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       A Slightly Inebriated Interview With DarkStar of The Nucleus
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Q:  How did you come up with the name DarkStar?
A:  Well, that will take a lot of explaining. The song by the same name
    really had NOTHING to do with it. I hate songs, per se, so the song
    merely irritated me. I used that name/handle in my younger days as my
    "street name" , back before street names became the rage with the folks
    on the street. I used to make really good grades in school, but since I
    was the "black sheep" of the family, I took the alias Darkstar as a
    payback type of thing. My first handle was Casanova, since I had
    numerous girlfriends. That got old and I changed it to make up for my
    lack of steady pussy.

Q:  Why did you name your system the Nucleus?
A:  Actually, I was thinking about names for BBS's and thought Nucleus
    would fit the theme of my board.  That being, free BBS software for
    all. I did run a board for folks who wanted to have their own BBS, but
    were tired of Remote Access and Wildcat. Those softwares, while filling
    a need, were not quite what I envisioned BBSing should be... Nucleus
    provided an easy alternative to RA or Wildcat. Kind of like the "center
    of the BBS world".


Q:  What do you think about Memphis?
A:  I have lived in Memphis for a total of seven (7) years. The first few,
    say six (6) were when I went to school here for electronic training at
    State Tech. That training got me a job offer from a Dallas Electronics
    Firm and I spent the next 12 and a half years there. I was working for
    a major defense contractor there, and with the 1990 outbreak of "world
    peace" , I found myself laid off, as did so many other people. I went
    back to school to try to redefine my qualifications, but in the long
    run, I just spent time doing what I had been doing for the last ten
    (10) years for credit. Memphis has not really changed much since I have
    returned. The scene here was real shakey forever, and with the
    demise/loss of the few (3) decent boards from the 1980's, the place has
    gone "down the proverbial tubes". Every now and then a new board goes
    up, we can only hope it is a good one.

Q:  How long have you been in Memphis?
A:  See the above answer...

Q:  What do you think the best board in Memphis is, PD or otherwise?
A:  Defining the "best" BBS in Memphis, or anywhere for that matter, is
    hard. "BEST" is such a subjective term. WareZpups, those folks to which
    stealing software is their life, prefer boards with stolen software on
    them. For those who do not deal with underground activities, or are not
    aware of such activities, there are several boards that may make their
    day. I am not in the position of recommending boards for folks to call.
    Adult boards, those that have grabbed the headlines in the recent
    papers, are sad situations. I may detail my thoughts on such
    enterprises in a later issue. PD, (public domain) boards are what the
    average user sees and finds, whether through the MBBS listing, or from
    grabbing their friends calling list. They serve a purpose, albeit a
    pedestrian one.


Q:  How many Memphians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A:  It depends if you can get Memphians to agree the light bulb needs
    screwing...


Q:  What is the average tone, in mhz, of the average h/p user's voice in 
    Memphis?
A:  Very high, that means he, and it is usually a young male, hasn't
    reached puberty ...YET. "Hey Darsktar, I just got the latest release of
    BlueBeep!" says the voice at the end of the line.

Q:  What type of user do you look for?
A:  Really I prefer users that are trying to learn about computers and
    BBSing. WaresPups, while at times annoying, are basically just
    beginners who find the trading of stolen software, thrilling or Kewl.
    It may land them or their parents in jail. Young people seem to believe
    they are immune to such petty considerations as the law. Users come in
    several distinct types:
    1) Novice/Rookie type, "Gee, look at the cool thing I can do with my
    computer..." The modem has freed the novice from his/her wordprocessor
    and allowed their phone bill to skyrocket...once they realize they can
    also make Long Distance calls as easily as local ones.
    2) WaresPups types, rookies that have discovered the world of pirated
    software. They are envisioning themselves as modern day Bluebeards,
    sailing the seas of cyberspace in search of booty.
    3) Lonely Hearts types, looking for love in all the wrong places.
    BBS's often provide an attractive place to flirt with members of the
    opposite sex, or the same sex for that matter. Handles or aliases allow
    folks to act out fantasy roles. These folks are in reality, just
    pathetic.
    4) Corporate User type, These poor folks are destined to cruise the
    Internet desperately searching for the latest upgrade/bugfix to that
    wonderful piece of shit that their boss shelled out MEGA bucks for,
    only to find it did not work as they thought it would. Sad but true.
    5) SYSOP types, these folks call around to see what all the other
    SYSOPs are doing with their boards. They are looking for fresh ideas to
    steal. I myself, do this regularly. Unfortunately, Wildcat SYSOPS have
    a great deal of trouble doing anything creative with their software. RA
    is only slightly better in the configurability aspect. The
    Telegard/WWIV hack boards offer the SYSOPs and users better choices for
    making their boards look different.
    6) Police and Law Enforcement types, generally losers who are incapable
    of stopping violent crime on the streets, so they enter other peoples
    homes or businesses via the modem and look for something that can be
    construed to be a crime. If no criminal activity is found, these type
    users often instigate criminal activity to justify their existance.
    This process is called entrapment.



