155 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
155 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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The Modem Life. Is it Really Worth it?
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======================================
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Written by The Nomad, for
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all BBS's that wish it.
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Note/Warning: The author of this file will go detailed into his life. He
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============ will explain his feelings quite openly. If you are not mature
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enought to handle what the author is going to say and wish to insult him for
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his beliefs, I suggest you read no further.
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Well another typical day in the modem world. Doesn't it just make you want to
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throwup all over the keyboard? Recently I thought I would call the numbers on
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the Megaterm 3.0 Famous Systems phone book. I thought that these would be the
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"Top of the line" BBS's. As the Mega- term began to dial with Safehouse I
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kicked back and watched. Busy. Not suprising. It then proceeded to dial other
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BBS's, most of which I never have heard of. After about two more tries the
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program started to freeze. Not sure what was going on I picked up the phone
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only to hear the recording "We're sorry but the number you have dialed has been
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disconnected or is no longer in service...". I then hit [U] to unmark the
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number and continue the Megaterm dialing. Not too worried that that board was
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down the Megaterm continued to dail as I again kicked back and watched. The
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very next number that was opening message and the prompt for my password or
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'NEW'. Being a new user I typed 'NEW'. To my displeasement the system told me
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it was a private BBS that allowed no new users and hung me up. Very displeased
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I kicked back in my chair and started to listen a little closer to the TV in the
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other room as the Megaterm began to start dialing again. After two more welcome
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busy signals the Megaterm started to flip from 'Click' to 'Busy' and back and
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forth. Confused, I picked up the phone and again heard that dreadfull recording
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"Were sorry...". Very uneasy I pressed [U] to unmark the number. After a small
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welcome string of busy signals I got a ring. The phone was answered and a
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carrier was sent. The Megaterm then connected for me only to find that it was a
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Pixboard. Very pleased (I love pixboards!) I called back and loaded up Pixterm.
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Once conne- cted, pleased to see some nice graphics in the opening message I
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then typed in 'NEW'. Only to find out that a $10 validation fee was required to
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access ANYTHING but the main menu and [M]ess- age to SysOp. After messing
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around for a few minutes I got bored and typed "OFF" to leave the system. I
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then returned to Megaterm and it continued to dial. After another busy signal
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the numbers sequence started over. And I got a ring, before I knew it,the
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words:
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THE SAFEHOUSE MEGANET - PORT #02
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"WHERE YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME!"
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were printed across the screen, me being a regular caller to the board entered
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my name and password only then to be logged off due to the fact the that port
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was being reserved for a level 5 user. Very discouraged and then realizing that
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some day, The Safehouse would die too such as others favorate systems like
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Sherwood Forest II, The Outpost, The World of Cryton, and Sherwood Forest ///.
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I then quitely went to bed.
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[Extra Note: No offense Safehouse Manager]
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A day or two later I decided to give a few of the local boards a call, only to
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find that the most active sub-boards around were abuse! After reading a dozen
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or so messages I came across a message that was insulting my personal favorite
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BBS, The Digital Dimension, on-line since Aug. 1983, a VERY nice system. The
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post was saying how bad the board was because the SysOp wouldn't give him high
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access, and never answer- ed [F]eedback, or [C]hats. I was pretty upset, the
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SysOp is a personal friend so I naturally [P]osted about the matter and
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explained how he is a very busy person and tries to do as much as he can, after
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all there are over 750 users! Feeling satisfied I logged off and observed a few
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other local boards only to find more abuse, hatred, and destruction. I then
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decided I would go outside and get some fresh air and live a nornal life, after
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all I don't want to take the image of a 'computer freak'. A day later, very
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concerned, I again auto-dialed to same board with Matthew Dornquast's beloved
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Megaterm. After about a half an hour of dialing I heard the computer in the
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other room signal that a ring was detected. I came in the room and went through
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the logon procedures and went staight to the abuse board to find about 10 new
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mess- gaes after mine! I began to read them; more of the same hatred. I then
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came to a post about 4 after mine by the person that I posted about. He told me
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off and posted my number. I was very uneasy, I have never heard of the guy
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before and he posted my number! Not sure to post or not I sat there for a
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minute and said why not. Not bothering to read the other new messages I
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[P]osted. I then told him how everyone had their own right to say what they
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want and that posting number solved nothing. Of course later that week, for
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about three days I received prank calls, I would pick up the phone with an
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"Hello?" Nothing. He would just sit there, hoping that I would get upset with
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his deed. This will make him happy. I then started to tell him how much of a
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man he was by prank calling, he was proba- bly expecting to here "We have a
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trace on our line blah blah blah!" I then hung up. He never called back. Later
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on that day my very good SysOp friend of The Digital Dimension called me. He
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started to explain how he was told earier today that he was going to be moving
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at the end of this school year. He then asked me very seriously 'Bryan, will
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you please run a copy of the board in Houston while I take a copy to Iowa.' I
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thought long and hard, being a SysOp required alot of work, time, and devotion.
