Ah fuck.  I am so sorry to read this. Did he top himself?
Dusty.

Last edited by SpacePuppy (2020-06-21 01:38:05)

Well fuck.

LATER: Looks like Choad turned off all my banners but left me with Czar powers, well well. There won't be many more like Bill.
I'm really sorry to hear this news, it's the end of an era.

Last edited by Tall Paul (2020-06-21 02:23:52)

Gleaned the following from his posts:

-non-judgmental
-dignified
-sharp intellect
-pragmatic
-dare i say "kind"

This news darkened nineteen hours of daylight i was enjoying...somewhat diminishing innate misanthropy.

Wow, that's a shame.  He certainly put a lot into making this an interesting site.

monkeyboy wrote:

For now, this site is Bills only likely monument.

I know Bill had done ghostwriting and worked some on fiction.  He struck me as the kind of guy to have a couple of novels tucked away.  Have you found anything like that, monkeyboy?

I went looking for an obituary and found an article about him disrupting a local town meeting by taking pictures until they called the cops. 

I haven't been in great touch, and perhaps I was due a bit of a shock to remind me not to procrastinate.  I miss knowing he was out there hate-glaring at the state of journalism and fighting city hall.

Also, it appears his father died a few days before he did.

Thank you, Monkeyboy, for keeping us in the loop.

Fear not, I cannot imagine having the time to use any of the admin powers Choad left me with.  I have known him since and before the beginning of high street, so would never mess with the site or his legacy.

Best of luck finding the admin passwords and keeping things moving along.  I hope this place survives much much longer.

Roger

I am sorry to hear of Choad's passing. Cruel and later High Street helped me relieve stress at an earlier time in my life. Saying outrageous things and pissing off people anonymously made it possible for me to maintain a mask of relative calm in my everyday life.

I regret that I haven't stopped by or been in touch for several years. I hope Choad's transition event was swift with little to no pain or distress.

Good luck in finding the server info and passwords; I only had moderator powers because my online persona pissed off so many people. Given the glee with which we tormented each other and visitors, I wasn't willing to be forthcoming about my identity or life back then;  I imagine this was also a factor in my not being granted administrator status.

Rest in peace Choad. Enjoy your stay in Valhalla for your battles against corruption. May you have a good reincarnation.

Wasn't Scotty doing a lot of the backend work for Choad?

Emmeran wrote:

Wasn't Scotty doing a lot of the backend work for Choad?

I know someone did a lot of dev work on the site PHP but I have no idea exactly who.  Would Scotty be his username?  He'd probably be The Man as long as the passwords haven't changed.

I am so sorry to learn that Bill has shuffled off the coil.  He was a very gentle soul.  He may have taken the keys with him when he drove off the cliff, I don't know.  I just hope he comes in for a soft landing.

If I remember correctly, Scotty would have been the correct user name.  That's about all I can verify.

Aww, shit. Ain't this the maraschino cherry on the shit sundae?

For better or worse, this site has been my corner local for many years and Bill sure was the right kind of crank to run it. I'll tip one for the my homie tonight for sure.

Does Opsec still post here?  I thought he and Bill were pretty close at one time.  I think he also helped with site duties at one point.  Just a thought.

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

I am nearby and will be passing Wareham Wednesday. If it is at all useful for me to assist gaining physical access and search of his digital files I would be willing to try to make the arrangements.

With a little research, I found what seems to be a current address for Bill if you want it.

It's hosted on Linode. I spoke to a customer support rep there hoping to pay for a month of hosting to make sure this stays online long enough for a new admin. They said I could do that if somebody has the last 6 digits of the card he used to pay for the account and the name or company name used on that payment.

rcade wrote:

It's hosted on Linode. I spoke to a customer support rep there hoping to pay for a month of hosting to make sure this stays online long enough for a new admin. They said I could do that if somebody has the last 6 digits of the card he used to pay for the account and the name or company name used on that payment.

What is the nut?  Easily paid for if it isn't on auto-pay.

Money fixes everything.  Sadly be prepared to push them on  death policy .

Did Horse Show Up Yet To Pay His Respects?

Holy crap.  He had expressed some concerns to me around the time his father died, but I didn't get as much info as monkeyboy.  He was a tremendous gadfly but was always great to me and others who didn't try to screw people over.

I have root access to the server and also the password for the Linode manager.  I don't know if they would let me swap in my credit card info since obviously the names wouldn't match, but will look into it.  In any event, I will download an archive so a copy can be preserved and, if necessary, put up elsewhere.

The part I don't think I can help with is the high-street.org domain name.  Bill mentioned possibly giving me access when he was doing badly but never did.  It expires on September 16, so there is a bit of breathing room.

monkeyboy, and anyone else, feel free to message me here so we can keep this train a-rollin'.  It's the most fitting memorial I can think of.

square wrote:

I have root access to the server and also the password for the Linode manager.  I don't know if they would let me swap in my credit card info since obviously the names wouldn't match, but will look into it.  In any event, I will download an archive so a copy can be preserved and, if necessary, put up elsewhere.