Q:  What do you specialize in?
A:  No specialities...merely generalizations...why confine one's self?

Q:  Do you program at all?  If so, in what languages?
A:  I try to avoid ALL programming. The phrase goes like this..."Strong
    typing is for weak minds" , and I agree with that assessment. I used to
    program, on the old Commodore computers, then the IBM (Inferior But
    Marketable) Mainframes. In the infamous JCL...Why bother? Now I use
    TOOLS that others with real programming ability create. Reinventing the
    wheel is tedious and quite pointless. (PASCAL, BASIC, ATLAS, RPG,
    ASSEMBLER)



Q:  What programs have you written?
A:  None...period. Well, except when I was forced to write them, say for a
    job or a grade.


Q:  How do you feel about pirated files?
A:  I vote for Mongo! I vote for Cindy Crawford! I voted for Perot! See
    what THAT got me? Pirated files are basically stolen. How would you
    like to write the great American Novel, and publish only one copy? You
    want to sell millions of copies to line your pockets with money, but
    no, some geek with a Xerox machine buys your only copy and proceeds to
    copy the shit out of it and then gives it away to everyone for free.
    Bet that would chap your hide a tad. Pirated software is just like
    that.

Q:  How do you feel about pornography?
A:  How many ways can you photograph a Volkswagen? I think if folks want to
    look at that stuff, let them. Just leave the kiddie stuff out. Taking
    advantage of young kids needs to be a death penalty offense. Period.

Q:  Why do you run Insanity?
A:  Because it sucks and pisses PD types off bigger that shit when they hit
    the new user infoforms. Sometimes I use a new user password, just to
    piss folks off a bit more. Not knowing the NUP becomes a challenge to
    some people. These folks call back repetitively trying to guess the
    password. That makes for great fun. Cheaper than renting a video and
    lots more entertaining.

Q:  What do you think about AntiVirus Software and their creators?
A:  It gives them something to do with their lives, and keeps giving those
    who write viruses a reason to keep improving their product.

Q:  What's the best board you call?
A:  (800) PRI-VATE  Toll free!

Q:  What do you think of local sysops?
A:  Some suck, the rest are O.K.   Well, maybe I lied...

Q:  What's your favorite type of file?
A:  Files that actually do SOMETHING useful are my favorite ones, PD or
    SHAREWARE can be my favorite files. Those that a person or corporation
    pay a bunch of money for and later find out the program doesn't do what
    it claimed to do ...they suck. I really prefer files that deliver what
    they promise...hell, I even REGISTER some of them...GASP!

Q:  Do you have any plans for the future?
A:  I plan to live as long as I can , and cause trouble for anyone who
    supports abridgements of our freedoms, as laid out in the Constitution
    of our Republic... Political reform would be a nice objective.


Q:  Anything else you'd like to say to our readers?
A:  If you are reading this, you are already part of the movement to make
    information a public thing. Register to vote, then DO IT. My motto is
    "If you RECOGNISE THE NAME...THEN THEY ARE THE ONES TO BLAME". Vote
    incumbents OUT and vote for term limitations. Kill all bills that
    resemble the "Clipper chip" fiasco. More importantly, beer and alcohol
    need to be sold on Sunday ALL day long. Burger joints need to be
    required to sell burgers at any time they are open for business. It is
    a real bitch to walk into Burger King at 9 AM and not be able to get a
    burger!  "I am sorry Sir, but we are serving breakfast until 10:30 AM,
    no burgers are avaiable at this time" These are BURGER places, they
    should serve burgers. Period.

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