WHQ (world headquarters) - NicheInterests/mistfunk GitHub Wiki

WHQ: acronym for World Headquarters. Implied is that this headquarters is a BBS, not some fortress of malice in the swamp of despair. (Though it might well be named something along those lines!)

Basically considered a prerequisite as a community organizing hub for underground [artgroup]s back in the '90s (though the pivotal nature of having a central WHQ was surely innovated by warez groups prior to the emergence of the underground PC artscene.) To local members, the WHQ is where submissions would be sent for consideration for artpack inclusion; to aspiring members, it is where applications would be sent; to petitioners for art, it is where requests would be sent. It would be the first place a new artpack would "drop" when it was released, percolating down to other distro sites and BBSes (and the wider expanses of cyberspace: FTP sites and eggdrop bots on IRC) through the WHQ, and zipfiles originating from there would often pop open a little blurb upon being unarchived saying as much.

Unaffiliated fans might make art venerating a group's WHQ in order to butter the group up for a future application, and other groups (especially ones not in direct competition, like a music crew to an art board) might network politically (like royal families intermarrying) by inviting another group's WHQ to be one of their regional hubs or distro sites.