ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603190013
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN LYNCH KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
God lives in Boston. His name's Kibo. He's an atheist.
``I would not join any religion that would deify me,'' James Parry says. Which is OK, actually, because Kibo (nee Parry) deified himself.
Spend enough time online and you're bound to strike Kibo. He's something of a 'Net legend, a 29-year-old graphic designer who - back in 1988 - decided he'd make a pretty decent supreme being.
So Kibo (pronounced Ky-bo, though many say Kee-bo, and no, it doesn't mean anything) started a newsgroup (alt.religion.kibology) and preached ... well, nothing, really.
Consider it the ``Seinfeld'' of ideologies, a slice of enlightened pointlessness online. The Internet may be filled with ``drivel and babble,'' Kibo says, ``but this is GOOD drivel and babble.'' Members discuss everything from a pants-less society to bigfoot sightings.
``What isn't Kibology?'' one Kibologist asked. ``Nothing isn't Kibology.''
Chew on that for a couple days.
Still, alt.religion.kibology draws 45,000 posts a year, Kibo himself receives about 100 E-mail messages a day and numerous World Wide Web sites are dedicated to the faith. How can a belief that promises no answers (and, actually, offers no questions) garner such a fervent following?
``Remember, all thoughts are EQUAL, but Kibo's thoughts are MORE EQUAL,'' one Kibologist tried to explain. ``They have none of that BAD SACCHARIN AFTERTASTE.''
Um, OK. Others suggest that Kibo earned his fame by inventing the :), or "smiley," the universal sign for ``just kidding.'' Kibo denies it, which is wise, because otherwise we'd have to kill him.
Kibo himself is little help. When accused of offering cryptic answers, he says, ``That reminds me of something someone once said about something else, but I can't remember what it was.''
In fact, he denies his own existence: ``I'm a collective figment of the Internet's imagination. I'm seeing a therapist about that.''
Kibo does admit, however, that people seek solace in the answers he provides. And the question he's most often asked? ``'What's the question you're most often asked?' is the question I'm most often asked,'' he says.
One desperate soul looking for meaning to this whole Kibo cult asked online: ``I've been grepping [searching] for an FAQ [frequently-asked-question document], can someone give me a pointer?''
The response was a drawing of an arrow.
Kibo admits that starting the newsgroup was ``purely arrogant self-promotion.'' See, at the time, he was a computer programmer looking for a job, and what better resume entry than ``I'm a god in my spare time''?
But now that he designs typography, Kibo is less interested in his other life as an Internet god. ``I took a six-month vacation from the 'Net,'' Kibo says. ``It's a measure of my importance, or, actually, unimportance, that I can disappear but no one notices.''
Plus, it survives quite well without him, thank you, Kibo says. ``In the last two years, it has steadily become one of the most well-recognized groups on the Net ... in spite of the fact that it's an utter and complete collection of pointless babble.
``If you read alt.religion.kibology for an hour,'' he continues, ``you've wasted a whole week.''
Don't expect to find many religious insights, but for some witty philosophical questions, check out the newsgroup alt.religion.kibology. On an online service such as America Online, keyword or jump to the newsgroup area and subscribe to the group. If you use the Web browser Netscape to check newsgroups, scroll under ``Window'' to ``Netscape News.'' Then, under ``File,'' click on ``Add Newsgroup.''
A complete collection of all Kibo posts can be found at ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/alt.religion.kibology/ - use your Web browser to access and then download the files. Or consider a rather academic explanation of the importance of Kibology at http://www.netropolis.be/dialectrique/docs/myth.html
But for real fun, check out ``Great Moments in Kibology'' at http://www.cinenet.net/faber/kibo.html, a sort-of best-of Kibo. Or http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/a/asdamick/kibo/, a more complete archive of the newsgroup.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB