"Wayne Bell". The name makes hundreds of people look at you
with this faint recognition, and then a shocking realization
that you're talking about the creator of WWIV Software. His
name is legion among many, many kids who started their own
little BBSes, offering what files they could and trying to
make a name for themselves. Created in 1984, WWIV was the
BBS of choice for teenagers for a long time because of its
modifiable source code and ease of use. While there were more
complicated or feature-rich software programs out there,
there was something about WWIV that just appealed to teenagers
and made it the software of choice.
Certainly, in a non-scientific observation, I would put WWIV
in with the top five BBS programs ever distributed out there.
Even if not entirely true, the WWIV software finds itself in
modified form in later programs such as Renegade and Telegard,
which are themselves adopted widely. Wayne Bell was the engine
behind some amazingly far-reaching work.
When I tracked down a contact address for Wayne and wrote him,
he responded four months later with an affirmative. In case
you're wondering, this didn't bother me in the least; letting me
into a home is a gift, not a requirement, and each time someone
agrees, especially someone with the stature of Mr. Bell, it's
another incredbiel building block in the body of work. We arranged
for me to interview him when I was out in LA later that year.
Wayne is one of the "Big Ten", the people who, if they're not
in the documentary, I think the documentary will be considered
sub-par. The list has morphed a little over time, but Wayne
was always right in there. I was (and am) delighted he agreed.
I set aside a good portion of the day to record Wayne; I do
that if a person is an absolute expert in their topic, and that
way if extra hours come out, I can make the time for them.
The interview went well; Wayne wasn't sure what to make of me,
and a lot of my questions were weighed down (in my mind) with
the "stuff you've always wanted to ask Wayne Bell about"
angle, but we got some really good answers. He answers things
slowly and methodically, and thinks it through before starting
to speak. This was heavily contrasted by the next day's
interview with Tom Jennings of Fidonet, who answered every
question immediately with machine-gun impact. An interesting
aspect that came out in the interview was that Wayne basically
ignored other BBS happenings and only concentrated on WWIV; so
while he was one of the major BBS programmers, he didn't
interact much with other BBS authors or keep up with the
newest features or news being bandied about. If people who
ran WWIV brought him feature requests, of course, he would
comply where he could, but he wasn't keeping track of what
others were doing.
I got a picture of myself with Wayne, which I always appreciate
when people let me do that. It's nice to have these sorts of
mementos.
