Sleepless Node

About

Sleepless Node is a fully working dial-up bulletin board from 1993, running in your browser. The board is called The Pirates Den, and it is always there. You apply, get validated, read and post in the message bases, leave one-liners on the wall, see who's online, read your mail, play the door games, browse the (joke) file areas, and dial the other boards in the directory. It is a place to hang out, the way boards were.

Running through it is an eerie story. Every so often something happens on the board. A season is a self-contained story that unfolds a little each day, mostly to the board's other callers. You take part as a new caller trying to break into the elite crowd. Not everyone ahead of you makes it. Between seasons the board is quieter, but it's never empty, and the regulars remember. Think of it as an anthology in the Black Mirror vein, except the screen is 80 columns wide and the horror, such as it is, comes from what's quietly wrong rather than what jumps out.

Everyone gets the same story. There's nothing to buy and nothing locked. If you want to help pay for the phone line, there's a tip jar inside the board ($ at the main menu); it buys you a user note and a spot in the greetz, never a different story.

No Personal Data

You pick a handle and a password. That's the account. We don't ask for your name, email, phone number, or birthday, and the application form tells you not to volunteer them.

Your password is stored hashed. If you forget it, the recovery code you got at signup is the way back in; we have no email to send a reset to, on purpose. Your connection address is hashed with a key that changes every day and is used only to slow down floods; it's kept nowhere else.

There is no mailing list. When something is about to happen, it says so on this page and on the board. Our web host keeps ordinary server logs, as every host does.

Terms

Short version: this is a free work of fiction and parody, you must be 18 or older, be decent to the other callers, and nothing here comes with a warranty.

1. What this is. Sleepless Node and The Pirates Den are a game. They are not a real bulletin board, not a real pirate scene, and nothing on them is real software, downloadable, or illegal. Every board, handle, group, "crack" and "0-day" is invented. Resemblance to real people, groups or products is coincidence or parody.

2. Age. You must be 18 or older. The game has eerie and adult themes. You confirm your age when you apply.

3. Your posts. You own what you write. By posting you let us display it on the board, edit or remove it, and keep it in the board's history. Don't post anything private, anything about a real person without their consent, anything illegal, or anything that isn't yours to post. Staff can remove posts and restrict or close accounts at their discretion.

4. Fair play. Don't try to break the board, flood it, scrape it, or get around validation or moderation. The puzzles are riddles; there is nothing to hack.

5. Data. We collect no personal data. Your account is a handle and a password. See "No Personal Data" on this page. Our host keeps ordinary server logs.

6. Donations. If a tip jar is offered, a donation is a gift that supports the board, made on a third-party payment page under that service's own terms. The only thing we ask for there is your handle. It may come with a cosmetic perk (a user note, a greetz line). It never buys a different story, and it is not a purchase of goods or services. Donations are not refundable except as the payment processor requires.

7. No warranty. The board is provided as is. It may change, break, lose data, or close. We are not liable for anything that happens because you used it, to the extent the law allows.

8. Takedowns. If something on the board infringes your rights or should not be here, use the contact form on this page with enough detail to find it. We act on notice.

9. Changes. These terms may change. The date at the bottom of this page is the current version. Continuing to use the board after a change means you accept it.

10. Law. Illinois, USA.

Terms version 2026-10-17. Not reviewed by a lawyer yet; that review is on the list before launch.

This Is Fiction

Every board, handle, group, crack, and "0-day" here is invented. Nothing is downloadable, and no real systems are involved. The puzzles never teach anything real.

The story never uses your real name, location, or other personal data. It couldn't; we don't have them. Pick a handle, make up a town, and don't reuse a real password.

Contact

Questions, bugs, or feedback? The best place is inside the BBS: press C at any menu to page the SysOp, and if you're logged in the answer comes as board mail. The form below works too. No name or email field, so if you want an answer, mention your handle.