### TWGS v1.029 Released
[The TWGS center](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://eisonline.classictw.com/) has released a new Beta of TWGS. Here are a few of the new changes:
**Optimized menu display code.**
Added Total Server Connections, a value that tracks connections since the server first went online. Under Configure, Server, you may specify the number of connections to start tallying from (in case there was a reinstall) as well as the start date for tallying.
Login name is now required in TWGS (gameop configurable). You can enable this requirement in Configure, Settings, Require Login name. It defaults to OFF.
Limpet mines no longer turn rogue if abandoned. Rogue limpets are not consistent with the game's design. In other words, a rogue limpet has no function since it cannot be tracked.
Added player's IP address to the sysop log.
Enabled Trade Wars Turbo support.
### Stories retired
The [TW Stories](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.tradewars.org/stories.shtml) has been permanently retired to the Articles section.
## Saturday, April 29, 2000
### New IP for the Home Sector
The Home sector had an IP change to 24.30.120.240. It will take a while until everyone's DNS updates the regular address.
### Ha ha ha...*cough*
Timberwolf thinks he's funny. no, really:
**Mana Knight just learned how to copy and paste!! OH WOW!! The man has talents we never knew he had. He copied the below article regarding the BOTE and pasted to his website cuz he claimed he had to take a test and therefore did not have time to write his own article ..**
Ok Seinfeld, Ha ha ha...No. I'd really think you'd be working on [your roof](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.egroups.com/message/tw2002/15114?&start=15086) instead of your webpage. Somehow I don't think that Practicing your "Mad r00fing skillz" is going to win you the WTC.
### TW Turbo Announced
[Go see it.](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.thestardock.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?twt.htm) You're still here? Go.
Thoughts: Looks good! What impact will this have on the players? I can't imagine anyone using a broadband connection like Cable or DSL would see any real improvement if they're playing from a fast server. However, they should see improvements if they're playing from a slower server. 56k users should be improvements no matter where they play.
But the main impact will be on the servers themselves. Fast servers will probably see little improvement with their speed. But the program would still signifigantly lower the bandwidth usage and help out the slower ones. Will it lower CPU usage? I don't know, but it looks like it should. I'm really interested to if I would be able to have 10 people on a server that runs off a 56k modem. A server running from a cable modem could have a tournament with 100 people on it simotaniously. Possible? Maybe.
## Friday, April 28, 2000
### Interview with the John Pritchett... with more spelling errors!
John Pritchett who now owns Tradewars, was kind enough to take a few minutes from his work at McDonald's to give me a interview. [Read Part 1.](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://tradewars.org/articles/jpinterview.shtml) Part 2 will be posted whenever.
Read on as you learn how John gets a job at Martech: By destroying Gary Martin's car! If you don't want to read it now, then you're lying to yourself!
## Thursday, April 27, 2000
### BOTE - um, yay?
The BOTE 2000 has been announced. Since it doesn't have a webpage and I have a test in a hour, I'll just take what [someone else](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.webcntrl.com/timberwolf/) said:
**"The BOTE (Battle of the Elite) is a tournament in which many top TW game servers and BBS's send their best players. It will be held at Fament this year on July 4(subject to change). I would like to send a team to respresent Intergate and will hold a closed tryout game on May 13 (5K sectors, 1K turns, stock ships and planets) as I will be playing in it as well and evaluating players to choose the team. To play,just show up. It will be a closed game but I will have already added intergate regulars to the list and even if I do forget someone, I will be online at big bang and for a bit afterwards to add anyone i may forget. I want to see players kick each other's asses and how you perform in actual game situations. Also I want to see how you behave attitude-wise. That means, no whining..no bitching..no swearing.. you lose ,be a good sport..I want us to show some class in the BOTE even if we get our pods handed to us. Next year , the BOTE 2001 will be held at Intergate so wouldnt it be cool to bring the BOTE title to Intergate where we can defend the title on our home turf next year. :)"**
With some luck, the BOTE is hoping to get Gatoraid to sponsor the event. Also in the works is the BOTE Tri-Lypithon channel witch will offer **3** channels of BOTE action. Call your cable operator for more information!
### Guardian updates, News at 11.
[Guardian](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://home.columbus.rr.com/dragonelite/) announced that for the first time in 26 days, he **UPDATED HIS PAGE**. Let's take a look at why he didn't update:
1) I have fallen for someone and you know what that means ... TW usually gets put on hold.
3) Was on Vacation on the 9th - 15th of this month
If you consider working on your webpage actual "Work" and not "Goofing off" like everyone else in this country, I'd probably agree with that. But since you consider it "Work", I'd like to see what your boss says if he ever caught you updating. I can see it now:
"Ho peon, what are you doing?"
"I'm updating my web page sir!"
"Good work! Keep it up and you'll be promoted!"
