The NNGSers

Name/Sex/Age: Aji Sabaki/M/43 [Ed. Note - Nice to meet you, I'm Fuseki McSuji]
Location: Troy, Michigan, USA
Rank: 6k* [Ed. Note - *cough*]

"About Me"
I like snow skiing, classical and jazz music. I play alto sax, flute and for last 12 years piano. I developed my own percussion outfit of cans, boxes, bottles, windchimes and assorted other junk. I compose crude works of music. I like computers, fractals, puzzels, history and economics. I hate Bill Clinton and his wife the president of the USA and all other murderers and criminals. [Ed. Note - Uh oh, here we go...] I hate socialists. I love justice and the concept of the law so therefore I hate most lawyers. I hate the celebrity overkill in our culture. I hate tweet. I read a whole lot. I like to learn about all the countrys in the world. I like cats. I like beer a little too much. My motto: Only a fool argues with an idiot.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I used to watch the guy who sold chess supplies at the Detroit Chess Metro League playing it but it wasn't until I read an artical in the US Navy's Stars and Stripes before I baught my first magnetic board in Berkely California and started visiting the Berkely Go Club. When I visited Tokyo I finally got some good Go books and a full sized board.

"What NNGS means to me"
Go and intelligent companionship with interesting people. I love the freedom to talk about anything including other go servers.

What They Say:
"Aji, I know I give you a hard time (which is richly deserved), but I still dig ya." - talby

Name/Sex/Age: Rich Brown/M/44
Location: Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Webpage: None, but see a poster I made at: http://leaohp1.epfl.ch/~warkent/go/poster.gif
Rank: 3k* NNGS, -6.7 AGA
Go Clubs: When in Madison, please visit the Madison Go Club! Wed. 6 p.m., in the Rathskeller of UW Memorial Union

"About Me"
Played so much go that I dropped out of school. Kept on playing go until I thought, "Wouldn't it be neat if somebody could write a computer program to play go?" I had seen such programs for chess. So, I had to return to school to learn a bit about computers, if I were to try writing such a program. Took so many tough courses at the same time that my grades suffered. Learned a lot though, and began to write the program. Dropped out again. Kept playing go.

Still disappointed by the dearth of English-language books on go, I decided to return to school and study Japanese so that I could read more, as well as improve the go program. Finally got a four-year degree after fourteen years in and out of college. Began programming computers for a living.

To this day I continue to work on the go program, and I do have a lot of confidence that it will one day be as strong as ManyFaces or Goliath or HandTalk. Watch for "Gozilla" (Copyright © 1991, 1997 by Richard L. Brown) coming to NNGS, er, um, eventually.

There's a real sense in which I can honestly say, "Go saved my life." Had it not been for go, I would never have learned about computing, nor about Japanese. If not for go's motivating me to learn these things, I may well have never got a college degree.

I was born in the desert; raised in a lion's den. My number one occupation is stealing women from their men. A pretty fair musician (guitar, harmonica, beer bottle, and accordion), I like to compose and play my own tunes as well as cover others' tunes, but I do this for the therapeutic value only: The road is a hard enough life when you're young, and I'm a grown-up now.

Homeowner. Married. My wife tolerates go and guitar, but plays neither. I love her anyway. She knows some stuff that I don't, too. Man, can she cook!

"How I discovered the game of Go"
Ever since I was a kid, I've liked puzzles and games. As a freshman in college near Chicago in 1970, I was browsing in the University library and found a book called _Games_Ancient_and_Oriental_and_How_to_Play_Them_. The chapter on go was so confusing yet at the same time so intriguing that I convinced my roommate we had to try it. Then I taught all my friends how to play and slaughtered them. Not content with that, I sought out books about go, but at that time they were few and far between. Once I discovered that there was a hippie coffeehouse where they had not only live music but also other go-players, I was spending most evenings there.

"What NNGS means to me"
I like the basic attitude of folks at NNGS. A much nicer place to visit than TOGS (That Other Go Server, Tweet's Own Go Server, Ticked-Off Go Server). Thanks so much, Erik, and all the others who have contributed!

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex: Robert T. McQuaid/M
Location: Orangeville, Ontario, Canada
Rank: 1k*, NNGS

"About Me"
I was orignally an American, but left the country as a refugee from the IRS. I became a Canadian citizen in 1994. I am a computer programmer, and had my own company for several years. I have planted 50 thousand trees on my property. I have one son, Ken, born in 1996.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
Lasker's book.

