THE THING

Mailing list and server for electronic culture based in New York City.

Founded by Wolfgang Staehle in 1991 as an electronic bulletin board system (BBS) that functioned as a forum for artists and cultural theorists who dialed in via modem to discuss their work and exchange ideas. In 1995, Staehle migrated The Thing to the World Wide Web, and in subsequent years expanded its services to include Web site hosting and development.

Network: The Thing Cologne (*1992), The Thing Vienna (*Nov 1993), and others.

Articles

• Joshua Kopstein, "'The Thing' Redialed: how a BBS changed the art world and came back from the dead", The Verge, 15 March 2013.

Links

• Home page
• The Internet Before The Web: Preserving Early Networked Cultures, March 8, 2013 panel discussion at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring archivist and historian Jason Scott, and Wolfgang Staehle founder of The Thing BBS in conversation with Digital Conservator Ben Fino-Radin
• https://anthology.rhizome.org/the-thing
• The Thing BBS Message Archive on Rhizome
• https://mailchi.mp/rhizome/phantom-threads-the-thing-bbs-revisited