People mirror things off the Archive all the time. This show is explicitly open-licensed.

It seems right that since I announced the BBS Documentary production on Slashdot, I should also take the time to give testimony to one of its primary interviewees that took it from side fun project to meaningful historical work.

My goal had been to do a documentary on the BBS Experience, working from interviews with flexible friends and nearby folks, and then work up to the "Big Ones", the names who had been in my teenage mind when I ran a BBS, like Ward Christensen, Chuck Forsberg, Randy Suess, and others. But then I had someone from Chicago checking in to make sure I wasn't going to skip over the important parts the midwest had told in the story. So it was that a month into production, barely nailing down how I would fly post 9/11 with a studio worth of equipment, that I found myself at CACHE (Chicago Area Computer Hobbyist Exchange) and meeting Ward himself.

They say "Never meet your heroes." I think it's more accurate to say "Have the best heroes" or "Be the kind of person a hero would want to meet." Ward was warm, friendly, humble, and very, VERY accomodating to a first-time filmmaker. I appreciated, fundamentally, the boost that he gave me and my work, knowing I was sitting on hours of footage from The Guy.

There were many other The Guy and The Lady and The Groups for BBS: The Documentary, but Ward's humble-ness about his creation and what it did to the world was what made sure I never overhyped or added layers of drama on the work. Ward was amazing and I'll miss him.

Just wanted to mention how Slashdot never fails to disappoint.

For the record, textfiles.com has no ads. None. Going to it or not going to it doesn't affect my revenue/income particularly. I don't run that site for money.

But if you'd rather hear a much funnier story about the legal threats I get, please watch my video That Awesome Time I Was Sued for Two Billion Dollars.

That was old school hacking, before "War Games" and people trying to crack computers and security and writing viruses.

You were using your Amiga 1000 before "War Games" came out? That's pretty hardcore, man.

I didn't even know Pitfall had an end!

It does end, but not in the modern sense. Today, most games end when you defeat a final boss stage, or reach the end of the storyline.

Pitfall ends when:

• You lose all three of your lives
• You run down the 20 minute timer
• You collect all the treasures in the game

Stunts (a.k.a. 4-D Sports Driving in Europe) came out in 1990, according to MobyGames. I had a ton of fun with this game. I remember the following camera options during replay. For each one, you could select which of the two cars to follow:

• Helicopter (follows behind and way above selected car)
• Track cameras (view transfers from camera to camera along the track, each one following the selected car as it passes by)
• In car (same view as during gameplay)
• Choose your angle (similar to the helicopter, but you choose the angle relative to the car. You could even pause and change the angle in the middle of the replay)

No Really!!