ë The BëM Squad Presents ë "WaReZ d00dz and H/P/A/V: A Failing Mixture" by Mr. Sandman 08/21/93 I have noticed a very sad thing occur recently. Wares and H/P/A/V have mixed together on the same boards and this has damaged rather than helped the scene. I never really thought this was bad at first but what I've started to notice is that most Wares Boards have started to advertise that they are also H/P/A/V to either attract more callers or so the sysop can feel like he is a complete BaD aSS because not only does he have WaReZ but he also has H/P/A/V which makes him "MoRe Elite" than most other boards. This is crap and is really hurting the scene. Nothing pisses me off more when I see a board advertising H/P/A/V support, CCInet, NuKE, etc. and yet it is totally geared towards Wares so no matter how much you know about the H/P/A/V scene you will not be granted access to the board because the users and sysops favor the WaReZ d00dz. This is really quite sad because there are less and less total H/P/A/V Boards almost every year and you have to have Wares in order to enjoy the H/P/A/V scene. I am not saying that this is true with all Wares/HPAV Boards but it seems to be true with most at the moment. For example, I have not had access to CCInet ever since High Voltage went PD.And sad to say you had to have an abundance of Wares in order to gain access to High Voltage in order to gain access. The only reason I had access there was because I helped him set up his BBS from day one when he had about five users. Then there was one other board in the same areacode that used to carry both Wares and H/P/A/V who did not discriminate towards any user if they knew what they were talking about. Unfortunately he went down. The use of improper Infoforms is to blame for most of this. When I see a BBS advertising H/P/A/V and it's New User Voting Infoform only has questions pertaining to the Wares scene I think it is really unfair to the good H/P/A/V User. It does not give him a chance to prove his worth to the BBS and the Users will normally vote him off. Personally, I see no excuse for having an unbalanced Infoform if you are supporting both Wares and H/P/A/V because it is hurting the scene. If you are a sysop and you run a BBS which carries both Wares and H/P/A/V then please balance your Infoforms. If you don't then it looks like you really don't give a shit about the H/P/A/V users and are only using H/P/A/V to make your BBS look á’ddEr than the others. The other thing which has really started to bother me is when Wares Boards or Wannabe Wares Boards start advertising that they have an abundance of H/P/A/V when they really have jack shit and don't ever care if they get any H/P/A/V files. Once, you have called you have accomplished their goal because you have made their BBS look one user bigger. For example, I called another Wares BBS recently, which shall remain nameless, which was advertising that it had CCInet and loads of H/P/A/V. When I gained access the first thing I did was go to the message section. All the users were complete WaReZ d00dz and the subs that dealt with Wares were thriving. Then I reached one sub titled "H/P/A/V Discussion" which had one post by the sysop explaining what it was for and then all the remaining posts were d00dz warring with each other. I was so pissed to see the one thing I called for which I expected to be somewhat intelligent being used as a warring sub. Then my Message Scan ended and I hadn't hit any subs that were on CCInet. I paged the sysop and when he broke in he said that he didn't have it yet but he knew that he could get it if he asked for it. I was really pissed off at that point but I hadn't yet checked out the file section so I kept my cool and went into it. He had a great supply of Wares but the thing that surprised me most was that he had only ONE FILE dealing with H/P/A/V which was on how to build a Gold Box. At this point I was so pissed I chatted with him again and totally went off on him. The dick started calling me a lamer and tried to make me look like I'd done something wrong. He then proceeded to tell me that if I didn't upload him a new Ware he would revoke my access to the board. Using the Nowhere Utilities I disguised the Crazy Trojan as a Ware and gave it to him. I know he ran it because Balin later called back the board and he posted a Bulletin about it yet this did not help solve the problem. It was merely one asshole who just started everything over again after he reformatted his HD. I have even less respect for these losers so if anyone runs across another board like this send a virus or trojan their way for me. If a BBS is actually trying to get a good H/P/A/V section then it won't require you to upload Wares. If they required uploads of H/P/A/V to keep access to their board, even if they only had a few H/P/A/V files or posts you would at least know that they were genuine about wanting to get a good H/P/A/V board going because you would be contributing to the board. However, if they require you to upload a Ware then you know where their mind is. The only other problem I've noticed that is also hurting the scene are the egos among H/P/A/V and Wares Users who think they are greater than everyone and were born with their knowledge and never had to learn everything. If someone with less experience posts a message like, "What does a Red Box do?" or, "What does INC stand for?" they are immediately attacked by these egotistical users in the subs who insult them and call them lamers. This doesn't help anything. We all know that those of us who do know what we are talking about had to learn at one point what all these things stood for and what their functions were. We didn't just know it! And that is why we should not belittle someone because they don't know what something is because it doesn't help the situation. If someone asks a basic question like that why not just give them the answer instead of giving them an attitude. It will help out everybody much better in the long run. I am not going to point the finger at any BBS's in this file for doing anything that I mentioned above because that was not the purpose of this file. However, if you happen to be the Sysop or a User on a BBS that commits what I've expressed dislike to in the above then please change your BBS to meet the above or have a talk with the sysop about what I've said. If we could get the Wares and H/P/A/V Community to truly come together then so much more could be accomplished. Please take into consideration what I've said in this file. Mr. Sandman BOM Squad Members ë-ë-ë-ë-ë-ë-ë-ë-ë Mr. Sandman Raven Neuromancer The AntiChrist Phat Klown Cop Killer Balin BOM Squad Sites þ-þ-þ-þ-þ-þ The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test ú 908-813-2738 ú BOM WHQ! 2112 ú 518-272-8753 ú BOM 518 HQ! The Dark Side of the Moon ú 215-396-0177 ú BOM 215 HQ! Secluded Nihilists ú 401-521-2923 ú BOM 401 HQ! If you are interested in either writing or being a site for the BëM Squad then please read the BOM.APP file and contact Mr. Sandman on the above boards or look for any for us on other good H/P boards.