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A whole lot. I agreed. Many things were now needed to be done. Now relizing
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that I didn't have the hard- ware to support the system, that week- ened I
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started a buying spree. I first bought my Sider 10 Megabyte hard drive, $695.
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Then bought a Thunderclock, another $110. I of course needed a firmware chip
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for my cat, $30. And so my computer won't overheat, a System Saver, $70. I
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then relized that I would need my own phone line so I called the phone company
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and got it installed, $120. Relizing how many callers I would loose if the
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number changed, I would have to pay an additional $60 to get the same number,
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713/497-4633 but that will have to wait 'till he moves. After realizing I just
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spent over a thousand dollars just to get the board started I began to get use
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to the software. It was a home brew. Nevertheless, a very nice one. I started
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to write new "mods" and features for the board. I only had a print out of the
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board then so the SysOp could get his software copyright- ed. Knowing that in
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order to keep the high quality of the system it would require many long nights
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over the key- board, more night then ever before. Typing... thinking...
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working... programming. After showing the SysOp my progress, he was quite
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pleased. I rewrote many functions. Many features were now more efficient and
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faster then before. I also started the begining of our soon to be enormous
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[L]ibrary on our new 'baby' the 10 Meg Sider.
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After a month or so, with the same old BBS abuse and programming, I took a
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look at all the work I had done. Over 200 files in the [L]ibrary so far, many
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new features which have never appeared on a board in the U.S. (to my known-
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ledge) have been thought up, organized, and programmed. I then thought, when I
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take the board over I will be the victim all this major abuse on these other
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boards. What an honor. God, what an honor! I then began to wonder, why, why
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does everyone abuse everyone else so much? Are they insecure? Are they really
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that upset? Are they just blow- ing off a little steam? Do they enjoy making
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enemies? Do they feel superior to insult others? I don't know. I really don't
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know. I myself like to make friends. Not only just friends that I will talk to
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on the phone, but ones that come over on weekeneds, go out partying on Friday
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nights, play sports, and just about anything else a true friend does. Without
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knowing that I went to the same school as Shadow's Pawn for almost a year I meet
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him at the SysOps house and am now good friends with him. Despite the fact that
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I am two years older then him, he is on the football team, I am in band and
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enjoy playing the trumpet, and we had almost no common interests became good
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friends because of similar intrests, the computer. But I still came back to the
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same question "Why do they abuse?" Why? Life is bad enough as it is, and then
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there are the feds who are after all us pirates, phreakers, and hackers. Who
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needs more enemies? While we can all be helping each other the "good old"
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traditional computer activi- ties like helping others get up to date "wares",
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even if they have a Networker modem and not that "excepted" Apple- cat? I
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remember back when I first got my modem. I couldn't remember one abuse board.
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Not one. Then suddenly one by one, slowly but surely, they started comming up
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with the demand of them due to the large amount of hartred from two users. Now,
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the abuse board is just as common as the public board. Why? Why? Then
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somewhere, some one person had an grand idea. The same thing that happen- ed
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over two hundered years ago. This genious said, that order in the modem society
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is a must and some form of goverment must be formed. Thus came Tele-Trial, with
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this new concept came new constitutions, new sub-boards, and an increasement of
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tele-conferencing phreaking. The constitutions would set the laws of the BBS.
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The sub-boards would provide a special meeting place for matters of the
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tele-trial and the tele-conference for the often called "court room" for the
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trial of the def- endent. This system worked in many places. Punishments were
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often deletion from that board or even to the great extent of credit card
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infomation being released, and abused. But for many, deleting ones password
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would not keep them off the system. They would just call back with a new handle
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and abuse more people till he was deleted again. And the process goes on and
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on. Believe me, I have seen it happen. So I came to the conclusion that this
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method is not full proof. I then came apon a crazy idea of mine. Not so sure
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of myself I begin my think more indepth. One hope for me remained, and I then
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walked to my computer, put in Apple Writer and began to type. Now, I have
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completed my work. My task is finished at this moment of Sunday May 26 1985 at
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12:55 in the morning. I thank you for you time and am sorry for any and all
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errors.
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Sincerely,
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