[Coco] Short Sunday CoCoFest WebCam

[Roger Taylor]

I though the title of this message speaks volumes to several people who I 
have no beef with, just an opinion to share back.

What happened during the Weekend-Long-CoCo-Fest in Chicago was that some of 
us managed to give some interested parties the ability to see what they are 
missing each year, or not, or to see people they miss, or to see people 
they have never seen before, or WhatEver people wanted to look in 
for.  This webcam event lasted several hours on SUNDAY AFTERNOON.  It was 
short and it was fun.  There was no evil plan to sit at home and mooch off 
of the festgoers who flew in or drove for days to be in Chicago.  It seems 
like I'm getting part of the blame for the lack of attendees, but I'm not 
sure if I'm interpreting the attacks well enough to know if this is really 
true or not.  I hope it's not.

What I won't do is give excuses for not being able to attend a single CoCo 
fest in CoCo history.  Boy that sure does sound bad to some, but since I 
can relate to hundreds more CoCo users who are in the same boat with the 
same paddles, I'm not ashamed to admit that I haven't been able to afford 
to make these kinds of trips, EVER.  I haven't even taken but one decent 
vacation in another state and that was when I was married and it was our 
honeymoon.

Folks, I'm not rich.  I work hard every day doing computer work and my real 
job, but I'm a single dad who's been through some ROUGH ASS TIMES, and I 
mean poor ass times where some of you might think your world is coming to 
an end if it happened to you.  You can sit back and point fingers at why 
the CoCo fests aren't just packed with hundreds of people flying in for the 
weekend, but you can't point one finger at me for being one of the most 
dedicated damn CoCo users in CoCo history.  I've been there since '80 in my 
own way while you've been there in your way.  We are all different.  We all 
contribute in different ways.  Some of us are RICH.  Some are POOR.  But 
the fact that we are all still here talking in a CoCo mailing list means 
that we all play a part; a good part.  Nobody is doing anything WRONG at 
any time by sticking with the CoCo and sharing information using a website, 
a webcam, a mailing list, a forum, or a newsgroup.  It's all the same; it's 
called sharing.

Also, just because I run a popular web site doesn't mean I am a superhero, 
a filthy rich programmer who flies all around the U.S. to special events, 
or a person who has to explain why my life is not your life.  What I have 
is a huge love for programming that started on the CoCo and will partly 
remain with the CoCo as long as people show interest and appreciate what I 
create.  I worked my ass off for unGODLY hours creating what people use 
everyday and it makes me sleep good at night knowing that I'm NOT RICH off 
of this.  Every penny I have made from my CoCo efforts have almost always 
gone back into hosting, internet costs, upgrading computer equipment, 
etc.  I even advertise for other CoCo businesses and try to get people to 
go to their websites by placing their banners right up top for years 
without ever asking for anything back except a reciprical link.  I'm by no 
means a greedy CoCo user and I refuse to accept an attack to defame my 
efforts.  The webcam efforts was a joint idea brought up by some recognized 
names who though it would be neat.  Why not go attack them?  Because it's 
not the right thing to do to anybody, that's why.

So far, everybody I talk to appreciates things I do in the CoCo 
community.  That is, up until now.  This is a first, men... a first.  By 
turning on a webcam for maybe 2 hours this past Sunday I suddenly became 
the bad guy just because it was viewed on my web site, our web site.  Come 
on.  Give me a break here, relax, boot up an old favorite CoCo game or 
something, grab a Coke, and grin because we are all still here making it 
happen and fighting the good fight... to make the CoCo not forgotten.

That's all I will say.  I have way too many chores to do today to get 
caught up in a pointless debate that will only hurt us, but I deserved to 
say something back in my defense, so I did.

Have a great day, keep the CoCo projects coming, and show us something new 
no matter where you're from or how small you think you are.  If you're into 
the CoCo, we're into you.  Keep up the great work, EVERYBODY.

Thanks,



-- 
Roger Taylor