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| ==History== | ==History== | ||
| TOTSE was started by Jeff Hunter (a founding member of ]){{specify|date=March 2007}} in 1989 as a ] BBS originally named "& the Temple of the Screaming Electron". The original &TOTSE specialized in small text files. (Hunter had an old 8088 PC XT clone with limited hard drive space; small text files were the only data he could store in reasonable quantity.){{specify|date=March 2007}} | TOTSE was started by Jeff Hunter (a founding member of ]){{specify|date=March 2007}} in 1989 as a ] BBS originally named "& the Temple of the Screaming Electron". The original &TOTSE specialized in small text files. (Hunter had an old 8088 PC XT clone with limited hard drive space; small text files were the only data he could store in reasonable quantity.){{specify|date=March 2007}} | ||
| ==What totse is== | |||
| "A lot of people have some weird idea that this web site is a Bad Place, a place for hackers, software pirates, and anarchists. The reason that they think this is that there are informational text files on here about hacking, piracy, and anarchy. | |||
| However, there are also text files on here that discuss politics; democratic, right wing, left wing, libertarian, communist, and everything in between, but this is not a political web site. | |||
| There are files on here that discuss Jesus Christ, Muhammed, Buddha, Crowley, John Smith, and "Bob", but this is not a religious web site. | |||
| There are files full of short stories, science fiction, humorous articles, and great works of literature, but this is not a literary web site. | |||
| There are files with information on rocketry, radio broadcasting, chemistry, electronics, genetics, and computers, but this is not a technical web site. | |||
| This web site is about INFORMATION. All sorts and all viewpoints. Some of the information you will agree with, some you will find shocking, and some you will probably disagree with violently. That is the whole point. In this society we go to schools where there is one right answer: The Teacher's. There is one acceptable version of events: The Television's. There is only one acceptable occupation: The pursuit of money. There is only one political choice to make: The Status Quo. | |||
| On this web site you are expected to make decisions all by yourself. You get to decide who and what to agree with, and why. You get to hear new viewpoints that you may have never heard before. On this web site people exist without age, without skin color, without gender, without clothes, without nationality, without any of the visual cues we usually use to discredit or ignore people who are unlike ourselves. All of these things are stripped away and the ideas themselves are laid bare. | |||
| You will change. You will transform. You will learn. You will disagree. | |||
| You will enjoy it." -Jeff Hunter | |||
| TOTSE became available on the Internet in ], and the dial-up BBS system was discontinued in spring 1998 after a particularly vicious flame war between two then-prominent users was allowed to rage out of control for weeks while the sysop was absent. Upon returning, Hunter promptly closed the system to new users. Although the persons involved certainly share part of the blame, long-time users were quick to note that this would not have happened had the situation not been ignored for so long.<ref></ref> Not long after disabling new user registration, &TOTSE's dial-up incarnation was shut down. | TOTSE became available on the Internet in ], and the dial-up BBS system was discontinued in spring 1998 after a particularly vicious flame war between two then-prominent users was allowed to rage out of control for weeks while the sysop was absent. Upon returning, Hunter promptly closed the system to new users. Although the persons involved certainly share part of the blame, long-time users were quick to note that this would not have happened had the situation not been ignored for so long.<ref></ref> Not long after disabling new user registration, &TOTSE's dial-up incarnation was shut down. | ||
Revision as of 16:22, 5 April 2007
| File:TOTSE.pngTOTSE's frontpage. | |
| Type of site | Internet forum |
|---|---|
| Owner | Jeff Hunter |
| Created by | Jeff Hunter |
| Revenue | graphical advertisments |
| URL | http://www.totse.com/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required to post but not to view postings |
TOTSE (IPA: ['tɑtsi], commonly mispronounced as IPA: ['towtsi] and IPA: ['towts]) is a San Francisco Bay Area website and former BBS. The name is an acronym for "Temple of the Screaming Electron".
History
TOTSE was started by Jeff Hunter (a founding member of NIRVANAnet) in 1989 as a dial-up BBS originally named "& the Temple of the Screaming Electron". The original &TOTSE specialized in small text files. (Hunter had an old 8088 PC XT clone with limited hard drive space; small text files were the only data he could store in reasonable quantity.)
What totse is
"A lot of people have some weird idea that this web site is a Bad Place, a place for hackers, software pirates, and anarchists. The reason that they think this is that there are informational text files on here about hacking, piracy, and anarchy.
However, there are also text files on here that discuss politics; democratic, right wing, left wing, libertarian, communist, and everything in between, but this is not a political web site.
