MAGIC! - Messages From Beyond The Web

[Tabman]

Thanks to the forsight of Gary Plants as well as his generosity I now have almost all of the messages posted on MAGIC! The Global Magicians Network, the historic Magicians Only BBS that existed before the WWW got going.

As many of you know, many years ago I licensed the message base and the logo from the creator, David Lichtman, and have them online at http://mfbtw.com to preserve this unique bit of magic history.

For those that don't know the participants read like a who's who in Magic at the time and way too many to name.

Today I added 2000 more messages to the archive and will add messages every week probably on Sundays. The new archived messages will be designated with [color:#FF0000](NEW)[/color].

Thank you Gary for following through and for being my friend all these years.

For MAGIC!,

-=tabman

[Tabman]

Another 1000 messages have just been added to the online MAGIC! Archives. I'm so excited about having these. Gary has increased the message base four fold. I'll keep working on it until they're all up.

http://mfbtw.com

-=el tab

[Tabman]

1500 more messages up. Messages from Max Maven, Michael Ammar, Evan Katz (later became producer of 24), Jim Sisti, Jeff Busby, Pete Biro, Geno Munari, Burton the Bizarre, Gary Plants, Manny Weltman .... more, more, more.

Thank you Gary Plants!!!!

http://mfbtw.com

[NCMarsh]

Very cool, thanks for posting!

[Richard Kaufman]

I'll look if you remove the messages from Busby.

[Tabman]

I'll look if you remove the messages from Busby.

Interestingly enough I was accused a few years ago of doing just that but I would never.

However, if I felt comfortable doing it I would certainly do it for you but I know you're just joshing. Anyway, I don't think Jeff is much of a factor anymore, just a memory.

But I won't mention him on Genii anymore. ;)

-=tabby

[Richard Kaufman]

Yeah ... a BAD memory.

[Seuss]

He's still shutting down PF auctions on ebay it seems. Saw one go down recently and asked the seller about it and he was told by ebay that the "rightsholder" intervened.

same old jeff

[Tabman]

Interesting but my understanding at the time was he lost the TM and RNT2 got it then I think Pete Biro got them to sign it over to the Fox family but then I lost track.

Anyway, this tread isn't about him but about MAGIC! - The Global Magicians Network and the historic message base located at http://www.mfbtw.com. Many names participated including David Copperfield but using an assumed name.

[Bob Gerdes]

Is Copperfield's pseudonym a secret?

[Richard Kaufman]

No, it's not a secret.
What is it?

[Dave V]

I set up Copperfield's laptop in Chris Kenner's hotel room during one of his visits to Las Vegas. I don't recall what name he used, and don't really know if he did anything but read messages. Harry Blackstone Jr. was also a "secret" member. I think he *was* active but I don't know his pseudonym either.

[Kevin Connolly]

I always thought it was.

[Tabman]

OK, I emailed David Lichtman this morning and sent him the information about Gary supplying a ton of back messages. The crash and the earthquake took its toll on the system but he tells me the same computer is still sitting on the floor of his office and has been for over a decade once they dug it out of the rubble that was their former house in Arleta. It has all the private messages on it I understand.

Anyway, I was privy to much but Ive forgotten even more but I will see what I can find out. I do seem to remember that HB Jr did post under his assumed name.

[Tabman]

Havent heard back from David Lichtman yet but I'm on a tear to get these messages up on the MAGIC! Archives so I added another 1,000 messages tonight.

http://mfbtw.com

[Dave V]

That's an artifact from the pre-web browser days. Somewhere in one of the messages is the command <s> which at the time was the accepted way to convey emotions before smileys were invented. If Tabby had the time to find it, it should be immediately in front of the first occurence of the line.

[Dave V]

In message 5268, our SYSOP declared the following:

"...there is a NEW RULE here on MAGIC! From now on,
ALL messages will be required to bear a "legend code" at the bottom of
the message. The legend code MUST appear, by itself, on the last line
of the message. It MUST be enclosed in angle brackets < >.

One of the following codes MUST be used:

<F> - for FOOLING AROUND. This code MUST be used with all funny,
satirical, and facetious messages.

<S> - for SERIOUS. This code MUST be used with all serious,
profound, and philosophical messages.

Anyone who fails to include the code in the proper place and properly
marked in a message will be DENIED ACCESS IMMEDIATELY.

As a time saving feature, all messages from Evan Katz will
AUTOMATICALLY be tagged <F>. All messages from Max Maven will
AUTOMATICALLY be tagged <S>.

<F>
______
Remember, this was before HTML. Little did he know at the time that he was using codes that would be reserved for special formatting in the future.

[Tabman]

Whew. Can't leave for a minute.;)

Thanks for letting me know. I did a search and destroy on the html and got rid of the <S> code.

Thanks for the heads up and Copperfield went by his middle name and last name on the bbs.

See if that works. I'll put another 500 messages up and check for it.

-=tab

[Tabman]

OK, I put the next 500 up and searched out the <S> and found a <B> in a Pete Biro message and dumped it. Now that I know what Im looking Ill try to keep up. If you spot anything else let me know.

Muchas Gracias!!

-=el tab

http://mfbtw.com

[Marco Pusterla]

Tab,

Perhaps, rather than dumping < s > and < f >, you should replace them with their matching emoticons or convert the <> to their HTML codes (&amp;lt; and &amp;gt; respectively). In this way, you'll keep the integral message and won't lose any of the original meaning behind the message.

Just a thought...

Congratulations with the work you're doing: it's amazing!!!

[Tabman]

That's a good idea, thanks. I'll come up with something.

-=tab

[Tabman]

OK, I changed <F> to -F- and <S> to -S- and uploaded 1000 additional messages. Let me know if there's anything else, if not, unless there's something significant to report I'll back on out of here until then. Thanks for the help.

-=tab
http://mfbtw.com

[Tabman]

FYI:
1000 new messages

MAGIC-36
MAGIC-37

each containing 500 messages now online at the site,
http://mfbtw.com

[Tabman]

Just added 1500 new messages:

MAGIC-38 (500 messages)
MAGIC-39 (500 messages)
MAGIC-40 (500 messages)

http://mfbtw.com

-=el tab

[Tabman]

Just added 1000 more new messages. I am trying to keep the tempo up. There's so many yet to come I want to get them up asap:

MAGIC-41 (500 messages)
MAGIC-42 (500 messages)

http://mfbtw.com

-=el tab

[Tabman]

Just added 1000 more new messages.

MAGIC-43 (500 messages)
MAGIC-44 (500 messages)

http://mfbtw.com

-=el tab