Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 17:25:30 -0700
From: Xao Silverclaws 

Hi there,

I noticed under (http://bbslist.textfiles.com/517/oldschool.html) that
there are two BBS's I ran that are not listed.  I didn't run them
simultaneously though.  I ended up running one and then the other.

The first one was USS Insanity and if I remmeber correctly the phone
number I had for that was 517-655-2756.  It was in Williamston MI and I
had it going I think it was early '88 until I took it down in ... I think
I had it up a year or two.  I'll say two years.  Then it wasn't till
about... '91 or '92 that I started "Barking Pizza" which was a play on the
record label that Frank Zappa had and the fact I was working at Pizza Hut
at the time.  :)  I couldn't afford the phone line I had for the previous
one but my dad let me use his business line part time.  His line was
517-655-1408.  Eventually I ended up handing BP over to Charlie Ruggiero I
think it was a year later.  It couldn't have been any later than '93 as
that was when I sunk into a pretty severe depression.

Both BBS's ran on an Amiga 2000 with PC Bridgecard (8088 version).  I've
since come to realize that I bought a computer whose capabilities never
really got used asides from video games and such.  I've since also
realized that it's better to have a dedicated system run a BBS than one's
only computer.  That's probably why BP never really got off the ground
while I had it.  Well, that and it being only part time probably didn't
help.

I think ultimately, the BBS's were more a vanity thing.  An attempt to see
how many friends might actually call.  Of course, I also enjoyed watching
the statistics when folks called (and sometimes watching them do stuff..
it was so neat almost like there was a ghost sitting behind my computer
doing things) and when I would get mail from fidonet for the appropriate
message boards, that was fun watching it go through it's processing and
stuff.  Mmmmmm shiny moving things...  :)  I also think I got a kick out
of customizing the BBS sofware.  I think I played around with a couple
programs I never ran the BBS on.  A chance for some creativity perhaps :)

Oh yea, I know I used TAG and I think that was only with BP (I seem to
recall this was around the time when a collection of BBS's banded together
and called themselves Legion.  It was run by a guy who, at least, liked to
think he was a system cracker and program hacker and for all I know maybe
he was.  His name was Evil Dude and I don't think it was a satanic thing
so much as it was just a rebellious kinda name if you understand what I'm
saying.  I really didn't know him that much.)

With USSI I think I generally used Wildcat, PC Board, or Maximus.  I can't
recall offpaw which it was.  Wildcat does sound closest to being right
though.

Oh and here's my entry in fidonet:

1:159/725   Erik Kremsreiter       Williamston MI        U.S.S. Insanity

I think that's most of it.  If you like, if I think of anything else, I'll
let you know.  This has been kinda fun taking a stroll down 11 years or so
digging up whatever information I can about my boards. :)

Oh, if you wish some information on Odin's Den from user perspective, one
of the things I remember about his board is one of the message areas was
roleplay and we would just go with it.  I recall we used to have some
really crazy scenes some really wild villians (a friend of mine pretty
much always played Fenris).  I'm still trying to find messages from that
message base.  We got very creative there and there was a strong bond we
all forge with one another.  Course getting together from time to time for
picnics and whatnot that helped to :)  I would have to say that the BBS
world was my first actual sense of belonging and I loved it.  I just wish
I hadn't been so shy and felt so awkward.  Who knows what could have
happened?

Thanks again

Erik/Xao