What is SupCon anyway?

If you have wandered here by “mistake”, you must surely wonder what the hell this “SupCon” thing really is? Here I'd like to try to answer that question.

SupCon was arranged in the last weekend of July between 1995 and 2001, to let the people who are active in the hobbyist computer network Fidonet meet each other in another way than through electronic communication, throw each other in the extremely hot (note the sarcasm) water of Lake Vättern, and compete against each other in stupid games, such as “matrix printer throwing”, which was a big hit at 1998 year's event.

The first SupCon was arranged in 1995 by the then residing RC Jonny Bergdahl, on at Sannabadet, in Jönköping/Huskvarna (also jokingly known as Jönskvarna). It was a big success, and the spectacle was repeated in 1996 by the same organiser.

In 1997, Fidonet had gotten a new RC, Mats Wallin, who arranged the 1997 spectacle. In 1997, the rule that the winners in the SupCon competition as punishment have to arrange next year's SupCon was created. So, in 1998 the first non-RC-organised SupCon took place (not that there usually is much planning, the event just happens).

According to tradition, the 1999 event took place, in accordance with the tradition, in the last weekend of July in Jönköping/Huskvarna. However, unlike previous years, the 2000 event got orders to move (by the cops) to move, and thus only partly took place at Sannabadet.

That withstanding, the 2001 event took place in the same place (it is still allowed to visit the place), also the author of this is staying at hotels nowadays. The number of attendants did fall dramatically in 2001 and since then no new SupCons have been arranged, and Swedish Fidonet has in much dissipated, although some real enthusiasts remain.

Where the name “SupCon” stems from, and what it means, is wrapped in mystery, some say it comes from the combination “Sysop-User-Point”, other declare that it is the “Support Convention”, and other think that it has no meaning at all (apart from Swedish “supa” that means “booze”).

Copyright © 1999-2011 Peter Krefting