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I remember trying to write punters in VB, phishing bots, etc. I thought progs were the funniest things ever and I thought I was so clever because I never had a

I remember trying to write punters in VB, phishing bots, etc. I thought progs were the funniest things ever and I thought I was so clever because I never had a subscription to AOL, I would just use another '30 days free AOL' CD that I collected every time I went to the mall with my parents. I am happy I never did anything too stupid but from a CS perspective I learned a lot very quickly.

strictnein 9y ago
Used to sign up for AOL using a credit card generator: Probably one of the ones here: http://cd.textfiles.com/hackersencyc/PROGRAMS/FILES.HTM http://cd.textfiles.com/hackersencyc/PROGRAMS/FILES.HTM
- allcentury 9y ago
  Oh my - of course, how could I forget...
- jlgaddis 9y ago
  Ditto. "CardMaster" (or something like that) allowed me to get online for quite a while.
  - jaequery 9y ago
    ah memories, CCMASTER, had a lot of fun with that one :)
alsetmusic 9y ago
> … I never had a subscription to AOL, I would just use another '30 days free AOL' CD… There was a modified version of the client app call AOL4Free that bypassed billing on the Mac. Monthly charge for the account, but unlimited use. I believe I read that it was generated built a college student.
- bearbearbear 9y ago
  We used to trade overhead accounts. Overhead accounts were subaccounts of AOL employees. There were different levels of administrative ability with different types of OH accounts. There was also an employee version of AOL that had special menus to perform administrative functions. For a while I had a L3 OH which let me create sub accounts under anyone's account without their knowledge, log any screen name off with the click of a button, boot people from chat rooms and disable accounts. Unfortunately I got cocky (I was 15 so what'd you expect) and booted a catcwatch account, which of course immediately disabled my OH account.
  - strictnein 9y ago
    Really interesting. What's a "catcwatch" account?
    - distantsounds 9y ago
      CATwatch accounts were employees that specifically trolled around the system looking for problematic users and activity. Trying to get their accounts in trouble is like attempting to call the cops, on the cops themselves.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - ryanmerket 9y ago
    Same. But I got my parents account banned for phishing OH accounts on sub-account. Those were the days.
gre 9y ago
My friend in high school described how his VB punter worked as “it sends them a picture the size of Rhode Island.” I never figured out exactly what that means.
- todd3834 9y ago
  I think I remember that bug if you send an image with too large of a resolution it would crash the AOL app and therefore kick people off line.
bearbearbear 9y ago
You could call up AOL's customer service line and tell them you were a teacher and they'd mail you a box of 100 CD-ROMs.
- toast0 9y ago
  I called and asked for a box of 100 floppies to "distribute around the workplace," I wanted to keep them to use for whatever I needed floppies for, but my mom made me give them out at school.
krisives 9y ago
For a while Best Buy paid you $20 to sign up. I signed up 3 times with my friends and cancelled daily when I was 12. I bought a Godsmack CD with it lol

strictnein 9y ago

Used to sign up for AOL using a credit card generator: Probably one of the ones here: http://cd.textfiles.com/hackersencyc/PROGRAMS/FILES.HTM http://cd.textfiles.com/hackersencyc/PROGRAMS/FILES.HTM

allcentury 9y ago
Oh my - of course, how could I forget...
jlgaddis 9y ago
Ditto. "CardMaster" (or something like that) allowed me to get online for quite a while.
- jaequery 9y ago
  ah memories, CCMASTER, had a lot of fun with that one :)

alsetmusic 9y ago

> … I never had a subscription to AOL, I would just use another '30 days free AOL' CD… There was a modified version of the client app call AOL4Free that bypassed billing on the Mac. Monthly charge for the account, but unlimited use. I believe I read that it was generated built a college student.

bearbearbear 9y ago
We used to trade overhead accounts. Overhead accounts were subaccounts of AOL employees. There were different levels of administrative ability with different types of OH accounts. There was also an employee version of AOL that had special menus to perform administrative functions. For a while I had a L3 OH which let me create sub accounts under anyone's account without their knowledge, log any screen name off with the click of a button, boot people from chat rooms and disable accounts. Unfortunately I got cocky (I was 15 so what'd you expect) and booted a catcwatch account, which of course immediately disabled my OH account.
- strictnein 9y ago
  Really interesting. What's a "catcwatch" account?
  - distantsounds 9y ago
    CATwatch accounts were employees that specifically trolled around the system looking for problematic users and activity. Trying to get their accounts in trouble is like attempting to call the cops, on the cops themselves.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- ryanmerket 9y ago
  Same. But I got my parents account banned for phishing OH accounts on sub-account. Those were the days.

gre 9y ago

My friend in high school described how his VB punter worked as “it sends them a picture the size of Rhode Island.” I never figured out exactly what that means.

todd3834 9y ago
I think I remember that bug if you send an image with too large of a resolution it would crash the AOL app and therefore kick people off line.

bearbearbear 9y ago

You could call up AOL's customer service line and tell them you were a teacher and they'd mail you a box of 100 CD-ROMs.

toast0 9y ago
I called and asked for a box of 100 floppies to "distribute around the workplace," I wanted to keep them to use for whatever I needed floppies for, but my mom made me give them out at school.

krisives 9y ago

For a while Best Buy paid you $20 to sign up. I signed up 3 times with my friends and cancelled daily when I was 12. I bought a Godsmack CD with it lol