"What NNGS means to me"
Since I live out in the woods, NNGS is my only way of playing go.

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex: Rebecca Braden/F
Location: San Diega, CA, USA
Rank: no, i shower everyday
Go Clubs: twigs coffee shop

"About Me"
I teach, there is no way around it it is in my blood. :)

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I started learning go after I graduated from college and didn't have a job. A friend of mine was interested in a guy that played go at my favorite coffee house Java Jazz (the best coffee place in the world in my opinion). She asked me to go with her to one of the club meetings so she could scope this guy out. Since I had nothing better to do, I went and started learning to play go. Unfortunately, my friend stopped going when she lost interest in the guy. As for me, I stayed with it. Shortly after I started learning I had to move for a job, which I was very unhappy about. However, the move led me to NNGS, which I am very happy about.

"What NNGS means to me"
It means I have to become a better typist I think the "How I discovered the game of go" section tells it all.

What They Say:
"I can't believe I'm editing a webpage that's over three years old." - talby

Name/Sex/Age: Chi Qing/M/42
Location: California, USA
Rank: 2d*, NNGS

"About Me"
I am a computer scientist working for a major software company. I play Go on servers to unwind and relax. I am usually quiet because I am very tired after a hard day of work. I don't like to see people fighting and arguing, I like a peaceful environment where I see people get along with each other. If you are peaceful, considerate, not arrogant, open minded, then we will get along just fine. :)

"How I discovered the game of Go"
When I was about 12, my father taught my elder brother the game. Then my brother started playing with me and my sister. My brother really got into it and he bought some old (cheaper) Go magazines and we learned from it. In junior high school, I played with my classmates during class using hand-drawn board (on a piece of paper) and using pencils to make moves by drawing "X" and "O" as stones; fortunately we didn't get caught by teachers. I think it's during the summer school break of 1970 when I became really serious about this game. At that time, Lin (who was born in the same country as me) has won several important professional titles in Japan, that achievement excited a lot of us. By then, I got a real Go board with a set of stones. I played a lot and reached my current strength.

"What NNGS means to me"
friendship and fun.

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex: Arno Hollosi/M
Location: Kirchbichl, Tyrol, Austria - studying in Graz (500km from my home town)
Webpage: http://www.cis.tu-graz.ac.at/home/hollosi
Rank: Austrian 2kyu
Go Clubs: Graz, Austria

"About Me"
Beware - I'm known for talking a lot of nonsense :o) To quote geek: 'No brain required for social interaction with dada' CU on channel 99.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
A friend of mine introduced me to the game 10 years ago. We played on a selfmade cardboard. Our stones were small plastic discs we cut out of a large plastic plate. We hardly knew the rules and after some months we quit playing. Then 3 years ago another friend of mine purchased a 'Ravensburger' go set and a book on go. I became addicted, joined the local go club and came to NNGS in Oct 1995 - since then I became more and more involved into go on the internet: I'm co-maintainer of the Go Teaching Ladder (type 'help gtl' on NNGS) and I'm responsible for the latest SGF standard FF[4].

"What NNGS means to me"
friends and fun

What They Say:
"He starts playing you with a devilish grin on his face - and unfortunately he rarely looses it with me" - kaiman

Name/Sex/Age: Dan Schmidt/M/28
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Webpage: http://www2.thecia.net/users/dfan
Rank: 8k*, NNGS (pre-crash)
Go Clubs: AGA member

"About Me"
Everything that I permit people to know about me is on my web page. Other than those paltry scraps of information, I remain an enigma.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I was a total chess fiend as a young kid, and discovered go from a book by the chess author Edward Lasker. It seemed like a great game, but I couldn't find anyone better than me to learn from. Recently I joined IGS but have switched over to NNGS because it's more friendly and the rating system is better.

"What NNGS means to me"
It's the best place to abuse talby in public.

What They Say:
"I know everything about him, so if you want to know more, ask me." - talby

Name/Sex/Age: Alex Parkinson/M/26
Location: Teesside, UK
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/3135
Rank: 10k*, NNGS
Go Clubs: Teesside Go Club

"About Me"
I've just finished working as a lecturer in Computer Graphics at the University of Teesside. This summer I am completing my Ph.D Thesis, then as of October I will be working as a Computer Animation Programmer at FrameStore in London. So I'll have much less time to play Go :-(

"How I discovered the game of Go"
My Ph.D supervisor (Greebo on NNGS) introduced me to it.

