# About The Central Core BBS

> System Operators: Michael W. Cocke and Evelyne Stalzer

> The Central Core BBS (formerly known as The Hacker Central BBS - the name was changed when the word "hacker" was appropriated to mean computer criminal) has gone through several major changes since it first went online in 1986.

> Originally located in the back room of a local computer store, when Mike changed jobs the system was left to it's own devices, falling into disrepair by 1989. Mike then put "The Hacker Central 2.0" online from their home in New Jersey. The name of the BBS was changed to "Central Core" in 1993 in an attempt to reduce the number of callers who had a mistaken idea of what was available on the BBS. At the same time, Central Core was reconfigured to make it more attractive to non-technical computer users.

> The BBS grew fairly constantly until they moved in 1994. The unavoidable change of phone numbers coupled with the increasing growth of the internet as the dominant computer communications medium had a significant impact on Central Core,

> Here's the final message from the sysops of Central Core, written in June 1998:

> > Well friends, I guess it's about that time....

> > We just got the word that the fee for the satellite usenet feed will be doubling next month. There's no way in the world I can come up with more money to put into the BBS. It's been a substantial drain for a long time.

> > We've lasted longer than most - about 12 years, to be exact. Not too shabby for what started as an exercise in "I wonder if I can make this work?"

> > The Hacker Central BBS, located in the service department of Montclair Computers, with a massive 80Mb of storage. PCBoard 10.0 running on a Kaypro PC and an Avatar 2400 modem. And here we are, 12 years later...

> > I want to say a few thank-yous, even though most of the people listed won't see this. It's important to me to say it, although it's way late.

> > Mark Rapp, Dave Klein, Andy Keeves - thanks for all the help and advice. I know you really wanted to spend a bunch of time answering stupid questions from a newby sysop.

> > Reese Kaplan - what can I say? Thanks for donating the hardware for the very first BBS that I ever set up, and for all the other stuff, too.

> > Sparky Herring, Brent Yandell, David Terry, Andy Ko, Stacy Smith, Jeff Morley, Tony Elliott, Wayne Hammerly, Tom Hanlin - Thanks for more advice, software, ideas for software, programming tools and advice.

> > John Seavey - In memory. You always had a smile and a kind word.

> > And I want to thank our callers. I have some wonderful memories;

> > Chris 'Fuz' Dean, driving up from Georgia to say hello.

> > Steve Gross and Peter Leavey donating dictionaries so I could referee the scrabble door properly.

> > Sue Nussbaum: "I had 12 people for dinner" Me: "You must have been hungry".

> > Russ Vaughn calling me for help when his AOL software barfed and consumed 400+ meg of his disk drive with a hidden file.

> > Charlie Grey and his winter-unfriendly TA.

> > Doug Schoffstall and Shorty the kitten.

> > Steve Lafavor's wardrobe.

> > and far too many more to write down here....

> > So I want to thank everyone who's made this a memorable experience. I realize that I was pretty grouchy and cynical at times, and heaven knows this system has cost a bomb in time and money and sheer effort.... and I wish I could do it all over again.

> > We'll be on line for another two weeks to allow folks to re-direct their e-mail elsewhere.

> > The Central Core BBS (aka The Hacker Central BBS)
> > 1986-1998

> Last updated: Saturday, 05-Jun-2004 .
> Copyright 2003, 2004 by Michael Cocke .