before teh internets - Remembering the BBS Scene

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kpaulmedia

kpaulmedia

rebmeM roineS
Sep 23, 2008
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da moon
www.kpaulmedia.com
i penned this for the troll hordes at K5 and made it through their story queue back in '05... thought some here might get a kick out of it?

Remembering the BBS Scene || kuro5hin.org

a lot of good to decent comments at the k5 link...

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[FONT=arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 03:41:02 PM EST [/FONT]

 [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif] Ah, those were the days. As now, it was a healthy mix of academics, techies, conspiracy theorists and trolls. Jason Scott has a great website chock full of old BBS textfiles, with no advertising. What does his collection include? Well, it's a lot like K5 if you ask me, but maybe a little more naive. [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]There are some ugly things down in these archives; there are narcissistic ravings from pre-adolescent social misfits. There are calls for anarchy. There's satanism, there's racism, there's all the -isms in the book lurking in the words. But there's hope, too. There's excitement, there's joy, there's every manner of feeling being crammed down into ASCII and posted for the world to find. It's a spectrum of humanity, and this is what I hope you'll find, buried there, among the text. Enjoy. [/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Jason Scott
Proprietor, TEXTFILES.COM[/FONT]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Jason Scott's top 100

 [/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Some of the files in this section go back to 1982 (when the users cried that the death of the BBS was at hand.) Ten years later, though, and they were still around and talking about things like the joy of handles (as in usernames.) [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Some of you may be too young to remember, but before P2P, the BBS world had its own warez underground (Apple Warez site circa 1984.) Also in 1984, you could get textfiles with details of basic telecommunications. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Even better, in 1986, Anarchy Inc. published the B00G and the art of ZEN textfile. What's that, you ask? Well, I have two theories. First, it could be a mistake like invading Iraq instead of Iran because of one letter changing - was a b00g a baby trying to say blog? Ok, no, that's not it. I think it's an early troll attempt at ROR or the !!!11one phenomenon. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Some of the stuff isn't dated, but is still classic, like the drunken rant on being elite in the BBS world. Feh. Like K5, you could find gems on the BBSs. They also had horrible fiction by characters such as Captain Goodnight. Are you lucky enough to remember mr. pez? [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Anarchy Files[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The Anarchy Section contains textfiles on explosives and general mayhem. (Do Not Try This at Home.) It has real Americans making H-Bombs in their basements, a primitive bugmenot.com, and last but not least, the anarchy trolls. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]ASCII Art[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]K5 ASCII reenactment players, wherefore art thou? You would really dig the ASCII section. From pr0n to cows to smileys - textfile creators were really into ASCII art. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]BBS Tech Texts[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The BBS Section has a large collection of textfiles on running a BBS system. Wildcat was a familiar term. The BBS 30 Commandments is kinda interesting. I had to smile at the State of the BBS circa 1986. Heh. You can see Dvorak pre-slashdot. Still relevant today, Voices from the WELL: The Logic of the Virtual Commons. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Computers[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The Computers Section is tech from the trenches in the early days. You could learn about modems, UNIX, copy protection, hard disks, and much more. The geek to non-geek ratio was vastly different in the early days.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]part two... lots of contents. (the messed up thing is that i wrote a lot of unpaid for websites years ago when i was starting out...live, learn, keep going...)
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Conspiracy[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Conspiracy Section is as kooky as the conpiracy theorists of today. The secret concentration camps meme is still going strong today. Going in the other direction, someone transcribed the truth about Mars from 1956. You can go even further back in time with the chronology of secret societies.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Drugs[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]In the [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Drugs Section you can take the LSD Survey and then pass it on to your friends. An official report on MDMA (aka ecstasy) was passed around starting in the late 80s. If you weren't into those types of drugs, you could settle for a beer pizza or learn about the stoner survival kit.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Fiction[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Stories and Fiction Section has a lot of bad writing. And some good writing. Which does A Smart Bomb with a Language Parser belong to? I'll let you decide. Beyond user written fiction, a lot of fable textfiles exist. Garr.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Food[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Food Section has a lot of recipes and articles on food. Hungry? How about Better than Sex Cake? If you're into more primitive methods of getting food, killing chickens might interest you. I'm not sure if this is the real Coke recipe and I'm not sure I would try making it. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Games[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]In the [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Games Section, a lot of the general textfiles seem to be from the 90s. I didn't know the early 80s Atari could be so complicated. I must admit, before textfiles.com, I hadn't given much thought to arcade cheats.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Magazines[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Ah, the glory days of text e-zines in the [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Magazines Section. Yeah, you've probably heard of Phrack, but what about CUD, the Computer Underground Digest? Surely you've heard of HOE. What about TANJ, which started in 1988. And who can forget print zines, the DIY blogs of yesteryear. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Phreaking[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Phreaking Section has stuff on cell phones in 94, a lot of info on various boxes (you know, like what the Apple founders sold out of their garage in the early days.) Is phreaking dead? Whatever the answer, you can still read the history of phreaking and relive the good old days. [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Politics[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Oh, yes, they have a [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Politics Section. And yes, they have an Iraqi menace textfile. Also, Quayle (remember him?), Bush, and a personal favorite of mine, that too often forgotten document, the U.S. Constitution. I'm not sure why, but the name Ingersoll sounds familiar. Anyone? [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]BBS Life Remembered[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Ok, that's enough mindlessness for the moment. There are literally [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]tens of thousands of other files at the textfiles.com website. The Good Old Days of BBSing will be missed. I wouldn't trade it for the world wide web of today, but it's nice sometimes to think back[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]and [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]remember all the events on the BBS timeline.[/FONT]


