.-'~~~-. .' '. :~~~-. `. `. \ ~-. . `.; / ~. : .' ;-- `. .' ,' ; ~~--'~ ; ; ; ; `~-~' _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ BAH - Issue #012 ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Title: What the MajorBBS does to a scene Author: Murmur ³ ³ Date: 06-09-95 ³ ³ *BAH* ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ All text included in BAH issues is for educational purposes only. In no way do we at BAH endorse whatever actions described in our text files. If you're offended by the el33t d00d bashing in this file, don't come crying to us. [BAH] -\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/- This is something I can objectively talk about because I've been well associated with two scenes: 815 and 309. 815 was the origin of one of the creators of the old D-Dial and therefore has a large and strong MajorBBS community. 309 (at least the portion local to me) has no MajorBBS at all. The differences between the two scenes are therefore rather striking in some places, and a lot of this I can attribute to the MajorBBS. Some of these are good things, others surely aren't. First, 815 has a much larger overall BBS community and therefore the scene as we would know it is in turn larger. This is a good thing in itself, because it involves more and different people. 309 has a very small user base to feed off of, which can create a certain stagnancy. Conversely, 815 has a lot more idiots in it. Utter morons that don't know jack shit about jack shit infest 815, and they simply aren't present in 309. And this is because, well, the true morons enter the scene via the MajorBBS. Let's look at a few concrete examples. I'm not going to use any names (and I have to be careful because this person has used so many trying to get access to various sytems) so I'll call this person Beef. Beef is an absolute idiot who entered the 815 BBS community via MajorBBSs. Beef is most likely to be found playing Trade Wars or Mutants or some such online game on a MajorBBS or a comparable game on a one-liner. Beef thinks he's the biggest shit there is, so he starts a BBS of his own and a group of his own, lies about his contacts and affils, and wants to make you think he's the k-raddest there is. And he's just a fucking moron. He never would have seen an 3LiT3 file if he hadn't gotten into BBSing through MajorBBSs. On the other hand, I also got my start primarily through MajorBBS. But at the time I started calling around I didn't have access to any sort of message net or had any concept about ANSi or anything. In time I learned enough about these things to be quasi-knowledgable. But I never felt like I was some great thing. Now let's see where Beef and I have gotten. Beef is blacklisted all over the place. I'm a cosysop on no less than four 309 boards. Beef is hated by one and all that know of him, with minor idiotic exceptions. I'm well-respected wherever I happen to turn up and am in two official k-rad groups. Beef encourages 12-year-olds to start their own groups so he can claim them as affils. I helped start a group for a purpose besides trying to be k00l. And herein lies the chief problem that a MajorBBS brings to the forefront. Idiots like Beef enter through the MajorBBS or through one- liners offering Trade Wars. Albeit some of the upper echelon elite d00dz may have in fact got into the scene the same way...for the most part, you don't seem to find outright lamerz in non-MajorBBS cities. On a secondary note, it's worth bringing up the fact that in 815 the college population is under 5,000 while in 309 here there's about 25,000. The average and median age of users is affected as such. I like MajorBBSs and I don't think they're entirely a bad thing, don't get me wrong. But they create serious problems when k-radderz like Beef somehow try and worm their way into the scene. Let's be on the lookout for such morons and keep them down where they belong (or try and educate them, if applicable.) * * * (Note: It should be pointed out that Murmur is now in THREE official k-rad groups. :) -\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-\/-