Re: BEg2 chapter 5 - “Winnie List”

[Michael Bailey]

I think the books Netslaves & Netslaves 2, which spun off from the
now-defunct site netslaves.com (referenced often on disobey.com) have some
credibility.

I remember hearing good things about Netslaves at the time, but the name
was offputting.


Authors have good vitas, one of them worked at Pathfinder.

Bill Lessard has written for The Industry Standard and CNET. He has worked
for Prodigy, Time Warner's Pathfinder, and numerous failed startups. With
Steve Baldwin, he is the coauthor of NetSlaves (McGraw-Hill) and cofounder
of NetSlaves.com. He lives in Yonkers, New York. Steve Baldwin has been an
editor at PC Magazine, Computer Shopper, and Pathfinder and developed
"Ghost Sites of the Web," an acclaimed e-zine devoted to failed Web sites.
With Bill Lessard, he is the coauthor of NetSlaves (McGraw-Hill) and
cofounder of NetSlaves.com. He lives in New York City.


https://www.amazon.com/Net-Slaves-True-Tales-Working/dp/0071352430

https://www.amazon.com/Net-Slaves-2-0-Tales-Surviving/dp/1581152841




On Fri, Nov 26, 2021 at 7:03 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Are you saying Jane existed? Or that anything about that story (beside an
> error in an OJReport) is true?
>
> On Fri, Nov 26, 2021 at 6:57 PM Michael Bailey <
> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Jane’s story culminates in her being the one at (name changed in story)
>> Time Warner Pathfinder to put the “OJ Guilty” misprint up -
>>
>>
>> https://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/pathfindermuseum/hello/1322882/1024/pathfinder6-2005.06.20-12.09.56.jpg
>>
>> That brief error did happen.
>>
>> Does that prove there was a Winnie? Of course not.
>>
>> Is Jane’s story redolent with the flavor of dotcom contractors? Imho, yes.
>> Is BE redolent in a similar way at various places? I think so.
>> Does it improve the relishment of the story - yes.
>>
>> Want a Zima?
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 26, 2021 at 6:05 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, I found the Brown reference.  He coined the phrase and concept, but
>>> he never elaborated upon what it meant in any practical way.  I t sounded
>>> cool, but that’s all it ever was, a cool idea without any real application.
>>>
>>> But you don’t think Jane’s story or anything about Winnie’s list on
>>> Pynchonwiki was real, do you?  What you call early dotcom lore is probably
>>> a fiction made up after ATD was published, right?
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 26, 2021 at 5:56 PM Michael Bailey <
>>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I appreciated the pointer to interesting early dotcom lore - & possible
>>>> source material for Pynchon: Jane’s story has the $30 an hour, the Winnie
>>>> list, &, seemed like, a couple other odds & ends that made it into BE -
>>>> never would’ve found it without trying to prove you wrong, David. Thanks!
>>>>
>>>> It may not be as high flown as finding an IG Farben employee manual,
>>>> but there’s a little frisson at Jane’s Story as a possible source, isn’t
>>>> there?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Also, isn’t the Norman O Brown phrase you referenced the other day
>>>> “polymorphous perversity?”
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hope all your recuperating is going good!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Nov 26, 2021 at 5:41 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I never thought Winnie’s list was anything other than a joke by
>>>>> Pynchon.  It’s not like I complained about it.
>>>>>
>>>>> The crazy thing is how far someone on the Pynchonwiki went to
>>>>> “document” its reality.  But what really made that suspicious was the
>>>>> length of Jane’s Story, and, of course it’s non-existence in any trace on
>>>>> the web.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Nov 26, 2021 at 5:33 PM Michael Bailey <
>>>>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> BE is a work of fiction so it’s okay to have fictitious references
>>>>>> (imho)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It’d be cool if employers thought so too (-;
>>>>>>
>>>>>