That's good. Linode is likely to let you change the payment name and method when you're logged in. It was only over the phone they needed a matching name I think.

SpacePuppy wrote:

Jesus Christ it's like a drunken Irish Wake.  All we need now is to prop Bill up in the corner with a cigar or pipe in one hand, and a pint in the other.  At least it is a home coming for him now. 

Has anyone found a picture of Bill yet, besides his penis pic?  But then, that would do as well.

Dusty.

Heh, he would have liked that sentiment, but not held you to actually do it. I think he would appreciate becoming a tree in the garden.

I have some pics. Including a pot he used to piss in, that's a story for another day. I will free up more towards Friday and post some.

And I too will pay what would help keep afloat. I just wish I had done so to give him a year off for even more to spend on his blessed weed butter.

That sly imp.

Last edited by Johnny_Rotten (2020-06-24 16:10:15)

A little search turned up this:

May 14, 1995 : Providence Sunday Journal
Dishing out the data
to keep cyberspace free
By Timothy C. Barmann

If information is money, Sheila Lennon and Bill Whitehouse ought to be rich.

Every day, more than 12 million bytes of computer data stream into their East Side house from a three-foot satellite dish perched on its roof.

The Providence couple are the founders of Radio Free Echomail, a loose coalition of about 50 computer bulletin-board operators throughout New England and as far away as Arizona.

Formed Jan. 1, 1994, RFE shares the electronic mail and public-domain computer programs transmitted to Lennon and Whitehouse's satellite dish.

The dish collects the data that are fed into a small personal computer cobbled together from donated parts, which serves as the group's hub. The data are then passed to other members in about a dozen states by modem and telephone line. Where necessary, the information travels from bulletin board to bulletin board through an elaborate distribution system designed to avoid long-distance calls.

Worldwide hobby

The electronic mail, text files and programs are the lifeblood of a global amateur network called "Fidonet" (as in the dog's name). Formed in 1984, Fidonet is made up of nearly 35,000 bulletin-board operators around the world, most of whom are computer hobbyists, Whitehouse said.

RFE's Fidonet transmission originates in Newport, Tenn., and is beamed to a satellite orbiting in space, then back to satellite receiving dishes all around North America. Other bulletin boards in Rhode Island also receive the Fidonet signal; what's different about the Radio Free Echomail group is that its members don't get any money for their trouble - they pool their skills, time and storage capacities to accomplish what would require a large investment on the part of any one of them.

Instead of making a profit or breaking even by reselling the data to other bulletin boards, Lennon and Whitehouse give it away for free. Any bulletin board can join Radio Free Echomail by pledging to pass the Fidonet files and messages free to their own callers and to other computer bulletin boards. "How are you going to charge for someone's ideas?" he says, referring to the thousands of messages distributed daily by Radio Free Echomail.

In a mission statement posted on their own bulletin board, "Art of the Possible," Whitehouse and Lennon describe it this way: "Access to the electronic town square is a human right."

And they're putting their money where their ideals are. Lennon, a Journal-Bulletin section editor, and Whitehouse, a freelance writer now devoting full time to RFE, paid $659 for the satellite dish system and pay a $40 monthly fee for the service - all out of their own pocket.

Free for all

But Whitehouse said they're not the only ones who contribute to Radio Free Echomail's success. It's a cooperative effort, he said, where the members give of their own resources.

Several boards, for example, act as electronic libraries by storing classic literature texts, operating-system software or missing children photos distributed via Fidonet. Wayne Lisi of Warwick plays a major role in distributing the e-mail and software to other Radio Free Echomail members, and sending RFE's replies back to Fidonet.

The concept behind Radio Free Echomail is not unique. Whitehouse said that a number of other bulletin boards in other states also distribute Fidonet files for free.

Anyone with a computer and a modem can download Radio Free Echomail files and participate in Fidonet's more than 700 discussion topics by connecting to one of the Rhode Island member bulletin boards. (See chart.)

The couple say part of their mission is to curb what they see as a trend - the commercialization of on-line communication.

"This project's loftiest goal," they write, "is to create a beachhead for free public access before a growing telecommunications industry sells our hobby out from under us."

Last edited by Roger_That (2020-06-24 18:29:03)

The couple say part of their mission is to curb what they see as a trend - the commercialization of on-line communication.

"This project's loftiest goal," they write, "is to create a beachhead for free public access before a growing telecommunications industry sells our hobby out from under us."

They fought the good fight, that is true.

I co-ran a fidonet node back in 88 and 89. Those were fun days.

Emmeran wrote:

Why is Bill holding a basket of flowers while sitting on the roof?

He is too pleased about something there for that to be a coincidence.