-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- subversion (sub-ver shon)(n) Act of subverting overthrow destruction ruin subvert (sub-vert )(vt) To ruin utterly to overturn to pervert -------------------------------------------------------------- subversion 1 0 -- Stupid motherfucker you thought you would last Well took the wrong path now your name is in the past -Biohazard 1 1 -- Welcome Yes welcome to the first installment of Subversion For those that thought that perhaps the name referred to some sort of program please note the fine introduction by a certain Mr Webster This is a sort of monthly column I decided to start sometime last night while on IRC E-mags and groups come and go and I never think of anything clever to say when I have the chance So I will think of this as kind of an article-of-the-month project As luck would have it it appears to appear ( ) in this month s Teklordz pack Actually I wrote an article in the Teklordz March Artiphaks that was originally intended for the first release of Atomic Delusions I don t know why A D never came out but it didn t But I got a lot of feedback regarding my article Some good some bad some ugly (and some from a local sysop s 16-year-old sister who wanted to nevermind) In any case I decided to make this an ongoing thing so now you know Nobody is making you read this by the way Issues will be numbered as this one is (ie subversion 1 0) and will come out on a more-or less monthly basis Hopefully I will line up some interviews but it s just my own personal rantings for now Now on to business 2 2 -- How to be Heard Of (in the Scene) Oh the mystery of it all How does a newcomer to the art of ANSi get heard of Once upon a time a person had to draw and draw and draw Then they had to download an art pack and apply This usually meant calling long-distance unless the group was local or there was a member nearby Then out of nowhere the gods saw fit to create IRC In their infinite wisdom (or folly as some may suggest) they created #ansi All those widespread ANSi doodleheads could now meet chat and verbally abuse each other in a way they had never imagined possible At first groups merely picked up members through chance meetings during late-night chat sessions during which some unknown artist would send an ANSi to someone who sent it to someone else who had a cousin who knew a guy at school who called the same board as some guy from some group Pretty soon groups were forming right on IRC by people continents apart There was a run-on sentence up there somewhere Where it had once taken not only talent but also the income or phreaking skills (or generous parents) to afford LD calling to those enticing art boards just an area code or two away an Internet account has made it so much easier But now there is a new factor in judging a would-be artist personality You can be a jackass on a local board and your reputation will stay there If you are a jackass on IRC the whole art scene takes notice and brands you as such But conversely if you are one cool dude (damn you re smooth) you might very well become leet and that s that You still have to draw something once in awhile but public relations is the name of the game If people think you are leet enough they will forgive sub-par art ability If you CAN draw you should be writing this instead of me 2 3 -- The Rights and Wrongs of Reviving a Group Just as IRC has an interesting affect on individuals (see above) it does on groups too Local groups with no outside ties can die out with about as little notice as with which they started Sometimes long-lost members would spring for the cross-country call to the WHQ only to discover that someone pulled the plug on their group months ago Not so anymore Now people can hear of a group on IRC They see a pack and their interest is set on this group They think it looks cool and apply Other people do the same Then one day the group dies A local group would ve stayed dead but a well-known group with a definite net presence is missed People who were members (or even just really liked the group) say Hey group name was really neat! We can t let it die! My first example is Union Union WAS a cool group It has its ups and downs It died then came back then died again Like the end of a horror flick there is a last-minute reference or scene that damned near insures a sequel or revival in this case So it was with the final Union pack Sure enough an attempt was made to revive it As I recall it was Cybernary who undertook the task of recruiting (and sometimes re-recruiting) artists for the new Union It was a mix of former members and non-members I can talk about this cuz I was one of the non-members who was in on it At this point someone should have said STOP! and put an immediate end to the whole revival idea I for one had always wanted to be in Union and never made it After months of practice I thought it was my lucky day when Cybernary brought up the concept of restarting Union I got in even though I was already drawing on a regular basis for two other groups This didn t seem to present a problem -- I drew what I thought to be a really cool