The Humble Guys

The Humble Guys (THG) were a cracking group for the IBM PC during the late 1980s[1] founded by two friends known by the pseudonyms Candyman and Fabulous Furlough.

This has since spawned an entire generation of ASCII artists devoted solely to creating artwork for the purpose of decorating NFO files for warez groups.

To put things into perspective, there are now entire websites explicitly devoted to the collection and archival of NFO files, such as The iSONEWS.

[3] Prior to THG's arrival on the warez scene the IBM world did not have anything other than text based intros usually quoting song lyrics.

[5] On the evening of October 27, 1992, NBC aired an episode about computer hackers on Dateline titled "Are Your Secrets Safe?".

[6] This show prominently displayed ads for several warez BBSes, including one for The Slave Den BBS which was operated by a senior member and spokesperson of THG.

Once a title was completed, the box, manual, and final version of the game were shipped to a "duplication house" to copy the software for sale in stores.

At the height of their power, THG had game suppliers in the US (country wide), UK (Leeds), France, Germany, and many parts of Asia.

The couriers were often told to make sure that the various groups received the latest crack on their HQ's BBS before other THG BBSes.

The combination of using software wholesalers and couriers turned the PC Warez Scene upside down in 1990, but these are considered normal practice now.

The file header of the executable THG cracktro, READTHG.EXE (displayed above), contains text which reads: "Cool Hand but fucks his dog and Phantom from INC" (sic), an insulting reference towards the vice-president and courier coordinator of their rival organization, INC. After Candyman shut down his BBS (Candyland, originally run on CNET BBS), setup, development, maintenance and unique customization were continued by The Maker who was on hand from day one.

After the bust of The Not So Humble Babe on credit card fraud charges in Michigan,[10] USA teamed up with the European PC warez division of Fairlight and were cooperatively known as "USA/FLT".