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