Or maybe because you DON'T update your page at work [like everyone else](/)is the reason you don't update. Hell, even >I< was on vacation, and still did things on this page. It wasn't updating, but I was working on two features which you might be able to see before the universe ceases to exist if John ever returns my mail. (Hint, Hint)
## Tuesday, April 25, 2000
### Tachyon released
I did a small post about Tachyon last month. It's a graphical space trading game taking elements from TW. It's been released and the extra month seems to have helped the reviews. There's one at [https://www.dailyradar.com/reviews/game_review_666.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.dailyradar.com/reviews/game_review_666.html) Since it didn't completely blow, it looks like I'll be buying it to give you people a review myself instead of Thief II. The things I do for you people....
## Monday, April 24, 2000
### I'm talkin' bout some PHAT Rosaries, fool!
I've possibly found the greatest online comic strip ever: [Sinfest](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.sinfest.net/).
This [episode](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.sinfest.net/d/20000121.html) has touched me in a way no woman ever can. Here's a quote:
"GENESIS - and when he created the 'Hood, the almighty Bro-God sparked up a Phat Doobie and said: "That's Some Kind Shit!""
## Wednesday, April 19, 2000
### What a sad sad little newsgroup....
"So Sad, so strange, the egroups that is no more...." -Lord Tennyson
egroups, (also now known as "the little usenet") has recently had two groups fighting for control: [The people bitching](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.egroups.com/message/tw2002/14813?&start=14812) about the TW awards and the [people bitching about the people bitching](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.egroups.com/message/tw2002/14864?&start=14836) about the TW awards. It's quickly become the most outrageous argument this side of [Barefoot](https://eisonline.classictw.com/). If I were to compare this with movies, it would be the same as asking which one had the greater philosophical meaning: [Monty Python and the Holy Grail](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6302293553/qid=956186060/sr=1-1/102-5868573-2249658) or [Strange Brew?](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004RF9M/qid=956185965/sr=1-1/102-5868573-2249658)
Before you even think of sending me hate mail calling me a hypocrit, I state it now: I don't give a damn that I didn't win Eleq's award. I posted what I did because I thought it was funny.
But What ever happened to the egroups that was coherent most of the time? It's been completely obliterated, much like my virginity should be by now. Unfortunatelly, not everything goes as planned.
### I need some new ideas to put up in the titles
[Boo!!](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://web.frogland.net/boo/default.htm) "We r0x0r j00" Inc has announced they're joining the [twleague](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.twleague.com/). I'd add witty commentary here except I'm too sleep deprived to say any....Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
### The dictionary knows him well
I looked up the term egotist in the dictionary today and came up with this:
**e·go·tist n.**
1.A conceited, boastful person.
Also see: Eleqtrizi'T
## Tuesday, April 18, 2000
### The 3rd annual Awards now listed
[The official 3rd annual awards](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://home1.gte.net/jack8662/twawards.htm) have now gotten totaled and the winners announced. Congrats on all who won...and didn't complain!
I'd post my own snippy commentary, but it seems a lot of people have already done that for me. If you don't agree with the award, then just join the bitchfest on [egroups](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.egroups.com/list/tw2002/).
## Sunday, April 16, 2000
### HS announces...um, more awards.
Eleqtrizi'T has announced his own brand of justice to be released upon the gaming public: [The Home Sector Awards](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.thestardock.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?awards.htm). Since Nobody cares who's the best TWGS gameop, (Sorry Timberwolf, who loves ya?) I'll just skip to the only category that matters:
**BEST WEBSITE - Dragon's Elite**
This one tore me up. How can I even **THINK** about giving the award to anyone but Mana Knight? But fact is Mana Knight keeps **wasting his life in school** instead of giving us website updates. Plus, Guardian has the coveted guides of Shell's that I was trying to get. Bastard.
This decision comes after the epifany that Eleq actually, "put a lot of thought into this." I think it'd be pretty easy to give me the award, and I didn't even have to think about it. Simply replace all refrences of Guardian with Mana Knight and "wasting his life in school" with "answering the call of his midlife crisis" and you got a winner. Here's how the description should have looked:
**This one tore me up. How can I even **THINK** about giving the award to anyone but Guardian? But fact is Guardian keeps **answering the call of his midlife crisis** instead of giving us website updates. Plus, Mana's great skills destroyed me in the last tradewars game we played. Bastard.**
As far as **Wasting my life away at school**, next time you have to program a linked list within a linked list within a linked list that is dynamically allocated, feel free to [give me a call](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.dialpad.com/). So go back to writing those articles about Britney Spears for wherever it is you work at and we'll see how well you do after I take over the entertainment industry. At least I have my own [TV show](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.nickjr.com/bluesclues/).
### Ah, the mad bomber returns
It's been a pretty slow weekend, but [egroups](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.egroups.com/list/tw2002) got mailbombed yesterday, so I guess everything is back to normal.
## Thursday, April 13, 2000
### Speaking of domain names....
Ironically enough, The TWleague announced that they had just bought [https://www.twleague.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.twleague.com) and [https://www.twleague.org.](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.twleague.org.) Why two domain names? I don't know. But you can now get a snazy @twleague.org mail address or if you're really r33t, you can get a @twleague.com addy. Ooooh.
