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The SysOp Test (c) 1991 By Robin Francis & Bruno Gagnon
Last updated 2-Sep. 1991 (while drinking coffee and wearing mirror shades..)
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This test has been made for amusement purposes only and is not intended to
reflect one's ability to be a SysOp. The concept for this was based upon
The Hacker's Test by Felix Lee, John Hayes and Angela Thomas.
-51 to 50 WEENIE!... Try this : ECHO Y | FORMAT C:
50 to 100 You're not a SysOp.. You're the one who calls my board so often!
100 to 120 You made it! You're a SysOp! Welcome to the net!
120 to 140 What's this? You're not a hub yet?... You should be!
140 to 160 Power-SysOp - One who does the REAL work!
160 to 180 SysOp / Hacker - Keeps everyone on their toes!
180 to 200 SysOp / Guru - One who runs the net!
200 to 300 Did you work at the MIT AI Lab on the 9th floor in the 60's?
300 to 330 A demi-god!.. We all aspire to reach your level!!
330 to 400 You cheated!... LIAR!!!
Personal Section
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Q# Pts
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1 1 Do you drink coffee?
1 .. More than 2 cups daily?
1 .. More than 8 cups daily?
4 .. Do you drink it straight from the pot?
2 1 Have you ever made a full pot of coffee for yourself?
3 1 Do you keep your coffee warm in the coffee maker?
1 .. on a hotplate?
4 .. on the CPU?
4 1 Do you smoke?
5 1 Do you smoke more than a pack a day?
1 .. more than two packs?
2 .. enough to overflow your ashtray in one evening?
6 1 Have you ever lost a full pack of cigarettes on your desk?
2 .. For more than a week?
7 1 Do you call your own system from remote often?
8 1 Do you regularly make voice calls to other SysOps?
1 .. more than 1 in the same conference call?
2 .. more than 4 in the same conference call?
9 1 Can you whistle 300 baud?
1 .. 1200 baud?
3 .. 2400 baud?
6 .. 9600/ARQ?
10 .. Can you download files that way?
10 1 Do you meet with other SysOps regularly?
2 .. Do you bring a computer too?
2 .. Do they appreciate meeting with you?
11 2 Do you register your bbs utils and other shareware you use?
-1 .. (If you answered no to the above)
12 1 Have you ever tried to improve your score on the SysOp Test?
1 .. Without cheating?
13 1 Are you in front of your computer for more than 3 hours a day?
1 .. More than 6 hours?
2 .. More than 12 hours?
14 1 Do you login before breakfast?
15 1 Is your computer located in your living room / bedroom?
16 -1 When replying to someone's message, do you quote more than 15 lines
at a time?
17 -1 Do shareware authors chase you for not registering their software?
Knowledge & Experience Section
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Q# Pts
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1 1 Do you know what FOSSIL stands for?
1 Do you know what ANSI stands for?
1 Do you know what ASCII stands for?
1 Do you know what WYSIWYG stands for?
1 Do you know what BBS stands for?
1 Do you know what UPS stands for?
1 Do you know what USR stands for?
1 Do you know what TTFN stands for?
1 Do you know what TTYL stands for?
1 Do you know what FYI stands for?
1 Do you know what RTFM stands for?
1 Do you know what BTW stands for?
1 Do you know what IBM stands for?
1 Do you know what MFM stands for?
1 Do you know what CBCS stands for?
1 Do you know what CIS stands for?
2 Do you know what TRFN stands for?
1 Do you know what g stands for?
1 Do you know what VGA stands for?
1 Do you know what HGC stands for?
1 Do you know what CGA stands for?
1 Do you know what EGA stands for?
1 Do you know what .PKT is?
1 Do you know what .MO? is?
1 Do you know what NUL stands for?
1 Do you know what BASIC stands for?
1 Do you know what COBOL stands for?
1 Do you know what APL stands for?
1 Do you know what FORTRAN stands for?
2 Do you know what DANGER means?
2 1 If you get a "hatch" do you know what to do?
3 1 Have you ever manually done a handshake session with a mailer?
2 .. And received echomail or files from it?
4 1 Have you ever written Kludgemail?
1 .. Intentionally?
2 .. Are you still in that net?
5 4 Did you figure out how to set up echomail by yourself?
1 .. Are you proud of it?
6 1 Are you in more than 1 net?
1 .. More than 4?
2 .. More than 8?
