Re: ASIMOV GS SITE

[toddpw@ugcs.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)]

Slick <PAYSlick_RCBD@hotmail.com> writes:

>pirate sites often require people who download to also upload software.
>This was supposedly true with BBSs as well. Leechers are people who
>don't upload after downloading lots of stuff. I could be mistaken, but I
>think that is how he described warez sites.

Correct. Warez sites often have a "bank account" counting how many K you
have uploaded vs. how much you have downloaded. Leeches are those who have
"overdrawn" their bank account.

A decade ago when I was in high school, warez bbs's were generally always
run like this. In the days when 1200 baud was fast, and multi-line bbs's
were unheard of, you really cared about letting as many different people
use the system as possible. That meant preventing people from sucking your
entire site over the phone line for hours and hours. Hence the term leech.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ ugcs.caltech.edu