Welcome/Rules

USER: Horatio | POSTED: 31-5-1990 08:46:41

SUBJECT: Welcome/Rules

Welcome to the Threshold BBS System. If you're reading this, you're probably a curious person. An observant person. And you've probably noticed that something... strange is going on in the world.

You are not alone.

This system exists to connect those of us who are seeing the same things you are. We believe that we are on the threshold of something. Some massive change that will shake the world and everything in it. I've seen things that make me believe this, and I'll tell you my stories here. I hope you'll share yours with me.

**************** * System Rules * ****************

1. Threshold is for discussion, not abuse. Flaming, harassment, threats, and personal attacks are not going to be tolerated. I'm not going to police your language, but if you cross the line, you'll get a warning. Do it again and you're banned. No excuses.
2. Threshold is primarily for discussion of the strange, the weird, and, dare I say it, the supernatural phenomena we have been seeing in the world. Staying on topic will make this a better place for everyone. This is a matter of judgment, of course, but if you wander too far afield, I'll remind you to bring it back around. There are plenty of places to talk about sports, sex, or your favorite TV show. Take those conversations there.
3. The SysOp - that's me - reserves the right to remove any posts that violate these rules in my judgment. Argue with me about it, and I'll ban you. I don't have time to play games while the world shifts underfoot.

******************* * System Features * *******************

Threshold BBS is running on a custom codebase written and maintained by yours truly. To aid navigation, I've implemented a number of features that you may not be familiar with.

The most notable is keyword-linking. If you see text that looks like this: HOME, that's a link. You can navigate to it by pressing [TAB], and once it is highlighted, press [ENTER] to execute the jump.

As you become familiar with the system, you'll discover other enhancements I've built into it. I'm pretty proud of them. Sometimes you'll feel like you're working with something thirty or forty years ahead of its time.

At least, that's what I like to think.

************ * Sections * ************

OK, let's talk a little about how the system is organized.

First up, we have the Welcome and Rules Bulletin. You're reading it right now.

Next is Introductions. All new users should stop by and introduce themselves. You can share as much or as little about yourself as you want, but try to be smart about it. If you don't want someone to know where you live, don't put your address or hometown in your intro.

After that, you can get into the meat of things.

There are two major sections: Lore and Discussion.

Discussion is where most people spend their time. It's where users share strange experiences, compare notes, discuss experiments, ask questions, and generally talk about whatever weirdness has caught their attention lately. Just keep Rule #2 in mind.

Lore is a little different.

We're all in uncharted territory here, and Lore is where I'm trying to draw a map.

Thanks to the wonders of insomnia, I read just about everything posted on this system. There's a lot of useful information buried in these boards. A lot of it is contradictory. A lot of it is messy. Some of it is just plain crazy.

But a surprising amount of it is useful.

In Lore, I take what people have reported about a topic, Vampires, Rituals, Hauntings, whatever, and try to distill it into something clear and understandable. The goal isn't to create an encyclopedia. The goal is to help us figure out what the hell is going on.

I won't always get it right. In fact, I'm sure I'll get plenty of things wrong. But I think we need some kind of map, even if we're constantly revising it as we learn more.

If you'd like to help with Lore documents, let me know.

**********

And that's about it, for now.

I'm glad you're here.

It's dangerous to go alone. Let's go over the threshold together.

*********************************** * "There are more things in * * heaven and earth, Horatio, * * than are dreamt of in your * * philosophy." * * * * - Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5 * * ------------------------------- * * Horatio, System Administrator, * * Threshold BBS * ***********************************

USER: DANTON | POSTED 1-6-1990 23:41:31

SUBJECT: RE: Welcome/Rules (Horatio)

Threshold is a good name. I see so many things these days... especially coming from the EAST, but then they've always been miles ahead of us ever since that Mad Monk eighty years ago.