Unless you're an old-school gamer - or an old-school Usenetter - the
name 'Derek Smart' probably doesn't mean anything to you. And why
would it? He hasn't been relevant since the late 90s (and arguably was
more 'loud' than 'relevant' even back then). But if you were on Usenet
- and specifically on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* hierarchy - his name
was a thing of terror. Struggling to release a working version of his
"Battlecruiser 3000" game, he was... well, I'll be polite and just say
he was extremely /defensive/ of his extremely flawed project. His
diatribes were legendary and he would so often aggressively insert
himself into conversations that it became a running joke amongst
Usenetters not to mention his name lest he be appear, as if a demon
summoned from the pit by the incantation of his true name.

But as Usenet dwindled in popularity - and his games failed to garner
any real success - he fell out of the limelight. He occasionally makes
a reappearance elsewhere on the Internet (most famously,
self-inserting himself into an argument about the success of "Star
Citizen", proving even a stopped clock can be right twice a day) but
nowadays, almost nobody remembers him.

So it probably means nothing to most people here for me to mention
that Derek Smart has invested in Web3 (aka, blockchain-powered) games,
going so far as to create his own web-company (WideSpan Ventures). But
it gave me a chuckle because, for those who remember him, the only
possible reaction is, "Of course he did." He's a quintessential
tech-bro and the only reason I didn't suspect it is because I thought
he was dead (honestly, I think I was more surprised to learn he was
still alive than that he was involved in crypto. Web3 is where a lot
of old-school designers go to fail these days, it seems).

And who knows; maybe mention of his name here will summon the beast
back so we all can re-experience the horror of his writing style once
again. ;-)

On 1/9/2024 2:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Unless you're an old-school gamer - or an old-school Usenetter - the
> name 'Derek Smart' probably doesn't mean anything to you. And why
> would it? He hasn't been relevant since the late 90s (and arguably was
> more 'loud' than 'relevant' even back then). But if you were on Usenet
> - and specifically on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* hierarchy - his name
> was a thing of terror. Struggling to release a working version of his
> "Battlecruiser 3000" game, he was... well, I'll be polite and just say
> he was extremely /defensive/ of his extremely flawed project. His
> diatribes were legendary and he would so often aggressively insert
> himself into conversations that it became a running joke amongst
> Usenetters not to mention his name lest he be appear, as if a demon
> summoned from the pit by the incantation of his true name.
>
> But as Usenet dwindled in popularity - and his games failed to garner
> any real success - he fell out of the limelight. He occasionally makes
> a reappearance elsewhere on the Internet (most famously,
> self-inserting himself into an argument about the success of "Star
> Citizen", proving even a stopped clock can be right twice a day) but
> nowadays, almost nobody remembers him.
>
> So it probably means nothing to most people here for me to mention
> that Derek Smart has invested in Web3 (aka, blockchain-powered) games,
> going so far as to create his own web-company (WideSpan Ventures). But
> it gave me a chuckle because, for those who remember him, the only
> possible reaction is, "Of course he did." He's a quintessential
> tech-bro and the only reason I didn't suspect it is because I thought
> he was dead (honestly, I think I was more surprised to learn he was
> still alive than that he was involved in crypto. Web3 is where a lot
> of old-school designers go to fail these days, it seems).
>
> And who knows; maybe mention of his name here will summon the beast
> back so we all can re-experience the horror of his writing style once
> again. ;-)
>
>
>
>

Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
make it necessary to tag it like that. As far as I've noticed the only
thing cryptocurrency did was make it easier for people to buy drugs and
ransom companies. I still am waiting for someone to come up with a use
for blockchain technology that could not be done with less effort and
energy wasted by leaving it out.

I remember Battlecruiser 3000, mostly I remember it because I never
managed to get it running on multiple computers. It sounded like it
would be my jam, but somehow it just wouldn't start, no matter how much
I tried. It certainly would have been nice to see what the whole fuzz
was about.

