420 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
420 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
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STARK NAKED
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The Journal of Stark County Telecom
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Brought to you by: The Necropolis BBS
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(216)/966-8970 (3/12/2400 8N1 24 hrs)
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Running Renegade Beta
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Located in North Canton, Ohio
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Sept 1, 1992 : Volume #1, Issue #3
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>> Now Serving Stark County & Summit County <<
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*************************************************************
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[ The Dragon's Lair Goes Back Up: But Exactly Where is It?! ]
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[ Stark Naked Resumes Publication]
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As most all bulletin board'ers in the Stark County area
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have known, the Dragon's Lair BBS was a private board
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all of a sudden one day a couple weeks ago. The reasons
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that led to this decision are now prominantly posted in
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the Computer Discussion Base there, since it is now back
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online for the public. However, users expecting the TDL
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are going to be in for quite a surprise! The BBS is no
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longer called the Dragon's Lair BBS. The name has been
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changed to the Necropolis BBS, which means City of the
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Dead. The change was made because of the juvenile
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sound of the Dragon's Lair, among other reasons.
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(Ed's Note: Those "adults" who still feel that children
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are the only users of the Necropolis BBS should not feel
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bad because they can no longer call it "The Kiddie's
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Lair" -- we realize that it must have taken hours of
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exhaustive creative research to come up with that
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zinger. As you know -- because you are adults and are
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obviously more educated than an upstart like myself --
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-polis means "city." So you may refer to the board as
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the "Kiddie City." Not only does it rhyme, but it gets
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the point across. I just didn't want you to spend too
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much of your precious adult time thinking up a new one.
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Thanks. -- The Sorcerer)
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Changes that brought about the Necropolis BBS include
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the entire re-structuring of the file sigs, echoes from
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AlterNet, Boondocks Net, PODSNet, conference
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re-structure, software support for Apogee Software,
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new ANSI screens, Net Runner v1.02 door, Gang Warfare
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door by Cott Lang, re-structuring of the message bases,
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and other things. Future changes include a 14.4k+ modem,
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possibility of a second node, and more hard drive space.
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The Necropolis has also taken on a rigorous policy of
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mandatory participation. Too many people do too little
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to warrant their use of the board. So as a warning to
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users who think that they can leech off of the
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Necropolis BBS: Think again.
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[ Farewell to Users: Stark County Users Leave for College! ]
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Several users have or will be departing the Stark
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County modem scene for a while. First, Cleopatra is
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leaving for a few months on an extended student tour of
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Europe and the surrounding countries. Raistlin has
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already left for college. Ceasaro will be leaving the
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first couple weeks of September to go to college in
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Berea. Tape God left for Miami U. a few weeks ago.
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Phoebe is leaving 12 September for Ohio University.
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+---------------------------+
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: * A Stark Naked Special * : THE FUTURE OF STARK COUNTY
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: : TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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+---------------------------+ [ Part 1 ]
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As some people are aware, the situation in Stark
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County -- in the way of telecommunications - is very
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grim. So, this issue of Stark Naked will go into
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detail into the Rise and Fall of the Stark County
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Modem Community ... as well as a look at how we can
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improve things in general.
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The first part of this special is an interview with a
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long-standing member of the telecom scene as well as
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self-proclaimed modem "deity." Elminster, a.k.a. the
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Ninja Master, was sysop of House of the Rising Sun BBS
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as well as Forgotten Realm BBS.
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** An Interview with Elminster **
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SN: First, give us a short background of your modeming career here
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in Stark County.
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Elm: Well, I got my modem for Christmas in 86'. 300 baud 1660. Wow.
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:) Anyway, I put up a BBS about oh ... 2 weeks later. I had
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been exposed to modeming before I got my OWN modem. My bbs was
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what I would characterize ANY BBS put up by an inexperiences user:
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It was a rodent BBS. :)
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SN: And this bulletin board was ...
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Elm: The first House of the Rising Sun. My handle was The Ninja Master.
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SN: And then you later went on to 1200 baud, re-opening HRS, and then
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finally came to Forgotten Realm, which was up in the early part
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of 1991.
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Elm: Correct. Forgotten Realms was not just MY board of course. I ran
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it with my fiend (haha) ... er, friend, Nightstalker.
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SN: Now, it isn't really a hidden fact that you are probably one of
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the last remaining modem users that have actually been around for
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a while, save the Lion's Pride and some other people that weren't
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really active ... but were still there. Right?
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Elm: The only people still active who have been around as long as I have,
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or longer, are Muad Dib, Gary Cox of CanCom and ... well, I don't
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know if I should count Chuck Davis! Lets just say, his BBS has been
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around AWHILE.
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SN: Ok ... now moving on to the real point of this conversation ... would
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you say that the quality of modeming in this area has declined in the
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past, oh, four or five years?
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Elm: (shout) YES!
