What is the DoD? FAQ VERSION 1.8.1

From time to time there is some mention, discussion, or flame about the rules of the DoD. In order to fan the flames, here is the complete text of the rules governing the DoD.

The difference between this group and your local motorcycle club is that, although they get together just about everyday, most have never seen each other face to face. The members of this group live all over the known world and communicate with each other electronically via computer.

The computers range from laptops to multi-million dollar computer centers; the people range from college and university students to high-tech industry professionals to public-access electronic bulletin-board users. Currently, rec.motorcycles (pronounced "wreck-dot-motorcycles," it's the file name for the group's primary on-line "meeting place") carries about 2250 articles per month; it is read by an estimated 29,000 people. Most of the frequent posters belong to a motorcycle club, the Denizens of Doom, usually referred to as the DoD.

The DoD started when motorcyclist John R. Nickerson wrote a couple of parodies designed to poke fun at motorcycle stereotypes. Fellow computer enthusiast Bruce Robinson posted these articles under the pen name, "Denizen of Doom." A while later Chuck Rogers signed off as DoD number 0003 Keeper of the Flame. Bruce was then designated DoD number 0002, retroactively and, of course, Nickerson, the originator of the parodies, was given DoD number 0001.

The idea of a motorcycle club with no organization, no meetings and no rules appealed to many, so John Sloan -- DoD number 0011 -- became Keeper of the List, issuing DoD numbers to anyone who wanted one. To date there have been almost 400 memberships issued to people all over the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway and Finland.

Keeper of the List Sloan eventually designed a club patch. The initial run of 300 patches sold out immediately. The profits from this went to the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation. Another AMHF fund raiser -- selling Denizens of Doom pins to members -- was started by Arnie Skurow a few months later. Again, the project was successful and the profits were donated to the foundation. So far, the Denizens have contributed over $1500 to the AMA museum. A plaque in the name of the Denizens of Doom now hangs in the Motorcycle Heritage Museum.

As often as possible, the DoD'ers crawl out from behind their CRTs and go riding together. It turns out that the two largest concentrations of DoD'ers are centered near Denver/Boulder, Colorado, and in California's "Silicon Valley." Consequently, two major events are the annual Assault on Rollins Pass in Colorado, and the Northern versus Southern California "Joust."

The Ride-and-Feed is a bike trip over Rollins Pass, followed by a big barbecue dinner. The concept for the Joust is to have riders from Northern California ride south; riders from Southern California to ride north, meeting at a predesignated site somewhere in the middle. An additional plan for 1991 is to hold an official Denizens of Doom homecoming in conjunction with the AMA heritage homecoming in Columbus, Ohio, in July.

Though it's a safe bet the the Denizens of Doom and their collective communications hub, rec.motorcycles, will not replace the more traditional motorcycle organizations, for those who prowl the electronic pathways in search of two-wheeled camaraderie, it's a great way for kindred spirits to get together. Long may they flame.

	"Live to Flame -- Flame to Live"	[centerbar]

              _The Denizens of Doom: The Saga Unfolds_

                     by John Sloan  DoD #0011

Periodically the question "What is DoD?" is raised. This is one of those questions in the same class as "Why is the sky blue?", "If there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the world?" and "Why do women inevitably tell you that you're such a nice guy just before they dump you?", the kinds of questions steeped in mysticism, tradition, and philosophy, questions that have inspired research and discussion by philosophers in locker rooms, motorcycle service bays, and in the halls of academe for generations.

A long, long time ago (in computer time, where anything over a few minutes is an eternity and the halting problem really is a problem) on a computer far, far away on the net (topologically speaking; two machines in the same room in Atlanta might route mail to one another via a system in Chicago), a chap who wished to remain anonymous (but who was eventually assigned the DoD membership #1) wrote a satire of the various personalities and flame wars of rec.motorcycles, and signed it "The Denizen of Doom". Not wishing to identify himself, he asked that stalwart individual who would in the fullness of time become DoD #2 to post it for him. DoD #2, not really giving a whit about what other people thought and generally being a right thinking individual, did so. Flaming and other amusements followed.

