A Rape in Cyberspace

Added to The Forgotten Web: . Historical publication details follow.

1993 · LambdaMOO / online community · original online
WhatVillage Voice article on LambdaMOO, harm, and governance.
Why nowOnline presence was never “just words.”
Statusoriginal online
Found inpre-platform culture

Julian Dibbell’s classic account of the LambdaMOO “Bungle Affair” treats a text-based world as a real social place with real wounds and real political decisions.

WHY IT STILL MATTERSBefore platforms, policies, and trust-and-safety teams hardened into infrastructure, this piece saw the core problem: software communities are made of speech, power, embodiment, and consequences.
Best opened when someone says the old internet was simple because it was only text.
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