        *************************************************************
                                 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: 08-29Ä92 (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.









         


   

   

 






                                                          