He who would become the holder of DoD membership #3 thought this was the funniest thing he'd seen in a while (being the sort that is pretty easily amused), so he claimed membership in the Denizens of Doom Motorcycle Club, and started signing his postings with his membership number.

Perhaps readers of rec.motorcycles were struck with the vision of a motorcycle club with no dues, no rules, no restrictions as to brand or make or model or national origin of motorcycle, a club organized electronically. It may well be that readers were yearning to become a part of something that would provide them with a greater identity, a gestalt personality, something in which the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. It could also be that we're all computer nerds who wear black socks and sneakers and pocket protectors, who just happen to also love taking risks on machines with awesome power to weight ratios, social outcasts who saw a clique that would finally be open minded enough to accept us as members.

In a clear case of self fulfilling prophesy, The Denizens of Doom Motorcycle Club was born. A club in which the majority of members have never met one another face to face (and perhaps like it that way), yet feel that they know one another pretty well (or well enough given some of the electronic personalities in the newsgroup). A club organized and run (in the loosest sense of the word) by volunteers through the network via electronic news and mail, with a membership/mailing list (often used to organize group rides amongst members who live in the same region), a motto, a logo, a series of photo albums circulating around the country (organized by DoD #9), club patches (organized by #11), and even an MTV-style music video (produced by #47 and distributed on VHS by #18)!

Where will it end? Who knows? Will the DoD start sanctioning races, placing limits on the memory and clock rate of the on-board engine management computers? Will the DoD organize poker runs where each participant collects a hand of hardware and software reference cards? Will the DoD have a rally in which the attendees demand a terminal room and at least a 386-sized UNIX system? Only time will tell.

The DoD has no dues, no rules, and no requirements other than net access and a love for motorcycles. To become a member, one need only ask (although we will admit that who you must ask is one of the few really good club secrets). New members will receive via email a membership number and the latest copy of the membership list, which includes name, state, and email address.

The Denizens of Doom Motorcycle Club will live forever (or at least until next year when we may decide to change the name).

Welcome one and all to the flamingest, most wonderfullest newsgroup of all time: wreck.mudder-disciples or is it reak.mudder-disciples? The Names have been changes to protect the Guilty (riders) and Innocent (the bikes) alike. If you think you recognize a contorted version of your name, you don't. It's just your guilt complex working against you. Read 'em and weep.

We tune in on a conversation between some of our heros. Terrible Barbarian is extolling the virtues of his Hopalonga Puff-a-cane to Reverend Muck Mudgers and Stompin Fueling-Injection:

[Scene: A sterile engineering office. A lone figure, whom we'll call Chuck, stands by a printer output bin, wearing a white CDC lab coat, with 5 mechanical pencils in a pocket protector.]

(editor's note: For some reason a great deal of amusement was had at the First Annual DoD Uni-Coastal Ironhorse Ride & Joust by denizens referring to each other as "Chuck". I guess you had to be there. I wasn't.)

Chuck: I didn't want to be a Software Systems Analyst, cow-towing to the whims of a machine, and saying yessir, nosir, may-I-have-another-sir. My mother made me do it. I wanted to live a man's life,
[Music slowly builds in background]
riding Nortons and Triumphs through the highest mountain passes and the deepest valleys,
living the life of a Motorcyclist;
doing donuts and evading the police;
terrorizing old ladies and raping small children;
eating small dogs for tea (and large dogs for dinner). In short,

[Chuck rips off his lab coat, revealing black leather jacket (with fringe), boots, and cap. Scene simultaneously changes to the top of an obviously assaulted Rollins Pass. A small throng of Hell's Angels sit on their Harleys in the near background, gunning their engines, showering lookers-on with nails as they turn donuts, and leaking oil on the tarmac. Chuck is standing in front of a heavily chromed Fat Boy.]

