gemini - kennedy.gemi.dev

💾 Archived View for clemat.is › saccophore › library › ezines › textfiles › ezines › NWR › nwr22.txt captured on 2022-01-08 at 16:49:33.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Netmonkey Weekly Report
Issue XXII
November 3rd, 1998

g#S$ d. ____ ascii by garflozzy
____ $$: -- ,$b ----- $$ ___
$$$s __ :$l

,$$.`$ :$$._l$:
,s#S$$: $$"�$b.`�$i $$ ',$'�$,`$ l$$T$$._
--------- l$$$$ :$l b,`Y$,`l l$.d$P . �$,` $l" $$�T$S#g._ -----------
��������� :$$$$l l$: $b.`Y$, :$$' d$b �$,d$: :$l ,.`"�T$S# ���������
$$$$: $$ :$$. Y$.s$

d$$b '$$l l$: l

.d$'
$$$$. $$ l$$$. $$Sl

d$$$b '$$: :$l .'.d$'
$$$l :$l $$$l l$::P :$$$$b.`$l l$: ~~~~~~~
------------------ l$: ------- :$l.' ---------- `: ;$l ---------------------
$$ ������� .l$ :: ~~~~
� $S#s,$$ :::
``^"�Y$$
`Y$ [ n ] ETMONKEY [ W ] EEKLY [ R ] EPORT

Hrmm... Lester hates me this week, and didn't give me any
material, so i guess i will have to do the intros..

Well... It was both a happy week, and a sad week for us
here at NWR.. Happy in that there were no sites narked this
week, and things seemed to go along pretty smoothly..
Sad in that we have some things that we think you should
read. (most of you have already, as this file has been DCC'd
around quite a bit from what i hear..)
The file is called "rts-pft.txt", and details the presence
AND use of pftp by some well-respected members of the scene..
So.. before you jump to conclusions, i would encourage
you to read what we have to say on the matter, and then think
about for yourselves....

On a bit of a happier note, PaleDeth is back with some more
of his weird stuff, and SJ has an awesome feature on todays utils
scene... Duranged: thanks for the weektops..
And look!!! We have a logo!! Guess who owns??

Enjoy the issue!!

ndetroit [Co-Editor/Head Fatass]

-----------[ index ]-----------

I.) Intro
a) Lester
b) ndetroit

II.) Stats - Weekly Stats, and comments on Sites.
III.) JAYDEE'S (UN?)Biased Courier Report

IV.) Articles
a) More PaleDeth Wackyness - PaleDeth
b) Movie Review - Lester Masturbates!
c) Utils Scene Expose - Silent Joe
d) RTS: PFTP Scandal and Commentary - ndetroit
e) Regarding PFTP - ndetroit

V.) Scene News - All the news thats fit to print

VI.) Rumors!

VII.) Closing

-----------[ ndetroit's sites and stats section ]-----------

Yay!
Another week with no narkings!! hooray!

So.. shit was nice and quiet this week..
Release groups were releasing.. traders were trading...
Sites were staying up..

ET seems to be doing well again, and Devotion took
most of the top spots on it, so.. congrats to them!
LA, HOL, and E were supported nicely by the magically
rejeuvinated RiSC... good job!
Even VGN managed to take care of STH... so...
go figure!!
And DMS... they.. uhhh... does DMS have any sites??

I don't really have much to say this week, other than
the new site on the list is Duranged's Awesome Cable Site..
I am currently leeching from there at an 31337 15k/s, and
all i have to say is: It owns you all..

So... good job duranged on your phearsome site.. keep
up the good work, and you will surely be in the top row next week..

