![[ Data holding a phaser ]](data.gif)
I first started using the personality of Data when I was introduced to
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) by a friend in college. Actually, that's not
entirely true. At that time, the only IRC network in existence
was EFnet, and Data was a very popular nickname. I used it when I could,
but most of the time, I went by "Worf" or some variation thereof. It was
not until I discovered DALnet, a brand
new network at the time, that I started using the nickname Data. Once
DALnet's Nickname Registration service was put into service, I was able
to register my nickname, and it was mine ever since.Also at the time I was introduced to IRC, I was also learning my way around the Unix operating system. Specifically, I was using Solaris on a slow Sparc 10 at my school, San Diego State University (SDSU). Almost a year later, after having heard about it from some of my friends, I decided to take a spare computer at work and install Linux on it. By that time, I was relatively well-known on DALnet, so I decided that my account on this new Linux machine would be "data". This computer, which sat in my office at SAIC, my place of employment at the time, was the first incarnation of a machine known then as voyager, and later became part of DreamHaven Internet Services. DreamHaven was a small business that two friends of mine and I owned and ran jointly. I even went as far as to admin a DALnet server from voyager, called voyager.dal.net. Unfortunately, due to tough competition in the ISP world, DreamHaven didn't last more than about a year. We closed up operations in November 2000, and kept the domain name for our own personal use.
![[ Data and Picard in Stellar Cartography ]](data2.gif)
As with many
hobbies, though, my love for DALnet eventually wore off, and I moved on to
different things. I became very active on the EsperNet IRC network, where I ran a server
called cosmos.esper.net. I still
used the nick Data, too. But after more than a year of running the
server, my time became more limited as I took on other things outside of
IRC, and eventually I turned Cosmos over to one of my operators,
Gin-Irochi. I would occasionally visit, but was no longer a "regular"
for quite some time. More recently, though, I started coming back to
EsperNet more regularly, and eventually, Gin-Irochi, whose time was also
becoming more and more limited, asked if I would like to co-admin the
server with him, and I agreed. So as of this time, Gin-Irochi and I are
co-admins of cosmos.esper.net.