Never missing out on an opportunity to creep-up to my supervisor I played a couple of games, and I was hooked. I still let him beat me of course ;-)

"What NNGS means to me"
A bit of a laugh, and a lot of a distraction :-)

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex/Age: Frank Simons/M/49
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Webpage: home.fuse.net/simonsfe
Rank: 11k before crash
Go Clubs: member AGA

"About Me"
I enlisted in the Marine Corps where I spent four years as an Aerial Navigator specializing in air to air refueling. For the next ten years, I worked as a stagehand in both theatre and rock and roll mostly in Seattle, although I did tour with REO Speedwagon on the "Good Trouble" tour, and a 'bus and truck' tour of "They're Playing My Song". I also worked as a Cabinetmaker for ten years before going to work for the University of Cincinnati where I am now. My daughter convinced me to buy a computer, then into going "on-line". I found the Go Servers and have been playing about a year now. I play for fun, although it seems I only explore the many mistakes available to me on the board.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I was first introduced to Go by a friend at college. We played badly but often for two years. After college, my Go board sat unused for five years until my Golden Retriever mistook it for a dog biscuit.

"What NNGS means to me"
I feel comfortable on NNGS. To me, it has the friendly feel of a neighborhood Go club. I think this hq page is an excellent way to promote that friendly atmosphere...thanks talby.

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex/Age: Erik Van Riper/M/30
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Webpage: http://nngs.cosmic.org
Rank: Sometimes, but I have showered today. [Ed. Note - Ha?]
Go Clubs: A local coffee shop on Monday nights

"About Me"
I am a Systems and Network Administrator for Midway Home Entertainment (http://www.midway.com). I finally decided to start taking college courses, I am starting with English 101 in the fall of 1997.

My hobbies include: programming, kite flying, quantum physics, digital electronics, beach going, Zoo member (http://www.sandiegozoo.org).

My last position from 1991 to 1997 was as a Research Technician at York College, CUNY. I was working with Dr. Larry Johnson and Dr. Wen-Ying Huang doing low temperature high resolution spectroscopy. It was a LOT of fun, I recommend it to anyone.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
When I was crawling around as a tot, my father would try to get me to play Go, but I was just not interested. Several years later as a teenager I would visit my father and he would try to get me to play Go, but I was not interested. About 4 - 5 years ago, a friend came over to my house with a 9x9 Go game out of a book "30 games" or something like that... said "Have you ever seen this game?". I had, but he proceeded to kick my butt. So, I set out to destroy his Go playing career, and searched for places to play. I found IGS, and the rest is history.

"What NNGS means to me"
Friendship.

What They Say:
"He forgot to mention that he's also the creator and administrator of NNGS. Minor detail, I know." - talby
"Claims that I had a very specific look in my eyes when I first saw him in front of my hotel room door (YES!) like: "What is this hairy animal doing here?" I always wonder how he manages to survive his rollerblading style." - kaiman

Name/Sex/Age: Keith Ammann/M/28
Location: Albany, NY, USA
Webpage: http://www.albany.net/~geenius
Rank: 18 kyu and (hopefully) rising
Go Clubs: AGA, GDI

"How I discovered the game of Go"
For years I've been an aficionado of all sorts of games. One day, I think it must have been back in '91 or '92, I picked up a copy of Ishi Press' Igo from the cheap software bin. Later I met a friend in a truly awesome coffeehouse, which happened to have a go set on hand. Neither of us really knew what we were doing. Years later, I began writing a column on games and pastimes and joined the AGA on a lark, feeling certain that I'd never overcome my bad chess habits and ought to master some game of intellect before I croaked. Shortly thereafter I bought Janice Kim's "Learn to Play Go" books (see http://www.samarkand.net) and began playing on NNGS. I believe there's hope for me yet.

"About Me"
Among the Concordat's demands are more low-ranked players who are actually on NNGS to play, not just schmooze. I promised myself a brand-new agathis board and Japanese glass stones when I hit 12-kyu, so help me get there, dammit.