Chuck [Sings to the tune of "The Lumberjack Song"]:

Well, the first thing you have to understand (just in case you managed to read this far, and still not figure it out) is that the DoD started as a joke. And in the words of one Denizen, it intends to remain one.

Sometime in the far distant past, a hapless newbie asked: "What does DoD stand for? It's not the Department of Defense is it?" Naturally, a Denizen who had watched the movie "Top Gun" a few times too many rose to the occasion and replied:

"That's classified, we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you."

And the rest is history.

A variation on the "security" theme is to supply disinformation about what DoD means. Notable contributions (and contributers, where known) include:

You may have heard mention of various DoD trinkets such as patches & pins. And your reaction was probably: "I want!", or "That's sick!", or perhaps "That's sick! I want!"

Well, there's some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's been an amazing variety of DoD-labeled widgets created. The bad news is that there isn't anywhere you can buy any of them. This isn't because of any "exclusivity" attempt, but simply because there is no "DoD store" that stocks an inventory. All of the creations have been done by individual Denizens out of their own pockets. The typical procedure is someone says "I'm thinking of having a DoD frammitz made, they'll cost $xx.xx, with $xx.xx going to the AMA museum. Anyone want one?" Then orders are taken, and a batch of frammitzes large enough to cover the pre-paid orders is produced (and quickly consumed). So if you want a DoD doodad, act quickly the next time somebody decides to do one. Or produce one yourself if you see a void that needs filling, after all this is anarchy in action. If you feel the urge to create a DoDad, the Postscript image of Geeky The Daemon is on cerritos.edu as DEMON1.PS.

Here's a possibly incomplete list of known DoD merchandise (and perpetrators). Patches (DoD 11), pins (DoD 99), stickers (DoD 99), motorcycle license plate frames (DoD 216), t-shirts (DoD 99), polo shirts (DoD 122), Zippo lighters (DoD 99) [LtF FtL], belt buckles (DoD 99), and patches (DoD 99) [a second batch was done (and rapidly consumed) by popular demand].

All "profits" have been donated to the American Motorcyclist Association Motorcycle Heritage Museum. As of June 1992, over $5500 dollars has been contributed to the museum fund by the DoD. If you visit the museum, you'll see a large plaque on the Founders' Wall in the name of "Denizens of Doom, USENET, The World", complete with a DoD pin.

Here's a letter from the AMA to the DoD regarding our contributions.

First a bit of history, this all started with Ilana Stern and Chuck Rogers organizing a rec.motorcycles photo album. Many copies were made, and several sets were sent on tours around the world, only to vanish in unknown locations. Then Bruce Tanner decided that it would be appropriate for an electronic motorcycle gang to have an electronic photo album. Bruce has not only provided the disk space and ftp & e-mail access, but he has taken the time to scan most of the photos that are available from the archive.

Not only can you see what all these folks look like, you can also gawk at their motorcycles. A few non-photo files are available from the server too, they include the DoD membership list, the DoD Yellow Pages, the general rec.motorcycles FAQ, and this FAQ posting.

Here are a couple of excerpts from messages Bruce posted about how to use the archive.

**********************************************************

Via ftp:

cerritos.edu [130.150.200.21]


Via e-mail:

The address is server@cerritos.edu.  The commands are given in the body of the
message.  The current commands are DIR and SEND, given one per line.  The
arguments to the commands are VMS style file specifications.For rec.moto.photo
the file spec is [DOD]file.  For example, you can send:

dir [dod]
send [dod]bruce_tanner.gif
send [dod]dodframe.ps

and you'll get back 5 mail messages; a directory listing, 3 uuencoded parts of
bruce_tanner.gif, and the dodframe.ps file in ASCII.

Oh, wildcards (*) are allowed, but a maximum of 20 mail messages (rounded up
to the next whole file) are sent.  A 'send [dod]*.gif' would send 150 files of
50K each; not a good idea.
-- 
Bruce Tanner        (213) 860-2451 x 596    Tanner@Cerritos.EDU
Cerritos College    Norwalk, CA             cerritos!tanner
**********************************************************

A couple of comments: Bruce has put quite a bit of effort into this, so why not drop him a note if you find the rec.moto.photo archive useful? Second, since Bruce has provided the server as a favor, it would be kind of you to access it after normal working hours (California time).

