Suckramento: Sysop Revealed.

Suckramento is an online forum that I joined about 5 years ago. The name of the forum is a take off on the name of our city: Sacramento. It is a locally based php forum. At the time I joined, I was teaching High School at C.K. McClatchy High School and felt that is was better to keep my identity somewhat secret so that my students wouldn't find me online talking about politics or other controversial subjects. Really, I'd have been more worried about their parents than I would the students.

Anyway, the Suckramento forum has died down considerably since then, when dozens of new topics were posted each day. Now, it is rare that there are a dozen posts in a month. I am watching this forum slowly die. I think the reason is obvious, places like YouTube, MySpace and others have taken us all away. Obviously, that is what happened to me.

Anyway, I still check in over there at Suckramento every once in a while. It dawned on me recently that I had never really revealed myself to the people there. I have showed up to a few meet-up type events, so there are definitely some users of Suckramento who know me and might recognize me around town, but I never have posted a recognizable picture of myself there.

The time has come. This is my "coming out" for Suckramento.com. My user name is Sysop, which is short for "systems operator." Although, I am not a sysop, the name choice was a tribute to my early days on a computer bulletin boards, more affectionately known as BBS's. BBS's (which have no good plural) were maintained and operated by people usually known as the sysop. Hence, the selection of my handle, or username.

So, it all started back in 1983 when I got a modem for my 12th birthday. I still remember the phone number for my local BBS: 707-257-6502. Dave Austin was the sysop and he had chosen the number because of the 6502 processor that was a big deal in those times. That was where it all began. I began typing my ideas online and interacting with people, sharing ideas, arguing, name calling, and you know, all the things that go on here today! The difference is, that no one besides us computer geeks even knew what a modem was back then, nor what it was used for.

So, to my point. First, I am revealing myself to the few people who remain on Suckramento, which I am not entirely sure why, because it is mostly people who weren't there when I was using the site heavily, and second, to ask my YouTuber friends, where are you from?

Surely, many of you have some sort of past when it comes to internet/computer communication. So that is the question, What was your online experience like before YouTube?

Thanks for reading. Read all you want, I'll write more.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• suckramento
• sysop
• comes
• out
• forum
• BBS
• NorCalCorsello

[taurusred]

whoa 257 was the first three digits of my home phone number growing up.. only it was a different area code ;)

I can relate.

I was really active on a certain forum that was established in the nineties and it's actually where I met my husband.

I remember the first internetting I used to do, it was a BBS on our local "freenet", you know... black screens, green writing and that's about it. ASCII images if you wanna get real fancy.

[NorCalCorsello]

You met your husband on an internet forum! Wow, lucky guy. Honestly, I have met a lot of people online over the last two decades, but I hate to say, it has usually been disappointing. People who are really interesting in the written word online often turn out to be somewhat introverted in person or they lack social skills. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy interacting through this medium any less, I just think it is kind of interesting.

[McGregorradio]

hey sysop...a lot of sucksite folks have gone over to Yelp. Although Yelp sorta sucks now too.

[NorCalCorsello]

I've only really looked at Yelp for restaurant reviews. I didn't even realize they had a topic forum over there. I guess I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks for the comment!

[How2WinAtY0UTUBE]

you probably don't remember me, i was Socky Sockman at the YouTube gathering in San Francisco. i am a karaoke singer from Suckramento and would love to help you in any way i can. i will check out your site on my next day off.

p.s. yesterday i became the first person in history to post a video singing karaoke NAKED it is on XTube. so, that is my current claim to fame!

[NorCalCorsello]

What? Like I forgot Socky the Sockman! That was outrageous. Many of the YouTubers don't really know what to do at a gathering. You had fun with it. Anyway, I think you misunderstood. Suckramento is not MY site, I was just a participant. I mean, I guess it was my site like YouTube is my site now. No, I just posted to the public forum known as Suckramento.

[raymondpsp]

was good mr corselo had u bak in 04 damn u got big

[WillDeliver]

I see someone with an identity crises (his hair), please tell use the color of your thong.

[ridetahoe]

That waterfall pic was cool.

[NorCalCorsello]

For me it was an Atari 800, but I had friends with Commodores! I never used the forum at Napkin Nights, but I know Steve, formerly of 01 Communications who did the site maintenance from the beginning for Napkin Nights, and Tracy who went off the Vegas to make Napkin Nights happen there. I met them both when I was working at the Limelight. I'm not sure how much they participated in the forum, but my picture ended up on Napkin Nights on a couple of occasions.