"What NNGS means to me"
"No-Name Go Server." But I suppose someone might think it meant "Nine New Golf Shirts."

Seriously, though, the folks on NNGS have always treated me like a little brother, and I mean that in a good way. For some reason my games always attract a knot of observers -- no doubt trying to figure out what the hell was going on in my head that I made that move.

What They Say:
"I now aspire to build a web page that warrants a "simplicitor" acknowledgement! Appreciate the links and info! You can call me "mom"" - mbear

"Never has such a good-hearted, enthusiastic player gotten his butt whooped more times in more different ways." - talby

Name/Sex/Age: Ian R. Mitchell/M/34
Location: San Antonio, TX, USA
Rank: 9k NNGS
Go Clubs: Well I'm an AGA member and went to the Colorado Springs GO club before I came back to San Antonio. (haven't found the San Antonio players yet)

"About Me"
Well I'm married (my wife's name is Laeaurra), have 2 boys (Benjamin and Gabriel), 3 cats, and a lot of bills :)... I work as a computer programmer contracting for the USAF currently. I've been at go seriously (ha) for a little over a year. I grew up in a military family, moving a lot, so having some place like nngs where i can chat with friends, play go, and have a good old time and not lose everyone in the move is great for me. My work/educational back ground is Electronics, Math, Computers (I've been working as a programmer for 13 years - i should tattoo dilbert cartoons to my forehead). I like Go, playing the guitar, dinkin on the computer, playing with my kids,hanging with my wife, starbucks coffee, and exploring the cool things in life (not particularly in that order). Oh yeah - I'm still working on learning the Japanese Language so if you Konichi Wa me, I'll Doomo Arigatoo you right back. Great Idea for a board Talby. [Ed. Note - Thanks!] And I hope one of these days I'll have time to start playing again.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I first played 1 game of go about 10 years ago - didn't understand the rules - about 2 years ago a friend gave me a old book on go which i got around to reading about a year ago - i found go on the net, and eventually nngs and now love the game - Hey OneEye and Vida... Thanks for making me feel welcome here.

"What NNGS means to me"
A lot of great people who share an interest in the coolest game on earth. Friends I may never see, that I like a lot all the same...

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex/Age: Kai Goerlich/M/36
Location: Frankfurt/Main, Germany, but moving
Rank: 7k

"About Me"
I am a former molecular biologist who went into public relations for some years. I will start now at SAP, Walldorf, giving their Intranet the final punts for the ultimate collapse. My passions are playing guitar (classical and jazz), running (some call it jogging), GO, and hanging around in street cafes doing nothing.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I've read an article in The Economist about the fact that the US army explained the strategy of Japan in the 2nd World War with the help of the game GO. I thought what a game! It took me some years to stumble over a GO Forum in CompuServe where I met Matt Lasley (cricket) who introduced me to NNGS (you should blame him for it!).

"What NNGS means to me"
A great place to chat, play and meet friends from all over the world - some of them I had the pleasure to meet in real life - although I am not sure that the pleasure was on their side, too :-)

What They Say:
"Maybe this croc should be a chameleon...so many talents in one critter, you never know which will surface next! Hmmm..." - mbear

Name/Sex/Age: Kirk McElhearn/M/37
Location: St. Cyr sur Loire, France
Webpage: http://www.mcelhearn.com
Rank: 12k* NNGS for now, but I hope to make some progress

"About Me"
A grew up in New York, and came to France 13 years ago. I work here as a translator. I get beaten most of the time, but am trying hard to get better. I don't care much about my rating, but I would like to be able to put up a good fight...

"How I discovered the game of Go"
Many years ago I learned to play go-moku, and a few times over the years I have tried to learn to play go, but never had access to a local club. About a year ago, I started studying seriously.

"What NNGS means to me"
A nice place to play with friendly people. A smoke-free go club!

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex/Age: Mina Yamashita/F/51
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Webpage: http://www.mbear.com/mbear
Rank: 3-4k, AGA
Go Clubs: Albuquerque and Santa Fe

"About Me"
Little kid who likes to draw grows up to be a big kid who likes to draw! In the process, migrated from Detroit, Michigan through New York, Kansas City, and Winter Garden, Florida to wind up in New Mexico! Still doing artwork, writing, making a living at other stuff, and really enjoying my friends on NNGS :)

"How I discovered the game of Go"
A Greek friend who studied acupuncture, aikido, and such, gave me my first go set and taught me the game.

