I mentioned the NIRVANAnet(tm) Charter in another thread (http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?p=8574237)so I went and tracked down a copy:

http://www.textfiles.com/bbs/FIDONET/nirvana.txt

I just started re-reading the Charter I helped write back in 1989. Fascinating. When we wrote the Charter, SPAM did not yet exist, and neither did the web nor home Internet access. If you had a home computer you were running DOS, MacOS, OS/2, or CP/M (Windows 2.x was a useless piece of crap no one actually used), and accessing a BBS system meant using a 1200 or 2400 baud modem to connect your computer to the BBS's phone line directly. Most BBSes were one-line systems, which meant that one person could connect and post messages at a time.

What surprises me is that even though the technology has changed, the Charter is still relevant, and it has some useful things to say about how to run a BBS system.

If you have time, and you're interested in the history of totse, read it.

I like it. It's very clear. The technical information is over my head, but the concept rings true.

That was a good read and a nice history lesson.
Just curious - how many original charter members does NIRVANAnet have left from 1994?

Finally, after a couple of weeks, an amazing thing happened.
Hopeless losers, people who usually spent all their time trying to
download as much as they could, started to get into it. Many posted
their first messages. And they even would upload. Why? They didn't
have to. Those users had found a home, and you try to improve your
home.


This remains very true. Many lame kidiot trolls have (once slapped hard a few times) become great posters.

The people are all still around.

Dr. Strangelove lives in San Francisco. Last I heard, he'd quick working on computer systems and had become a carpenter.

Ratsnatcher lives in Albany with his wife and young son. I see them from time to time.

realitycheck is the only BBS system still on-line besides totse, but you'll have to work to find it -- it's not on the web -- telnet access only to the old DOS-based BBS system.

Zardoz just dropped by my house with his wife for drinks and BBQ and to reminisce about the future, and although he runs several web sites, he's not currently running a BBS.

Mick Freen moved to Utah and lives in a private, walled compound in the mountains outside Salt Lake City.

Biffnix works on wind power systems for a large company in SoCal.

I lost track of Rif Raf and Simon Jester.

There are many others who joined after the charter was written. I still hear from people from time to time.

Wow, the times they are a changing yet things are still the same.

Kinda gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, being a part of something that's been in existence for so long.

What a blast from the past! This brings back a lot of memories of the old days...


Entheogenic