=--------------------------------------------------------------------------=
Sites are rated on a 3X and 2X scale.. if you want to know why we
do it that way, read an old issue. Couriers get 10 points per site they get
#1 on, 9 points for 2nd place, 8 points for 3rd, etc, etc.
Sites are rated by us. If you don't like the ratings, then....
heh... fuck off and die..
=--------------------------------------------------------------------------=

The Top Ten sites for this week are:

x3 STH -*- FS -*- MW -*- ET -*- HOL
x2 LA -*- E -*- RDX -*- DLS -*- DUR

---=NETMONKEY COURiER REPORT=---

trader group STH *FS MW ET HOL LA E RDX DLS pts pos
---------------------------------------------------------------
garoto DEV 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 0 157 [1]
tc VGN 1 0 5 1 3 3 0 0 1 135 [2]
officedog RiSC 10 0 2 0 6 2 3 3 0 95 [3]
easy ESP 6 0 4 0 5 0 0 4 5 80 [4]
kruzin RiSC 0 0 10 5 4 0 6 8 6 68 [5]
mrpumpkin DMS 3 0 8 0 10 0 5 0 2 66 [6]
bender RiSC 0 0 0 0 1 6 4 0 0 54 [7]
aldog RiSC 0 0 6 0 7 0 2 0 0 45 [8]
darkwolf VGN 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 31 [9]
leddy DEV 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 24 [10]

* = no weektop this week.

=--------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

-----------[ Jaydee's Biased Courier Section ]-----------

Ok Folks, This is a newer and improved version of the weekly
couriergroup report. This time I had an assistant helping me with
some comments! (well 1.5)

Here it is!:

VENGEANCE
<Jaydee> VGN
<morbid-> ok
<morbid-> that darkwolf dude only seems to support sth
<morbid-> fxp whore
<morbid-> ok lets say vgn had an okay week on sth their whq
<morbid-> but on other sites avarage cause that fxp whore
darkwolf
<Jaydee> ok
<Jaydee> And tc owned everywhere else
<Jaydee> with top5 positions
<Jaydee> their only real trader is tc
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> tc nigger is ok
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> only tc trade on all sites
<morbid-> + darkwolf on sth
<morbid-> and lethal
<morbid-> that did something but not alot!

RiSE OF SUPERiOUR COURiERiNG (with the l33t i�S)
<Jaydee> Now risc
<morbid-> lemme check up on risc
<morbid-> risc=officedog+his demon pre's
<Jaydee> Officegod made weektop cause of that ibm visual
Age thing
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> officedog was mostly pre's
<morbid-> and aldog that did some bytes
<Jaydee> Kruzin traded I guess
<morbid-> aldog and kruzin was like,
<morbid-> or they did like shit, or they were here on big releases
<morbid-> ok say like officedog with his pre's
<morbid-> and aldog and kruzin did some part time couriering
<morbid-> and because it's biased
<morbid-> say they were this week nothing again
<morbid-> :P
<Jaydee> yep!
<Jaydee> and Eternal is a narq and a fuckhead
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> eternal sucks dick
<Jaydee> ok
<morbid-> <gollie> Eternal is like your mother, AN ASS

Dimension
<Jaydee> now dms!
<morbid-> lemme check dms
<morbid-> stix=pre
<morbid-> mgd= fs only, don't do sth, only pre
<Jaydee> mrp
<morbid-> mrpumpkin was okay i guess
<Jaydee> and some small trading
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> no real traders
<morbid-> just prewh0red to top 10
<morbid-> dunno about mrp
<Jaydee> lotsa MFD pre�s I guess
<morbid-> ok
<morbid-> good
<Jaydee> so he did MFD to STH
<Jaydee> and some small couriering
<morbid-> ok
<Jaydee> 94 megs traded to FS
<Jaydee> I think
<Jaydee> good enough
<morbid-> yea ok
<morbid-> mrpumpkin as trader
<morbid-> the rest as prewhores

Royal Couriers
<Jaydee> Ok RC
<Jaydee> I have a quick note
<morbid-> rc those finish whores
<Jaydee> sirbubu
<Jaydee> made weektop on FS
<morbid-> sirbubu
<Jaydee> cause he filled a game or 2
<morbid-> yea
<Jaydee> when it was back from lagg
<morbid-> filled ? haha
<morbid-> i was wondering why he was that high :)