"What NNGS means to me"
What a great place to place Go, meet a vast menagerie of stimulating critters, and give a whole new meaning to the concept of "armchair travel"!

What They Say:
"I always read 'mbear' as 'Mama Bear,' because she's kind and generous and helpful and a wonderful source of guidance, not to mention being old enough to be my mother. (But still cute!) ;-D" - geenius
"I tried her chili recipe - that's a real hot bear!" - kaiman

Name/Sex/Age: Greg B. Gage/M/43
Location: Newport, Oregon, USA
Rank: about 6kyu AGA

"How I discovered the game of Go"
In the early 70's a friend of mine gave me a go set (I think that Lowe was the manufacturer). The rules supplied with it were, to me, incomprehensible. Several years later, while drinking beer and awaiting assignment as an alternate on a dart team (!), I spotted a feature article in the local paper mentioning a group of folks that met to play go. My dart-throwing services not being in demand, I wandered over to another tavern where these go-folks met. As I recall, the strongest player was a 9-kyu and I was impressed. At any rate, I quickly became addicted to The Game and have been playing, off and on (mostly off, unfortunately), ever since. When I first started reading rec.games.go, I met kirkmc and we started playing via email.

Comment: kirkmc is turning into a go animal and I need someone I can beat. Any takers?

"What NNGS means to me"
NNGS means never having to say you're sorry you disconnected. (with apologies to Erich Segal)

What They Say:
"He still plays chess! But thanks to him, I am learning to really play this game!" - kirkmc

Name/Sex/Age: Jerry Plaaten/M/51
Location: Orange Park, FL, USA. Moved here from Mystic, CT about a year and a half ago.
Webpage: Not up yet...I have actually begun to make one!
Rank: Varies wildly...NNGS thinks 11k or so...I have been much better in the past, also much worse in the recent past.
Go Clubs: Went to MIT Go Club once in Cambridge, Mass.

"About Me"
I love to fly fish and play games...Go, chess (mediocre 1429 USCF tho I have beaten lazy "A" players), backgammon, billiards. No games of chance...Lady Luck seems to live across the table!

Highlight of my career: Losing to Erik by only 20.5 points!

"How I discovered the game of Go"
The good part! I have played, or at least known how to, for over 30 years. My buddy, Dean, learned how to play from his Japanese roommate at Yale University. When Dean and I became roommates, hippies, unemployed etc. , we had lots of time to do stuff in. He said, " Wanna learn to play GO?" I said, "Sure." He then proceded to beat the the tar outa me, EVERY GAME!!!!, 8 YEARS!!!!! We would literally stay up all night playing and drinking tea on his very nice Go board for months on end. Can't imagine how many games we must have played and I lost. At the time, there were only 2 books in English that we knew of...Lasker's Go and Takagawa's Vital Points of Go ( which is still one of the best I've seen and , yes, I have a copy!) I then moved to Boston for awhile, stumbled onto ( into?) The Chess Studio on Newbury Street and found all the Ishi Press volumes which I snatched up and began to study madly! A truly enlightening endeavor! When Dean and I got back together, I proceeded to kick the snot out of him! It was soooooooo good after all the suffering he had put me through! And continued to do unto him as he had done unto me for quite some time. Then we parted again and I had played only sporadically until about 3 years ago when I got this computer and found IGS and, eventually, NNGS. It was again annoying to be being beat up by 25k's on IGS! I used to know how to play! Unfortunately, now, I don't have the time or energy to study and play seriously...though I still HATE to lose and love to play!

"What NNGS means to me"
When I first logged on, geek was ALWAYS on and hosting on 99. Welcomed me and made me feel right at home and that was real nice. So I keep coming back.

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name: My initial is salt:) [Ed. Note - Uhhh, right.]
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
Rank: 7k NNGS, 12k IGS

"About Me"
I had an evil twin who likes to use my account on NNGS.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I was fascinated by those KongFu stories that only KongFu masters were able to master Go beautifully. It is how I was lured into the world of go.

