Re: Crossroads and Fred Clark

On Sunday, August 16, 1998 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, John L. Crane wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Aug 1998 12:39:14 GMT, [email protected] (Abaciscus)
> wrote:
> >software market I can think of. The free-lunchers, ingrates and
> >pirates make BBS software programming a field that few people in their
> >right mind should enter, especially if they want to make money.
> I'm struck with a few thoughts on this matter...
> First, I've always considerd this a hobby, not a business. I've never
> expected to make a fortune off BBSing. At best I expected not to go
> broke from it.=20
> From that viewpoint who can spend a fortune on the latest wizz bang
> feature they might not even want. I've seen some laughable prices on
> some addons.
> Secondly BBSing is supported by a grass roots bunch of hacks
> (dscription offered in the good sence). When a friend and I wanted a
> TRIBBS like menu system we wrote one and uploaded it to SaltAir.=20
> People who care about the medum giving back, perhaps the way it should
> be..
> I think your right that there isn't a lot of money to be made in
> BBSing, there never was. Even then, I'd love to be able to fiind and
> redgesture a couple of programs.
I know this is ancient and nobody will likely ever see this, but I'd like t=
o say, from a quarter century in the future, after getting caught using a p=
irated copy of PCboard as a 15yo sysop, I wrote a letter to Fred Clark apol=
ogizing and explaining my situation, in hopes that I would not get "kicked =
out of the community" cuz I was young and stupid, and two weeks later I rec=
eived a package with really generously licensed copy of PCboard, free of ch=
arge, and a letter I wish I still had. Even though it was the "fancy" solut=
ion, and I had used Wildcat! for years, and I always thought of Clark Devel=
opment as the rich corporate assholes, well, despite that, I learned Fred C=
lark was actually a good dude.