DnA 4-11: Internet Series Part II
Written by Pazuzu - June 23, 1993
Welcome to part 2 of my ongoing Internet series. This month, I'll discuss some of the entertainment available over the Net.
Usenet Newsgroups
There are many interesting and entertaining Usenet newsgroups I've found in my travels:
- alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die - This is by far the funniest Usenet group I've found. Its frequented by a large number of netters that are convinced that the popular children's show character, Barney the Dinosaur, is a conspiracy to kill the parents of the world. They believe that Barney will get all the kids hooked on him, then one day tell the kids to kill all their parents. This group is always good for a laugh. Be careful though, these people actually whole-heartedly believe the Barney conspiracy theory.
- alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die & alt.lxwana-troi.die.die.die - These are just generally funny newsgroups to check out.
- alt.drugs & alt.psychoactives - These are the two best drug newsgroups out there. There is lots of genuinely useful info on these two - I'm including them here because, as far as I'm concerned, drugs are an entertainment item.
These are just a few of the many entertaining Usenet groups available. If you have access to a full-feed system, do a text search on your .newsrc file for the text "die.die.die" to find many more ".die.die.die" newsgroups - they're all great.
IRC & ICB - Talk With Thousands Around The World - FOR FREE!
There are two programs available on most 'Net sites which use the Internet as a multi-user teleconferencing system, complete with "action commands", multiple channels - the works.
- The first is ICB - International CB. This was the first 'Net teleconferencer, and I still like it better - it's faster and more reliable. Not all sites will have ICB - NETCOM does, and VIColumn will when it's a full site, but I dunno about any other system. To use ICB, just type ICB, you'll then be in the default channel, which is usually "1". To go to another channel, use /g <channel>, /w will list all channels and the people on them. Type /? or /help for more info.
- The second is IRC - Internet Relay Chat. This is the latest and greatest Internet teleconferencing system. It has many more features than ICB, and is accordingly slower. Much documentation is available on IRC - just go into it and type /help and read all the help stuff. You should be able to figure it out from there. To get in, try typing "ircII" first, if that works, you're better off, if not, use "irc" to get in.
IRC is a very complex animal, with a lot of things to do. There are usually several thousand channels - the channels aren't "fixed" - a channel gets created when the first person joins and it is destroyed when the last person leaves it. To see what channels are in use, just type /list. The list is very long and you can't abort it, so try not to do it too often. Some channels are hidden and won't show up in a /list, so if someone has told you to go onto a certain channel and you don't see it in a /list, join it anyway - you may be surprised. To join a channel, just type /join <channel>. Some common hidden channels include #warez, #phreak, #hack, #666, and #drugs. To create a channel, just /join a channel that doesn't exist. For example, I always create #DnA by typing /join #DnA. After you have created your channel, BE SURE to make yourself an operator by typing /mode <channel> +o <your handle>. That way, no one can /kick you off your own channel! You also might want to set a topic with /topic <channel> <topic>. You may at times want to send a private message to someone, and you can do this by using /msg <handle> <message>. You may also want to use "action" commands - you do this by typing /me <action>. For example, if you handle were StuartTay and you typed /me is dead, everyone on the channel would see "* StuartTay is dead". Or if your handle was Pazuzu and you typed /me kills all r0d3nts, everyone would see "* Pazuzu kills all r0d3nts".
A WORD ABOUT BOTS: You will from time to time see "bots". They are all over IRC, and they are WiCKED and EViL and should all be KiLLED! What they are (basically) are programs that sit on a channel and respond to certain key phrases. Some are useful, such as LinuxBot which will give you a lot of info on Linux and NataSrvII which will give you a lot of occult info, but most bots just sit on a channel with OP status and wait for the bot's owner to join the channel, at which time the bot gives HIM OP status. People do this so they can always have OP status. Bots must die. One way to take them out is to make a macro in your comm program that bombards the bot with /msg's until he just crashes. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. KILL BOTS AT ALL COST!
MUDs, MUSEs, Etc...
There are many multi-user role-playing games available on the 'Net, called MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) or MUSEs (Multi-User Simulation Environments), and a few other names. What they are are multi-user role-playing games running on 'Net computers. You telnet to the computer (most of the time, you'll need to specify the port: telnet address.add <port>), and then you'll be in the MUD. There are many different types of MUD software a system administrator can choose to run. Some are social in nature, others are more serious role-playing oriented. TinyMUSH is one "social" MUD program, lpMUD and DikuMUD are two "real" RPG MUD programs. The MUD software is a lot like a programming language the MUD system administrator can use to create the world of his MUD, and it can be as detailed or as vague as he wishes (or has the time to create!). A list of active MUDs is posted every Fryday to the rec.games.mud.announce newsgroup. The subject of MUDs is far too complex to go into any detail here, so just read rec.games.mud and try playing a few and you'll catch on.
Other Fun Stuff
If you have access to a finger client (most full sites will - finger is a program that lets you see info on someone's account on your machine or any other on the 'Net), try fingering these accounts (just type finger <account>):
- oklahoma@am.ucsc.edu - You'll see the story "Winnie The Pooh Goes Apeshit"
- gristle@netcom.com - Make sure you have a LARGE scrollback buffer
- edie@netcom.com - Just a generally funny .plan file
By the way, if you're on a full Internet site, you can have cool stuff like that display when someone fingers you by creating a file named .plan in your home directory. Make sure you give ALL USERS read access to your home directory and the .plan file itself as well (chmod 777 .plan).
That's about it. See, the Internet can be fun as well as informative. Next month, I'll go into detail on some of the major information archives available on the 'Net. Until then, happy Netrunning.
<pazuzu@netcom.com>