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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]i wonder sometimes about the age range of wf members. does that make me weird? does remembering bbs make me old??[/FONT]
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Real anarchism is predicated on non-violence.

Anyone who preaches violence as anarchy, is nothing more than a criminal.
 
Hahaha.. I am 34 and used BBSes ..its not that long ago.

old man out

::emp::
 
The first time I saw a naked chick was on old school BBS. My dad had Compuserve, and I took advantage.
 
Im early 20's, but I was on BBS's from a young age.

Got me some sick shareware games.

I remember when we upgraded to a 7800 baud modem and gave our old 2800 to my cousin...

I remember flirting with Violet on L.O.R.

Then I remember getting internet access with ye olde 28.8k modem.

So you don't need to be that old to be remembering this stuff, just have to have been using computers forever haha.
 
I remember having a 14.4k modem on our home computer, windows 3.1, 75mhz Intel. I remember using AOL and it was the slowest POS you could imagine. You'd get bumped off service all the fucking time.

Hell, before that we had a box or two that ran DOS. Anyone remember Commander Keen, Nibbles, Gorillas? We also had some Wolfenstien game too, in order to play it you had look up certain words in the manual (early piracy prevention)
 
old? Well.. the whole ascii thing is still on. The interwebz has some nice scenes. My favorite one was the sitescene so far. I heard about ppl hiding servers in VW busses and other stuff. All of it just for the fun of having free xxx and movies.
 
I was on the old "Clockwork Orange" BBS, based in Long Beach, CA. 4 line WWIV. Nemo and Sid and Nancy.

Yeah, I first connected on an Apple iic with a 2400 baud modem.
 
I used to use KAOS, which was a pretty big one down under.
I remember waiting all day for Eye of the Beholder, finally getting it, and then realising that it didn't support my model Gravis Ultrasound card...

ImagesAndWords said:
Ah yes, I remember logging on to BBS's from my trusty 28k modem.
Click to expand...
ooh, ooh, look at me, I'm Mr.28.8kbs!

REAL men used 1200 BAUD! :D
 
Slowest one that i owned was a 2400 baud. However, I coveted a US Robotics 5400 baud modem, but just could not afford that one. Settled for a Supra Corp 5400 baud - which was cheaper.
 
I like loading up a C64 emulator and looking at all the warez cracking screens and midi music that old time hackers used to make (before the game launch). Shit was pretty cool.
 
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