TOTSE

Temple of the Screaming Electron
Type of site
 Internet forum
Owner Jeff Hunter
Created by Jeff Hunter
Revenue Graphical advertisements (AdBrite)
Website 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 (i/ˈtɒtsi/,[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.

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[ing] hundreds of files providing instructions on credit card fraud, money laundering, mail fraud, counterfeiting, drug smuggling, cable-tv theft, bomb-making and murder."[3] Another feature was 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]

In 2002, an Ontario, Canada teenager was charged with possession and manufacture of an explosive material after following a recipe claiming to be for C-4 found on the website. Due to the increased security levels after the 9/11 attacks, the teen was also charged with domestic terrorism and in turn was placed on Canada's most wanted list. After a 2-year trial against the teen, the case was eventually dismissed by the Crown Prosecutor due to lack of supporting evidence and lack of obvious malicious intent.

The site also appears on a 2006 Australian anti-terrorism poster[6] 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".[7] The situation was later resolved when a TOTSE moderator contacted Keller and apologized.

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[8] 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.[2][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

  1. 1 2 3 TOTSE FAQ - Mythos
  2. 1 2 Closing Announcement
  3. ↑ Liedtke, Michael (28 July 1993). "MODEM OPERANDI: Tips on crime go on-line". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  4. ↑ Acford, Louise (27 October 2006). "Rude awakening for dawn drivers". The Argus. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
  5. ↑ Payne, Stewart (28 October 2006). "Rude road signs tell drivers where to go". Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
  6. ↑ Australian Government (2005-08-30). "HELP PROTECT AUSTRALIA FROM TERRORISM" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  7. ↑ Live Prayer show archives: November 28th 2006
  8. ↑ Jeff Hunter's profile
  9. ↑ totse.com | FAQ
  10. ↑ Replacement for UBB announcement
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