From: crystal@glia.biostr.washington.edu (Crystal)
Subject: Re: Citadel authors
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 13:45:59 GMT

In <sheldon.714031666@pv141b.vincent.iastate.edu> sheldon@iastate.edu (Steve Sheldon) writes:

>In <crystal.714018267@glia> crystal@glia.biostr.washington.edu (Crystal) writes:

>>In <1992Aug16.211310.1388@ccu.umanitoba.ca> umward10@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Derek Ward) writes:

>>          FOR THE RECORD:

>>The "Authors" of Citadel, as listed in the FISH description of the program
>>are NOT the authors of the Citadel program!
>>    ^^^

>>They are the authors of the AMIGA VERSION, not of Citadel itself.  Citadel
>>was the brain-child of Jeffrey S. Prothero some 10 years ago in CP/M.  He
>>is here at the UW on glia.biostr.  The program was the first of its kind
>>in a world of linear BBS's.

>>Please, Mr. Fish, correct your records so that they do not imply erroneous
>>authorship.  Citadel is one H*ll of a program, and credit for it's original
>>and innovative design should not be taken away from the original author.

>>And, yes, I have first hand knowledge of this because I worked on the
>>original program with Jeff when it was in beta test at ICS on Bainbridge
>>Island, Wa. back in 1981/2.

> I've never known the real name of the person who originally wrote Citadel
>for CP/M.  I only recall that his psuedoname started with a 't', and
>that he was in Washington.  So this is above info is quite likely
>correct.

> However, as I understand the story.  The original author gave up
>on Citadel completely early on.  Development was taken over by
>Hue, Jr.(psuedoname) in Minneapolis.  Citadel from there was ported
>over to MS-DOS, under the name Citadel-86.  The Amiga version of
>Citadel written by Jay was a port of the Citadel-86 code.
> 
> I'm by no means an expert on this.  I'm from the Minneapolis
>area and have been using the Citadel's in that region since
>about 1984, and followed Citadel from it's versions on CP/M,
>MS-DOS, C-128, Amiga, Atari ST, and even Macintosh.

> If anybody is truely interested in more of the history of Citadel
>I know that Hue Jr.'s BBS used to have a history file on there,
>and I'd be willing to obtain this and forward this info.


>-- 
>Steve Sheldon         sheldon@iastate.edu
>Iowa Cooperative Soil Survey Resource Unit
>2142 Agronomy, Iowa State University  (515) 294-5429


Jeff's pseudonym was CrT  (Short for Cynbe ru Taren from "Star Fox"). 
The program was written in Seattle, Washington.

As for him "giving up on it early on", the program was quite complete
with the exception of the Ward Christiansen protocal when he placed it
in the public domain.  For personal reasons, which he now regrets, he
stripped his name off and sent it in anonymously against the wishes of 
myself and MANY of his friends and users...the decision upset a lot of us.

In this area, Bruce King took over the code and created Polaris and
started touting the program as his because he had made so many cosmetic
changes..  (I am hazy on the details here, because this happened after I 
left the BBS world in 1983 and this is second hand knowledge.)

Another fellow, Kerry Keyes, was still working with the local Citadel
code as late as last year.  He was also one of those who was around in the
beginning years of Citadel.

My guess is that there are MANY history files of the program around, and
those that come from the Seattle area are likely more accurate than
any that may come from other parts of the country.  After all, if any
one HERE didn't mention Jeff in some way in it (against his wishes at
the time) LOTS of folks would have jumped on them!

I will see about getting a copy of a local history file when Jeff returns
from vacation.  He is due back shortly.  About 2-3 years ago he renewed
his interest in Citadel and started collecting sites where it being used.
I don't believe he is doing any programming on it, though I *think* his
brother, Jerry, is trying to convert it into C++ as a hobby project. It
has been a *long* time since I have heard anything about local Citadel
programming from these two.

But, yes, it's true...he is the original author.  He had the room system
idea, was told it wouldn't work, and did it anyway.  A rival, Glenn Gorman
started work on the MiniBin system shortly afterwards and the Seattle
area was split among the two sides for whose room system was best when
they finally came online.  (Not being a programmer, I can't comment).

Does that shed a bit more light on the history?


Crystal
  ;>

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