all of Tripod's content and services. There may be some confusion as to exactly when you need to enter your member name and password. As we continue to make the transition, we hope to clarify that distinction as well as design a navigation system that actually works.

----+-----+------| Coming Soon |------+-----+----

The list of Tripod Homepages continues to grow. Some members, in fact, get more traffic than some Tripod pages. I'm looking at as many homepages as I can and in the coming weeks will be featuring some of the more popular (in terms of traffic) as well as some of my favorite Tripod Homepages. Shameless plugs for your page can be emailed to me in the mean time.

Version 2.0 of Reminder Minder, that incredibly useful service where Tripod sends you an email reminder for various important dates, is on the way. If you're impatient, version 1.6 is already here. We snuck it onto the site without the usual hoopla. Whatever happened to versions 1.1 through 1.5 and what exactly is included with version 1.6, I have no idea. It's just better. Trust me.

Watch also for our Scavenger Hunt, where you will be able to win valuable prizes by finding various clues throughout the site. As popular as they are, we'll try to give away something more significant than a T-shirt.

----+-----+------| Important Notice |------+-----+----

As many of you know, on Wednesday December 6, 1995, the House Conference Committee on Telecommunications Reform voted to impose far-reaching and unconstitutional "indecency" restrictions on the Internet and other interactive media. Tuesday, December 12, 1995 was the Internet Day of Protest, which Tripod hopes many of you took part in to fight censorship.

The proposed restrictions threaten the very existence of Tripod and the Internet as a viable medium for free expression, education, and commerce. For instance, we would have to cease offering services such as Homepage Builder. We would also have to take down significant portions of our content (especially our information on safe sex and parts of our Ask the Doctor service).

We encourage you to continue to take action against this assault on the Internet and our freedom of speech.

----+-----+------| Tripod Membership |------+-----+----

Thanks for becoming a member of Tripod.

Please note that Member Names and passwords are CASE sensitive.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me.
My mailbox is always open.

Tung T. Pham
Membership Director
[email protected]

----+-----+------| Tripod Insider |------+-----+----

This has been another issue of the Tripod Insider, the occasional newsletter on what's happening at Tripod. The Insider is now available on the Web along with past issues.

Tripod Insider
Vol. 1 No. 2
December 21, 1996

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If you do not remember your Tripod password, or if you would like to update your member information, go to the help page.

If you do not wish to receive future issues of Tripod Insider, you can remove yourself from the mailing list. You may also send mail to "[email protected]" with only your member name exactly as typed above in the subject line.

Tripod, Inc.
160 Water Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
http://www.tripod.com
[email protected]