Never Erase the Past

Review by Emmanuel Goldstein

LOD Communications - Underground Hack/Phreak BBS Message Base Project
LOD Communications
603 W. 13th, Suite 1A-278
Austin, TX 78701
512-448-5098
lodcom@mindvox.phantom.com
$39 on disk, $117 on paper

It's not at all uncommon for hackers to make history.  What is unusual is for this fact to be recognized.  The LOD Communications Underground H/P BBS Message Base Project takes an anthropological voyage into the origins of the hacker world by rebuilding in the form of print-outs and disks bulletin boards that have long ago ceased to exist.

"How much did they know, and how did they find it out?" reads a portion of LODCOM's promotional material.  Were these hackers "out to start World War III, selling secrets to the Soviets, working with organized crime, conspiring to do evil, or just a bunch of bored teenagers with nothing better to do?"  Primary evidence of this sort is as close as you can get to the truth, without actually reading someone's private mail.

But is this the sort of thing that people really care about?  Undoubtedly, many will shrug it off as useless, boring conversations between sun-shielded teenagers that have absolutely no relevance to anything in the real world.  The fact remains, however, that this is history.  This is our history, or at least, a small part of it.  The boards included in this project:

and a host of others - are among the more interesting hacker boards, with some classic dialogue and a gang of hacker stars-to-be.  Nearly all of these boards were raided at one time or another, which makes it all even more fascinating.

Gathering this data involved a significant amount of time and labor.  Oftentimes, the messages and files had to be pried from disks of obsolete computers or had to be entirely retyped from hardcopy.  According to LODCOM, "every effort was made to keep the messages in their pristine condition: 40 columns, all caps, spelling errors, offensive language, [and] inaccuracies of various kinds."

Each of the message bases is accompanied by a message base file that explains hacker BBS terminology and format, as well as a profile of the board that gives relevant historical background and a description of the BBS.  This is in addition to the actual message base, "G-files" or hacking tutorials, and userlists when available.

Volume 1 of this collection is already complete and Volume 2 is expected to be finished by the end of September.  LODCOM expects a total of three or four volumes with the whole project being complete by the end of the year.  It is estimated that the total number of messages will exceed 15,000.  All volumes will be sent to anyone who orders the first one.  Because of the massive amount of data, the files will be compressed.  For $5 extra, you can get an uncompressed version.  Formats supported are: IBM (5.25" or 3.5"), Amiga (3.5"), and Macintosh (3.5").

The project is still looking for more hacker boards (non-kodez, non-warez) that were online before 1990.  They are particularly interested in recompiling Modem Over Manhattan (MOM) and 8BBS, two of the earliest boards, dating back to 1979.  Interested parties can contact them iat the above addresses.

Had the LODCOM project not come along when it did, a great many of these message bases probably would have been lost forever.  Providing this service to both the hacker community and those interested in it is a noble cause that is well worth the price.  If it succeeds, some valuable hacker data will be preserved for future generations.



It is very important to give credit where it's due; in 1993-1994, the remaining members of the Legion of Doom, now called LOD Communications, decided to take on a vast project of bringing the past to the BBS users of the present.  They would do this by transcribing BBS messages from all the most popular and active phreaking and hacking boards of the 1980s and presenting them in their original 40 or 80 column format, all the spelling and grammatical errors intact, and giving a profile of the boards the messages came from.  In many ways, textfiles.com had the same idea, 6 years later.  The project got underway, but never really achieved the nationwide/mass acceptance it was supposed to, and these important files were in danger of being lost a second time.

I'm pleased to be a part of bringing many of these files back to you, and give a bow to these pioneers of BBS nostalgia/history.
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