ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/HATCH/WWIVNEWS.ZIP/9509_3.NWS

Text File | 1995-09-24 | 27KB | 585 lines

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │                 "Adult"  BBS's,             │
           │        and the Bill that Wasn't         │
           │                by Sam (1@4051)              │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

There has been as of late a lot of talk in the news about pornography and the
'Super Information Highway" (SIH).  While we in WWIVLand are probably not
considered by many to be much more than a feeder road to the SIH, we never-
theless face the same scrutiny, and are subject to the same sort of mis-
information and mischaracterization that is abound in the media regarding
"online computer services ".

Congress recently voted on a landmark piece of legislation, dubbed "The
Communications Decency Act of 1995".  One of the provisions of this bill would
have called for people who maintain hubs- server administrators as it relates
to WWIVNet- to be held accountable for data deemed pornographic or otherwise
indecent that happened to pass through their system.

As all of you probably know, somewhere between 30 and 100 megs of information
a day pass through the servers in WWIVNet, and probably 10 to 100 and possibly
as much as 1000 times that amount pass through true internet providers each
day.

While that provision was eventually withdrawn from the bill, the debate over
pornography and online services (BBS's notwithstanding) rages on.

While I am not an attorney and have very little formal legal training, a few
things you should probably keep in mind if you are going to offer "adult"
services to your callers are:

Remember that pornography is defined by local community standards.  What is
legal in one part of the USA may not be legal in another part.  Case in point:
A sysop in California ran a BBS that offered adult files for download. The
sysop required proof of age, a signed request, and payment for access to those
areas of his BBS.  The BBS was legal insofar as 'local community standards' in
his area were concerned.

A person in Tennessee fulfilled the requirements in place at this BBS and
began downloading adult images from this board.  Problem was however that this
'person' was also a deputy District Attorney.  To further complicate matters,
the material deemed to be within 'local community standards' in the sysop's
local area in California were not so deemed in the area in rural Tennessee
from where the DDA was downloading them.

The sysop and his wife was found guilty of interstate trafficking of
pornography and were fined $200,000.00 dollars and given a prison sentence
of five years.  Last I heard, the case was under appeal.

Just because you have been provided with proof that someone is old enough to
view questionable material does not mean either that A) the person is not
lying to you about their age, or that B) Even IF they are 'of age' that it is
ok to have those types of files online and available for download.

Various tried (and failed) defenses that I have heard of from sysops who have
been arrested and charged with these types of crimes include "The GIF file is
nothing but binary data unless manipulated by a third-party program (a GIF
viewer of some sort).  Another is "It is not up to me to prove the person in
that GIF is over 18.  It is up to you to prove they are under 18 and I am
guilty."  (Doesn't work that way folks, even though that is the way it is
supposed to go.).  Another favorite is "I didn't >send< the file to them...
they came into my BBS and >got< the file..."

Bottom line is folks....if you have smut online for download, you are playing
with fire.  You may do it for years and never get caught, but to me, taking
a chance on a quarter of a million dollars in fines and five years in prison
just isn't worth it.  And with the recent allegations of "rampant child
pornography" that has been reported on various online services, I wouldn't
look for the laws to get anymore lax in the future.

                   -=■=-

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │                  Dear Abby                  │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[Got a letter for Abby? Send it to me, and I'll see that she gets it, and that
your letter along with her response get published in the next WWIVNews!]


Dear Abby,

    I downloaded a GIF of Filo, Sam, and Wayne. Sam and Wayne are ok, but I
cannot get my mind off of Filo! I am feeling guilty about having feelings like
I have for Filo and not making him aware of them. But he is so smart, so
witty, and just so damn CUTE that I could just die!

Abby, what should I do about this? Should I take a class he offers? I hate
accounting, but would learn it for him. Should I offer to host one of his subs?


Should I buy him a margarita?

Help me Abby, please.  You are my last hope.

                Signed,
                  Fantasizing over Filo in Freeburg

Dear FoFiF,

Depending on your gender, I can recommend a few tricks that might get
Filo to notice you.

If you are female:

A)  Rename your BBS to FiloLand, and hold candlelight vigils nightly.
B)  Print up 260 million "Filo for President" bumper stickers, hand them out.
C)  Offer to pay for 6 month's worth of Filo's Server long distance bills.
D)  Register the 32-instance WWIV, for yourself and a hundred of your closest
    friends.
E)  Offer to be the official "envelope licker" for WWIV Software Services.
F)  Show up at next July's WWIVcon'96 in Minnesota and offer to buy Filo a
    margarita!


