IS the Internet the plaything of the Devil? Britain's second highest-ranking churchman is worried that it may be. Dr John Hapgood, the Archbishop of York, has warned of the 'devilish' potential of the international computer network. He fears it could usher in 'a nightmare society' of 'a lot of self-centred individuals concerned only with their own fulfilment, sitting all day in front of their computer or television screens, and soaking their minds in increasingly violent and obscene entertainment'. If Dr Hapgood is worried, some of his peers seem more relaxed. The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury are both on the Internet, and have e-mail addresses. THERE was a time in America when soap operas, filled with sun-tanned models acting out endless stories of flirting by a beach where nobody is over 30, were to be found only in the backwaters of daytime television. That time seems to have passed. Nowadays, for the price of a local phone call anywhere in the world, you can click your way into a nirvana of Californian sun. The Spot is the scene of the world's first interactive soap opera and it can be found at the e-mail address: http://www.thespot.com . To 'party' at The Spot, which is a virtual reality beach-house in Santa Monica, you need a computer and access to the Internet but very little understanding of either. This is no doubt one reason for its phenomenal success. This mix of comic strip and electronic bulletin-board has won a cult following since its introduction nine weeks ago. With more than 60,000 'visitors' a day, it is one of the most popular addresses on the easy-to-surf region of the Internet known as the World Wide Web. Its creators think they have found a lure powerful enough to attract major advertisers as well as computer users who call in from over the Internet to find out more about the characters, to delve into the diaries which each of them keeps - and even to have a look inside the female characters' wardrobes. On a recent typical day, The Spot was one of the busiest sites on the system, with over half a million 'server requests'. Russ Collins, head of the Los Angeles advertising agency underwriting The Spot, has no doubts about its potential. 'He who learns successfully to advertise on the Internet, rules the world,' he says. 'And people here recognise that we've broken the code.' SPORTS fans are fascinated by statistics, and as the English soccer season kicked off, so did Net providers of information. There are even sites devoted to top clubs such as Blackburn Rovers and Everton, and a West Ham site operated by an enthusiast who lives in San Francisco. On a recent visit to the Chelsea King of Clubs site, however, the Financial Times reported that it had not been updated for eight weeks while the Eric Cantona home page flashed up a message 'unable to locate', which may or may not have said something about the whereabouts of Manchester United's French star. For the statistics, the best place to go appears to be the SportsStat page ( www.islandnet.com/agcur/ soccer1,html) - and there is an overall guide to soccer web sites ( www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/sports/ webs.html) if you want to find the ultimate trivia - sites devoted entirely to non-league results stretching back to the 1950s. FEELING sad and lonely? Naturally, the Internet has come up with an instant solution. A firm called Intergreetings, based in London, has launched an online service for animated greeting messages sent by e-mail. Running over the Microsoft network, launched with Windows 95 on Thursday, it offers a choice from 20 'animails', including a cartoon character that throws a custard pie or a popping champagne bottle. You add your own message at prices that drop the more you send. IF you want to blow off steam, or just tell politicians, stores or airlines what you think of them, an American graduate student has developed an automatic complaints letter generator to be used on the Internet or in any other form you pick. Call up the service ( http://www-csag.es.uiue.edu/individual/pakin/ complaint) then enter the name of the person you want to complain about, add some details about what annoyed you - and the system puts together an angry message from its database. Newsweek magazine found the messages quite to the point. A complaint about Bill Clinton read: 'It's liberals like him that undermine the current world order.' One on the US House of Representative speaker, Newt Gingrich, declared: 'He is not just abominable, he's vengeful too.' TOP 10 anagrams for the 'information superhighway', according to The New York Times: 10. Enormous, hairy pig with fan - 9. Hey, ignoramus - win profit? Ha! - 8. Oh-oh, writing snafu; empty air - 7. When forming, utopia's hairy - 6. A rough whimper of insanity - 5. Oh, wormy infuriating phase - 4. Inspire humanity, who go far - 3. Waiting for any promise, huh? - 2. Hi-ho! Yow! I'm surfing Arpanet! - And the winner: New uptopia? Horrifying sham. Each Sunday this column brings news from and about the Internet. We welcome your messages and views at the Post's address: scmplet
