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| {{Short description|Internet forum (1989–2009)}} | |||
| {{Infobox |
{{Infobox website | ||
| | name = Temple of the Screaming Electron | | name = Temple of the Screaming Electron | ||
| | favicon = Totseicon.png | |||
| | logo = | | logo = Totseicon.png | ||
| | screenshot = ] | | screenshot = <!-- Deleted image removed: ] --> | ||
| | caption = TOTSE's frontpage. | | caption = <!-- TOTSE's frontpage. --> | ||
| ⚫ | | commercial = Yes | ||
| | url = http://www.totse.com/ | |||
| ⚫ | | type = ] | ||
| ⚫ | | commercial = Yes | ||
| | registration = Closed | |||
| ⚫ | | type = ] | ||
| ⚫ | | owner = Jeff Hunter | ||
| | registration = required to post but not to view postings | |||
| | author = | |||
| | owner = Jeff Hunter<br />J.C. Stanton | |||
| ⚫ | | launch_date = 1989 (dial up BBS)<br /> 1997 (UBB)<br /> 2007 (vBulletin) | ||
| ⚫ | | |
||
| | dissolved = January 17th, 2009 | |||
| ⚫ | | |
||
| | current_status = Closed as of January 17, 2009 | |||
| | current status = Active | |||
| | revenue = |
| revenue = Graphical advertisements (AdBrite) | ||
| | url = totse.com, (Archive) | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''TOTSE''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=Totse.ogg|ˈ|t|ɒ|t|s|i}},<ref name="totsemythos"></ref>) was a ] website and former ] dedicated to storing text files on a variety of subjects and viewpoints, many of which were unusual or controversial. The name is an ] for ''Temple of the Screaming Electron''. | |||
| The TOTSE forum has been described as part of the early "proto-]" phenomenon, predating but overlapping with ]. It has also been compared to ] such as ], ] and ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Whitney |title=This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture |date=20 March 2015 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-32900-2 |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4weBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |language=en}}</ref> | |||
| '''TOTSE''' ({{IPA2|'tɑtsi}}, commonly mispronounced as {{IPA2|'towtsi}} and {{IPA2|'towts}}) is a ] website and former ]. The name is an ] for "'''Temple of the Screaming Electron'''". | |||
| <!-- Please do not place "successor" or "migration" sites in this article - they WILL be removed. If there are any official successor sites, these need to be discussed on this articles talkpage and consensus reached before an entry can be made. Should such sites continue to be added, then this article will be protected from editing by new accounts. Thank you. --> | |||
| ==History== | ==History== | ||
| TOTSE was |
TOTSE was founded by the pseudonymous Jeff Hunter and J.C. Stanton. Jeff Hunter was a founding member of ],<ref name="totsemythos" /> which began in 1989 as a ] BBS originally named "& the Temple of the Screaming Electron". The original &TOTSE specialized in small text files. Hunter had an old ] ] clone with limited hard drive space; small text files were the only data he could store in reasonable quantity.<ref name="totsemythos" /> The identity of J.C. Stanton is even more obscure than that of Jeff Hunter; he is described as being an "intensely private person".<ref name=Braswell2008>{{cite book |last1=Braswell |first1=Sterling R. |title=Crazy Town: Money. Marriage. Meth. |date=September 2008 |publisher=Kallisti Publishing |isbn=978-0-9678514-6-4 |page=161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYs2iT4brBQC&pg=PA161 |language=en}}</ref> | ||
| TOTSE became available on the Internet in |
TOTSE became available on the Internet in 1997, and the dial-up BBS system was discontinued in the spring of 1998. TOTSE was closed on January 17, 2009, after a goodbye message was posted on the front page of the website by Jeff, thanking the users for the last 20 years.<ref name="Closing Announcement"></ref> The website was considerably popular, receiving 38,000,000 hits in February of 2003; averaging more than 89,000 hits per hour.<ref name="Braswell2008" /> | ||
| I put my walkman on and said I might aswell kick it. First class, yo this is bad. Drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass. Is this what the people of bel-air livin like, hmm this might be alright! I whistled for a cab and when it came near the licensplate said fresh and had a dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought now forget it, yo home to bel-air. I pulled up to a house about seven or eight, and I yelled to the cabby yo, home smell you later. Looked at my kingdom I was finally there to settle my throne as the prince of bel-air. | |||
| ==Text files== | |||
