Hello. I thought about starting a topic regarding the fact of, when you prefer to message into local boards or a network such as this one.

I think that one of the best things regarding the BBS are their local boards, because I tend to call often a board that offers a good message base on these, with interesting messages and conversations.

Even though, the network boards also offer interesting conversations, however these generate a bit of conflict imo - like, when do you think it's best to message on a local board, and when instead do you prefer to send your message to a network, like in this case?

I'm sending this from 2oFB, which is one of the best BBS around, rich of features such as a very extensive file base as well as their local boards, and some other local boards I like are the ones of ABSINTHE and Wizard's Castle (which offer some great door games aswell).

What are your thoughts about this?

... He's just a few sandwiches shy of a picnic.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hello. I thought about starting a topic regarding the fact of, when
you prefer to message into local boards or a network such as this one.

I think that one of the best things regarding the BBS are their local boards, because I tend to call often a board that offers a good
message base on these, with interesting messages and conversations.

Well, if you can find a board that has a decent group of users who like
to converse with each other, I would say local boards. Back in the day,
I did enjoy conversing with the local crowd on the BBSes I called (and on
my own) and some of them did not participate in echoes at all.

Nowadays, most of my users are here either to participate on one of the networks or to play doors. The local message areas are pretty much for "welcome" messages and occassional queries for assistance with the BBS functions.

Part of the issue here is that none of my users are "local"
to me any more. Back in the day, they were mostly all local and the
local boards would contain a lot of chat about what was going on in the
local area... upcoming events, local news, etc. Now, what is local
(in those terms) to one of my users will not be local to *any* of the
others.

I do still get a few users who mention wanting a "local" crowd to
interact with. I fear they are dissappointed.



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

SoDa7 wrote to All <=-

Even though, the network boards also offer interesting conversations, however these generate a bit of conflict imo - like, when do you think it's best to message on a local board, and when instead do you prefer
to send your message to a network, like in this case.

I'm sending this from 2oFB, which is one of the best BBS around, rich
of features such as a very extensive file base as well as their local boards, and some other local boards I like are the ones of ABSINTHE and Wizard's Castle (which offer some great door games aswell).

The BBSes with local activity are a rarity these days, and it's a
testament to the sysops who run them. Back in the dial-up days, local
boards had a local flavor because of toll costs - so you had people
that were close to you geographically. Chances are the BBS had a
get-togethers, so you'd get a chance to meet the person behind the
handle. I was in an othernet that stayed small so we could meet and
interact in person, and it lent a humanity to the scene.

I run my own networked BBS, but I like to call out to other BBSes and
other networks. I think it's purely intuition as to where I choose to
post, it depends on that critical mass of users already there.



... Centrifugal force reacts to the rotating frame of reference.
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

I think that one of the best things regarding the BBS are their local boards, because I tend to call often a board that offers a good message base on these, with interesting messages and conversations.

This is exactly why I call 20 For Beers and Absinthe. My two favourite as of now.

In terms of message networks, I use my own.

Been trying to draw attention to my local bases, just don't have the call activity.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

Hey SoDa,

So, I'm in a similar mindset and having my own board I even feel a little guilty using it to access networked sites rather than increasing traffic at a home BBS.
At Queen City BBS the philosophy is thus. You have Local, Regional, World bases. I have tried and been unsuccessful so far with Net 267 communicating. This is a New York wide Fidonet network. I've got fsx on here though and that's my world band.

QCBBS- local
Net267- regional
fsx- global

It could be thinking from my years in Ham Radio. Frequency and Power determine the range of transmission. This isn't to say you can't muscle or finesse to make it work but you learn over time that UHF/VHF is great local, 80-40m is great regional, 20-WARC-10m is great world band.

So to your point, I think when I come to fsx I've got a question or topic I want to get the broadest commentary on. Or I'm just keeping up with friends that I don't see from the other local level BBSs as they didn't want to have an account at 35 of them (you know who you are NeRdS) I could chat with the SYSOP from Storm BBS there and I do as relates to some specific functions on the BBS. I usually do the same with 20fb, but also have that core BBS crew I enjoy hanging with. Some BBSs get and hold information that is relevant to just that audience. I intended Queen City to be a "local" for the southern Tier area of New York State and that most of the local traffic would be from and concern folks around here. I also keep a niche base that's specifically Jewish and offer niche bases for others who just need someplace where they don't have to deal with the trolls. Again in Ham Radio most women operators tended to work CW so they didn't get harassed. I'll make that space at my BBS, I'll make an LBGTQ+ area if I think it helps people. We've lost a little of the way it was over time. My uncle met his spouse of 19 years in a dedicated online forum for the gay community because it was the time it was.

So, I hope I haven't rattled on too much, but I think it has as much to do with why you're here as it does with breadth of outreach when it comes to networks v locals.

N2QFD{Queen City BBS}:// "Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? Does this need to be said by me right now?" - Craig Ferguson

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Queen City BBS (21:1/154)

Hello. I thought about starting a topic regarding the fact of, when you pre to message into local boards or a network such as this one.

No. :)

I think that one of the best things regarding the BBS are their local board because I tend to call often a board that offers a good message base on the with interesting messages and conversations.

