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                             ISSUE #005
                           -FEDWatch '92-                         
                                 
It happens every year. Who starts it is unimportant.But the damage it does
(or does not do) is amazing.I remember the first time I heard the rumor,back
in 90...the FEDS are investigating all the local BBS's!

The BBS world is a strange community.Strange,in that,unlike other groups of 
human beings,almost nobody "knows" anyone else.As a user of 3 years,I have 
seen countless other users come and go,without ever so much as talking to them.
As a sysop,its even worse. If you run a board of any repute whatsoever, asking
for any real info on your users is a major faux pas. So aside from having seen
them someplace else,you are totally in the dark about who is who on the boards.

This can make it fun to be a user,but tough to be a sysop,sometimes. Quite
literally,the cops can be anyone. ANY and ALL new users are suspects. Some 
sysops combat this by insisting on voice validating each and every user.
This practice,in my experiance,drives away the users you'd most want to have.
Other sysops use a waiting period,or watch to see what other sysops do with
regards to your access. Over the years,I have done all & none of the above.

But the rumors,thats the crux of this file. Rumors are wonderous things.They 
can make or break reputations,lives,and careers. Panther Modernz (my previous
textfile/hacking/etc. group) died because a whole bunch of people of whom we'd
never heard of went around claiming to be in our group,and rumors grew out of 
the fact that because these people had no lives,that we must be similarly lame.
Phoenix Modernz (which consists of myself and two others who have been in comas
for the last 10 months) will never suffer a similar fate.

But the rumors....I remember November of 89,when I first got hit with the
FedWatch rumor. I bought into it,took down my BBS,got rid of a few items 
I was "holding" for a friend,and generally became unobtrusive. And I waited.
And waited. And waited some more. Finally,I put my board back up (after 
changing its name & number) and went "underground". A few of my friends did so
as well.Some put their boards back up eventually,some didn't. But the rumor
did preciesely what I'm sure it was intended to do...it knocked everyone with
something to hide into hiding. Probably revealing them for who they were.

This years rumor mill worked much the same. When I got busted,I am told that
all sorts of wild rumors were started to the effect that I was in jail, or
worse.But this years rumors turned REAL interesting in ways even I was 
unaccustomed to...

We'll start with what was,to my mind,the best coverup of the year for 1991.
Understand that the user which I am about to describe is your prime rich-boy
adolescent.His daddy has bought him everything he has ever owned,and if he
should ever get into trouble,can afford lawyers enough to handle it.We'll call
this user "Max",more to protect me from a libel suit than to protect him from
the cops if they ever got wind of this story. Max is/was what you'd call a 
"popular" user. That is,he posted,he uploaded,and he was helpfull when someone 
needed something. He was a "parttime" sysop,running a bbs when it suited him,
and serving as cosysop on at least 3/4 of the local boards.

Well,Max was young,and from all accounts,quite popular with the ladies.His only
problem in this regard was his fascination with a certain young lady too many
years his junior. Max,was,you see,the tender age of 18.So just about anyone 
younger than him who was more than "just a friend" constituted statutory rape.
Well,it came to the ears of one sysops wife one fine autumn afternoon that
Max & his ladylove had "done it". This message was conveyed by a user who was
(at least we are told) Max's best friend on and off the boards.She told this
rumor to her husband,who told it to another sysop,and so the rumor spread...

Now please note that I am not saying that anything happened.(Although,knowing
Max,I PERSONALLY believe he was capable of it).But the rumor was started,and
it spread,and eventually reached the ears of some people valiant enough to come
to the young ladies defense.In fact,they came to her defense so well that 
everyone involved got fairly defensive and claimed it was all "just a joke".
Some joke. If my best friend ever started a rumor that could have landed me
behind bars,I'd have found a new friend. 

Now lets examine the series of events here. Max's friend starts rumor. Rumor
spreads. People start threatening Max's life & limb.Friend then recants rumor
and claims it was just a joke. The amazing and sad fact of the whole matter
to me was that NOBODY thought for a moment to consider the fact that Max might
NOT have done it. Even his friends took him to be guilty. The above series of
events is what transpired publicly.Privately,I think what happened is this:

Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl,girl likes boy,they flirt. Boy & girl flirt for
months,both know its wrong,but it feels good so neither stop. Boy & girl go 
too far once. Both step back. Later,they come together again,and more happens.
Things really get out of hand. Boy confides in "friend" what happened. Boy's
friend has big mouth. Word spreads. Maybe it gets distorted,maybe not. Boy,
fearing the future use of private parts,gets friend to take the heat as idiot
who starts rumors. Boy & girl resume flirting.

Now,at this juncture,I'd like to take a moment to consider one other option.
You see,I have known quite a few younger women in my day (mostly when I was a 
younger man,thank whatever!) and I know full well the "status" that landing
a boyfriend so much older than oneself can bring. But whichever way it all
occured,it was wrong,and it jeprodized the lives of the both of them. I would
like to take a moment to say that if the young lady in question should ever
read this file, I do not think any less of you. You've held up rather well 
fire. The BBS world is not often kind to women,I have found. Don't let the
opinions of others (even me!) sway you from what you feel is right.

But we are not done with Max yet. You see,he stars in another of the featured
rumors here. Around Christmas,one of our local sysops went on vacation.
And as luck might have it (twice in a row now!) the day he left,his board
crashed. When another user (and a suspicious seeming NEW user at that) told a
tale of having spoken with a sherrif's deputy at the local software store
about computer piracy & an upcoming ***FEDERAL INVESTIGATION*** of the same,
Max linked the downing of that sysops board with his having been busted.

The story,as it was told,was this: The Sherrifs department had called in some
FBI agents to help weed out fraud and piracy on the local computer bulletin
boards.When the sysop in question leaves without saying anything to Max,he 
assumes that this must mean he was busted.Max then compunds the problem by 
telling folks that not only did the guy get busted,but he's turning states
evidence on everyone else to get himself off the hook.

When folks who know the real story get wind of whats being said,they try to
shut down the rumormill.But the shit REALLY hits the fan when the sysop gets
back and learns what his "friend" has been saying about him in his absence.
Meanwhile,the whole FBI Investigation rumor is gaining momentum,causing alot
of boards to go down,or at least to change policies.

The moral to all of this (if there is one) is that rumors don't just hurt
the people that the rumors are about.They can often turn around and harm the
starters of the rumors themselves.It gets even worse in a society where so few
of us actually know each other.

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Note the new number for TANSTAAFL, eh? If you like this file,or just textfiles
in general,give us a buzz. If you are interested in joining TLSNet, contact us
on one of the following (and soon to be growing) list of TLSNet Nodes.

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1:609/490 - The Golden Road BBS -609/490-1012-