There are files on here that discuss Jesus Christ, Muhammed, Buddha, Crowley, John Smith, and "Bob", but this is not a religious web site.
There are files full of short stories, science fiction, humorous articles, and great works of literature, but this is not a literary web site.
There are files with information on rocketry, radio broadcasting, chemistry, electronics, genetics, and computers, but this is not a technical web site.
This web site is about INFORMATION. All sorts and all viewpoints. Some of the information you will agree with, some you will find shocking, and some you will probably disagree with violently. That is the whole point. In this society we go to schools where there is one right answer: The Teacher's. There is one acceptable version of events: The Television's. There is only one acceptable occupation: The pursuit of money. There is only one political choice to make: The Status Quo.
On this web site you are expected to make decisions all by yourself. You get to decide who and what to agree with, and why. You get to hear new viewpoints that you may have never heard before. On this web site people exist without age, without skin color, without gender, without clothes, without nationality, without any of the visual cues we usually use to discredit or ignore people who are unlike ourselves. All of these things are stripped away and the ideas themselves are laid bare.
You will change. You will transform. You will learn. You will disagree.
You will enjoy it." -Jeff Hunter
TOTSE became available on the Internet in 1997, and the dial-up BBS system was discontinued in spring 1998 after a particularly vicious flame war between two then-prominent users was allowed to rage out of control for weeks while the sysop was absent. Upon returning, Hunter promptly closed the system to new users. Although the persons involved certainly share part of the blame, long-time users were quick to note that this would not have happened had the situation not been ignored for so long. Not long after disabling new user registration, &TOTSE's dial-up incarnation was shut down.
Media attention
TOTSE has been featured in the media, usually for members committing crimes or for its controversial text files. The site also appears on a 2006 Australian anti-terrorrism poster and a television advertisement.
The most recent attention is due to the "hacking" of an electronic car park sign in Crawley, England, designed to display the number of spaces left for each car park. The top two displays were replaced with profanity while the lower display read "totse".
Community
The community of TOTSE is an Internet forum. Some users of the community refer to themselves as "totseans". Members engage in discussion about a wide variety of topics including religion, politics, humanities, weapons, explosives, drugs, illegal activities, music, the environment, mechanics, food, sex, and do it yourself projects. Anything you can show interest in, there are other members that share said interest. TOTSE is affectionately referred to by the users as T, &T, &TOTSE, and "The Temple". Although Hunter has an account he rarely posts on the TOTSE forums. Many novices think the site holds nothing but illegal criminal activities, as well as the media, but this is indeed incorrect information that has been broadcast from people who know nothing about the forum itself.
The forum was a highly modified version of UBB 5.47a, which has been heavily criticized by several readers due to its age. Hunter purchased a copy of vBulletin, with an upgrade that finally happened on the fourth of April, 2007.
LivePrayer Prank Calls
A number of TOTSE members planned and carried out a number of prank calls against Live Prayer with Bill Keller starting on November 21 2006. When another TOTSE member, appalled by their actions, reported them to Keller via email, he threatened legal action against TOTSE, specifically charging that the prank calls amounted to "conspiracy to obstruct commerce". The situation was later resolved when the moderator "Warweed12" contacted Keller and apologized.
IRC
TOTSE also has an IRC channel, #totse, hosted on the SlashNET network. A Java IRC client is provided on the website.
Forum Updated To vBulletin
As of 07:18 UTC, April 4th 2007, the forums where updated from their old software to the latest version of vBulletin. Jeff Hunter, owner of &Totse had announced this before November 2006. With the switch over to vBulletin the users of the Totse community have been experiencing frequent Database Errors while browsing the forums., this is suspected to be from Jeff editing the mySQL database with the site live, instead of taking it down to correct any problems. On the fifth of april Jeff did take it down for a while to iron out the kinks. With this update came the shock of being able to access most of the old threads that many members thought had been lost for ever. Post counts are now displayed with the users posts, something that was taken away from the old BBS to stop "post whoreing".
References
- TOTSE FAQ – Mythos
- Australian Government (2005-08-30). "HELP PROTECT AUSTRALIA FROM TERRORISM" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-01-22.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|description=ignored (help) - Help Protect Australia From Text Files
- Acford, Louise (27 October 2006). "Rude awakening for dawn drivers". The Argus. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Payne, Stewart (28 October 2006). "Rude road signs tell drivers where to go". Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Jeff Hunter's profile
- Replacement for UBB announcement
- Live Prayer show archives: November 28th 2006
- TOTSE IRC chat page