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SN: Hehehe ... could you be more specific?
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Elm: There used to be Oh.... 6 to 8 bbs systems in the area, and 5 of
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them were Quality systems. You could call up every day, and there
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would ALWAYS be new messages. The people were a bit friendlier ...
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and the messages themselves used to be more interesting. People who
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used the modem also has active lives outside the modem community,
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and so had a lot to share on the BBS. Unfortunatly, this trend
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hasn't continued.
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SN: A long-time nemesis of yours but modem veteran in his own respect --
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Tom Olson -- has described the modem community of the past as
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"something special you just can't put your finger on" -- a sort of
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collection of circumstance and events that make it a really cool time
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that just can't ever be duplicated. Do you agree with him that the
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period of time referred to as the Golden Age of Stark Telecom is
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something that just happened and can't be re-lived ... or are there
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certain steps we can take to change the downward trend in the Stark
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County telecom scene?
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Elm: Modems used to be pretty expensive. That used to be GOOD, because
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only a SERIOUS USER would have a modem and would call. Now, MANY
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people have modems ... and most of them are simply interested in
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playing silly games. It's kind of sad. How to FIX the problem? There
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are lots of solutions. Enforcing manditory participation rules,
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creating a sysop's co-op ... it just takes dedicated people, and I
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don't see that anywhere anymore.
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SN: From a user's point of view ... what would you change about user
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behavior on bulletin boards? What should users do to make things
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more like they used to be?
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Elm: POST! Say something. Don't waste the sysop's time, or other user's
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time by just calling and giving nothing back. If the system has a
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UD section, and you want files, it's LAME to sit around and b****
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about the ratio and idiot things like that. Just give something back.
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That's all.
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SN: Some users say that mandatory participation is cruel and unusual!
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They say that if the sysop is in agreement and that if all the users
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want to do is sit around and chat all day, then that's fine and that's
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the way it should be. How do you react to that ideology?
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Elm: The sysop of a BBS has the ultimate say as to what he wants for
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his/her BBS. However, BBS stands for BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM, not
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CHAT BOARD SYSTEM. I guess it's just a matter of choice. Personally,
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i'm not interesting in chatting ALL the time .. although an occasional
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chat with someone interesting doens't seem to bad to me.
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SN: Ok, what bulletin boards around here would you recommend to someone
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first coming into the community ... since as you know, most users
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feel most comfortable with the bulletin board that are "baptized"
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on ...
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Elm: The Necropolis... Amiga Asylum ... that's about it. Most other
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systems either don't have enough to offer, or would, in my opinion,
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"ruin" the user.
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SN: Ok. And lastly -- anything you would like to add?
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Elm: There's one place I WOULDN'T send a new user ... especially
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one under 16.
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SN: I won't even ask! :) Ok, thanks Elminster.
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Future issues of Stark Naked will feature more ways
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to improve on our "condition" as well as the state
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of events.
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[ Is the Government Watching You? A Big Brother Report ]
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This message was recently captured from a Sk8Net echo:
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Date: 08-29<32>92 (16:20) Number: 295 of 306 (Echo)
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To: ALL Refer#: NONE
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From: LORD SHADOWKEEPER Read: HAS REPLIES
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Subj: Big Brother Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
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Conf: HACK-PHREAK (6) Read Type: GENERAL (+)
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From something I picked up on my rounds...
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From : Leonard Church
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To : All
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Subject: Bbs Freedom ][
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As someone involved in the telephone industry on the level of security
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and data integrity... I would like to inform everyone that uses modems
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and/or are bbs operators of some information.
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The first thing that everyone that uses a modem should know is that
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every time you fire up your modem your activating monitoring equipment
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somewhere in the U.S. I have worked for several large telephone
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networks that routinely monitor and reroute modem and fax transmissions
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through devices that allow them to view what is being transmitted and
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even decodes encrypted data and fax packets used by major corporations
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and governmental agencies. This is allowed under the heading of
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"Maintenance Monitoring" and may be continued for up to 6 months without
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the need of any legal paperwork being generated. Under an obscure
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pre-WWII ruling by the agency that is now the FCC... "No information may
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be encoded or transmitted over PUBLIC or PRIVATE forms of telephony or
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radio with the exception of those agencies involved in the National
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Security" a further designation goes on to say "with the exception of
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the MORSE system of 'transmittal', any communication that is not
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interpretable by the human ear is forbidden and unlawful."
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The information gathered goes to 3 seperate database facilities...1 is
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codenamed Diana and is located in Brussels, the 2nd is named Fredrick
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and is located somewhere in Malaysia, the 3rd is named Elizabeth and is
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located in Boulder, Colorado. The information stored in these systems
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is accessable by the US Government, Interpol, Scotland Yard and various
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other such agencies. Your credit rating is also affected by your modem
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usage... if you ever get a copy of your credit history and find a
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listing that has HN06443 <--= this is a negative risk rating. or a code
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87AT4 <---= an even more negative risk rating.... these will usually
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have no description on them... and if you inquire about them they will
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tell you that it just comes from the system that way.
