130 lines
6.7 KiB
HTML
130 lines
6.7 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
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<TITLE>T E X T F I L E S</TITLE>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#00FF00" LINK="#00FF00" ALINK="#00FF00"
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VLINK="#00FF00">
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<FONT FACE="Courier New,Courier" COLOR="#00FF00">
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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<B>THANK YOU FOR READING THE DISCLAIMER</B>
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<P>
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TEXTFILES.COM is meant to be a historical archive, collecting textfiles
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written on BBSes in the 1980's. The reason for creating such an archive
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is because the potential for an important piece of history in human
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culture was in danger of being forgotten and inaccessible. It stands
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to reason that many of the textfiles written during the Golden Age of
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Phone-based Bulletin Board Systems would have a relatively small
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distribution compared to the multimedia of the modern day; but this
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makes what was written no less important.
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<P>
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In fact, this recent phenomenon of a world-linked network computers
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makes the availability of this past history more important than ever.
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While the present-day mainstream grapples with the issues and events
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of bringing life online, many of these very same issues were addressed
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in BBS culture and were in some cases either solved or quantified,
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and could provide important research for those who are unaware of
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the roots of many of the online world's most sacred rites and
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traditions.
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<P>
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As the ability of the Internet to transmit and provide information grows
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at an ever-increasing rate, the TEXTFILES.COM project endeavors to
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provide examples of the 1980's BBS culture by putting up as many examples
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of it as possible. This includes transcriptions of message bases, specific
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reports or essays about many different subjects, and fiction. Generally,
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if it was ASCII-based and posted on a Bulletin Board System, this site
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has attempted to procure examples or, with luck, complete specimens.
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<P>
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As is the nature with such an all-encompassing subject, there are a lot
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of files on this site that do not strictly fall into the realm of
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ASCII posted on Bulletin Boards of the 1980-1989 era. Some of the files
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are much older, and some of the files are very, very recent. This is
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because the nature of the culture being archived is very fluid; and
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it is better to err on the side of completeness than that of strict
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adherence to the "official" theme. In some cases, a trend started in
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the 1980's has continued to flourish into the present day, and it would
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be much more effort to cut off the example files at an arbitrary date
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than to just provide a complete collection. In other cases, the trend
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extends before the 1980's, and throwing away the earlier files would
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be an inappropriate way to demonstrate the importance of history.
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<P>
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TEXTFILES.COM considers itself a library or an archive in the sense that
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we are not selling or providing a commercial collection of the texts we
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make available. The site operates at a loss, and is being done solely to
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be a clearinghouse for these important pieces in our online culture.
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We do not necessarily agree with the opinions, instructions, allegations,
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or presented information in any of our textfiles. We do not have the
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resources to track down the truthfulness or accuracy of any text on
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the site, including our own written histories or essays.
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<P>
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<I>We ask with
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all our hearts that you do not follow instructions or steps in any
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textfile on this site without consulting professionals in the field
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or established reference materials; some of these files have no basis
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in reality whatsoever, and should not be construed as appropriate for
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any purpose other than historical research.
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</I>
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<P>
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TEXTFILES.COM broaches a wide array of subjects, concepts, points of
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view, and writing styles. We ask that you respect the law in your
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jurisdiction regarding what texts are appropriate for you to access,
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and that if you are unsure as to your right to browse this site,
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that you leave this site immediately and consult your local law
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enforcement, facility supervisor, or caretakers.
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TEXTFILES.COM supports filtering
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technologies such as NetNanny and Cyberpatrol to allow parents to
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decide what sites their children should browse; we have asked these
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companies to ban us completely because we cannot guarantee that all
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of our content is appropriate for all minors worldwide. If you have
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any doubts about the nature of our content, we ask that you leave
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the site immediately. We stress that we do not have the facilities
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to ensure that our content is appropriate for everyone who browses
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our site and additionally, we cannot guarantee that all textfiles
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on this site are <I>appropriately labelled or classified</I>.
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<P>
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It is the nature of this site that literately thousands and thousands
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of textfiles are being added by the staff, with only a cursory glance
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at the beginning of the files to create a one-line description before
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placing it online. In some cases, the one-line descriptions are being
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generated and placed online with <I>no human intervention whatsoever</I>.
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Because of this, we ask for your assistance in helping us make more
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accurate descriptions, less doubled files, and, where justified, to
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request that we remove the file in question if it was mistakenly
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provided to us under false pretenses or was originally put online
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in a different, unmodified form.
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<P>
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Our policy in terms of removal of textfiles from this site is to allow
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the creator/writers of the files to determine the fate of their own files.
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Requests to have files removed from the site will be granted, although
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we do reserve the right to notate that the file has been removed, so
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that other users will not waste our time and theirs trying to replace it.
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If the author has a more complete collection of their files and wishes
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to upload that collection to us, we will gladly replace the modified
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files with the originals.
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<P>
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TEXTFILES.COM is strongly against censorship and will not remove files
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because of questions of taste, truthfulness, obsolesence, or need. We
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are not seeking to have the most up-to-date information on a given
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technical subject; we only wish to present how the subject was perceived
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by the BBS world, long before new features or corporate interest changed
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the subject. We actively pursue the opinions of the writers of these
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textfiles regarding the context in which they were originally created,
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and provide a historical essay section for the writers to pontificate
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about these contexts and facts. Again, we make no guarantees about the
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accuracy or truthfulness of these opinion-centric essays by textfile
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writers.
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<P>
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<I>
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Finally, TEXTFILES.COM maintains absolutely NO COPYRIGHT OR OWNERSHIP
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on any part of the site, including our own descriptions and introductions.
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TEXTFILES.COM as an organization is only interested in distribution
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of these texts, and makes no claim on them. We hope you enjoy the site,
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and that you will help to make it the best archive of these texts on
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the Internet.
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<P>
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<I>-- Jason Scott of TEXTFILES.COM</I>
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</I>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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</FONT>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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