Esprit
<Jaydee> Esprit
<morbid-> that il whore (Easy)
<morbid-> and cujo
<morbid-> that did some trading
<morbid-> their best week yet i think
<Jaydee> they trade
<Jaydee> but I think proxy
<morbid-> i see them as fxp
<morbid-> proxy
<Jaydee> ok!
<morbid-> not real good traders there
<morbid-> but they had an okay week with proxy

Millennium
<Jaydee> MNM=sacX only, in my eyes dead
<morbid-> mnm=dead
<Jaydee> good then
<morbid-> mossy = retired
<morbid-> dunno about roller
<morbid-> that was mnm

AMBITION
<Jaydee> AMB
<Jaydee> they got new dude
<Jaydee> wishmaster
<morbid-> wishmaster
<Jaydee> doing some part time trading
<morbid-> he's fxp
<morbid-> or some other trading tool
<morbid-> not a real screen trader
<morbid-> but i guess he traded some for them
<Jaydee> Rivendell did good on some sites.
<morbid-> for the rest
<morbid-> they seem dead
<morbid-> darkman did nothing
<Jaydee> yeah
<Jaydee> thats about it

DEVOTION
<morbid-> Now dev
<Jaydee> ok
<Jaydee> lets see
<Jaydee> Overall #1
<Jaydee> Garoto owned as usuall
<morbid-> yea
<morbid-> garoto
<morbid-> owned
<Jaydee> MrSandman pre�d
<morbid-> yes
<morbid-> mrs pre
<Jaydee> Slammar and Allanon did part time trading
<morbid-> jaydeewh0rebitchmotherfucker pre
<morbid-> ;P
<Jaydee> hehehe
<morbid-> slammer and allanon did both a real small bit trading

Angel Of Drugs
<Jaydee> AOD next
<Jaydee> what can you say ?
<morbid-> hmm
<morbid-> aod had shell problems
<morbid-> we didn't had shells up for like 5/7 days
<morbid-> fain left aod
<morbid-> god sakes
<morbid-> we finally got rid of him :P
<Jaydee> ok
<Jaydee> Everyone know he is a mayor grouphopper anyways
<Jaydee> One of the reasons he couldnt be devotion
<morbid-> <gollie> fain is a crying bitch asking me for hardware
all the time ;((
<morbid-> tell
<morbid-> shell probs
<morbid-> and nightsky pre'd his way up
<Jaydee> yep
<morbid-> for the rest nothing much
<morbid-> i have to be honest :(
<morbid-> we only use drugs and drink all day long
<Jaydee> Understood Boss

Ok, here is the sad but true story about the couriering scene
this last week. And what I could understand all of AOD is on
rehab to get rid of their problems with drugs and alcohol.

=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

-----------[ Articles ]-----------

--------------------[PaleDeth Returns!]----------------------

Uhh... heh.. ok... so he's back, everyone!! thats right..
Yes... he was so wacky and zany last week, he has written us
some more.. uhhh... "stuff"... ermm.. heh.. yeah...

This week PD comes at you with a little "Y+M" style quiz..
uhh.. i mean... it WOULD be "Y+M" style... if either of us
READ Y+M.... which we don't...
Y+M? what is that?? i only read MAXIM... no.. thats not my
copy of Y+M opened up the "Most Embarassing Thing I've Ever
Done" page!! fuck off!!!

-editors

Hi, this is Pale and his new couriers quiz er thingie.
Just answer thruthfully and no one will get hurt!

ok lets get it on.

--1-- You have just joined a release group (just to get pres of
course...after all, you ARE a courier) and tonight they will
release a whole bunch of big juicy appz for you to pre.
At the same time a boy/girl ask you to go out with him/her...
what do you do?

