TOTSE
Type of site | Internet forum |
|---|---|
| Owner | Jeff Hunter |
| Created by | Jeff Hunter |
| Revenue | Graphical advertisements (AdBrite) est. $100,000/yearly |
| URL | http://www.totse.com/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Closed |
TOTSE (Template:Pron-en,[1] commonly mispronounced as "toot-see," "toat-see," or "toats") 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.
History
TOTSE was started by Jeff Hunter, real name unknown (a founding member of NIRVANAnet)[1] 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.)[1]
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.[2] The IRC chat channel remains open but the site has now closed.
Media attention
TOTSE has been featured in the media, usually for members committing crimes or for its controversial text files. The site also appears on a 2006 Australian anti-terrorism poster[3] and a television advertisement.
Recent attention is due to the "hacking" of an electronic car park sign in Crawley, England, designed to display the number of spaces left for each car park. The top two displays were replaced with "Fuck" and "Off", while the lower display read "totse".[4][5]
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".[6] The situation was later resolved when a TOTSE moderator contacted Keller and apologized.[citation needed]
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, humanities, weapons, explosives, drugs, illegal activities, technology, music, 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[7] 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.[8][9]
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, with the eventual upgrade occurring on April 4, 2007.[10]
References
- ^ a b c TOTSE FAQ - Mythos
- ^ http://www.totse.com/
- ^ Australian Government (2005-08-30). "HELP PROTECT AUSTRALIA FROM TERRORISM" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-01-22.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|description=ignored (help) - ^ 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. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- ^ Live Prayer show archives: November 28th 2006
- ^ Jeff Hunter's profile
- ^ Closing Announcement
- ^ totse.com | FAQ
- ^ Replacement for UBB announcement