On 1/9/24 02:47, kyonshi wrote:
> On 1/9/2024 2:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Unless you're an old-school gamer - or an old-school Usenetter - the
>> name 'Derek Smart' probably doesn't mean anything to you. And why
>> would it? He hasn't been relevant since the late 90s (and arguably was
>> more 'loud' than 'relevant' even back then). But if you were on Usenet
>> - and specifically on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* hierarchy - his name
>> was a thing of terror. Struggling to release a working version of his
>> "Battlecruiser 3000" game, he was... well, I'll be polite and just say
>> he was extremely /defensive/ of his extremely flawed project. His
>> diatribes were legendary and he would so often aggressively insert
>> himself into conversations that it became a running joke amongst
>> Usenetters not to mention his name lest he be appear, as if a demon
>> summoned from the pit by the incantation of his true name.
>>
>> But as Usenet dwindled in popularity - and his games failed to garner
>> any real success - he fell out of the limelight. He occasionally makes
>> a reappearance elsewhere on the Internet (most famously,
>> self-inserting himself into an argument about the success of "Star
>> Citizen", proving even a stopped clock can be right twice a day) but
>> nowadays, almost nobody remembers him.
>>
>> So it probably means nothing to most people here for me to mention
>> that Derek Smart has invested in Web3 (aka, blockchain-powered) games,
>> going so far as to create his own web-company (WideSpan Ventures). But
>> it gave me a chuckle because, for those who remember him, the only
>> possible reaction is, "Of course he did." He's a quintessential
>> tech-bro and the only reason I didn't suspect it is because I thought
>> he was dead (honestly, I think I was more surprised to learn he was
>> still alive than that he was involved in crypto. Web3 is where a lot
>> of old-school designers go to fail these days, it seems).
>>
>> And who knows; maybe mention of his name here will summon the beast
>> back so we all can re-experience the horror of his writing style once
>> again. ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
> don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
> make it necessary to tag it like that. As far as I've noticed the only
> thing cryptocurrency did was make it easier for people to buy drugs and
> ransom companies. I still am waiting for someone to come up with a use
> for blockchain technology that could not be done with less effort and
> energy wasted by leaving it out.
>
> I remember Battlecruiser 3000, mostly I remember it because I never
> managed to get it running on multiple computers. It sounded like it
> would be my jam, but somehow it just wouldn't start, no matter how much
> I tried. It certainly would have been nice to see what the whole fuzz
> was about.

I wonder if anyone made a fixed patch of the game.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
>Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
>don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
>make it necessary to tag it like that.

It's a perfect name for it. The whole Web 2.0 thing was a meaningless
hyped up joke, so I'm fine Web 3.0 being a meaningless hyped up scam.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

On 1/9/2024 12:47 AM, kyonshi wrote:
> On 1/9/2024 2:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>> So it probably means nothing to most people here for me to mention
>> that Derek Smart has invested in Web3 (aka, blockchain-powered) games,
>> going so far as to create his own web-company (WideSpan Ventures). But
>> it gave me a chuckle because, for those who remember him, the only
>> possible reaction is, "Of course he did." He's a quintessential
>> tech-bro and the only reason I didn't suspect it is because I thought
>> he was dead (honestly, I think I was more surprised to learn he was
>> still alive than that he was involved in crypto. Web3 is where a lot
>> of old-school designers go to fail these days, it seems)
>
> Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
> don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
> make it necessary to tag it like that. As far as I've noticed the only
> thing cryptocurrency did was make it easier for people to buy drugs and
> ransom companies. I still am waiting for someone to come up with a use
> for blockchain technology that could not be done with less effort and
> energy wasted by leaving it out.

Supposedly big on the backend for tracking banking/financial
transactions. Not something most would be aware of.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On 1/9/2024 10:03 PM, Justisaur wrote:

>
> Supposedly big on the backend for tracking banking/financial
> transactions.  Not something most would be aware of.
>

I am working for a bank and was recently listening to a presentation of
one of these ideas. They were very careful not to mention blockchain and
crypto at all, until one of them mentioned the blockchain by mistake.
The temperature in the meeting noticeably dropped after that.

