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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.colorado.edu>
Subject: Heavy sigh
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 17:48:46 -0700 (MST)
>>>>>[Your physical prowess is impressive, and certainly you both deserve
the title of Major League matrixwalkers for what you do. But evidence
as to nova status? That you need to prove yourselves disqalifies you
immediately. Mayhaps the fault is mine, in assuming too much. Mayhaps
my qualifications are so stringent that only I adhere to them In order
that our disagreement become less and common ground be reached, I shall
explain my requirements prior to one becoming nova.

I'll use small words so you'll understand.

If you have to prove you're nova, you're not. If anyone has to ask if
you're nova, you're not. If you have to penetrate a facility in order to
get at isolated data, you're not nova. If you can't penetrate the Denver
Data Haven, against the residents and all thier IC, and permanently erase
data as if it never existed, you're not nova. If you've never run
against the Corp Court and the Gemeinschaft Bank in Zurich Orbital and
succeeded, you're not nova. If you can't run 2 or more cyberdecks
simultaneously, you're not nova. If you haven't run against Fuchi,
Renraku, MCT, Ares, etc. and stolen thier most secure data, you're not
nova. If you can't reconstrut a path and an identity from data spread
over the world and discover who someone is, you're not nova. If you
can't plant a forged identity that will defeat a class 10 identity
scanner(you know, the ones that "don't exist"?), you're not nova. If you
can't crack the best encryption that the Data Haven, Pueblo, Fuchi, and
Maxim Arms has to offer, you're not nova.

I'll let you in on a secret. As good as you are, you're not nova.
Neither am I. I've known only one nova decker personally, and she's
dead. I know of some 12 worldwide, a few by name, all by reputation.
Neither of you individually nor both of you together qualify as nova.

As to maintaining a written log, electronic or hardcopy, of one's
exploits induces certain questions as to your professionalism as well.

Personal backgrounds exist as they do. If either of you have the
occasion to interact with me in this consensual reality, either in
conflict or in honorable peace, you will know why I am aliased Mercury.
Hiding such a fact is unnecessary.

I claim the right to determine who is nova through contact with
matrixwalkers who are, truly, nova, in addition to extensive personal
experience.]<<<<<
-- Mercury <17:47:28/12-07-56>
Message no. 2
From: Craigtw1@***.com
Subject: Re: Heavy sigh
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 23:14:31 -0500
>>>>>[Wow, I guess I'm not nova...oh well...I never considered myself to be
able to do everything all at once anyways.]<<<<<
-- Buzz (The one the Only...Human Bee in the Matrix)
Message no. 3
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.colorado.edu>
Subject: Re: Heavy sigh
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 23:28:17 -0700 (MST)
>>>>>[Mercury, if you're talkin about who I think you are, she didn't
fit your defnination of nova either. She was fraggin good and brilliant,
and she was a friend. But she was also insane, prone to depression,
unstable, psychotic, sadistic, and more. She couldn't do most of the
stuff you talked about, Mercury. Sorry to disappoint.]<<<<<
-- Slash <23:26:12/12-07-56>
Message no. 4
From: "Freddy Frypp no more" <JAMES-CUENO@*********.edu>
Subject: Re: Heavy sigh
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 10:14:06 CST
>>>>>[Hafta agree with Merc here on this one. Think of all the
greats from time immortal - and then think why they're so great.
Dixie Flatline (died, what?, four times for a minute and change
before they got him once and for all), Saint Louis Blue (nobody knows
what happened to him, but my favorite rumor involves an Ares
hitter - a gift from Damien himself for their Echo Mirage days), Dante
(fragged by the bunch that took over the post office when it
privatized, I drek you not).

Of those three, what do they have in common? Four points: they're all
from a bygone era in decking, they were all getting long in the tooth
when they died, they're all dead and they're all DEAD. I realize
that's only three points, but I figured the last one was important
enough to bear repeating.

So what's the moral?

The are no more nova deckers. The corps declared that game over a
long time ago. Because anybody can get a deck anymore, nobody can
pull off the really wild stuff those guys got away with - the corps
just cannot allow any big steals, it convinces too many wannabees
that they can be nova too.

"There are old deckers and there are bold deckers, but very few old,
bold deckers."]<<<<<
-- Rumormonger (Always / Tuned-In)

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Heavy sigh, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!