A

Msg #: [13/20]                          Base: BBS Problems
Date : Sat 14 Mar 1992  8:59p           Stat: Public
From : Dragon #8
To   : Shit Man!
Title: Telegard what else?
Reply: This message has 1 reply


*******************************************************************************
  From: Martin Pollard                                Msg Num:    66 of   108
    To: All                                          Date: 08 Dec 91  03:07:09
  Subj: So long, and thanks for all the fish...
  Attr: Sent                                                          Read: N
  Conf: Telegard BETA Discussion
*******************************************************************************
MSGID: 1:120/187 2941e46d
PID: TeleMail 1.50
On December 13th, 1991, the TELEGARD conference will be removed from the
FidoNet EchoMail backbone, and the Telegard software will come to an end.
This is being done for various reasons... but first, a little history...

I have been with Telegard almost since the beginning... close to three years.
When it was first released by Carl Mueller, it was little more than the WWIV
version 3.21 public domain source code with Carl's name on it.  At the time,
Carl was involved in a number of illegal activities, such as hacking,
phreaking, credit card fraud, and software piracy.  Telegard was originally
intended to be used by his friends who were into the same activities.

As time went on, Carl added modifications to the software, and people began to
take an interest in the software.  It mai
nly attracted software pirates
[more]      because of its ability to hide pirated files.  It was also full of
back doors
so that Carl could hack into any board running it and have full SysOp access.

Carl eventually got caught and busted for phone phreaking (the charges were
eventually dropped), and the source code was turned over to Eric Oman, who
removed the back doors and continued to modify it.  Later on, Todd Bolitho
joined the Alpha team in an organizational capacity, and I joined as Alpha and
co-programmer by version 1.8.  After version 2.4 I was doing almost all of the
programming.  It was around this time that the TELEGARD conference was placed
on the FidoNet EchoMail backbone, as version 2.5 was enhanced to support
EchoMail.

During these three years, we've seen the software grow quite a bit, and its
popularity along with it.  Unfortunately, its reputation as a pirate BBS
preceeded it, and has been an albatross around the neck of the developers
since its inception.  Today, "Telegard" is synonymous with "Pirate BBS Hack",
even though that definition has not applied for two years.

Due to creative differences between Eric, Todd and myself, the team split up,
and I was the only one left supporting Telegard.  For the past year and a half
I have received quite a few compliments about the software, but many more
demands, threats and complaints, not to mention illegal hacks of the software
that claim to be the "REAL" Telegard.

This conference was supposed to be a place where Telegard SysOps around the
world could participate in a round-table forum to receive technical support.
I moderated the conference openly and fairly, and was very lenient upon people
who broke the conference rules.  From the moment that TELEGARD was put onto
the backbone, however, it has been dominated by insults, foul language,
flaming, software piracy, and overall childish behavior.  I put Scott Raymond
-- who has been involved with Telegard almost as long as I have -- in charge
of the conference because he is a lot more heavy-handed than I am, and I
wanted it that way.  According to the current Backbone Operating Procedure
(BOP) being followed by the Net, Regional, and Zone EchoMail Coordinators,
backbone conference moderators and co-moderators have unilateral control over
a conference, and NO ONE, not even the ZEC, is supposed to interfere in the
workings of a conference as long as it does not interfere with backbone
operations.  In short, it means that a conference moderator is allowed to cut
ANY feed o the conference he sees fit without providing a reason or fair
warning; the only thing required is a note to the offending node that they
have been cut from the conference.

Over the past two months, ten individual links and an entire net gateway were
cut from access to TELEGARD.  In response, several of these people filed
policy complaints against Scott Raymond, which they had no grounds to do,
since he was well within his rights as the co-moderator of this conference.
The NCs and NECs involved decided to ignore the BOP, however, since it seemed
convenient to do so.

Since it's still obvious that human stupidity is rampant and there will never
be a way to curtail it in a completely public forum, we are taking that forum
away.  If you can't play nice with others, your toys get confiscated.  This
conference will be moved to the sanctioned Telegard support network, USTGNet.
In that net, when a link is cut from the conference, it stays cut and no
policy complaints will be accepted (as the policies of FidoNet do not apply to
USTGNet).

What does this have to do with Telegard itself?  In a nutshell, version 2.7
will be the very LAST version of Telegard ever to be released, and that
includes Beta and Alpha versions.  In exchange for free software, free
utilities, and free tech support, I and the remaining Telegard support team
have received insults, hacks, stabs in the back from ex-Beta sites, and piracy
of a Beta version (several, in fact) still in the testing stages... and still
buggy.  Therefore, after version 2.7, there will be no more Telegard.  As far
as I am concerned, the software will be dead and buried.  The source code will
NOT be released to the public.

(The name "Telegard" itself is trademarked.  Any BBS software using the name
Telegard is in violation of current trademark ownership law.  The source code
for version 2.5g that found its way to the public is owned by both myself and
Eric Oman.  You may not put your own name on it as the programmer unless 75%
or more of the code has been rewritten from the ground up.  If this is not the
case, then you must give credit to Martin Pollard and Eric Oman in the
copyright notice.  Any software not following the above requirements is in
violation of current copyright law.)

Why am I doing this?  It's very simple: I'm tired of giving away something for
nothing and getting nothing but grief in return.  Except for a relative
handful of people, the majority of the Telegard users have no respect for
software authors, conference rules, or copyright laws.  They not only expect
everything handed to them for free, they DEMAND it, and expect me to kiss
their asses while doing it.  Thanks, but I'll pass; I'm not required to put up
with this kind of grief over a goddamn HOBBY.

Some of you may say that I'm chickening out, that I'm giving up, that I'm
caving in to pressure from the ones who caused the trouble.  I won't argue the
point.  On the other hand, those of you who caused the trouble will probably
start partying and rejoicing after receiving this news, thinking you've "won"
your battle against "the bad guy".  All I can say is, party away, and rejoice
in the fact that you've destroyed a great software package and reduced it to
the level of Celerity, LSD, ViSiOn, Emulex/2, and their other pirate/hack
siblings.

To those people who have been loyal to Telegard and respected my wishes as
author, I commend you on your perseverance and thank you for the support; you
couldn't begin to guess know how much it meant to me.  If you aren't already a
[more]      member, I invite you to consider USTGNet (headed by Jack Reece);
you stand a
much better chance of receiving the tech support you deserve in that network.

To those people who stabbed me in the back, pirated the software, turned this
conference into a circus, and in general destroyed what was supposed to be an
enjoyable hobby, congratulations; you got what you worked so hard to attain:
the end of Telegard.  You made your bed, now die in it.

                           -=[> Martin Pollard <]=-

... TELEGARD Conference Moderator and Author of Telegard (Retired)
--- Blue Wave/TGq v2.02/C+ Beta
 * Origin: The I/O Bus - TG_BETA Conference Moderator (1:120/187.0)
PATH: 120/187 278/624


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