Product Description

For nearly two decades, computer-based Bulletin Board Systems were the primary method of communication between computer users. As suddenly as they gained popularity, they were made obsolete by the next big thing - a newfangled system called the Internet. Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie takes its readers on an exciting journey through the BBS era. Through the author's personal tales and adventures, readers will discover more about these amazing times and what it was like to grow up online. With tales of copyfests, BBS parties and random acts of online debauchery, those who were there will find themselves reminiscing, while those who weren't will enjoy learning about life "before the 'net." You know, back when we used to modem uphill, both ways in the snow.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #838663 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Customer Reviews

Very Disappointing
I ordered this book thinking it would be a fond look back at the Commodore era, copy sessions, BBS hijinks, and good memories.

Instead I got a memoir of a degenerate juvenile delinquent whose idea of a good time was phoning long-distance BBSs and downloading pirated games. Not that he actually cracked the games, mind you, he was just the mule, and seems very proud of this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly snow white here, I bought more than my share of blank floppies in my time, but Rob seems to take some sort of egomaniacal pleasure in getting credit for dealing WAREZZZZZZZ to his BROTHERHOOD while living in a trailer, stealing his girlfriend's tuition money, and having a nothing job as if, twenty years later, it made him something special. It's pathetic.

In between, we get lovely stories of underage drinking, property damage, and law breaking, all in the guise of good fun. He admits that his tales are sordid, but he doesn't excatly sound ashamed of them either. No talks about his favorite games except brief mentions of playing them while WAREZZZZ downloaded on other networks.

I was going to blow off this book as a bad purchase from a misleading description until the end, when he bemoans the internet taking over for the local BBS, just as he bemoans the loss of his beloved Commodore in the beginning of the book (a full-circle I must admit I admired).

He talks about how close he was to his BROTHERHOOD OF 405 mere paragraphs, literally, before he talks about the suicide of a fellow member and admits that, not only did he not even know the guy's first name, he didn't know anything about him, or most of the people in the room. He decries the anaonymous nature of the internet right before talking about a cool guy he met while online, and then about a friend who met his WIFE online! Yeah, that damn internet.

I loved surfing the BBSs in my time, but I think the text only slowness, and the constant busy signals are a thing of the past. And hey, when I met friends online, I actually met them and did things with them other than talk online. Hell, half the people I knew online were friends BEFORE I met them online. My Commodore and later my IBm were probably my most prized possessions back then, but they actually got turned off once in a while.

Unless you got pissed off by what I just wrote, skip this one. If you are the type who used his screen name in real life and spent more time copying and downloading (and making up "This game cracked by..." screens than you did playing your games, this gets the highest reccommendation.

Read About "Old Skool" Nerd Antics
I just got this book last weekend, and It is very good read and am about halfway through. Rob takes the reader through some of his experiences as a teen-aged comuter freak and software pirate starting in the 80s through to the 90s, which touches on BBSing, copyfests and the software trades, networking, and phreaking. Though many of us may have done some of these in our youth to a degree, not as many are willing to admit it.

If you are wondering what it was like as a nerd of the 80s, working with the 8-bit machines and computing before the internet will find a good insight to one person's experience (mine certainly varies but I do have a couple similar reminiscences from reading his tales.)

If you are an avid 80s fan/cyberculture reader this is a worthy book. The closest similar I've read is Steve Levy's Hackers.