If you are male:

Try F.


Signed,
Abby


───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │           Demographics- Just WHO            │
           │                   ARE you?                  │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

In an effort to see who is out there, I have written up a short poll.
Based on the results I received, here is the "average" WWIV'er:

Age: 34

Income:  $40,000 per year

Favorite Operating System: DOS 6.x

Favorite Multi-Tasker:  OS/2

Married: Most are not

Kids: 1.7   <Hmmmm......>

Sysop? More than likely

WWIV Version most-used:  4.24

                    -=■=-

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │                  Classified                 │
           │                     Ads                     │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

A new feature here in WWIVNews is the Classified Ads Department. It's a place
where utility authors can let everyone know about their most-recent offering
to WWIV.  This issue is a little skimpy due to negative replies, but look
forward to a more-complete list next time.

(Note to shareware/utility authors:  If you would like you products listed
here, please include a *brief* description of them <including registration
fee, if any> and I will be happy to include them in the next issue, due out
around Thanksgiving/Christmas).


            -=■ Dawg's New User Mailer ■=-

Dawg's New User Mailer (henceforth known as DNUM) is a small program to send
a newuser email on his first call to you WWIV bbs.  While there are other
programs that do this, (FastMail! and my own Dmail come to mind), where DNUM
differs is in that it writes directly to email.dat therefore removing the use
of network2 and/or >any< type of source mod to make this work.  All that is
required is that you add the command to your NEWUSER_CMD line in WWIV.INI.
That simple! Dnum is configurable via WWIV.INI as all future Cerebrum releases
from myself will be.  Dnum is >FREE< to all registered users of Dmail. If you
haven't registered Dmail, then you can either register >just< DNUM for $5.  If
in the future you wish to register Dmail I will credit that amount off of
Dmail's registration of $20.

                   -=■=-


               -=■ Papa Bear's Productions ■=-

Do you make modifications to the WWIV source code?  Do you work on any WWIV
version that supports external string (STR) files?  Are you worried about
running into DGROUP (especially with WWIV v4.24), and not being able to
complete a compilation of your source?

Here's PBstring to your rescue.  PBstring's purpose is to remove the literal
strings (the main things that eats away at your DGROUP) and place them into
a STR file -- all the while replacing the string in the source with the
appropriate get_stringx() statement!

Its FAST, SAFE, and very configurable.  Now in version 1.1 and better
than ever!  Look at these features: -More than 11 different safeguards for
your source, -Extremely fast, beats out ALL other string file removers
[version 1.1 features a speed increase of 50-60% over version 1.0],
-Informative screen reporting, -Converts old string file type to new ones,
-Properly handles strings that are non-removable (multiline variable
declarations, preprocessor commands, multiline comments, multiline printf()
type lines, and more), -Complete control over what gets pulled, and what
doesn't, controlled via simple ASCII inclusion and exclusion file(s).

Free temporary registration code (use 123456789) until Oct. 1, 1995.  This
program *is* shareware.  I am asking for a one-time registration payment of
$20.  E-Mail Pâpâ ßêâr at [e-mail] for more info! A CEREBRUM release.

                   -■-

If you want the best and most complete in WWIV 4.24 user editors, look no
farther than PBuedit2!  Starting with version 2.0, it is the *ONLY* user
editor written specifically for WWIV version 4.24!  All the QWK (which are
 not available in any other editor), and other miscellaneous user toggles
(like expert mode, pause, etc...) are in the newly released version 2.1.

In addition to the QWK and user toggles, the main screen of the program
includes 37 editable userrec fields -- this is 16 more than the stock editor.

Have you found the search features in the internal editor confusing?  I have,
and I'm a programmer!  In PBuedit2, there is no more confusion.  Major fields
are easily searched for whatever you're looking for!

Also included (not found in most editors): -full color macro editor, -E-Mail
and SSM's facilities (in conjunction with Dawg's DMAIL/DNUM), -upload/download
ratio editor, -post/call ratio editor, -duplicate account search, -auto-purge
accounts, -swap users (with full mail, and SSM swapping), -extended zap
functions, -support for MANY BBS modifications.