"What NNGS means to me"
NNGSers are family to me. Talby, when are you going to accept my challenge:)

What They Say:
"Real soon now." - talby

Name/Sex: Georg Mischler/M
Location: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Webpage: http://www.schorsch.com/schorsch.html
Rank: 3k*, NNGS

"About Me"
Oh well... like with everybody, it's on my webpages. (Ok, part of my job description is to make sure the sun rises timely every morning. As you can tell, I don't like getting up early.)

"How I discovered the game of Go"
We had a cheap go set at home when I was a kid, on which I used to hack around with my sister. Much later, after I finished my studies and moved to germany for work, I found IGS. This was at the time when IGS still was a small and cozy place, so I learned a lot there for more than a year, starting actually as a complete beginner. Then someone other user told me about a local players meeting once a week in Munich, which I still frequent regularly. When IGS started to become a huge and anonymous place, NNGS appeared on the scene exactly at the right moment. There we are :)

"What NNGS means to me"
Sometimes I think I have more friends there than in real live. (wait... is there no real live on NNGS ?!)

What They Say:
"Has one of the nicest graphical web pages I've seen... I really like the bierseidel icons and bright, colorful design. Maybe you just need to add... a salmon..." - mbear
"The rural GO player type: one move - one beer. And he never forgets to risk a friendship for a bonmot." - kaiman

Name/Sex/Age: David Ash/M/36
Location: Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Webpage: http://www.cris.com/~Scooob
Rank: 15k on NNGS, 21k* on IGS

"About Me"
see my Web page to learn more than you'd ever want to know about me

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I have played badly for about two decades. My father brought a plastic-board version of the game home one day and he, my younger brother and I began playing, discovering how to play amongst ourselves without outside help. I lost track of the game for many years until my fiance (now my wife) bought me a wooden board in the late '80's; but I've really only been playing regularly since I became Internet connected about three years ago and began playing on the servers. Despite the increased playing time and browsing through a few Go books, I remain embarrassingly bad at the game but I enjoy it immensely.

"What NNGS means to me"
a more friendly atmosphere than IGS. But I still play on IGS most of the time because of the large number of folks there. [Ed. Note - Uh, ix-nay on the GS-I-ay...]

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex: Hu Hong-Liang/M
Location: State College, PA, USA
Rank: I think I am 1d, but HedgePig beat me h3 and forced me out of the dan class.
Go Clubs: AGA

"About Me"
Qing Zhong, Qing Chi, Qing Nie, who am I?

I came to NNGS to find my identity, but someone here made me even more lost.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
At 7 I didn't have anything to do but fooling around in the high school where my father worked. One day, the two best go players in the school decided they needed to find out who was the best. After one of them lost in a best-of-three series, he thought if he was not the best go player, he could still be the best go teacher.

That was when I started to learn how to play go. In 6 months my teacher could no longer give me handi. After one year nobody doubted that I was the best in the school.

After playing go for 3 years, when I reached the present strength, my parents were sent to the countryside by Chairman Mao and I had to leave them and live with my grandma. I stopped playing since I could find nobody who had heard of the game.

I resumed playing for a short period when I entered the college at 15. But my elder brother managed to convince me that I should spend time on my major -- the dreadful theoretical physics -- rather than on go. As a result, I hadn't played for almost 15 years before I came to NNGS in July 1997.

"What NNGS means to me"
To me, NNGS not only means go, friends, and leisure time. Hopefully, it will also give me something else. But, who knows? [ Ed. Note - What, you mean like, chicks? ]

What They Say:
"Thinks it's funny to beat up poor little lizards - but hey that's a sport on NNGS" - kaiman

Name/Sex/Age: Carl Gay/M/33
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Webpage: http://world.std.com/~sigue/
Rank: 2k*, NNGS
Go Clubs: AGA member

"About Me"
See my web page. Currently I live and work in the Boston area for a company called Harlequin. (Well, ok, I only work for Harlequin, I don't live for them.) We're making a development environment for a new object-oriented dynamic language called Dylan.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I learned Go from a friend at work. I remember being in awe of someone who came by and said he was 4 kyu. That seemed impossible at the time. Then another friend (jga on NNGS) wrote a program to allow us to play go over the network (point to point) so we played even more. Then IGS arrived and I went from 17k to 5k* on IGS (in about 4 years, not fast like the hotshots). Eventually IGS became too big and wasn't a fun place to hang out anymore so I moved to NNGS! Hooray for geek!