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I am currently working for another major carrier as a consultant and
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have been able to watch these systems operate...at one unnamed long
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distance carrier here in Columbus Ohio in their NCC, Network Control
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Center, you can see several rows of computer terminals which have
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approximately 30 to 40 separate windows in each... these windows have
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data transmissions that are being monitored... banks of 9 track tapes
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are going constantly to record everything. Everyone should realize that
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even if a sysop posts a disclaimer at the beginning of his bbs about no
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access to governmental agencies or law enforcement...that it isn't worth
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the time it takes to type it in... looking forward to hearing reactions
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to this.
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[ A Paler Shade of Humanity: An Editorial by the Sorcerer ]
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An old joke that used to circulate around the Stark area
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telecom scene was supposedly originated by the Prophet.
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The joke was, "Why would it be impossible for Jesus to
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be born in the Stark County telecom community? A:
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Because you wouldn't be able to find three wise men or a
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virgin."
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Now I'm not too positive about the virgin part, but it
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has become increasingly obvious over the past couple of
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months that the wise men part is. As you probably are
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aware, the publication of this newsletter led to my
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deletion from the Canton Connection BBS. And for some
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odd reason, that deletion was accompanied by a sort of
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backstabbing from someone who I considered a "modem
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friend," Ramsey. This was all very mysterious to me
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and it all struck me as rather odd. I tried calling
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Ramsey, but she insisted that she had nothing more
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to say to me. Why? I have no idea.
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After a while, this no longer bothered me because I
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really could do without Canton Connection and I
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suppose that anyone that treated me the way Ramsey did
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was certainly no friend at all. I assumed that Ramsey,
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being an adult, would handle things that way. I was
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wrong.
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About a week ago, I was told by several people from CC
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that Ramsey has been spreading numerous lies about me
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through chat. And the worst part was that people
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actually believed her!
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I decided to call her up again and ask her why she was
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doing this sort of thing. My answer: a stonewall. This
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is an excerpt from the conversation that pretty much
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sums up the entire thing. It is really quite amusing
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in a way. The same critics that refer to me as a child
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seem to be acting quite infantile.
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Me: I'm confused why you're so upset with me in the first
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place.
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Ra: Frankly, Ryan, I really don't care.
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Me: You don't care that I'm confused?
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Ra: Nope.
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Me: Wouldn't you like to set the record straight?
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Ra: Nope.
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Me: So, what you're saying, is you'd rather talk behind
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my back without giving me a chance to give my side
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of the story.
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Ra: You have a side?
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As you can see, it was totally impossible to even try
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to reason with Ramsey. And as you also know, I have
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found it utterly impossible to even talk to Larry. It
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appears to me that these people are acting incredibly
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immature.
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So let me say this to ANYONE that is told ANYTHING by
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Ramsey, or Larry, or really anyone else: here is the
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lithmus test to prove validity. Here is how you can
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tell if what they say is true. I am always prepared to
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talk to ANYONE about what they say. However, the other
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party will NOT. For instance, I know what Ramsey has
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been saying about me. And at any time, I will talk to
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them openly -- on the phone, via chat, in person ..
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whatever -- about it. Of course, they will not. And
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why won't they? Because they know that they are wrong.
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The next time they tell you something regarding me,
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ask them to say it in a forum where I can respond.
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Ramsey and Larry both have full access to my system
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whenever they want to give their side of the story. I
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do not have that luxury with Canton Connection, for
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obvious reasons.
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[ Short Takes: News, Rumors, Hints, Gossip, Overheard .... ]
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... A NEW release of TradeWars 200X is scheduled for
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this fall! Registered sysops do NOT receive a new
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copy of TW. No further information was available
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about the new release, by Gary Martin.
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... As callers of Arrakis BBS already know, this board
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is now carrying echo bases! As part of a C-Net
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echo base exchange, Arrakis is carrying a number
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of echoes! The number is (216) 833-6159.
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... For those of you wondering what happened to
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Seraglio BBS, it was temporarily closed because
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the sysop moved. It should be resuming operation
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soon.
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... A football pool is beginning on the Necropolis
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BBS! Get involved to win prizes. The football
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pool is part of a new sports conference that
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also has a Sports Echo.
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----------------------------------------------------------------
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Stark Naked claims no legal responsibility for anything contained
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within it. It is published as an informative newsletter for users
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of the Stark and Summit County telecom community.
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If you would like to become a distribution site for Stark Naked,
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contact the Sorcerer through a New User Msg at the Necropolis
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BBS. The number is (216) 966-8970.
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If you would like to become a reporter for Stark Naked, please
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get in touch with the Sorcerer as soon as possible.
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