pic and submitted it Time passed Then several weeks later I got word that the revival was not going to happen Why Too many people wanted to dual-group and weren t getting anything done There was no revival pack Of course the almost-but-not-quite-ex-Union-guys didn t disappear being that it was an IRC-based group Many of them tried to start new groups together often ending in merger or failure Why (again) Simple the original Union members who came back couldn t toss their current obligations out the window and the new-generation recruits joined to say that they were in Union because as likely as not they had always wanted to join but never had the chance Call it a lack of loyalty if you want but I look at it like this who would drop everything to join a group that had already died revived and died again months before Not me I must admit A Union it was not Misplaced loyalties ruined otherwise good intentions ----- Enter Anemia I had never heard of Anemia until my local group FoS almost entered into a three-way merger with them and TMS I got to know two of the Anemia guys Silver Blade (Essbee) and Coug pretty well I had never seen an Anemia pack or heard of them before and I wasn t really impressed when I saw their stuff The feeling was mutual and the merger never happened but there weren t really any hard feelings Anyone with a brain and Internet access should know who Essbee is (unless #ansi was +i or ya got banned) and knows that he was at the least an interesting person Anyway Anemia took off fairly quick from that point at least in my eyes They got better until they released a somewhat disappointing pack I forget which month it was and death seemed imminent Yet somehow they came back with a rockin pack and things seemed OK Then Essbee left the scene Ouch The group faded from view for awhile then was rumored to have merged with someone else However Anemia didn t stay dead Yours truly was informed one cold March day that there was going to be an ANE-0496 ZIP turning up after all A couple weeks later someone offered that pack after having been released only a couple hours before Coug and Virt had brought back Anemia still more or less intact It s too soon to tell how successful Anemia will be this time around but they did one thing right -- they revived the group for the right reasons Anemia wasn t ready to die out so soon The members who really wanted to keep it alive stuck around to try again Anyone who didn t care isn t on the roster 2 4 -- Why it s OK to Pay Charge for an ANSi For some reason people have a problem with the concept of a bunch of colored blocks being worth money I ve decided that a little Q&A will clear this up Q I m not charging people to call my board so why should you charge me for the ANSi I requested from you A I m answering a question with a question why aren t you charging people Just because you don t charge people for access doesn t mean you can t If an artist charges you that s his right It s also your right to tell him to shove the ANSi up his ass But just as running a board takes work and time (which some people feel is a good reason to charge for access) it also takes work and time to draw an ANSi for the same board Q Do you really think you re so good that I m going to pay you for a pic A You must think he s that good if you want an ANSi from him in the first place Q insert name here won t charge me! He said he d accept leech access on my board instead A Congratulations that wasn t a question If you want someone else to draw for you get them to and quit whining Somebody in Hawaii might not want to call your board in New York They might not want free warez They might want some honest-to-God cash If you just want to whine waste somebody else s time Q OK I ll pay you What does that get me that makes it better than a picture by someone who works for free A That all depends on the artist It should above all get you a high quality ANSi Not to say that artists who work for free cut corners but the $$ you spend should provide insurance that it will really be a work of art Some artists will give priority to paying requests Others will well that s all really business their business 2 5 -- Enough Already That s it for this first issue I hope it gives you something to think about One man s opinion might not mean much but then again I don t think I m alone in a lot of my views From the previous feedback I ve received I know some of you dig what I m saying I don t greet people for the sake of greeting them but I do have a few to thank for their input ts mcb Extreme Syntax Error Royal Assassin Amnesia and everyone else who read my earlier stuff and responded I try to hit the topics that I see discussed on IRC boards and in my conversations with local members of the scene Hope you enjoyed issue #1 and take it easy o-tron fos teklordz trilogy ss xrist@primenet com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have questions comments or wish to receive future issues of Subversion directly in e-mail please respond to the address listed above (c) 96 O-Tron --------------------------------------------------------------------------------