| J.C. Stanton claimed that TOTSE was the largest text file repository on the internet.<ref name="Braswell2008" /> The text files spanned a wide range of controversial and criminal subject matter, and included numerous instruction manuals for making street drugs, particularly methamphetamine.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Finley |first1=Laura L. |title=Hawking Hits on the Information Highway: The Challenge of Online Drug Sales for Law Enforcement |date=2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-0-8204-8600-0 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lO4r3yDBuPkC&pg=PA69 |language=en}}</ref> | |||
| ==Media attention== | ==Media attention== | ||
| ⚫ | TOTSE has been featured in the media, usually for members committing crimes or for its controversial text files. A 1993 article in the '']'' described TOTSE (and other NirvanaNet BBS nodes) as "an information network providing criminal insights to anyone with a phone, personal computer and modem... offer hundreds of files providing instructions on credit card fraud, money laundering, mail fraud, counterfeiting, drug smuggling, cable-tv theft, bomb-making and murder."<ref>{{cite news |title= MODEM OPERANDI: Tips on crime go on-line |first= Michael |last= Liedtke |url= http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/CUD/cud0559.txt |date= 28 July 1993 |publisher= Contra Costa Times |access-date= 2013-01-25}}</ref> Another feature was due to the "]" of an electronic parking lot sign in ], ], designed to display the number of spaces left in each lot. The top two displays were replaced with "Fuck" and "Off", while the lower display read "totse".<ref>{{cite news |title= Rude awakening for dawn drivers |first= Louise |last= Acford |url= http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.990185.0.rude_awakening_for_dawn_drivers.php |date= 27 October 2006 |publisher= The Argus |access-date= 2006-10-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Rude road signs tell drivers where to go |first= Stewart |last= Payne |publisher= Telegraph |date= 28 October 2006 |access-date= 2006-10-30 |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/28/nmsg28.xml |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071017231642/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F10%2F28%2Fnmsg28.xml |archive-date= 17 October 2007 }}</ref> | ||
| TOTSE has been featured in the media, usually for members committing crimes or for its controversial text files. The site is also appears on an Australian anti-terrorrism poster <ref></ref><ref></ref> and a television advertisement. | |||
| The site also appears on a 2006 Australian anti-terrorism poster<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/agd/WWW/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/(5738DF09EBC4B7EAE52BF217B46ED3DA)~Outdoor.pdf/$file/Outdoor.pdf|author=Australian Government|title=HELP PROTECT AUSTRALIA FROM TERRORISM|date=2005-08-30|access-date=2007-01-22|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219061113/http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/agd/WWW/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/(5738DF09EBC4B7EAE52BF217B46ED3DA)~Outdoor.pdf/$file/Outdoor.pdf|archive-date=2006-12-19}}</ref> and a television advertisement. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| A number of TOTSE members placed ] to ] starting on November 21, 2006. When another TOTSE member reported them to Keller via email, he threatened legal action against TOTSE, specifically stating that the prank calls amounted to "conspiracy to obstruct commerce".<ref></ref> This raid resulted in procedural changes to the Live Prayer show, including a three-second delay for callers.<ref>{{cite web |title=4chan wages war against a Florida televangelist |url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/4chan-bill-keller-televangelist/ |website=The Daily Dot |date=13 February 2014}}</ref> | |||
| ==Community== | ==Community== | ||
| The community of TOTSE was an ] and ] channel. Some users of the community referred to themselves as "Totseans". Members engaged in discussion about a wide variety of topics including but not limited to ], ], ], ], ], ]s, ], ]s, ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], and ] projects. TOTSE is affectionately referred to by the users as &T, &TOTSE, and "The Temple". Although Hunter had an account<ref></ref> he rarely posted on the TOTSE forums as himself. Before closing, Hunter stated that he conceived TOTSE as "a place where all types of ideas could be spoken, traded, and exchanged, where no topic was off-limits or forbidden" in the ]; and, as demonstrated in the scope of TOTSE text file archive, he felt this was only a part of the community by 2009.<ref name="Closing Announcement"/><ref></ref>{{clarify|date=June 2013}} | |||
| ] | |||
