RIP Janice Moira Graham

I was genuinely saddened to read on Poneke’s blog that Janice Moria Graham died a few days ago.  As Poneke explains:

Janice was a legend in the New Zealand Usenet newsgroups in the 1990s, posting hundreds of articles a day some days, most of them attacking the then National Government (and David Farrar, who worked for it and posted regularly in Usenet in those pre-blog days).

She strongly believed in the causes she espoused, to the point of standing for Parliament for the party that best represented her. Our democracy is as strong as it is because of energetic political activists like Janice.

I regret I never met Janice in person. By coincidence I did meet Daniel Silva a few days ago (after knowing him online for 13 years) who had met Janice in person.

Janice was relentless in attacking National online in the late 1990s – almost with missionary zeal. And she would often have a go at me. In fact she often emailed the Prime Minister complaining about something I had posted or done online. Fortunately for me, those e-mails actually came to me 🙂

Janice also caused much merriment when in her early days online she posed the question on Usenet “Who is the Master of the Internet?”, so she could complain to him or her about me. I helpfully provided an email address for Bill Gates, and there were many other unhelpful responses. I recall these encounters with affection, not malice. Also some wit (I never learnt who) started posting as “Master of the Net” for the next few years).

So farewell Janice and rest in peace.