A. I stay at my computer and pre like a mf, i can get a
boy/girl on the net.

B. I go out on that date (maybe i get lucky) and hope he/she
has a puter at home so you can pre from there.

C. I will do neither, i will stay home and watch tv with
mom and dad.

D. Whats a pre?

--2-- The feds have confiscated your computer cuz they belive you
might have been doing bad things with it.. what will you do
about it?

A. I will raise hell and phone them feds every 5 minutes
telling them to give my puter back cuz i need to pre some.

B. I'll just get my backup puter that i have hidden in my
closet in case the feds come by.

C. I wont do a thing, i dont really need my computer, i
can watch tv instead.

D. Whats a computer?

--3-- You just got on a pretty phat site, but you notice that 50% of the
couriers are cheating in one way or another, what do you do?

A. I get fucking pissed off and immediatly inform the siteop so
he can deal with the trash.

B. I tell the siteop politely to remove the cheaters or myself..
up to him.

C. I start cheating myself, since everyone else id doing it..
why not me?

D. Whats a site?

--4-- You are asked by Paradigm Class and Divine to pre for them, but
they tell you that you only can pre for one of the groups, what
do you do?

A. I go behind their backs and pre for all 3.

B. I pic the one wich is best at the moment.

C. They all suck so i try to narq on them as much as i can.

D. Whats a Paradigm Class and Divine? Ice cream?

--5-- A good friend of your's asks you if you want to start a new
courier group with him (not a crappy 5 min to make group that
dies after 1 week) what do you do?

A. You tell him that you'd love to but that you are too loyal
to leave the group you are with now so you have to denie.

B. You like the idea and since you dont have anything else
to do you say yes.

C. You tell him that you will do it if he supplies you with
shells and pres.

D. Whats a courier?

--6-- You are confronted by a very angry courier who says you are
cheating and he is going to get the siteop to get you removed,
what do you do?

A. I will myself contact the siteop and tell him what that
courier has been saying, and since i dont cheat im not
really worried.

B. I will get pissed and start yelling at him and see to it
that hes the one who will be removed.

C. I will try to make the siteop delete all logs so that no
one will see that i cheated.

D. What time is it?

Did you have most A's? if so you are damn good courier and a loyal
member of a very lucky group. (if you got this you were probably
cheating)

Did you have most B's? if so you are a good courier but you need to
chill down. (Most couriers got this i suspect)

Did you get most C's? if so you are a disgrase to the whole courier
community and should be banned from all sites and all groups.
(i'm ashamed to be a courier when guys like this run around)

Did you get most D's? if so.. how did you get this mag in the first
place?

End of quiz.. now wasnt that fun? //PaleDeth

We have bugged several appartments with hidden microphones, all
are located in famous scene ppl's homes.. this is what can be heard
from them!

Tklp's home.

Tklp's mother - Time to go to bed.
Tklp - But mom, i gotta test a release before we get it out.
Tklp's mother - I told you to go to bed.. no excuses.
Tklp - I guess we dont have to test it.. probably works anyway.

Bizzy's home.

Bizzy - I need energy.
Bizzy's mother - Ok i'll connect you to the socket as soon as this
tv program is done.
Bizzy - Need pow w w w ... shutting down mainframe ...

Lester's home.

Lester - C'mon detroit.. lets do it before mom gets home.
NDetroit - But it hurts.
Lester - Dont be such a wuss.
NDetroit - Ok ok but do it quickly, and dont make it bleed again.
Lester - oh happy days .. here i come..

More inside scoops to come next week... this is PaleDeth for NWR.

=----------------------------------=-------------------------------------=

=---------[ Lester's Movie Review Section ]----------=

Sure he's a prominent scene member, leader of the #1 courier
group, and former "Miss Scene 1995".. But did you also know that
in real life, Lester's real name is "Roger", and he hosts a popular
syndicated television show, where he plays a big fatass who has
nothing better to do with his time than go to every single movie
ever released? Well.. now you know..

Uhh....
Lester didn't go see any movies this week..

He just stayed at home and masturbated...

