Troll on imsai.net?

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Mon Oct 21 14:49:00 2002

On Mon, 21 Oct 2002, Jeffrey Sharp wrote:

> On Monday, October 21, 2002, JD Gouws wrote:
> > Then why go at length to describe the W.O.P.R. lettering and the BASF
> > disks.
>
> That's how trolls work. They have that kind of stuff to make them seem more
> realistic and to get the reader emotionally involved. The kid is autistic
> for just that reason, because we think of autistic kids both as retards and
> as genii -- a perfect condition to inspire the philanthropic giveaway of a
> computer that takes serious programming knowledge to use.
>
> There are obvious problems with this troll. One is that WOPR (from the movie
> Wargames) was *not* the IMSAI 8080. WOPR was a big-ass computer in the NORAD
> facility. The IMSAI was the David's home computer. David ran a terminal
> emuator and dialed into WOPR from his home. The troll just wants his free
> IMSAI to have some silk-screened lettering, probably to boost an eBay sale.
> Oops #0.
>
> Second, I think that the 8" disk would be marked "SSDD", not "Single Sided
> Double Density", but I really haven't seen enough 8" disks to firmly decide
> that. Oops #1.

Rather depends on who made them and when. For instance, I have some
Dysan 8" disks that say '3740/1D' and others that say 'Single Sided
Single Density'.
                                                - don

> Third, the troll says "Thank you in advance for any information you may
> have". What information is *Fischer* going to have about the allegedly
> stolen computer? What, is he going to say "Oh, yes, Jim stole that. Let me
> give you his address and phone number"? Oops #2.
>
> Sorry, IMSAI. YHBT. HAND.
>
> --
> Jeffrey Sharp
>
>
Received on Mon Oct 21 2002 - 14:49:00 BST