And the question was raised how this was any better than the systems
already in place, and I at least found the answers rather unconvincing.

Not that I listened to it anymore after it turned out it was some crypto
stuff.

Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
player either. Of course he failed back then his idea was a projekt
impossible to do by a single person by that time and state of affairs
but still he did!

He did not fail in bringing out the game, he failed into bringing out a
good bugfree game and thats because he was working alone on it, his
great thing was that he could bring out the game at all!

As for Crypto bros, yes all those legends who have failed in their Derek
Smart like dreams seem to flock into. The classical example is Garriott,
who has failed for years to bring out the next big mmrpg, while the
first mmrpg he is constantly claiming to be his biggest success, was not
even his design back then, he just had a good hand in choosing a
designer who actually had mmprg experience first hand!

Now that his biggest dream seems to be to go from millionaire to become
richer than his wife he jumps on everything which seems to be tons of
cash in promise!

Am 09.01.24 um 22:03 schrieb Justisaur:
> Supposedly big on the backend for tracking banking/financial
> transactions.  Not something most would be aware of.
not really, more like wanna be, SWIFT is the global transaction
protocol/system to handle it within banks, it will be hard for the
crypto bros to exchange that system which has literally been in place
for decades!

On 1/10/2024 2:23 AM, Werner P. wrote:
> Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
> fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
> player either.

Derek Smart literally could not be polite to another person to save his
life.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 1/10/2024 12:52 AM, kyonshi wrote:
> On 1/9/2024 10:03 PM, Justisaur wrote:
>
>>
>> Supposedly big on the backend for tracking banking/financial
>> transactions.  Not something most would be aware of.
>>
>
> I am working for a bank and was recently listening to a presentation of
> one of these ideas. They were very careful not to mention blockchain and
> crypto at all, until one of them mentioned the blockchain by mistake.
> The temperature in the meeting noticeably dropped after that.
>
> And the question was raised how this was any better than the systems
> already in place, and I at least found the answers rather unconvincing.
>
> Not that I listened to it anymore after it turned out it was some crypto
> stuff.

*Sigh* figures, that came from a trusted source. I can't trust them
now, another one falls to the blockchain hype. :(

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Wed, 10 Jan 2024 08:50:38 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 1/10/2024 2:23 AM, Werner P. wrote:
>> Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
>> fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
>> player either.
>
>Derek Smart literally could not be polite to another person to save his
>life.

There are tales told by some that say he's a nice guy in person
professionally and treats people well...

https://www.polygon.com/2012/11/14/3553620/the-redemption-of-derek-smart

.... but even if that's the case, he has probably committed enough
douchbaggery online to qualify as a RL douche.

I really didn't get caught up in reading all of those flamewars, but I
seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
what school? lol

On Tue, 9 Jan 2024 09:47:41 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 1/9/2024 2:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
>don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
>make it necessary to tag it like that.

Well, I referred to it as Web 3.0 for several reasons:

1) That's how the company itself describes itself and - given the
total lack of official information about their plans - I'd be hesitant
to assign any other label at this point.

2) Web 3.0 is nominally a good definition for its intended goal. While
Web 1.0 was basically 'your information on the web and host it
yourself' and Web 2.0 was 'your information hosted on other people's
servers but you have no real control over anything'., Web 3.0 was
'your info on distributed servers but you retain ownership of the
data'. This change was -its advocates promised- nominally done through
the "Magic Of Blockchain" (tm). But those ideals were quickly
perverted into crypto-scam bullshit designed to sell you worthless
digital tchotchkes. Still, many of its most prominent supporters were
attracted to the concept by this ideal, and I've no reason to believe
Smart is any different

(again, I'm willing to give Mr. Smart the benefit of the doubt until -
inevitably? - proven otherwise)

3) And most importantly, if I started by saying, "Derek Smart is into
NFTs and crypto", everyone would just roll their eyes and go, "Oh boy,
there goes that nutcase ranting about NFTs again!" and none of you
would read my post!!! ;-)

But, yeah, it's probably going to end up being some sort of
crypto-scam unnecessarily using blockchain to do stuff that could just
as effectively be done using more traditional databases. ;-)

On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:

> I
> seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
> what school? lol

A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and
Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>
>> I
>> seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
>> what school? lol
>
>A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and
>Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.

Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a
legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
from it online.

In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
existed.

Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
cannot be considered a legit PhD.

If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
involved.

On 1/11/2024 4:15 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>
>>> I
>>> seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
>>> what school? lol
>>
>> A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and
>> Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
>
> Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a
> legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
> hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
> Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
> from it online.
>
> In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
> ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
> existed.
>
> Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
> dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
> cannot be considered a legit PhD.
>
> If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
> involved.

He was just ahead of his time, practicing to be an AI.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On 1/12/2024 6:55 AM, Justisaur wrote:
> On 1/11/2024 4:15 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>> On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>>
>>>> I
>>>> seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
>>>> what school?  lol
>>>
>>> A PHD from the school of hard knocks.  That stands for Piled Higher and
>>> Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
>>
>> Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a
>> legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
>> hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
>> Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
>> from it online.
>>
>> In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
>> ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
>> existed.
>>
>> Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
>> dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
>> cannot be considered a legit PhD.
>>
>> If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
>> involved.
>
> He was just ahead of his time, practicing to be an AI.
>
Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:18:01 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 1/12/2024 6:55 AM, Justisaur wrote:
>> On 1/11/2024 4:15 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>> On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I
>>>>> seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
>>>>> what school?  lol
>>>>
>>>> A PHD from the school of hard knocks.  That stands for Piled Higher and
>>>> Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
>>>
>>> Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a
>>> legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
>>> hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
>>> Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
>>> from it online.
>>>
>>> In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
>>> ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
>>> existed.
>>>
>>> Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
>>> dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
>>> cannot be considered a legit PhD.
>>>
>>> If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
>>> involved.
>>
>> He was just ahead of his time, practicing to be an AI.
>>
>Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?

I can confirm that all of his intelligence was artificial.

On 10/01/2024 16:50, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 1/10/2024 2:23 AM, Werner P. wrote:
>> Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
>> fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
>> player either.
>
> Derek Smart literally could not be polite to another person to save his
> life.
>

The internet brings out the worst in some people. So I've been a member
of several different model kit forums and it's almost mandatory to have
at least one arsehole with zero social skills*. Oh you're wondering how
to make bullet and shell damage on an armoured vehicle. Now I could tell
you the the techniques I use or instead basically have a go at you as
you;re the problem with modellers today in that you don't go back to
reference material and learn for yourself what to do.

I met the guy in real-life and heard a few other stories about him. By
all accounts he was an all round arsehole and didn't restrict himself to
online.

*That's the reason that the group I'm now in is very much you can't join
unless you get a recommendation from an existing member.

Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
> Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?
Yes... he failed the turing test!

Am 15.01.24 um 14:16 schrieb Werner P.:
> Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
>> Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?
> Yes... he failed the turing test!
>
btw speaking of early usenet dev trolls, can anyone remember the
australian propper guy doing his own rpg, who sometimes fell into a
racistic rant and basically was on a private vendetta against the sir
tech owners...
He or is son brought out the game it is available, i bought it for the
fun hours he gave me "unwillingly but he did"
Have yet to try it, it is a pretty long game.
Cleve Blakemore I think was his name and Grimoire the name of the game.

On 1/15/2024 5:16 AM, Werner P. wrote:
> Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
>> Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?
> Yes... he failed the turing test!
>
That sounds more like proof that he _is_ an early AI.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Am 15.01.24 um 16:26 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
> On 1/15/2024 5:16 AM, Werner P. wrote:
>> Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
>>> Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?
>> Yes... he failed the turing test!
>>
> That sounds more like proof that he _is_ an early AI.
>
No early AI could convince anyone that there is something unreal
behind those posts than he ever could!