DATE: 31/10/2009 TITLE: LOST SOUL ABSTRACT -------- Once upon a time a long way away the internet was interesting in a nerdy kind of way, but those days have long gone and commercialism has blackened the heart of the medium. So many sites I have forgotten and so many names have washed away and grown old much like myself. Now the greybeards are lost and liveing in the corners of the internet like moles in the dark underground tunnels never seen and never seeing for never caring so never evolving. Custodians of Diversity ----------------------- The sameness of facebook and myspace , I must tm those names of course nowadays the mere mention breaks copyright law and attracts lawyers to the scent of compensation, and all the other descendadents of the BBS blanket the world in a beige canopy blocking the view of the people to the wonderful diversity of the internet. Deprecated is the word that is uttered when the venerables are trotted out for reminiscence or toted for usage even by some more thoughtful users. But millions are made by offering webalized versions of old inventions without compensation for the original thinkers in the name of advancement, however these forums are mere advertisement boards as ad revenue is the driving force of the commercial internet. Behemoth, think Google, once the hacker and now the monster dictator even warring against that other tyrant, once hacker Microsoft. Perhaps this is the way of things. Trust for the Open Source crowd then? Why when all others who reached success before them dissembled into their true form at the altar of greed? Who can you say is the true spirit of the internet? Those who tend the eternal flame? Those who worship at the forum, those acolytes? Those who liver forever in it's comforting shell or those who seek knowledge from the global community? Those whose aims are true and fair in the pursuit of purity in form, those who are obsessed with perfection, truth and beauty? The poets who express the true medium, the expression on the electrons and quanta? The joe soaps and jane does who inhabit the hideaways and log cabins of the internet furtively cataloging the conversations and rants. Hackers, crackers, flamers, noobs and users. The 3L33T, uber-hackers, the text writers and guide writers. All commercialised and all gone to soulless grey. Autumn ______ Outside the wind blows leaves from hte trees into hidey holes under bushes where they join brown brethern and wrinkle and crinkle up in the dessicating cold. A few greens remain on the branches but suffer lonely up on high while their forebears decay together in death as in life. And the tree, the structure that succoured them and nutured their dreams and kept them safe has closed her eyes and has welcomed sleep away from the brutal winter ahead. The wind roars and rages about her but she even now is nurturing the next generation, the children of the future. After the cold war they spread their wings, the children of tomorrow play in their dreams and yesterdays' children shed their tears for this moment is the moment they shed their wings and go back to dreams. Forgotten Sites --------------- Once, when I was a budding programmer learning my trade on the internet I came up against the initial high cost of entry for using certain tools from a certain behemoth. having searched and searched i eventually came across a site releasing commercial compilers from varios companies. The site was run by a pseudonym Joe who operated using a mailing list. I downloaded tons of stuff and moved with the site as it was taken down at various stages and resurrected. He or indeed she was attemting to vreate so some of warez community when i look back at it. I admit I was a leech rather than a contributor but it did teach me something: that there are people willing to steal and manipulate illegal communities ir at least communities of illegal activities for no gain whatsoever. That's what I thought, but once again loloking back it's probable that he was attempting to create an army of zombiees... Naievity was what he wanted and what he got in spades not only from me but around a couple of hundred other leeches as well. He preyed on our willingness to commit crimes to further his own nefarious aims. Don't criminals prey on their own type most of all? I reckon cetain qualities were neessary in the interaction for success in ?Joe's terms. * Naievity and probably youth * Minor criminal tendencies or at least misguided anti establishmentarianism * Us and them, divide and conquer tactic, so a need for social inclusion * A belief in unaccountability, or assumption I dread to think what stuff was sent from my machines. Maybe spam, hopefully nothing too awful. So kids there's a lot to be said for certain individual qualities that I at least seemed to miss at that s tage or perhaps I was hoodwinked or willing to go along with it... Independence - not needing inclusion for the sake of it, for insecurity is definitely a weakness and a weakness is a chink in the armour for a burrowing and prodding criminal. I believe that this comes with age anyway but it could be practiced even if unnatural for a young mind. Integrity - something I cleatrly missed in those days. If it was wrong I should have not been anywhere near the events. it's not as though I was about to starve unless I stole, an entirely forgiveable event. I could have stuck with free tools and educated myself that way but to my mind the modern world wanted tool specific knowledge instead of actual trade skills! (That's another bone to pick) .