BBS Textfiles: The Jason Scott / TEXTFILES.COM Printout Collection

During my time using BBSes in the 1980's, I would often make use of the Epson MX-80 line printer connected to my father's IBM PC XT, and print out messages and files for later reading. Usually, this was to be able to read the files in a place different than the computer room, like the backyard deck or in a car. How well this usually worked out escapes me, but it meant that I slowly built a very large collection of printouts, ranging from 1983 through to 1985.

In the early 1990s, to divest myself of my childhood, I gave the box of these printouts to a friend, and never expected to see them again. In 2001, that friend noted the amount of work I'd been doing with BBS textfiles and asked me if I wanted the box back, which I gladly accepted.

Many of these printouts are of files already existent on TEXTFILES.COM, and are already saved. But many others are not; they are printouts of the message bases of BBSes I was calling at the time, right from the screen as they scrolled by into the printer. They are therefore entirely unabridged handfuls of historical data from these BBSes, some of which were busted, others completely gone in memories and time. In some cases, these printouts, 20 years after the fact, may be the remaining evidence the board ever existed.

This collection consists of those printouts, captured using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and then hand-edited to the best of my ability to accurately represent the printout they came from. As these writings of events decades past come to light, they give context, information, and insight.


Filename
Size
Description of the Textfile
198404shmovie.txt 18993
MESSAGES: Movie Alcove (Movie Reviews) on Safehouse BBS (Minneapolis) (1984)
198406shcable.txt 10194
MESSAGES: The Cable TV Room Sub-Board, The Safehouse BBS (Minneapolis) (June-October, 1984)
19840825cracking.txt 5519
MESSAGES: Cracking Tips and Procedures Conference, from Unknown BBS (August, 1984)
198408shpolitics.txt 17067
MESSAGES: Debate Den Sub-Board, The Safehouse BBS (Minneapolis) (August-September, 1984)
198409utbbs.txt 5816
MESSAGES: BBS Number Sub-Board from the Utopia BBS (Chicago) (September, 1984)
198410phreak.txt 24006
MESSAGES: General Phreak Sub-Board from Sherwood Forest III (September-October, 1984)
1984hhileswel.txt 2426
Welcome Screen for the Hollow Hills BBS (December, 1984)
1984sf2hv.txt 8441
MESSAGES: Hacking messages, phile listings, and user-level settings from Sherwood Forest II (Circa 1984, based on other printouts)
1985011985random.txt 9250
MESSAGES: Random Board (Any topic allowed) from 1985 BBS (January-February, 1985)
198502phreak.txt 7713
MESSAGES: Phreak Sub-Board from the Utopia BBS (January-February, 1985)
198503general.txt 25622
MESSAGES: General Message Base from the 1985 BBS in Minneapolis (March, 1985)
198503luding.txt 23878
MESSAGES: Luding Messages from the 1985 BBS In Minneapolis (March, 1985)
198504citadel.txt 8210
MESSAGES: Message base from unknown newly-built Citadel BBS (NY) (April, 1985)
198504shphreak.txt 15336
MESSAGES: Phreaking Sub-Board from the Safehouse BBS (Minneapolis) (April, 1985)
198505privsectp.txt 45335
MESSAGES: The Private Sector BBS, Main Board (Board was Seized Two Months Later) (May, 1985)
198507millscan.txt 10075
MESSAGES: New-Scan from various message bases on the Milliways BBS (Princeton, NJ) (July 18, 1985)
1985bbsboard.txt 7042
MESSAGES: BBS Advertisement Sub-Board on 1985 BBS (Minneapolis) (April, 1985)
1985milliwaysu.txt 3166
Milliways BBS (Princeton, NJ) User List (Circa 1985)
1985sf3found.txt 19308
MESSAGES: The Found Board, from Sherwood Forest III BBS (January, 1985)
savedragonfire.txt 715
A Plea from the Sysop of Dragonfire BBS to Give Funds
sdcollection.txt 7332
The Slipped Disk's Complete & Whole Document List: Predecessor to TEXTFILES.COM with a rough listing of files and what floppies have a copy of the file (Circa 1984-5)
shsdchat.txt 5563
Chats Between The Slipped Disk (Jason Scott) and the Sysops of The Pirate's Chest and Satan's Hollow ][ (May 27, 1985)
spstrategies.txt 14793
MESSAGES: Strategies Sub-Board from the South Pole BBS (Illinois) (1984)
suspendfunnies.txt 853
Try Some of the Following After You Have Solved Infocom's Suspended

There are 24 files for a total of 296,653 bytes.