This program *is* shareware.  I am asking for a one-time registration payment
of $20.  E-Mail Pâpâ ßêâr at [e-mail] for more info!  A CEREBRUM
release.

                     -■-

Want to make your files listing available to your users so they can see what
you have online?  Then you're looking for PBfiles!  A master files listing
that can do this simple little task, and much more!

Now in release version 1.61, PBfiles can not only make a simple listing, but
it can do it by date, directory, DSL, DAR, and more.  You can include your BBS
name, phone number, the file's extended descriptions, and a whole lot more
information in the listings as well!

What are some features?  Here ya go!  -Multitasker aware and friendly -- can
run while BBS is online (and includes a WWIV source code modification so your
users CAN use it online to get INSTANT listings), -strip high/low ASCII,
-include WWIV color codes (and define your own, too!), -Check for a file's
physical existence as well as use file's DOS (real) date, -Inserts
FILE_ID.DIZ's into pre-existing archives (supports ZIP, ARJ, LZH, UC2, RAR,
HAP, ARC, PAK, SQZ, ZOO, DWC, HYP, and HPK compression formats), -Use a RAM
disk as a work disk for a massive speed increase, and MORE MORE MORE!!!

This program *is* shareware.  I am asking for a one-time registration payment
of $10.  E-Mail Pâpâ ßêâr at [e-mail] for more info!  A CEREBRUM
release.

                     -■-

Are you looking for some little utility to do a job for you on your WWIV BBS?
Look to StarPort Valhalla/Pâpâ ßêâr (part of the CEREBRUM programming group).
I (we) will program virtually anything you may need for your BBS.  Here are
some other small programs from SPV/Pß that may do what you're looking for!

PBdupe (version 1.0)   - This little gem will look at the files in the
directories you have marked as HARD DRIVE on your BBS to those in directories
marked as CD-ROM and report to you any duplications found.  You can optionally
have it check or ignore file size, date and extensions.  Find those dupes on
CD-ROM and clean up your hard drive(s)!  $10 registration.

PBupdate (version 1.1) - Sometimes, when you're uploading CD-ROMs to the BBS
or when you extract a mod from the net, the description the CD-ROM disc has
is actually too long for WWIV.  When this happens, other fields in the file
listing get overwritten.  This program fixes that! It will shorten the descrip-
tion so that it properly fits.  It will also fix the file's date and/or size
so that it properly reflects the files true date or time. Finally, it can also
make a file always appear as NEW to all users indefinitely!  $10 registration.

PBweed (version 1.2)   - Simply, this program will remove old files from your
BBS -- files that no one really wants.  It does this by looking for files that
are physically old with few downloads.  Each parameter is set by you.  Certain,
definable, directories can be excluded from this pruning.  Delete, or move,
old files.  Data file pertaining to the processing directories are backed-up
for easy restoration in case of an error. Now registration fee required --
source code $30.

                   -=■=-

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │            On the Lighter Side              │
           │        A Compilation by Sam (1@4051)        │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Read to the meter of Edgar Poe's, "The Raven">

Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary,
System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor
Longing for the warmth of bedsheets,
Still I sat there, doing spreadsheets;
Having reached the bottom line,
I took a floppy from the drawer.
Typing with a steady hand, then invoked the SAVE command
But I got a reprimand: it read Abort, Retry, Ignore.

Was this some occult illusion? Some maniacal intrusion?
These were choices Solomon himself had never faced before.
Carefully, I weighed my options.
These three seemed to be the top ones.
Clearly I must now adopt one:
Choose Abort, Retry, Ignore.

With my fingers pale and trembling,
Slowly toward the keyboard bending,
Longing for a happy ending, hoping all would be restored,
Praying for some guarantee
Finally I pressed a key--
But on the screen what did I see?
Again:  Abort, Retry, Ignore.

I tried to catch the chips off-guard--
I pressed again, but twice as hard.
Luck was just not in the cards.
I saw what I had seen before.
Now I typed in desperation
Trying random combinations
Still there came the incantation:
Choose:  Abort, Retry, Ignore.

There I sat, distraught exhausted, by my own machine accosted
Getting up I turned away and paced across the office floor.
And then I saw an awful sight:
A bold and blinding flash of light--
A lightning bolt had cut the night and shook me to my very core.
I saw the screen collapse and die
Oh no--my data base, I cried
I thought I heard a voice reply,
You'll see your data Nevermore!