=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

---------------[SJ's Three Questions for the Utils Scene]-----------------

Recently, SJ set out to find the answer to 3 of the UTILS scene's
most pressing questions.
He asked the leaders of each of the scene's largest utils releasing
groups the following questions:

1.) In your opinion: what makes an utils group a top utils group, such
as [the group that you run]?

2.) There is a big question about SIZE in the utils world, such as 100
megs max size, or more.. Are you for/against it, and why?

3.) What do you think makes a "true" utils group: ripping CD's that
you bought on your $/carding stuff, or pure supply off your
work or contacts?

Here are the responses:

=-------------------------------=

kflex, SiEGE Leader:

-What makes your group so good?
1.) A good combination of both people and products. If you don't have
good people you might as well hang it up. Same goes for having access
to good quality titles to release.

-Util size limits?
2.) Right now it's all messed up...

<S^J> how so?

-Some sites are stuck at 100 mb, while others are as high as 200.
With every new release of a util they get bigger.....and soon we'll
have to decide whether or not to release a good util based only on
size, and that sux.
With the iso scene taking off as it is, I'd prefer to see a limit
established where there's a breakpoint. For instance..........if a
util was over say, 150MB, it would automatically be put out iso and
not warezed. That'd be a good limit for games also.

<S^J> hmm so u would rls oversize if rls worth it?

-Of course.

Cash or contacts?
3.) Carding is lame, totally lame. Buying is ok, contacts are best!
All carding does is get more people on our backs trying to take us
down, cause you're talking real dollars, not "potential" dollar sales.

4.) if you're planning on publishing this...................DIE!

=-------------------------------=

Jaydee, PFT Leader

-What makes your group so good?
1.) The people in it, of course, I dunno, we got the right dudes!

-Util size limits?
2.) I dont care about size, if I rip something, I rip all the crap
and if it still is 140 megs, I'd release. I discussed earlier
today with one-30, how we�d want to keep clipart in some
releases, not clipart collections, but some program are worthless
without the clipart...

-Cash or contacts?
3.) Well, they are all utils, no matter if they are carded or bought,
but there�s alot of crap out there. Major utils cant be carded, cd�s
are preferable.
<S^J> would u say that parts 1 and 3 are are 'true' utils groups?
and part 2 for cracking groups?

-I think so. Yes, cracking groups... laff, they are so worthless.
donno why they call themself cracking group, they have no real
suppliers and crack shareware, but if they ever get some major
thing they release it anyways.
<S^J> so who would provide u with the cute ftp /secure crt if not them?

-I dont care,they release whatever they get their hands on, trps
even released a game: doh, and this week fallen released 2 oracle
things which didnt need crack or anything, and last week 2kad fucked
up on some MGI PhotoSuite. How can they be a cracking group ?

4.) Fuck off stix and lester, I hate you guys. That would be it.
I wanna diss Eternal too, he suck haaaaard!!!!

=-------------------------------=

Toth, RiSE Leader

What makes your group so good?
1.) There are many qualities that make up a util releasing group.
The most important thing in my personal opinion however, is that
a util group should release quality retail utilities.
I am not speaking of the majority of cracked shareware and webwarez
being released, but almost always retail software that you have
to either special order, or purchase from a store. Not every store
release is viable either, if the release is junk.
RiSE in particular l.applications due to the large ammount of
feedback we get on them. However there are a large ammount of art
utilities, Operating systems, and other quality programs out there
that would be considered quality releases.

Util size limit?
2.) Ahh the age old question of size limits. At this time I still
believe there should be a 100 meg top, aside from releases that
are specially approved on a majority of sites. There are two major
reasons for this.
First we have to remember not everyone yet has access to fast
connections, maybe in another couple of years a size increase
should be made, but not quite yet. Second, if we have no limit on
the size of applications.. why not go straight i fast connections
or cd copiers for that reason. Warez are for the masses not for those
with fast connections to horde. We're providing free software here
and should make it accessible.