		Other rec.motorcycles information resources.

There are several general rec.motorcycles resources that may or may not have anything to do with the DoD. Most are posted on a regular basis, but they can also be obtained from the cerritos ftp/e-mail server (see the info on the photo archive above).

A general rec.motorcycles FAQ is maintained by Dave Williams. Cerritos filenames are FAQn.TXT, where n is currently 1-6.

The DoD Yellow Pages, a listing of motorcycle industry vendor phone numbers & addresses, is maintained by bob pakser. Cerritos filename is YELLOW_PAGES_Vnn, where n is the rev. number.

The List of the DoD membership is maintained by The Keeper of the List. Cerritos filename is DOD.LIST.

This WitDoD FAQ (surprise, surprise!) is maintained by yours truly. Cerritos filename is DOD_FAQ_Vnn.TXT, where n is the rev. number.

Additions, corrections, etc. for any of the above should be aimed at the keepers of the respective texts.

(LoKi Jorgenson loki@cecm.sfu.ca) has provided an archive site for motorcycle and accessory reviews, here's an excerpt from his periodic announcement.

**********************************************************

        Monthly R.M.R. Archive Update for August, 1993
            (WE'RE BACK AND BIGGER THAN EVER!!)

The Rec.Motorcycles.Reviews Archives (and World Famous Llama Emporium) contains a Veritable Plethora (tm) of bike (and accessories) reviews, written by rec.moto readers based on their own experiences. These invaluable gems of opinion (highly valued for their potential to reduce noise on the list) can be accessed via anonymous FTP, Email server (except for images) or by personal request. A number of motorcycle images are also available on a more casual basis (access is limited to between 20h00 and 08h00 on weekdays and all day weekends; other times are possible on an individual basis).

To get started with the Email server, send a message with a line containing only "send help". We have a slightly stupid mailer; mail service will be improved in the near future.

If you are interested in submitting a review of a bike that you already own(ed), PLEASE DO! There is a template of the format that the reviews are kept in (more or less) included after the current review index. For those who have Internet access but are unsure of how anonymous FTP works, an example script is available on request.

**********************************************************

Reviews of any motorcycle related accessory or widget are welcome too.

John Stafford has been kind enough to provide another ftp site for rec.motorcyles denizens. You're likely to find some stuff here that isn't on Cerritos or McGill. Here's the info from John:

RE: The server

There are megabytes of motorcycle pictures, faces of some Usenet riders, text, etc on the following FTP server:

NOTE do not use 'cd ..' Use CDUP (cdup) instead.

PUT any material where you feel it is appropriate or into 'incoming' if you are undecided.

Remember, files ending in .GIF or .JPG or .MPG are _binary_ files. You must transfer them in binary mode. Also, please upload any text files in text mode.

Some of the info cited above in various places tends to be a moving target. Rather than trying to catch every occurence, I'm just sticking the latest info down here.

Estimated readership stats for for rec.motorcycles groups:

If the most Frequently Asked Question in rec.motorcycles is "What is the DoD?", then the second most Frequently Asked Question must be "How do I get a DoD number?" That is as simple as asking the Keeper of the List (KotL, accept no substitute Keepers) for a number. If you're feeling creative, and your favorite number hasn't been taken already, you can make a request, subject to KotL approval. (Warning, non-numeric, non- base-10 number requests are likely to earn a flame from the KotL. Not that you won't get it, but you _will_ pay for it.)

Oh, and just one little, tiny suggestion. Ask the KotL in e-mail. You'll just be playing the lightning rod for flames if you post to the whole net, and you'll look like a clueless newbie too.

By now you're probably asking "So who's the KotL already?". Well, as John Sloan notes below, that's about the only real "secret" left around here, but a few (un)subtle hints can be divulged.