To this day I do not know
The place to which lost data goes
I bet it goes to heaven where the angels have it stored
But as for productivity, well
I fear that IT goes straight to hell
And that's the tale I have to tell
Your choice:  Abort, Retry, Ignore.

                  -=■=-

Since there has been some discussion in this issue about problems with
modding WWIV, here is a short lesson in C programming.


May all your signals trap
May your references be bounded
All memory aligned
Floats to ints be rounded

   Remember....

Nonzero is TRUE
   ++ adds one
      Arrays start with [0]
    NULL points to none

      For octal use zero
    0x means in hex
    use = to set
and == for a test

Use -> for a pointer
 a dot if it's not
 ?: is confusing
 use this a lot

 a.out is your program
 there's no 'u' in foobar
   and char (*(*x())[])() is
   a function returning a pointer
 to an array of pointers
to functions returning a char

                   -=■=-

The Answer Is Not a Boolean

(Sung to "Blowin' In the Wind")

   How many code must a man type in
   Before you can call him a man?
   How many C must a compiler process
   Before it can sleep in the RAM?
   How many times must MS-DOS crash
   Before it is forever banned?

   (Refrain)
   The answer, my friend
   Is not a boolean
   The answer is not a boolean.

   How many times must a man read his source
   Before he can see what is wrong?
   How many memory must his system have
   Before he can use 'unsigned long'?
   How many errors will it take till he knows
   That there's still some work to be done?

   (Refrain)

   How many years can a program exist
   Before it's erased from drive C:\ ?
   How many years must known bugs exist
   Before you get an update for free?
   How many times can a drive move its head
   And pretend there's no data to read?

(Refrain and fade out)

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │          What if Operating Systems          │
           │                Ran Airlines?                │
           │      Compiled by Sam (1@4051)           │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

What if Operating Systems Ran Airlines?  Somebody on the net asked that
preposterous question. Here are the responses, as told to us by Alan Paller,
Computer Associates International Inc.'s director for open systems.

DOS Airline

Everbody pushes the airline until it glides, then they jump until it hits the
ground again, then pushes again, jumps in again, and so on.

Mac Airways

All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look the same,
act the same, and talk the same. Every time you ask questions about details,
you are told you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will
be done for you without you having to know, so just shut up.


Windows Airline

The airport terminal is nice and colorful with friendly stewards. Easy access
to the plane... an uneventful takeoff... then the plane blows up withhout any
warning whatsoever.

Fly NT

Everyone marches out onto the runway, says the password in unison, and forms
the outline of an airplane.  Then they all sit down and make a whooshing sound
like they're flying.

Unix Airline

Everyone brings one piece of the plane with them when they come to the aiport.
They all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, ar-
guing constantly about what kind of plane they're building.



───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
           │              Closing Thoughts               │
           │        Editor's Notes by Sam (1@4051)       │
           └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

There have been a lot of complaints lately, mostly from the same group of
individuals about policies and procedures within WWIV Software Services. I
would like to address three of the more prevalent debates currently taking
place on the various WWIV Sysops Subs. Rebuttals and commentary on anything
said here is not only welcomed but encouraged.

The first issue I will address is "pinging" the network.  For those of you who
do not know what a ping/pong combination is, here it is in laymen's terms. A
system generates a data packet (called a ping) that travels through the net
work to every node on that network. When the ping arrives at your node, if
there is software installed and in place that recognizes the ping, it will
carry out whatever set of instructions it has been programed to execute, and
return a response (a pong) to the originator of the ping. A very good example
of this is the ping that Wayne sends out to all systems on the network looking
for subs that sub hosts have set up to automatically return information for
inclusion in the subs.lst files.

At issue is whether or not it is appropriate for private sysops to be allowed
to ping the network for their own personal gain, whether it be to check on the
status of software they may have written, check the registration status of
that software, or to attempt to see who is running their software. Other uses
of pings I have seen have been from sysops pinging the network in an effort to
make their own subs.lst files rather than waiting on Wayne's monthly updates
to be published.

