146 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
146 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
Leeched from...
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THE POLKA AE/cDc 806/794-4362 pwrd:KILL
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______________________________________________________________________________
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_________________
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\ \ * a \
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\ \ t - g \ _______________________
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\ \ h f e \ |\ ___________________ /|
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\ \ e y n \ | | | |
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_\ \ t d \_____| | Byte Bastards BBS | |
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/| \ \ e a \ | | (201) 697-7001 | |
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| | \ \ r \ | |___________________| |
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| | \ \________________\ |/_____________________\|
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| | \|________________| |
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| | _ |
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| | An Analysis by |he Ramsacker |
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| | October 7, 1991 |
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| |___________________________________|
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|/____________________________________/
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______________________________________________________________________________
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Yes folks, you have just witnessed the cheeziest textfile intro design
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ever conjured up in G-phile history.
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______________________________________________________________________________
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A couple years ago in 1989 when life was simple and I was just a "c0dez
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d00d", I chanced upon calling a BBS called Third Planet in 516, the official
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Star League headquarters. It must have been around 2:00 AM my time (West
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Coast) when I was logging in new and the sysop broke in to chat. Being a
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typical c0dez d00d, I immediately dropped carrier...no actually I thought I'd
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humor the sysop and see what the hell he was doing up at 5:00 AM his time. He
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told me he had been working on the system and must have fell asleep in his
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chair (comfortable chair). Curious about this entire Star League concept that
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I had come into limited contact with from time to time and wanting to know
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more, I began asking the sysop questions about it. He proceeded to tell me, as
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best as my recollection allows, the following, (which is my summary of what I
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remember him telling me):
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The Star League concept was born out of the frustration of
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calling different BBS' across the country only to encounter endless
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rag wars and egotistical competition amongst pirates. The pirate
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world was supposed to be a united community, dedicated to getting
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new wares out to everyone instead of embroiling the release of
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them into a overly-competitive rat race where every group was trying
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to undermine and out-do the other. The idea behind the League was
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to promote cooperation between different pirates and groups and to
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provide a haven for those people who were alienated by all the
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hostility they encountered. Those pirates and groups allied under
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the Star League banner would cooperate in cracking and distributing
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wares rather than compete for all the glory. After all, the pirate
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world was founded on the concept of hackers cooperating to achieve
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a common goal, and it was supposed to be fun.
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The Star League member structure was based upon a hierarchy.
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There were different levels and ranks assigned to persons based on
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their accomplishments and contributions to the pirate community at
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large. Methods of increasing your ranking within the hierarchy
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included cracking wares, distributing wares, or being an outstanding
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contributor to different Star League bases in the way of uploading
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and posting messages. Those aligned with the Star League called
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themselves "*-fyters" and usually accompanied their handles with
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this label.
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Rylos, the sysop of Third Planet and founder of the Star League, was a
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school teacher (of what grade level, either he didn't tell me or I forgot).
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Keeping this in mind, when one ponders it, everything about the Star League was
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like being in grade school; you were always taught to be kind and sharing to
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your fellow students...the same principals that Rylos adopted and applied to
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the Apple pirate world as the basis for the Star League. He wanted to promote
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sharing and kindness amongst pirates to try and bring order to the chaos of the
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Apple pirate world, but he didn't totally succeed.
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There are several reasons why the Star League concept never became as
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widespread and successful as Rylos would have desired. First of all, it was a
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utopian idea, and utopias don't always work the way you expect them to.
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Secondly, a lot of the members of the Star League were, plain and simple,
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geeks. They were mostly those dreadful Christmas modemers. You know, those 14
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year olds that get a Volksmodem from Mom and Pop on the 25th of December (or
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The Chanukah Modemers for the Jewish amongst you). Lastly, and most important
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of all, the Apple pirate community was an anarchy, and it was therefore a
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paradox and an impossibility to try and govern it. Most everyone involved was
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in it for THEIR own reasons, whether to get wares, to show off ones talent in
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cracking wares, to simply rag on others because of inferiority complexes in
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real life, or whatever. To survive you had to be able to hold your own. Those
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who couldn't joined the Star League. In all fairness, the Star League
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federation never had the talent it needed to advance its ideals. Who would
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want to be governed by an organization that encouraged "niceness" when you
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could start your own group and dominate the Apple ][ pirate world with a
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cracking empire? Simply the fact that it is a given that most people who
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became heavily involved in the pirate community had large egos, its not very
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likely that any one person would be able to get everyone to submit to one
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solitary confederacy.
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Although I never read the book, I do know enough about the story to say
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that Rylos had a "Catch 22" idea in mind. He wanted to see if he could
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successfully create a federation of persons dedicated to the ideals that he
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laid out for them, that of cooperating to achieve a common goal, the common
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goal being the cracking and distribution of wares. Based upon the fact that
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the only contribution from the Star League that I am aware of is an Edu-ware
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called Planetary Construction Set, I wouldn't call Rylos' experiment a very
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successful one, although I can see how an older person, especially a school
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teacher, would be fascinated with the experience. But because of the reasons I
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have pointed out above, the idea was doomed from the start. I personally don't
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believe the idea could have ever worked.
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I don't know if the Star League still exists. The Byte Bastards used
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to be aligned with them, but quit soon after I joined the group, and that's the
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last major contact I came into with the Star League. If you think you'd still
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like to try calling a Star League BBS, here's the number for Third Planet:
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(516) 361-6744. I don't know if it is up any longer so call at your own
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discretion.
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______________________________________________________________________________
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Thanks to Guns-N-Roses and The Moody Blues for kindly playing on my
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dilapidated Sears stereo while I typed this file (even though I wasn't a fan, I
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bought Use Your Illusion I & II anyway and found them to be pretty good
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listening). Thanks also go out to my Penis for being there when I needed it.
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Ok, on to...
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THE END
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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You'd think the American Government would get a clue from the events
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going on in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and leave our rights alone.
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But they're fucked in the head and think they have the right to control us.
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Well, they'll soon discover that they can't take away rights they never owned
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in the first place.
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The Ramsacker
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October 7, 1991
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2:51 PM
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______________________________________________________________________________
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