On 13 Mar 2026, Rob McGee said the following...

As of the time of this post there are 93/100 Founding Member spots available. Once those 100 are gone, they're gone. For pricing please
visit the SSBBSS website! If you run a BBS, or you used to, or you just care about keeping this scene alive - come and have a look!

hahaha œ99

there is no value to this whatsoever.

"SSBBSS certification is recognised within the BBS and retrocomputing community. It is not a formal IT qualification and makes no claim to be. It is a mark of demonstrated knowledge and commitment to a specific craft, verifiable publicly through your SSBBSS ID."

it's recognized as being a stupid cash grab

"After certification, members pay a small annual fee to maintain active standing in the Society and the registry. Founding Members are exempt from this fee permanently. Lapsed members are marked as inactive in the registry but their certification history is retained."

i look forward to this website's domain lapsing ;)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (1:120/616)

Rob McGee wrote to All <=-

The Secret Society of BBS SysOps, is now live. It's a certification program for BBS operators (sysops) with Four ranks: Initiate, Operator, Adept, and Master. Every rank has a curriculum covering the things that actually matter - BBS software, door games, message networks, ANSI art, FidoNet, the history and the law.

Study materials are free and open to anyone, no account needed. When you're ready, you take the exam. Pass, and you're a certified member.
You get a downloadable PDF certificate with a QR verification link, an ANSI badge you can display on your own BBS, and a member ID in the
public registry.

As of the time of this post there are 93/100 Founding Member spots available. Once those 100 are gone, they're gone. For pricing please
visit the SSBBSS website! If you run a BBS, or you used to, or you just care about keeping this scene alive - come and have a look!

Who's getting the money from the "exam fee"?




... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52
--- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (1:135/115)

To: Alexander Grotewohl
Re: Re: X-News on 3-13-26: Secret Society of BBS SysOps
By: Alexander Grotewohl to Rob McGee on Fri Mar 13 2026 07:41 pm

"After certification, members pay a small annual fee to maintain
active standing in the Society and the registry. Founding Members
are exempt from this fee permanently. Lapsed members are marked
as inactive in the registry but their certification history is
retained."

In protest, I am going to start the bbs sysop's union.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: *The Gate BBS*Shelby, NC USA*thegateb.synchro.net* (1:3634/27)

On 13 Mar 2026, Jas Hud said the following...

To: Alexander Grotewohl
Re: Re: X-News on 3-13-26: Secret Society of BBS SysOps
By: Alexander Grotewohl to Rob McGee on Fri Mar 13 2026 07:41 pm

"After certification, members pay a small annual fee to maintain
active standing in the Society and the registry. Founding Members
are exempt from this fee permanently. Lapsed members are marked
as inactive in the registry but their certification history is retained."

In protest, I am going to start the bbs sysop's union.

maybe the union can protest and get cheaper synchronetbbs.org hosting for seniors in assisted living facilities

*~~*
Official Seal of Approval - BSBBS-0-69420

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (1:120/616)

To: Alexander Grotewohl
Re: Re: X-News on 3-13-26: Secret Society of BBS SysOps
By: Alexander Grotewohl to Jas Hud on Sat Mar 14 2026 01:32

In protest, I am going to start the bbs sysop's union.

maybe the union can protest and get cheaper synchronetbbs.org hosting
for seniors in assisted living facilities

I'm pretty sure you just described the living situation of the
operator of that site.


Once i get certified i'm going to say "Who are YOU? You're not even certified!"


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: *The Gate BBS*Shelby, NC USA*thegateb.synchro.net* (1:3634/27)

Jas Hud wrote to Alexander Grotewohl <=-

In protest, I am going to start the bbs sysop's union.

In the '90s, we floated the idea of tech guilds - like minded people,
some employed, others consulting -- we ended up with a group of cool
people - a couple of coders, an infrastructure guy, a couple of
graphics artists, a technical writer... as a consultant it was great
having someone I could reach out to on almost any tech issue.

Alas, this was before Google, when you'd have to ask a real person
about things you didn't know.

We had a great name, too - Strange Organization. I should talk to the
guy who owns the domain, it'd be great to have online again.



... Humanise something free of error
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)

Alexander Grotewohl wrote to Jas Hud <=-

In protest, I am going to start the bbs sysop's union.

maybe the union can protest and get cheaper synchronetbbs.org hosting
for seniors in assisted living facilities

I'd hope I could get a discount with my ssbbss.org membership card...



... Mechanicalise something idiosyncratic
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)

To: Kurt Weiske
Re: Re: X-News on 3-13-26: Secret Society of BBS SysOps
By: Kurt Weiske to Jas Hud on Sat Mar 14 2026 09:14 am

From Newsgroup: FidoNet.BBS_CARNIVAL

Jas Hud wrote to Alexander Grotewohl <=-

In protest, I am going to start the bbs sysop's union.

In the '90s, we floated the idea of tech guilds - like minded people,
some employed, others consulting -- we ended up with a group of cool
people - a couple of coders, an infrastructure guy, a couple of
graphics artists, a technical writer... as a consultant it was great
having someone I could reach out to on almost any tech issue.

one time a neck bearded man led me to his car trunk from an all night diner to talk about ham radio and fidonet. i'm lucky i got away unscathed.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: *The Gate BBS*Shelby, NC USA*thegateb.synchro.net* (1:3634/27)