| The community of TOTSE is an ]. Some users of the community refer to themselves as "totseans".{{fact}} Members engage in discussion about a wide variety of topics including ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], ], and ] projects. Although TOTSE's creator Jeff Hunter has an account he rarely posts on the TOTSE forums. The forum's "Politics" forum is currently home to many pro-rightwing/zionist armchair warriors. This trend has been on the rise since the Lebanon-Israeli war from 6 months ago. Many "noobs" think the site holds nothing but illegal criminal activities, as well as the media, but this is indeed incorrect information that has been broadcasted from people who know nothing about the forum itself. <ref></ref> | |||
| ⚫ | The forum software |
||
| <br clear="all"> | |||
| ==Fued with Bill Keller== | |||
| There is an ongoing feud between Bill Keller and members of the Totse community. It all started when a member "hellspawn" and "warweed12" called into Bill's tv show (www.liveprayer.com)And verbally abused,threatened him. Claiming that Mr Keller was decieving his followers to believe in his own christian beliefs, and to persuade christians into donating money, for his own personal funds. | |||
| Here is a recent statement Bill Keller released to Jeff Hunter of Totse. | |||
| "Dear Jeff Hunter and his "followers" of Totse.com community, I feel violated for the words that your members said to me. In all my 20 years as a minister I have never been so mistreated. I only try to help people and guide them into the right of god. I never wanted any of this to get out of hand, however if I keep getting threats I WILL SUE. Possibly even notify the FBI for this site and community to be shut down or suspended for your actions. Possibly even a bandwith sanction, as I am disgusted with this whole ordeal. Please lets call a truce right now, and put an end to this situation. May god be with you all. You will be in my prayers, be richly blessed, | |||
| Bill Keller | |||
| www.liveprayer.com" | |||
| On November 30, 2006 Warweed paid Bill Keller to put his name on the ending credits, but bill insisted they slam eachothers pen0rs. | |||
| <br /> | |||
| ---- | |||
| Bill Keller succeeded in scaring the 13 year olds from TOTSE's "Spurious Generalities" section after a simple threat of legal action. This was after a group of them decided he was worthy of a few prank calls to his LivePrayer online show. A select few of TOTSE's members felt the need to point out that Keller was making everything up just to scare them, And no legal action was possible. These events also brought out the fact that TOTSE mods and creators are scared of any bad publicity being brought to TOTSE. Even if it has the potential to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the website. Bill Keller offended many people by saying TOTSE was full of non christians taken over by the devil. When in fact many people on the site are religous and take it seriously. Alot of members also expressed disgust with his false hope giving ways just to recieve money, wich is deemed unchristian. | |||
| ⚫ | The forum software was running a highly modified version of UBB 5.47a, which has been heavily criticized by several readers due to its age. Hunter purchased a copy of ] 3.12a, with the eventual upgrade occurring on April 4, 2007.<ref></ref> | ||
| ==IRC== | |||
| TOTSE also has an ] channel, , hosted on the ] network. A ] IRC client is provided on the website.<ref></ref> | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| <div class="references-small"> | |||
| <references/> | |||
| </div> | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| * {{Official website}} | |||
| * | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Totse}} | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 21:59, 10 October 2024
Internet forum (1989–2009) | |
| Type of site | Internet forum |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | January 17th, 2009 |
| Owner | Jeff Hunter |
| Revenue | Graphical advertisements (AdBrite) |
| URL | totse.com, totseans.com/totse (Archive) |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Closed |
| Launched | 1989 (dial up BBS) 1997 (UBB) 2007 (vBulletin) |
| Current status | Closed as of January 17, 2009 |
TOTSE (/ˈtɒtsi/ ,) was a San Francisco Bay Area website and former BBS dedicated to storing text files on a variety of subjects and viewpoints, many of which were unusual or controversial. The name is an acronym for Temple of the Screaming Electron.
The TOTSE forum has been described as part of the early "proto-troll" phenomenon, predating but overlapping with 4chan. It has also been compared to shock sites such as Rotten.com, Stile Project and Something Awful.
