Sunday, August 14, 2011

Archives BBS - Site Review

I'm not sure exactly when Felix Dartmouth started the Archives BBS web site, but I know when I began really getting into the online bondage/DiD scene around `97 or so, he was already there. In fact, my earliest recollection of a bondage site was Archives BBS.

See, for any of you not familiar with the web back in those days, it was truly a different world. Google was an unknown infant. Yahoo and Lycos were the search engines of choice. Internet Explorer and Netscape were pretty much your choice of browsers. A tiny fraction of the web sites available today were around in that era. Most of us were still on 56K dial-up, but a rare few,  if your pocketbook could stand it, had 500k or 768K DSL, so bandwidth was extremely limited. AOL, or, as I have always referred to it, "The Devil", was king of the non-geek world.

Those of us not seduced by The Devil's "free" disks offering all kinds of unlimited access for no charge (Unless you count the hell they put you through when you tried to cancel) got most of our information and material from newsgroups.

Chesty
Remember newsgroups? Back then, most ISP's offered access to them at no extra cost. In truth, they were more valuable than the rest of the internet combined. Stories, pictures, information, contacts, even some small (Very small) video clips. All that could be found if you knew the right newsgroups to visit and sift through. The problem was that even back then the fracking spammers were killing the newsgroups. 

Along came Felix with a great idea. For a small fee, he would wade through all the crap and give you just the best DiD/BDSM material the newsgroups had to offer without all the spam and extraneous nonsense. Stories? He has a freakin' shitload of them, and I am not exaggerating. Including some great classics you never see around anymore. Pictures? Thousands. Maybe tens of thousands.

Not only that, but FD himself was and is a damned fine bondage writer himself. His first major story, "An Easy Job" is one of the top BD tales ever. I would easily put Felix in my top ten bondage authors. I only wish he had more time to write and was more prolific, because he's extremely talented in this area.

However, what he's done is branch out into videos, so that's everyone's gain. By now, Felix probably has forty or fifty full length videos available, and by joining, you get access to a bunch of free clips from these.

Felix's videos are much like his stories, in that he has a certain "style" that's uniquely his own. He favors attractive girls placed in "consenual non-consenual" bondage. Usually they're incarcerated by the local law, who then use personal restraints on the ladies, including gags. Lot's of ball-gags. Leather and metal restraints, mostly. Sometimes they are turned over to their families to finish out their sentences.


Exerpt from "An Easy Job" #1 May 1993 Copyright Felix Dartmouth, 1998.


And here is my only small bone to pick with FD. His personal stories are packed with great gag scenes, (If they weren't, I sure wouldn't be recommending them) yet many of his videos are a little light in that area, which confounds me to no end. Can't figure that one out. Don't get me wrong, most of his video's have gag scenes, just not as many as I woulld like or would expect judging by his story content. The videos with a sexy, busty model named "Chesty" (Apropos handle) have a lot of ball-gag scenes, for instance. Others, like Haven's Self-Bondage Adventure are definitely on the light side, gag wise. Haven is an uber-hot MILF, and one that I would have like to see gagged 98% of her time on screen. She is va-va-voom sexy.

I need to ask him about that one day and see what the reasoning is for this. My personal feeling is that if he gagged his models as (often) he does in his stories, he would sell twice as many DVD's. At least. Just my opinion.

Anyway, back to the review, newsgroups are still out there and very much alive. The amount of available material is more than it ever was, but there's also more spam and more malware than ever as well, and most ISP's no longer offer free access. So, for the price of what you'd pay for that access, or less, you get all the good BDSM stuff (And much more) brought to you, but with FD filtering out all that nasty spam and malware for you.

So, to recap, for just $16.95 the first month, and just $12.95 monthly after that, you receive all that great newsgroup material, a huge number of video clips, a zillion pics and stories, and a lot more.

There are more than a few bondage pay sites where the cost is a hell of a lot more than what you get in return. That is definitely not the case with Archives BBS. I'm not kidding when I tell you that you'll be overloaded by all the stuff to peruse for long, long, time, and yet Felix is constantly adding more material every month.

One of, if not the best value's you'll find anywhere. Well worth the forty-five cents a day it'll run you to be a member. 

Give it a try. Tell Felix The Greyman sent you!







4 comments:

Felix Dartmouth said...

Greyman! Thanks so much for the great historical review. I can barely believe you were talking about me!

A couple of clarifiations: Archives BBS was started in February 1993. I posted a few pix Rusty n Edie's of women in the stocks at the 1979 Texas Renfair.

I got a tremendous response - I followed that up with the stunning blouse beauty Dana. I got a tsunami-like response!

I set up 4 lines, with 28.8 modems. My first subscriber was in May 1993 -(note - 3 months after I opened).

In 1996, January, I set up ISDN access over the next and business went nuts! I kick myself that I am not an internet millionaire, but I'm not.

Most people today know nothing about UseNET, but the subscribers received UseNET via Newsguy - all groups included in the purchase price. The volume is not practically overwhelming.

As for gags in my video works, I think you're right, but for instance in Haven's Self-Bondage Adventure, she does ball-gag herself and the lock her own handcuffs behind her back.

Jenni for instance has resisted the ball-gag, but I have negotiated with her to be handcuffed and ball-gagged topless for our next shooting.

But thanks for bringing up Chesty! Sometimes I kept her handcuffed and ball-gagged for hours. "4 Bondage Dates with Chest" had tons of very sexy gag scenes.

Thanks for your kind words about my stories. An Easy Job actually followed Pi Lambda Kappa. I'll never forget with Drew ball-gags the heroine in your ABK (she was gloved and corseted). Wildly hot scene!

Again, thanks for this very kind review -

The Greyman said...

You started ABBS in 1993? Holy crap, I didn't realize that. Wow! That's amazing. If you have any site photos from that era, that would be really cool to see.

As for Haven, yes she does have some gag scenes, and they're great, but, like that scene where she's wearing the white bra and panties? First of all, it was too short! Woof! Half the video should have been her in that outfit! And, she definitely should have been gagged in that one! Just my opinion.

Shame on Jenni. I don't see how any gal can call herself a "bondage" model if she won't do gags.

Seriously FD, you should write a "Easy Job" script, and have Stacey and the other ladies restrained and gagged like you do in the story. Guaranteed hit there, my friend. Especially if you include some of that awesome dialogue interaction, like that scene in "Conjugal Visit" where the hottie complains about being ball-gagged for her hubby's visit. Great scene.

Davey said...

Although I never visited that site,and would have.I still miss Uniform Bound.I loved the girls i the police uniforms.There were some real beauties bound and gagged.A shame it's not on anymore,but am pleased I saved my favourite pics on it.

The Greyman said...

Davey - Strongly encourage you give ArchivesBBS a try. Outstanding value for the buck.