-=> Quoting Sam Alexander to Scott Adams <=-

 >  SA> What we used to do with the local boards was to block someone on all
 >  SA> systems if they were turds.  If someone logged into a board and acted
 >  SA> up,  their name or any information about that user went to all the
 >  SA> other boards  in the area via an areawide Sysop echo, and the user was
 >  SA> banned from  everyplace.  I'm sure other popular BBSes would comply if
 >  SA> you sent out a  similar message or at least threatened this on th e
 >  SA> user.
 > 
 >      Wow that bought back some memories.  In Jax we did that as well
 >      a sorta "bad user" list shared among the entire city of sysops.
 >      Worked quite well especially for door users who had like 18
 >      accounts in BRE on one board.

 SA> It did work well as I found out once.  When I was around 11 or 12 (new
 SA> to  BBSing) I stumbled upon the password for the adult area of a local
 SA> board  and under a friend's account (who was over 21) I would show-off
 SA> the area to  friends.  These pics were black  and white and the women
 SA> not even nude, but  to a 12 year old, it was gold!  I mistakenly
 SA> accessed the area under my  account once and freaked when the sysop
 SA> went into chat asking where I'd  gotten the password from.  Within 24
 SA> hours I was banned from more then half  the boards until I wrote an
 SA> apology letter, which I did.   
 SA> What's funny, now almost 20 years later, my wife works with the wife
 SA> of  that Sysop, and though I've talked to him many times about BBSes at
 SA> events  with my wife's work, I've never had the nerve to ask him about
 SA> that  incident.  He might remember me being 'that kid', but dunno. 
 SA> Just too  funny none the less.

    Heh...he might think it funny now though as its years later.
    But yeah some didn't care and gave XXX access right away to
    all who logged in.  But others had a code of standard.  We
    did have a responsibility.   It sounds corny now since the
    net wasn't around but those over 18 tended to respect that
    code.  The kids who ran boards tended to have a few pics
    but didn't know enough or had enough to merit worry.
    Now the net is up and free pics and movies can be found
    within seconds.....at least there was a code of conduct
    for a period...








... "The first obligation of a prisoner is to escape." - Sheridan
--- Fringe BBS