Note to self: Add supportive comment here.
## Tuesday, April 11, 2000
### Let's talk about Domain names.
I really hate the way Domain names are handled. Especially more so since potentially usable ones will just sit in the hands of domain name squatters looking to make a buck.
Since the beginning of time, Tradewars.com (And more recently Tradewars.net also) has been held by people who don't use it. Domain name squatters. Tradewars.com is most recently held by [DNSbank](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.dnsbank.com/), and a few months ago, the whois information said it was owned by [tucows](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.tucows.com/). That's right, the site that rates downloadable software held it.
William Smith who first came by a few months ago (Who will only be refered to as 'Will Smith' from now on since they both have the same size egos) tried to save tradewars but [failed](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.egroups.com/message/tw2002/13949). However, his legacy lives on since his company registered tradewars2002.com, .net, and .org. Thanks buddy, your really helping us by taking these names. Who really needs three domains for one tradewars/TWGS site that still hasn't materialized? More importantly, why does a company need a .org address?
What pisses me off is that these domains are just SITTING. sure, they could be used for the greater good, but that would mean that greed would have to go out the window. There's a simple solution in my book: simply make a bill that disallows the selling of domain names for more than what was originally paid for it. This usually amounts to a whole $75. While this won't keep all the selling from stopping, it will be a big deterent and will stop people who sell their domains to big corporations for a million dollars. (Which has happened)
I got my domain, good luck to the rest of you.
## Monday, April 10, 2000
### New TWGS revision released
The latest version is 1.01.28.1947.274672.621687487778b or something like that. Here's what "fixed:" **Located several minor bugs in the mail system. These bugs were responsible for the mail file lockups that required that TWMAIL.DAT be deleted. Mail file corruption should be much less common after .28.**
Removed mail maximum until further notice. Previously, I had imposed a 1000 message maximum per player. I want to see how the system functions over the coming months without this maximum.
Fixed bug that allowed non-corp players to escape the Interdictor Cruiser of other non-corp players during an attack.
With all these gameplay bugs being fixed, how am I supposed to compete with people who don't use bugs?
### A strange, quiet week
It's been strangely quiet the past few days. Bad Girl hasn't been flirting with anyone, and Egroups is actually NOT acting like a "Usenet group, but sent to your mailbox." Isn't this one of the signs of the apocalypse? But [Eleq](/)is still asking for donations so not everything has changed. Everyone has a hobby, I guess.
## Thursday, April 6, 2000
### We're shutting down? Hee Hee
If you haven't figured it out yet, The Post I made on **April 1st** was an...April Fools joke. Imagine that. However, Tradewars.org will be closed for a while. It's my 21st Birthday today, so I will not be making updates until I run out of money.
### Mr. T Takes over EIS Tradewars Forum!
That's right sucka...er, People! Mr. T invaded EIS today. [CLick here for the full story!](https://eisonline.classictw.com/)
## Wednesday, April 5, 2000
### 3rd Annual TW Awards
The voting has begun on the [3rd Annual TW awards](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://home1.gte.net/jack8662/twawards.htm) has begun! Let your voice be heard, because the old people ALWAYS vote, and you younger ones need to keep up!
The voting process is very steamlined. Just vote for random people in every category until you reach Best Webpage. In that one, you vote for tradewars.org. Yes, Simplicity is good.
## Tuesday, April 4, 2000
### Your chance to bother John Prichett!
I'll be conducting an interview with John Prichett next week about...stuff. Anyway, I'm looking for people to send in any questions they might have about Tradewars, Cerial, or whatever. I'll take the best ones and have John answer them....weather he wants to or not.
Send your questions to [mk@tradewars.org](mailto:mk@tradewars.org)
## Thursday, April 1, 2000
### Tradewars.org to cease operations
This has been a while coming. As of next thursday, April 6th, Tradewars.org will cease operations. I'm sure you are all asking, "What are you doing! Stop messing with our minds, man!"
The truth of the matter is that I lead two lives. "Joel Gonzales" who attends college at the University of Louisiana is my pseudonym. He doesn't exist. My real name is Steve Burns. I host [Blue's Clues](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://www.nickjr.com/bluesclues/home.html), which can be seen five days a week on Nick Jr. I used the other name simply as a cover as I like my privacy.
Now on to the reason I'm quitting: as it stands, one Blue's Clues episode takes five months of work to complete. (Multiple episodes are done at the same time) However, my role in each episode will be increasing and I no longer have the time to run this site.
On the left is a picture I sent to Cruncher. On the right is a picture of myself. It's suprising no one has sent me an email saying, "You look like that guy from Blue's Clues!" Maybe it's because I'm wearing a hat.
Next, I will be selling the tradewars.org domain for $75 (The price I paid for it) under the following conditions:
a) [The Home Sector](/) is unaffected
b) I keep the mk@tradewars.org email address
If you are interested, contact me. Lastly, I'll be making my goodbyes on Thursday.