3.) A true utils group is ripping QUALITY store bought releases and
working through contacts you are able to aquire in companies.
Carding ends up with the webwarez concept and in my opinion should
be an area of releasing on its own. The util scene is largely
separated on its judgement on who should release what and keep it
all under utils, but the util scene of today is really a variety of
catagories. Retail, webwarez, cracked shareware. The util scene
Function I believe, one that will set standards for groups to follow,
disk limits, etc. No one has bothered to take the time to form one
and there is mass confusion by many groups on the need to have a
standard. We need to, as groups and people, work together more in
order to set guidelines for ourselves to follow so things are more
organized and quality is increased.

<S^J> hmmm, who would get u stuff like cuteftp/securecrt etc?

-In my personal opinion, cracking groups should either release
reg code generator or the program with a crack for the public.
Thats another issue a util scene based SPA or Function should
come up with. There are both keygens and software with a code
being released and all it's doing is wasting disk space on sites
which, though, if you take just a few applications is relativly
small, though when you go through everything ever released,
can take up quite a lot of room.

4.) * Toth nods
I'd like to send some shoutouts too all of the members of RiSE for
all their loyalty and support, then to everyone out there who has
enjoyed our products. It's your feedback and support that keeps us
going. Then some personal shoutouts to Slice, Idyllwild, Return,
Damus, and Flounder for being such buds, and helping so much. And
then to ALL of my friends out there in the scene =)

=-------------------------------=

UncleJohn, Corp Leader

What makes your group so good?
1.) First and foremost i'd have to say the crackers, with all the new
protection out there, without crackers, we'd be without some very
useful programs. Second, and not far from first is organization
and good leadership. Without those factors, everybody ends up
running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Util size limits?
2.) There are certain programs that NEED to be released that big.
You dont want to rape a program of all of its essential/main
functions, because then you might as well not release it.

Cash or contacts?
3.) In my mind, what makes a good utils group is having inside
contacts, and getting stuff from your work to supply. Back when
i first started this stuff, there were no web pages to card
software off of, there was no such thing as "WebWarez". We all
had to scrape our resources to find something good to release.
Back then, there wasn't as much crap as there is today being
released. Certain groups that i wont mention seem to like to
get all of their stuff that way. They aren't a utils group,
but sometimes that stuff is useful.

4.) Sure, i'll say hi to a few people, Davngol, chinablue(miss ya
guys!), My corp staff - Great work, and everyone else that has
helped me out in the past.

=-------------------------------=

Eviltea, DoD Leader

Why is your group so good?
1.) That encompasses many things. The first thing that comes to mind
is infrastructure. Without a proper "system" in place, the final
product will not be up to snuff.

Any group can release mass qty's, but if its:

A) a dupe
B) non-working
C) worthless crap no-one wants.
D) poorly distributed/packaged.

Whats the point in doing it in the first place?

Any of the above reflects very poorly on a groups reputation
and overall longevity of a group. We've been here 5 years+.
We haven't been around this long by accident. Hard work and
dedication is what it takes.

Producing a working/quality product is foremost in our eyes.
Loyalty and experience is also very important aspect of
Drink or Die. All of our staff/council has been around since
the dark ages, and the average age of them is probably around 25.
Kiddies running the show will reflect poorly on any group.
Greed and For-Profit groups are also big downfalls.
We have always had the attitude of keeping it "Fun and Non-Profit".

2.) You have to grow to accomodate the current situation the software
market is in. Obviously everything today that is produced by
software developers is bigger than it was a year or 2 ago.
But, for the most-part, on the scenes side, overall speed, site
capacity, bandwidth etc has grown even more.
We take the same stance that some of the respected games groups
have taken recently (ie: Razor, PDM, Class) in raising their limits.
We see no reason to rape a quality release just to satisfy an old
and outdated disk-limit.

100 MB is just too small for todays world. 150MB is definately a
more reasonable limit in DOD's eyes and will soon be the standard
on all of our sites regardless of anyone else's opinion.

