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[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I was around before then (I logged into the very first BBS in the US) and trolls were the ones in chatrooms looking for cybersex. I was on the net before the net was public. So yes, I know what the definition of trolling is. Just because someone decided he or she wanted to change the definition does not make it changed.

Out of curiosity, which BBS was that? Ward Christensen and Randy Suess' CBBS from 1978? Starting in Feb., 1980, I ran their software modified to allow remote file access before moving on to other software for several years before moving to other software and finally settling on Maximus under OS/2 connected to FidoNet. I eventually shut my BBS down when the number of callers dropped to less than one per day. That was a fun twenty years.

As for the Internet, while I remember that posting information intended to attract responses from noobs was the original trolling which didn't last long, inflammatory posts were the next frontier and still going strong. As far as I recall, cybersex, harassment, etc. were johnny come latelies. Though possibly close to the original trolls in living up to the fishing reference.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Out of curiosity, which BBS was that? Ward Christensen and Randy Suess' CBBS from 1978? Starting in Feb., 1980, I ran their software modified to allow remote file access before moving on to other software for several years before moving to other software and finally settling on Maximus under OS/2 connected to FidoNet. I eventually shut my BBS down when the number of callers dropped to less than one per day. That was a fun twenty years.

As for the Internet, while I remember that posting information intended to attract responses from noobs was the original trolling which didn't last long, inflammatory posts were the next frontier and still going strong. As far as I recall, cybersex, harassment, etc. were johnny come latelies. Though possibly close to the original trolls in living up to the fishing reference.

The first BBS was in Arlington, MA (If I am wrong, it could be the second). Also, before the Internet was public (I joined the first public service provider) was IRC and that is where troll was defined. Trolls were those trying to find others for some cybersex.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The first BBS was in Arlington, MA (If I am wrong, it could be the second). Also, before the Internet was public (I joined the first public service provider) was IRC and that is where troll was defined. Trolls were those trying to find others for some cybersex.

I'll have to disagree with you on the first BBS. AFAIR, Ward and Randy started the first hobbyist BBS in 1978. The oldest BBS on my collection of BBS lists that I could find that referenced Arlington was David Mitton's CBBS system with a start date of 1980 in Cambridge and moving to Boston in 1982. I was impressed by his low FidoNet node number. As for IRC, that was invented circa 1988. I remember using the Internet well before then. The joys of searching FTP sites for the file you *needed*.

As for the second BBS? The first incarnation of Frog Hollow was up and running in Feb., 1980 and Steve Vinokuroff ran the first system (Vancouver/CBBS) in Vancouver well before I started my system. He was also one of a very few sysops who used MP/M instead of CP/M to allow multiple users.

[JSWolf]

I was involved in helping a friend who ran a local BBS on a TRS-80 Model I. I had bought a Basic pre-compiler that did the pre-compiling of the Basic code into the machine code. That allowed the BBS to run a lot faster. It eliminated the interpreting of the code.

Also, I helped another friend who ran a Fidonet node with running Fidonet. We were able to take advantage of the US Robotics sysop modem program. We were able to get faster modems for a lot less and they were very good modems.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, I helped another friend who ran a Fidonet node with running Fidonet. We were able to take advantage of the US Robotics sysop modem program. We were able to get faster modems for a lot less and they were very good modems.

That they were. I ended up with two Couriers through the sysop program and then got involved with the X2 beta program. Best thing there was when they replaced the motherboards with new ones with EEPROMs. Fond memories of chatting with Joe Frankiewicz at USR. Care to get very boring about constellations? Inserting zero bits? All the other fun of making a modem work at speeds greater than the POTS was designed to handle.

I have an odd mix of memories of my involvement with Fidonet. Some people were rather upset with an OS/2 user starting the Win95 echo. Others were not happy with Bob Satti as Zone 1 coordinator or myself acting as his assistant. The endless arguments about whether or not DSL connected BBS systems should be allowed as Fidonet members. Herding cats at it's worst but still some great memories of the people I met both on and offline.