"What NNGS means to me"
Nearly Naked Go Server

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex/Age: Ben Parrish/M/26
Location: South Florida, USA
Webpage: Pinback's Web Central
Rank: 7k*, NNGS (post-crash)
Go Clubs: Uhh. AGA member, does that count?

"About Me"
About me? Well, where to start. I grew up in Maryland, and have been working in the computer industry since the age of 16. Last year I moved to Florida because I met my girlfriend on the internet. So, we know now that the internet is not only good for Go, it's good for meeting chicks. I've always had a fascination with games, since the more serious parts of life seem so much less important than having fun. I don't drink during the week anymore, which is why I've been much more coherent on NNGS lately. I can't wait for dfan to get his entry up here so I can start writing nasty comments about him. You can always check out my webpage (which you just happen to be on right now) for more information about me.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
My father mentioned the game to me when I was but a wee tyke. He tried to teach it to me, but didn't have much luck, and reading the instructions wasn't much help because of all the funny foreign words. Many years later, I bought a book on the subject (Go For Beginners), and tried to play against some computer programs. My enthusiasm didn't really take off until I found a place to play the game on the internet. Now it's a near-obsession, and I tell everyone who will listen about this game, which is the finest man has created. Even though I'm not very good at it.

"What NNGS means to me"
NNGS is a haven from the madness of the world. It's a place to be with friends, and play the greatest game in the world. It's always there, always ready to entertain you and enrich your life with the mental workout of Go, and the emotional uplift of the company. In short, NNGS rules. Oh, also, you can make fun of the admin without being kicked off.

What They Say:
"Has enriched my breakfast, breaks and dinners with "back bacon" and my literary menu with "pongfaq" and more! Thanks Talby!" - mbear
"I just realized that he is the owner of this page. For sure he is a reeal nice guy, charming, intelligent and a brillaint GO player (and kaiman: 2nd at world liemaster championship)" - kaiman
"Talby is a liar. Contrary to his vicious accusations, We NEVER took him out to Chinese restaurants, as he alleges in the 8/29/97 introduction to his web site. Never once. In fact, we never let him out of the basement. Moreover, he didn't leave home when he was 17. We threw him out, despite (and because of) his whines, pleas and tears, when he was 16. But will he give us credit for these tender mercies. No. Not at all. Talby, I hate you. Signed, Your loving father." - talby's loving father [Ed. Note - I was talking about my mom, you know, the parent I liked.]

Name/Sex/Age: The Goddess is all you need to know :-)/very female/older than most people think (see info for evanj)
Location: Central New Jersey, USA
Webpage: http://www.terriblue.com
Rank: always changing, but between 16k and 12k
Go Clubs: Highland Park Go Club (New Jersey)

"About Me"
I am an art teacher who plays the guitar and writes her own songs. I hope to write many go parodies, especially one's which would lend themselves to play on the guitar. I teach photography and enjoy working in black and white. My goals include becoming proficient at web authoring and devoting my life to educating beginning go players. I am establishing a high school go club this year, and hope eventually to expand this to the other high schools in my county and perhaps even make it a "sport" at the high school. Wouldn't that be a trip?

One of my biggest thrills is having played my guitar at the opening of the U.S. Go Congress this year.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I was at a party when I was a junior in high school. Two guys were playing a fascinating game. I started to watch and was captivated by its simplicity and beauty. Halfway through the game one of them stood up and offered me a seat. I continued the play for black. I found myself shortly in a ladder, played about four moves, but was able to see the eventual consequences. when my opponent asked why I did not continue to play I told him because I would be run to the edge of the board and would lose many stones. His approving smile was all the feedback I needed to be hooked for life. I purchased a board and stones from someone and a few months later remember driving through a terrible storm for a game of go. For the next 25 years I engaged in a quest to introduce others to the game and find players. I was unsuccessful until I discovered the internet two years ago. Since then I have been playing and chatting on the go servers... first IGS and then NNGS when I discovered how friendly it was.

"What NNGS means to me"
It is a place where people can play, chat, and develop a sense of community.

What They Say:
"Only with my feet in real cold water - maybe even cold matter." - kaiman [Ed. Note - What?]

