History
Channel History and logs
To understand the origin of the irc channel, one must first delve into the origins of the Boston Home Page.
The Webpage
As with any widely popular musical group, Boston has it's faithful followers. Some of those followers had set up WWW pages devoted to their favorite band, Boston. One such page, created by Rachel Berger in the summer of 95 at the University of Notre Dame, had become the most widely known and used. A mailing list was instituted, and soon there were several Boston devotees exchanging information, and memorabilia. The page was later enhanced and co-maintained by Vivek Maddala. One year after its inception, the Boston Homepage and the Mailing List were moved to the Boston.org system with the help of Troy Bartlett.
The Mailing list
It wasn't long before the members of the maliing list had become like family to one another, and one member, Becky, decided that she wished to show her appreciation for Boston by throwing a party for the members of the mailing list. A date was set (Aug 17, 1996), and preparations were made. Some members of the mailing list suggested that a live internet link be set up so those that could not attend might be able to participate in some small way in the festivities. Different ideas were bandied about, and it was settled that an irc channel would best fit the parameters that existed at the time.
The Party
#Boston_Party was born on DALnet. Harold and Becky were the hosts of the party and the irc channel. The party lasted 4 days, and saw dozens of attendees both from the mailing list and from the surrounding area. The irc channel saw vigorous action as well.
The Channel
After the party dissipated, the channel lived on. Just as Boston's music lives on. One IRC junkie in particular who offered help and advice was granted founders status on the channel to help with administrative functions. It was decided to make the channel a permanent fixture in which fans can congregate. The name of the channel was changed to #Boston_Band on 11/26/96 in an attempt to reflect the channel purpose of being about the band, not a party in Boston.
#boston.org
On 7/31/97 it was decided that the name #boston.org would more closely coordinate with the mailing list and Boston Home Page, so a final name change was made and the rest is history.
The Boston Bulletin Board
Aside from the mailing list, a bulletin board was set up on the official Boston Home page. Some people participated in both, but many people on the BB had no idea that there was an IRC channel available to them. The mailing list had the same situation. Interest in an IRC channel was at an all time low, and very few people logged on. Ever.5 years of #boston.org
We reached the 5 year milestone as #boston.org (six years total IRC presence) in 2002. Very close to that time (the latter part of July) there were rumors of an impending new album. A new song surfaced on the web, and the Boston Bulletin Board was extremely active. Someone on the boards asked about real-time chatting rather than posting. A few people were aware of the IRC channel, and directed people to it. With the new subject material to talk about, and the infusion of new users from the BB, #boston.org made a small comeback. It remains to be seen whether this new found popularity will last, or if the channel will again fade into obscurity.End of an era
The channel had faded into obscurity just a few months after the Corporate America album was released. No one maintained or frequented the channel for years. Then, on March 9th, Boston fans heard the news that Brad Delp had passed away. Now that the heart of our favorite band is gone, it feels like an era has come to an end.
Tom visits us
This log is excerpts from the now well known visit of Tom Scholz to the Asbury household. While there, he stopped by the channel for a few minutes.
Bostock III Channel logs
These were logged by PartyCrew at Bostock III in mid-July 1998:log6, log7, log8, log10, log11, log12, log13, log15
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