Born in the late summer/early fall of 1998, MrBlkAdder was a strong, new screen name on the AOL front. The son of BlkAdder00 and grandson of Adder38713, MrBlkAdder was a young gun with great instant messaging and e-mailing abilities. “I remember when I first started on AOL Instant Messenger that I wanted to embody what he did in his younger days,” said friend/relative, Lord Smacks, “He was an idol for every screen name.”
But, signs of problems for MrBlkAdder began with the rise in popularity of AOL Instant Messenger. LordSmacks (later changed to Lord Smacks) was devised, and the latter screen name was gradually being used more. “As MrBlkAdder got to around two years old, AIM was getting big,” says analyst Donna Annod. “AIM’s popularity meant that Lord Smacks was starting to take over the throne.” Though instant messaging duties seemed to be going to LordSmacks, MrBlkAdder continued to be the primary e-mail address.
MrBlkAdder’s tenure as primary e-mail address was positive for the most part, though laced with a bit of controversy. On a few occasions, MrBlkAdder lost ability to instant message on AOL either due to frequent instant messaging on his part or the junk mail messages he would send out to advertise his site, Smacks Black Adder Site. The junk mail messages he sent proved to be mildly successful, but the site itself continued to grow through exposure in search engines and within the Black Adder web community.
However, the effects of advertising his site proved to be detrimental to MrBlkAdder’s future. Due to the numerous groups or websites he signed up for using his e-mail address, his mailbox began to fill up with junk mail from these sites. “It started out small,” said SmacksBlackAdder, his brother, “but then just began to grow and grow. Near the later portion of his administration, he would have to sift through the junk mail with quality mail that he wanted to read. It was not a good sight.” Smacks Black Adder Site ended its run when FortuneCity, the site’s provider, made MrBlkAdder incapable of editing it. Its final edit was on April 29, 2001. It was followed by a short-lived Smacks Black Adder Site II, which was headed by the partnership of MrBlkAdder and SmacksBlackAdder, and provided by Angelfire.
Even through this difficulty, MrBlkAdder was surviving. But in the fall of 2002, it became clear that his reign had ended. With the growing junk mail in the mailbox and notification to others of an e-mail change, MrBlkAdder became a third string e-mail address. “It was sad to see that,” said SmacksBlackAdder, the backup. “But sometimes those decisions need to be made. It was a nuisance to go through deleting all that mail. It was evident that he was getting ill from the junk mail. And when you get that ill, you cannot be the primary e-mail address.”
MrBlkAdder passed away in his sleep with 482 new e-mails in his mailbox. “He died strong and peacefully. He fought against the spam disease, but it just proved to be too much. He knew the end was near, but he always had a smile on his face. I’ll miss him deeply,” SmacksBlackAdder said.
No planned memorial service will be held for MrBlkAdder. The screen name is to be cremated quietly at the now defunct Smacks Black Adder Site on June 1, 2003. Lord Smacks summed up his feelings, “He may have passed away not truly being an effective part of the AOL community, but he will always be a part of our hearts.”
R.I.P. Mr. B
MrBlkAdder (1998-2003)
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