4 .. More than 16?
7 1 Do you write your own BBS utilities?
1 .. Your own door games?
1 .. Your own bbs software?
1 .. Your own mailer?
1 .. Your own operating system?
2 .. Have you ever received money for any of the above?
8 1 Have you ever built your own micro computer?
1 .. Your own mini computer?
1 .. Your own mainframe?
1 .. Your own super computer?
2 .. Did it work?
4 .. The first time?
9 1 Have you ever repaired a hard drive?
1 .. Successfully?
4 .. Successfully while smoking cigarettes?
10 1 Have you ever built or designed a processor?
11 1 Do you regularly chat online with other SysOps?
1 .. Through Tymnet?
1 .. Through Datapac?
2 .. Through Milnet?
1 .. Thought Arpanet?
12 1 Have you ever found an undocumented feature in a bbs package?
13 1 Have you ever found a bug in a bbs package?
1 .. In a mailer?
1 .. In and operating system?
2 .. Did you fix it?
14 1 Have you ever seen the dawn?
1 .. Twice in a row?
15 1 Do you hub / relay / host?
1 For more than 1 net?
16 1 Can you program in Batch?
1 .. BASIC?
1 .. QBasic?
1 .. Any version of Pascal?
1 .. Any version of C?
2 .. Assembler?
1 .. Fortran?
1 .. Any Waterloo language?
1 .. APL?
1 .. COBOL?
1 .. ALGOL?
1 .. PL/1?
1 .. Spitball?
2 .. MECCA?
5 .. Microcode?
10 .. All of the above?
17 1 Can you use Edlin?
-1 .. DO you use Edlin?
18 1 Can you use Debug?
1 .. Do you use it on a regular basis?
19 Have you ever walked a new SysOp through a mailer installation over
1 a voice phone?
2 .. From memory?
3 .. Did it work the first try?
20 1 Ever used a floppy disk with no jacket?
21 1 Have you ever tried to format a disk beyond its' rated capacity?
1 .. Did it work?
22 1 Have you ever modified a peripheral device?
1 .. Did it work?
23 1 Have you ever experienced a hard disk failure?
1 .. Did you cause it?
2 .. Intentionally?
24 1 Do you backup at least yearly?
1 .. Monthly?
1 .. Weekly?
1 .. Daily?
2 .. More than once daily?
-5 .. "What's a backup?"
25 1 Have you ever voided the warranty on any of your equipment?
3 .. On ALL of your equipment?
26 1 Have you ever built your own cables?
2 .. In the dark?
3 .. Honestly?
27 1 Can you name the pin-outs for an RS-232 / serial connector?
3 .. In numeric order?
1 .. For a null-modem?
28 2 Can you write a full screen ANSI for your bbs using only 'copy con'?
4 .. Was it aligned on the first try?
29 1 Can you pogram when you are intoxicated?
2 .. Does it make sense the next day?
30 1 Have you loaned manuals?
2 .. And got them back?
31 1 Have you ever loaned hardware?
2 .. And seen it again?
32 1 Have you ever borrowed software/hardware and forgot who the
original owner was?
33 1 Have you ever made a GIF?
1 .. A FLI?
1 .. A self-extract MAC?
2 .. And had them actually downloaded from your bbs?
3 .. Were any of them "X" or "R" rated?
34 2 Have you built your own peripheral device?
1 .. Is it still operational?
2 .. Has it since entered mass production?
35 1 Have you ever flamed someone?
36 1 Have you ever flamed someone in a national / international echo?
37 1 Have you written more than one test message in an international echo?
2 .. Without being noticed?
38 1 Have you ever posted a BBS ad in a national / international echo?
2 .. Without being noticed?
39 -1 Do you impose a file ratio on your bbs?
40 1 Do you have a copy of a virus?
1 .. 4 or more?
2 .. 16 or more?
-5 .. That you haven't been able to get rid of?
41 1 Have you ever modified your computer in order to gain performance?
2 .. Did it work?
42 2 Have you ever programmed anything in order to make up for a
shortfall in the bbs package's own code?
Equipment Section
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Q# Pts
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1 1 Do you have a touch-tone phone?
2 Do you have any other custom calling feature from your telco?
1 (call waiting,conferencing,ISDN, etc..)
3 -1 Do you have call waiting on your modem line?
4 1 Do you own a phone that has unauthorized modifications made to it?
1 .. Did you make these modifications yourself?