History
TOTSE was founded by the pseudonymous Jeff Hunter and J.C. Stanton. Jeff Hunter was a founding member of NIRVANAnet, which began in 1989 as a dial-up BBS originally named "& the Temple of the Screaming Electron". The original &TOTSE specialized in small text files. Hunter had an old 8088 PC XT clone with limited hard drive space; small text files were the only data he could store in reasonable quantity. The identity of J.C. Stanton is even more obscure than that of Jeff Hunter; he is described as being an "intensely private person".
TOTSE became available on the Internet in 1997, and the dial-up BBS system was discontinued in the spring of 1998. TOTSE was closed on January 17, 2009, after a goodbye message was posted on the front page of the website by Jeff, thanking the users for the last 20 years. The website was considerably popular, receiving 38,000,000 hits in February of 2003; averaging more than 89,000 hits per hour.
Text files
J.C. Stanton claimed that TOTSE was the largest text file repository on the internet. The text files spanned a wide range of controversial and criminal subject matter, and included numerous instruction manuals for making street drugs, particularly methamphetamine.
Media attention
TOTSE has been featured in the media, usually for members committing crimes or for its controversial text files. A 1993 article in the Contra Costa Times described TOTSE (and other NirvanaNet BBS nodes) as "an information network providing criminal insights to anyone with a phone, personal computer and modem... offer hundreds of files providing instructions on credit card fraud, money laundering, mail fraud, counterfeiting, drug smuggling, cable-tv theft, bomb-making and murder." Another feature was due to the "hacking" of an electronic parking lot sign in Crawley, England, designed to display the number of spaces left in each lot. The top two displays were replaced with "Fuck" and "Off", while the lower display read "totse".
The site also appears on a 2006 Australian anti-terrorism poster and a television advertisement.
A number of TOTSE members placed prank telephone calls to Live Prayer with Bill Keller starting on November 21, 2006. When another TOTSE member reported them to Keller via email, he threatened legal action against TOTSE, specifically stating that the prank calls amounted to "conspiracy to obstruct commerce". This raid resulted in procedural changes to the Live Prayer show, including a three-second delay for callers.
Community
The community of TOTSE was an Internet forum and IRC channel. Some users of the community referred to themselves as "Totseans". Members engaged in discussion about a wide variety of topics including but not limited to religion, sex, politics, poetry, humanities, weapons, explosives, drugs, illegal activities, technology, music, metaphysics, sub-culture activities, the environment, mechanics, food, and do it yourself projects. TOTSE is affectionately referred to by the users as &T, &TOTSE, and "The Temple". Although Hunter had an account he rarely posted on the TOTSE forums as himself. Before closing, Hunter stated that he conceived TOTSE as "a place where all types of ideas could be spoken, traded, and exchanged, where no topic was off-limits or forbidden" in the early days of the Internet; and, as demonstrated in the scope of TOTSE text file archive, he felt this was only a part of the community by 2009.
The forum software was running a highly modified version of UBB 5.47a, which has been heavily criticized by several readers due to its age. Hunter purchased a copy of vBulletin 3.12a, with the eventual upgrade occurring on April 4, 2007.
References
- ^ TOTSE FAQ - Mythos
- Phillips, Whitney (20 March 2015). This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture. MIT Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-262-32900-2.
- ^ Braswell, Sterling R. (September 2008). Crazy Town: Money. Marriage. Meth. Kallisti Publishing. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-9678514-6-4.
- ^ Closing Announcement
- Finley, Laura L. (2008). Hawking Hits on the Information Highway: The Challenge of Online Drug Sales for Law Enforcement. Peter Lang. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8204-8600-0.
- Liedtke, Michael (28 July 1993). "MODEM OPERANDI: Tips on crime go on-line". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
- Acford, Louise (27 October 2006). "Rude awakening for dawn drivers". The Argus. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- Payne, Stewart (28 October 2006). "Rude road signs tell drivers where to go". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- Australian Government (2005-08-30). "HELP PROTECT AUSTRALIA FROM TERRORISM" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
- Live Prayer show archives: November 28th 2006
- "4chan wages war against a Florida televangelist". The Daily Dot. 13 February 2014.
- Jeff Hunter's profile
- totse.com | FAQ
- Replacement for UBB announcement