Personally, I believe the NC should be the only person allowed to send pings
out over the network. While the actual cost of delivering the pings is so
small it cannot be measured, the subsequent pongs can amount to considerable
cost if everyone in the network were to start this practice.  Take a look at
how large your subs.lst files are. Now imagine everyone in the network sending
weekly pings to update their subs listing files. Further, when individual
sysops send out pings, they are the only ones who derive benefit from the ping.
When Wayne sends out his pings, the entire network benefits from the results.
There are currently on the market several programs that will trap a ping before
any software can see it to return the response, even if that software is
installed on the receiving computer.  Stripit is probably the most-widely
used. Asylum Group has released a mod that not only traps the pings, but
returns a pre-defined text file to the ping originator. In light of this, it
is pointless for a shareware author to attempt to gain information from pings.
Anyone can easily block any information from being returned by the use of one
of these network2.exe preprocessors.

                    -■-

The second item I would like to discuss is the constant, almost incessant
bickering from a very small but vocal group of sysops who think WWIV should
have a large beta testing team, rather than the 50 or so beta testers currently
utilized by WWIV Software Services.

In the beginning, Wayne did all alpha and beta testing himself.  Because of
WWIV growing as much as it has from it's original 53,000 bytes of code to over
1.4 megs, Wayne incorporated volunteers to help with beta testing WWIV. This
beta team is comprised of the SDS Boards, Support Boards, and a few others who
have unique system setups. Each of these beta testers have proven themselves
over time to be extremely competent and highly qualified WWIV sysops . Each of
them has worked hard over a number of years at striving to improve WWIV and
WWIVNet as a whole.

While we do not catch every single bug in the code, the vast (over 99%)
majority are caught and fixed before the final product is released. To my
knowledge there have not been a major bug get out in a release version of WWIV
in over 4 years. And even that (the hack enabled by pkunzip) was not a 'bug'
in the classical sense of the word, rather, an oversight. The success of the
beta team should be more evident than ever with the recent release of 4.24.
WWIV v4.24 was a _major_ upgrade to WWIV, incorporating more new features than
in any other upgrade since WWIV's inception. There were no major bugs
reported, as evidenced by the "bug fix" release of 4.24a.

The recent release of Windows 95, with it's half-million beta testers and
nearly as many problems should be more than enough proof that "strength in
numbers" does not necessarily hold true when it comes to beta testing software.

                    -■-

The last item I will address is the TO: field debate that has recently surfaced
(again). Maybe it is just me, but if you want a message to go to just one
person, do you not send that message in email? And if you post a message in a
message base, is it not intended for everyone to read? Having a TO: field in
the message area would be the same as me taking out a commercial on tele-
vision to send a message to one person across town. That's what telephones are
for, and in WWIV's case, that's what email is for.

I realize some other networks use the message bases to delivery email (or so
I'm told) to recipients as opposed to physically separating it as WWIV does.
Based upon my first paragraph, it is the other networks who seem to be doing
things backwards.

                    -=■=-

Well folks, that's it for another version of WWIVNews. Look for the next
issue right around Christmas. And if anyone would like to submit anything
for publication, please feel free to do so. You can email me ([e-mail]
or [e-mail]) if you have any questions. Any and all contri-
butions will be greatly appreciated! (And yes, the MicroSoft/Vatican article
was not a serious piece. Hope you liked it and didn't take it seriously. It is
my understanding it actually made it onto CNN and that Time Magazine did a
report on it.)


┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                             Closing Credits                               │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WWIVNews is an independent newsletter published every two-three months as │
│ a service to the WWIV community of sysops & users. The opinions & reviews │
│ expressed herein are the expressed views of the respective writers, & do  │
│ not necessarily reflect those of the WWIVNews staff. Reproduction in whole│
│ or in part is allowed provided credits are given. All rights reserved by  │
│ WWIVNews, and all articles are copyright of their respective authors.     │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ The source site for WWIVNews is Sam's BBS (409-729-1319 or 729-1418)      │
│ WWIVNet Node @4051. Requests for information regarding articles & other   │
│ editorial submissions, as well as back issue requests and the WWIVNews    │
│ Writer's Guide, can be sent E-Mail to the WWIVNews editor, c/o 1@4051     │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│            WWIV and WWIVNet, copyright 1986,1995 by Wayne Bell            │
│  Any product or company mentioned or reviewed herein are copyrighted of   │
│  their respective owners, creators, and other corporate pseudoentities.   │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