After running the BASIC programming language forum on the BIX network for many weeks, I was unceremoniously dumped from my post. A powerful columnist had me removed and replaced by one of his dear pals.
I left furious, spewing my bile in one final, angry post. Because my friends were still on BIX, and similarly fearful that they would be dumped as moderators, they dutifully reported back to me what transpired next.
As I recall, the remaining moderators held a major discussion about abuse of power by the columnist. They reported to me that consensus was what the columnist had done was wrong. Still, not much changed because the guy threw around a lot of weight. On the upside, my friends told me that the BASIC language forum I once moderated effectively died after I was gone. Where I would have contests, troubleshooting, tips, and such, the hand-picked replacement moderator seldom bothered to show up. So much for that.
Then something really weird happened.
Again, I’m reporting these events second hand, but all of my online friends were talking about it.
Just about the time I left BIX, a new user showed up. He was a subscriber, although he claimed to be a former moderator. Instantly, many of the other moderators assumed that I was this guy. He went by the handle NF, where N and F stand for two of the most obscene words you can imagine.
Today we’d call NF a troll. He would post nasty comments and make personal attacks. His posts would be removed and his account suspended, but he’d soon show up again in another incarnation. This antagonism persisted for several months. I was out of the loop on his adventures for the most part. That was until one evening when the U.S. Secret Service knocked at my door.
In addition to routinely threatening the moderators on BIX, NF also threatened then-President Reagan. One of the moderators, a gal I’ll identify as JD, had it all figured out: NF was in fact, Dan Gookin, who disappeared angrily and coincidentally just before NF showed up. She contacted the Secret Service, who are required by law to investigate all presidential threats.
I felt sorry for the agents who came to my apartment, driving all the way from Los Angeles to San Diego. They were polite, but obviously embarrassed as I wasn’t their guy.
As time dragged on, NF’s posts became less frequent. The authorities had narrowed down who he could be, but they needed him to go online again one more time to cement their case.
In the end, they hooked him with a sting operation: The BIX staff posted an announcement that they finally caught NF. He was in New Mexico and being placed under arrest. That false story was enough to coax the real NF out of hiding (in Wisconsin) to make one final “Nya-nya-nya” post. According to my friends, he was arrested while he was still online.
After the arrest, my friends reported that JD — the moderator who falsely accused me of being NF — publicly apologized to me. Because I was still sore over the entire adventure, and even more so based on her accusation, it didn’t really matter. In fact, today when I think of BIX I think of the NF episode more than anything substantial the service had to offer.
I’m not sure when BIX was officially unplugged. By then most of my friends moved on. Yet they all remember the adventure that began when I was trumped from moderator duty. It was strange and stupid.