5 1 Do you own a headset for your phone?
1 .. And own replacement earplugs for it?
6 1 Do you own a Sound Blaster / Roland / Adlib / CoVox card?
7 3 Do you own a speech recognition system?
8 1 Do you have a scanner?
2 .. A full page scanner?
3 .. A color scanner?
9 1 Do you own a printer?
1 .. A 9-pin?
1 .. A 24-pin?
1 .. A line printer?
2 .. A drum printer?
3 .. A laser printer?
4 .. A color laser printer?
10 1 Do you have a mouse?
1 .. A gerbil?
1 .. "A what?"
11 1 Do you have a joystick?
12 1 Do you have a trackball?
13 2 Do you have a light pen?
14 1 Do you have a modem?
1 .. Is it capable of 300 baud?
1 .. Is it capable of 1200 baud?
2 .. Is it capable of 1275 baud?
1 .. Is it capable of 2400 baud?
1 .. Is it capable of 4800 baud?
2 .. Is it capable of 7200 baud?
1 .. Is it capable of 9600 baud?
1 .. Is it capable of 14,400 baud?
1 .. Is it capable of 19,200 baud?
4 .. Does it have a direct fiber optic input/output?
15 1 Do you have more than one computer?
1 .. More than 2 computers?
2 .. More than 4 computers?
4 .. More than 16 computers?
1 .. Are they connected together?
16 1 Do you have a LAN?
17 1 Do you have at least one floppy disk drive?
1 Do you have a hard disk?
1 .. 2 harddisks?
2 .. 4 harddisks or more?
18 1 Do you own a tape backup?
19 1 Do you own a DECwriter?
1 .. Do you use it?
2 .. Do you admit using it?
20 1 Do you own a floppy disk?
1 .. A box (of 10) or more?
1 .. 100 or more?
2 .. 1000 or more?
3 .. 10000 or more?
21 1 Do you have any multi-colored disks?
1 .. Do you admit it?
22 1 Do you own an acoustic coupler?
2 .. Do you use it?
23 2 Do you own a copy of DOS Powertools?
1 .. The most recent copy?
1 .. A LEGAL copy?
User Interaction and Services Section
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Q# Pts
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1 1 Does your system have at least 100 users?
1 .. 200 users?
1 .. 400 users?
2 .. 1000 users?
2 1 Do you reply to mail?
1 .. Are you polite when doing so?
2 .. Same day?
4 .. Do they understand you?
3 1 Do you have door games?
1 .. More than 10?
2 .. More than 50?
4 .. Are they all registered?
1 .. Do you participate?
-1 .. Do you cheat in any of them?
1 .. Without getting caught?
4 1 Do you chat with your users?
3 .. At ANY time of the day or night?
5 -1 Have you ever disconnected a user and blamed it on "line noise"?
-2 .. Just for the hell of it?
1 .. Have they forgiven you?
6 -1 Have you ever used an "Auto-Z" fake?
-2 .. More than 20 times on one user?
-3 .. During the same session?
7 Do you have more than 2 keys defined to boot a user off the system
-1 in different ways?
-2 .. More than 4 keys?
-5 .. Are all your definable keys used for this purpose?
8 1 Are you in the habit of telling your users to RTFM?
9 -1 Have you ever withheld mail from someone?
-1 .. Altered someone's mail?
-3 .. Deleted mail before the recipient got it?
1 .. Were you NOT caught for it?
10 1 Do you run more than one node?
2 .. More than 2 nodes?
5 .. More than 10 nodes?
10 .. More than 50 nodes?
11 -1 Do you charge your users for access?
12 2 Have you programmed on the fly to help a user?
13 1 Have you standardized the archive format on your board?
-2 .. "What's an archive?"
14 1 Do you have an offline mail reader for your users?
1 .. Is it registered?
15 -1 Have you "twitted" a user for excessive chat requests?
16 1 Do you have your uploads automatically checked by software?
2 .. By your secretary?
17 1 Do you have matrix mail accessable to your users?
18 1 Do you have echomail available to your users?
19 2 Do you have Usenet available to your users?
20 1 Do you have any external protocols setup that were not originally
included with your bbs package?
21 2 Do you reward uploads in any way at all?
22 1 Do you have an external chat program installed with "Co-SysOp" feature?
2 .. Is it working well enough to fool users?
23 1 Does your bbs offer multi-lingual interaction?
