From: bubblewrapped@cox.net   
      
   You know, it used to be that one could get online and find a crack or serial   
   for nearly any BBS door game or utility needed in very little time.   
      
   Now, of course, this was illegal, still is, and probably led to the decline   
   of BBSing as we used to enjoy it.  I'm not supporting it (nor am I   
   condemning it), and I'm not trolling.   
      
   What I AM doing it expressing surprise that nobody came along and   
   legitimized the underground.  Say whatever else you will about it, there's a   
   particular corner of it without which BBSs never would have reached any sort   
   of glory.  They had the pulse.  I'd like to take advantage of that pulse now   
   as I set up a nostalgia BBS.  What's still supported?  Who supports it?   
   What's not supported?  What can I crack and nobody will care, since nobody   
   is arounf to care about it? (abandonware).  What are the laws and   
   regulations about it?  What's the flexibility?  If there's nobody supporting   
   a particular software package, but it's still illegal to crack it, then who   
   might I purchase an old unused key from?   
      
   I refuse to believe that someone else hasn't gone through this before me,   
   but I can't seem to find any evidence of that.  Even thebbs.org/sysop's   
   corner has every third link broken, and it's getting frustrating.  No wonder   
   BBSes continue to decline and eventually will be stone dead even though the   
   "new" technology could be used to make them even more prominent and powerful   
   than before; from what I can tell, the wanna-be sysops of today sumply don't   
   support their own like the sysops of old (ok, NOW I'm trolling a little)...   
      
   I've tried contacting people who appear to have claim over some of the old   
   legacy software.  I've been ignored or received vague or dismissive answers.   
   I've tried planning on running purely free-ware, public domain, etc.   
   software, and frankly, that's the fastest way to put together a crappy BBS   
   that I've found so far.  When I even mention cracking or serials or the old   
   keygen studio resources, people who were lucky enough to "buy-in" 15 years   
   ago throw a fit (never once mentioning how they're stuck with the same tired   
   old BBS and sysop names, and hence the same tired old looks and themes, if   
   they want these registrations to still be useable), throw a holy fit.   
      
   I got a speech recently in email about how some of these door developers are   
   "mom-and-pop" businesses just trying to survive.  Bullshit.  They are   
   opportunists taking advantage of the fact that we have nowhere else to go if   
   we want to attempt to revive the communities we remember back then.  If they   
   cared about us, they'd make stronger moves to adjust the BBS platform to   
   WIN32 or *Nix, not just a server here, or a door there, but the whole damn   
   kit-and-kaboodle.  But wait, that would attract attention of potential   
   competitors, and then everyone would start doing it, and the few   
   opportunists still raping you sad sacks for $15 a pop would lose their   
   stranglehold...   
      
   So, yeah, ok, I'm pissed.  Those of you that these comments don't apply to   
   know who you are, and won't sweat it.  I don't want to wantonly rip off mom   
   and pop, but neither do I want to start sending $15 checks off into the   
   postal wilderness to end destinations that may no longer exist, or put my   
   long distance bill through the roof calling around to see who still   
   remembers that they even wrote the software.  Yes, it seems that   
   gameport.com still supports lord, and that John Daily still supports some of   
   the programs from the Patel brothers, but what have they done with it?   
   Adapted it to the current OSes?  Come out with part II, or an add on, or   
   basically anything to justify putting the effort and money into have a whole   
   4 registered door games while I lack for content because everything else has   
   a lock on it with a timer that is well past expired?  I just want to rebuild   
   a tiny corner of the community that used to exist and see if that support   
   can do something good for the rest of it, by whatever means neccessary.   
   AFTER the community is running, at least my small part of it, then I'll   
   start thinking about how the opportunists fare, and quite frankly, IF   
   there's a way to give them their money I will, because I don't care to face   
   penalties of a measly $15 here and there.  But I'm not going to pay first   
   for what might amount to a few extra zip files in the far reached of my   
   drive if a BBS proves to be something that just wants to die.   
      
   So if you have an interest in getting another system up and running that you   
   can telnet in to and have a little more of that community back, help me out.   
   Where the heck did all the resources go?  If you're going to give me a   
   speech about registration, stow it.  Frankly, anyone who ever paid for every   
   single computer software package they used is a blooming idiot.  Even the   
   corporations steal, hell, they taught US how.  I have nothing to offer but   
   my gratitude.   
      
   -.:.-   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)