Name/Sex/Age: Martin Snajder/M/32
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenija, EUROPE
Rank: 10k*, NNGS, August 1997
Go Clubs: Go club in Kranj

"About Me"
Born at 6:30 am. After 16 years of systematically preparation for "The real life" at schools i started changing the jobs, all related to the computers. I like friends, red wine Teran, horse-back riding, windsurfing, pistachio and ... (my very first expiriences with the other sex). I hate the skin that forms on the top of a hot milk when it gets cold. If life becomes too easy for me, I subconsciously get in some trouble so it's challanging again.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
A crazy 2d player tried to teach me everything in one day 10 years ago. Thanks to ales and vida the game was presented again to me in 1996 in a more pleasant way. Soon I made my own set (including the stones). Later I got a real goban from Canada and the stones from generous guys in Kranj Go Club. The real addiction started when I got access to the internet and nngs. Somebody said: "All the pleasant things in life are illegal, immoral or put on weight." I think GO is an exception.

"What NNGS means to me"
I wonder what were we doing all the time we spend today on nngs, before it existed :)

What They Say:
"Great singing voice! You oughta be on CDs!" - mbear

Name/Sex/Age: Aaron Fischer/M/24
Location: Northampton, MA, USA
Webpage: buccellati.com (It is the web page that I designed for the company that I work for, there are a lot of fabulous pictures of silver flatware, holloware, and jewelry.) Really worth looking at!
Rank: 7k
Go Clubs: I play occasionally with the club here in Noho, Mass.

"About Me"
I have moved twenty two times in twenty four years. It has been an interesting and exciting life so far, and totally fucking challenging! I was the son of a couple of hippies, really cool, interesting people. Very into yoga, meditation, eating vegetarian, music, and dance. I love that I was brought up with all of those things around me. Now I work for an Italian silver and goldsmithing company (see my website at buccellati.com) as a warehouse manager. I enjoy my work, but I don't feel like I will be there forever. I am interested in environmental issues like saving the animals and nature from us horrible humans :-) . I am also interested in helping people, possibly through some form of medical profession, even massage, nutritionist, acupuncture, etc. I believe that I would like to work in one of these fields in the near future. I would love to hear from anyone involved in working in any of these areas, or just hear from you about why you work where you do. [Ed. Note - Congrats to tricam for being the first NNGSer to use the "f" word in his bio!]

"How I discovered the game of Go"
I always played a wide variety of games with my father, physical and mental. We always played chess and then he got a go board. We played go-muku (sp?) where you try and be the first one to place five stones in a row. It was fun and challenging. It always amazed me how simple the set up, a grid and some stones, but how complex and challenging the game was. That was it for a while, but then later on in my life when I moved to Northampton I found out there was a go club in town. I hooked up with them, they taught me how to play, kicked my butt for a while, and now I play a lot on nngs! :-)

"What NNGS means to me"
Nngs is a great place where I can go and escape all the noise in my life and in my head. I like being challenged by people and the game of go. I enjoy the game immensely, and I am always interested in getting better. Recently, I have discovered channel 99 :-) . Sometimes I enjoy hanging out and talking with people and giving talby a hard time! :-) (oh, and hedgepig also). I welcome a game with everyone, that is the main reason I log on to nngs! See ya there!

What They Say: Nothing yet.

Name/Sex/Age: Eric Hoffman/M/30
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA
Webpage: http://www.ipsilon.com/~hoffman
Rank: ~4k nngs

"About Me"
currently stuck in the silicon valley networking startup rathole, am looking to go back to doing real design work again, but the world has changed.

I used to play piano and read decent books, but that stopped a long time ago. at least I still play go regularly. technically I am interested in protocols for scalable information flooding, systems programming using quasi-functional languages, and functional compilers.

I have lived in Minneapolis, the Bay Area, Baltimore, Washington DC, San Antonio, and if one counts stays less than a year, a whole list of other places.

"How I discovered the game of Go"
...its been a long time now. all I can recall is making a set out of wagon-wheel pasta, bottled ink, xfig, and a stapler. I also remember not having a very good idea of what the rules were and being confused about kos and order of capture. unfortunately I haven't advanced much since those days. I still don't know why it took given my general dislike for all other games. my game didn't really start in earnest IGS started sometime in the early '90s. I remember setting up games by email and playing using a tcp-based ascii client before then.

"What NNGS means to me"
a constant, nagging reminder of things I had planned to do with internet go (no, really the only internet service I use on a daily basis aside from email, web vs nngs - no contest)

What They Say: Nothing yet.