3.) Well, we always have believed that "inside" contacts and
store-suppliers are definately preferable and we pride ourselves
in having such contacts.
Its unfortunate that so much today is distributed via the Web
in the form of time-trials and eval's, because it leads sometimes
to frankly, shitty releases.

I know personally. I hate downloading a quality title only to
find some lengthy 5-step Houdini crack process only to find
it is splattered with "Demo Version" or the like.
I find it disturbing and get pissed off when we aquire a
"Final-Retail" or store-bought copy of the same thing after
someone has released a cheesy cosmeticaly or install-handicapped
version.
Some groups have that, "Well, we got it to work..", or "So what if
you have to change your system clock to install it.." attitude.

Everyone out there knows the feeling.. When you download something,
unpack it and glance at the nfo, you get that gut-feeling that
this shit ain't gonna work or is some hodge-podge psychedelic
creation of some first-time cracker. Poor packaging, along with
the "jump-thru hoops mastah" install instructions is always a
dead-giveaway. I dont know why some of the newer groups just
dont pay attention to detail and quality of the final product.

Nonetheless, web releases are a necessary evil these days. If its
a quality product that isn't available first via an insider or
store-buy, we always hope that we are the ones to get it via the
web to let our capable crackers properly crack it and clean it up,
instead of having some idiot from one of the notorious webware-only
releasing groups fuck it up.

=-------------------------------=

So... that about sums it up.. To all the respondants, NWR thanks you
for your time, patience, and honesty. There are a lot of people
that could learn a few things from this article...

=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

--------------[RTS PFTP Scandal]--------------

A lot of you have probably already seen the file "rts-pft.txt" that
comes attached with this week's NWR. It details both the presence,
and use of pftp on the shells of several prominent RTS members.

A lot of you are probably saying "RTS? why cares? they are not a
top 5 group... why is it shocking to discover this?"

A lot of you know why...
RTS is one of the scenes most respected and admired groups. Not
because they trade a lot of megs, or because they have the best WHQ,
or shells. They are respected for their integrity, and the fact that
they are a group that is, for the most part, "family"..
(this fact is suspect at this point, see "scene news" for details)

To many outsiders, it doesn't seem to make sense that RTS would use
PFTP to further itself... why would it need to?

The scene inside RTS however tells a different story.
There are stories of RTS's leaders not caring whether or not their
members use PFTP or not.. Indeed, there are stories of couriers who
were given the ultimatem: USE PFTP OR GET OUT!!

Hmmm.. Perhaps things were a little more group grim inside the
group than many had expected.....
Maybe the 4 couriers in rts-pft.txt were not using pftp to further
themselves in the trading games (indeed, when was the last time you
saw "Speedy" trade, much less weektop anywhere? <g> )
Perhaps those traders were simply doing whatever it took to stay as
members in their favorite online family... If thats the case, then
it is a very sad thing indeed... If not, well..

I guess it is up to them to explain themselves to the scene...

-ndetroit

=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

--------------------[Regarding PFTP]---------------------

The scene has been at a crossroads for a long time, regarding PFTP...
We are the digital elite... We move the files faster and better than
any corporation, government, or organization. The level of competition
on our sites, and in our release groups approaches what amounts to much
much more than a game...

We do everything that it takes to move the files the fastest.
This is not a game.

Or is it?

A long time ago, someone by the name of pSI invented a little
something that changed the face of our "game" forever. He invented
a couriering aid called "PFTP". Sure, it wasn't the first program
invented to help out a courier, but it certainly was the most
dramatic. Within a short time of its release, lifelong mediocre
couriers became legends.. weektopping 20 or 30 sites at a time...

This wasn't to last.
PFTP was quickly banned on most sites, because it gave the trader
using it an unfair advantage.. it wasn't "normal" trading.

Those who chose to use it, in attempt to faster move files were
branded cheaters, and expelled from sites. PFTP today is a word
that is synonamous with "cheating" in the scene...

The reason for that is simple. The advent of PFTP, RiSCFTP, NFTP, and
and the like meant that, for the first time, the technology was
better than the person. For the first time, PFTP traders were beating
"normal" traders.. sometimes by a large margin.

At that point, the competition that we call "trading" became a "game"
more than it ever has in its history. Perhaps "game" is the wrong
word... perhaps we should use the word "sport".

After all... in athletics, something that enhances your performance
beyond normal boundaries, and gives you an unfair advantage is called
"Steroids"...

In the trading scene, its call PFTP.

-ndetroit
=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

-----------[The Scene News]-----------

All the news thats fit to print...
and then some...

-RiSC is back?? RISC IS BACK??? WTF???
Are they for real?? Are they legit?? Is that FOUR RiSC traders on
the NWR Top 10?? What year is this?? Will someone please msg me
when its time to wake up??

-It appears that a bunch of people from RTS, the now-dead MnM, and
a handful of other groups (including RiSC) have all jumped ship,
to form a new group called "Quasar" (QSR).. No word yet on who
is leading..

-what is up with that crazy mgd? first the dude owned STH for like 2
months, now he refuses to trade there, only upping the occasional
pre... mgd now claims "FiRESiTE = only true site"
wacky.

-www.defacto2.net got HACKED early this morning... hahahah...
pretty lame hack, if you ask me, but at least whoever did it
had a message to spread... (See the attached html files in this
issue's zipfile)
This takes me back to the olden days when our two scenes were
constantly at war... They were the 31337 h4x0r dud3s, and we
were the "warez pups" or some shit like that... bleh..
i hope there is a big war, and everyone gets pissed off and starts
pointing fingers and narking each other... bleh... ;p

-Not much more to say this week, other than bummer about the RTS thing,
and good work to SJ on his articles... oh, and lester: get off your
fat ass and write something!!

-sky masterson
=----------------------------------=----------------------------------------=

--------[Stories from the Watercooler]----------

Ahh yes, rumors, we all love them even though we love to say how much we
hate them when they are about us. And these are some of the better ones
circulating around this week. Email us or find us on irc if you have a
good rumor you'd like entered, your name will not be included, but we
do not add rumors like that say "Tdpriest is having anal sex with Fusion"
because we know that Fusion is only having sex with Xtremist and therefore
there is no hard evidence of that rumor, so if you have real rumors, let us
know. Let's begin!

-Rumor has it that RiSC's recent success is due to divine intervention
from none other than: Eagle_1!!! Apparently Eagle_1 has been guiding
the group from his grave, offering his usual blend of sage advice:
"trade!! damn you all!! everyone sucks!! eternal is good!!... i love donuts!!"

-Rumor has it that mandrake's wedding to "George", his aussie lover
has been CALLED OFF, so that mandrake can rethink his commitment
to the warez scene..

-Rumor has it that both STiX and duranged have been unable to trade
worth a damn recently, because they have a cyber-sex obsession with
each other!! Apparently the both spend up to 10 hours a day, just
sex0ring each long distance! Hrmm... what is the sound of one hand
typing?

=-------------------------------------=--------------------------------------=

Well friends.. Thats about it. If you've read this far, we sincerly thank you.
We like to know this thing gets read, so if you get the time, drop one of us
a quick msg, and tell us what you think, give us suggestions, tell us it sucks,
or just say "hi" to us!....

Greets fly out to: jaydee, mgd, stix, tdp, hr, eci, jamili, raptor, skill,
mandrake, zeus, speedy, subzero, superfly@okcomputer, dee, sj, paledeth, dur,
tech+his crew, Kusa, ssava, acidapple, and all the rest of you that we love...

Find us on IRC in #nwr (channel returning soon!), or email us at our
phearsome address:

netmonkey@penis.com

take care..

peace.

-ndetroit + lester.

NWR 11/3/98