Yes and no. From having my board here for over 31 years, I think echomail networks are a bit nicer than local boards now than 30+ years ago. 30+ years go local boards were okay to post to, from FLAME bases, or MCI Code bases, etc. Now, there's not enough to get a good "local" message area flowing.

features such as a very extensive file base as well as their local boards, some other local boards I like are the ones of ABSINTHE and Wizard's Castle (which offer some great door games aswell).

Feel free to telnet over here sometimes. I have 178 shareware CDs online, over 50 local file bases as well totalling around 1TB of over 900,000 files. I also have over 550 LOCAL door games, and I have InterBBS doors of BRE and LORD within MetroNet here and LORD interBBS in FidoNet as well.

What are your thoughts about this?

Thoughts?!?! :)

... CHASTITY: The most unnatural of sexual perversions.

--- Renegade v1.35α/DOS
* Origin: The Titantic BBS Telnet - ttb.rgbbs.info (21:1/144)

Hello SoDa7,

Answering a msg of <03 May 24>, from you to All:

here in hungary local message bases were never a thing, everything was networked. mostly fidonet but there were also some small friendly networks.
back then you were lucky if you had a phone line, the phone costed a fortune/mins, so the magic was you wrote a message here and someone answered two days later from an other city.

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 6d 0h 46m 18s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: Roon to SoDa7 on Fri May 03 2024 09:12 pm

here in hungary local message bases were never a thing, everything was networked. mostly fidonet but there were also some small friendly

BBSes often had a local community of users though (at least in places where local phone calls were free or inexpensive). Was local BBS usage not really high enough where local messagebases would be used?

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Hello Nightfox,

03 May 24 12:56, you wrote to me:

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: Roon to SoDa7 on Fri May 03 2024 09:12 pm

here in hungary local message bases were never a thing,
everything was networked. mostly fidonet but there were also some
small friendly

BBSes often had a local community of users though (at least in places
where local phone calls were free or inexpensive). Was local BBS
usage not really high enough where local messagebases would be used?

it was high but mostly for leeching files, not too many bothered with blue wave, they quickly switched to be a point. door games also wasn't so popular because of the costs.

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 6d 4h 16m 48s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: Roon to Nightfox on Sat May 04 2024 12:27 am

BBSes often had a local community of users though (at least in places
where local phone calls were free or inexpensive). Was local BBS usage
not really high enough where local messagebases would be used?

it was high but mostly for leeching files, not too many bothered with blue wave, they quickly switched to be a point. door games also wasn't so popular because of the costs.

Interesting that you specifically mention BlueWave.. BlueWave wasn't the only way to read mail. But if even local phone calls cost money, then I could see why people would often use an offline mail reader. Even then, I thought there were other offline mail readers besides BlueWave.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Hello. I thought about starting a topic regarding the fact of, when you prefer to message into local boards or a network such as this one.
Even though, the network boards also offer interesting conversations, however these generate a bit of conflict imo - like, when do you think it's best to message on a local board, and when instead do you prefer to send your message to a network, like in this case?

Well as a relatively newcomer to the BBS scene I can vouch for how confusing this all is in the beginning. It really not clear to a newcomer which is best for what topic, what I did was look at how active boards were & used that to decide where to post.

Also sometimes you gotta just post a message out & see what you get back.

Another consideration for posting or not posting to a BBS local boards is frankly how well setup & easy to use the BBS' message board & message readers are. Like you I'm a 20 For Beers frequenter and that is because it has a great message board & reader setup as does The Quantum Wormhole and no doubt other BBSes. If a BBS has a messaging board and reader setup that is hard for me to follow or understand, I'll put some effort into trying to figure it out but its much less likely that I'm going to use the local boards there.

... "This is abuse. Arguments are down the hall."

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hello Blue White!

** On Friday 03.05.24 - 08:01, Blue White wrote to SoDa7:

Part of the issue here is that none of my users are
"local" to me any more. Back in the day, they were mostly
all local and the local boards would contain a lot of chat
about what was going on in the local area... upcoming
events, local news, etc. Now, what is local (in those
terms) to one of my users will not be local to *any* of
the others.

Maybe establish a board that is specific to "Frankfort USA or
the Greater Frankfort Area" ?

I do still get a few users who mention wanting a "local"
crowd to interact with. I fear they are dissappointed.

See above.


--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

I think that one of the best things regarding the BBS
are their local boards, because I tend to call often a
board that offers a good message base on these, with
interesting messages and conversations.

I think my opinion may be coloured by my past experience being almost entirely using (and running) small BBSes. Rural life in the 90s meant only a couple BBSes in the local calling area, and a fairly small user base on all of them. Local message activity was minimal. But all the boards were on Fidonet and in the early 90s it was booming.

There were regional echoes that were great at the time, shared across a dozen or two BBSes in nearby towns. The semi-local aspect definitely made things more interesting.

My preference tends to be to post on network message bases (fsxNet specifically) as that opens the conversation up to readers on a number of BBSes, while feeling somewhat targeted and not feeling like shouting out into the void of social media.

I only really read messages on my own BBS (for fsxNet) and a couple others regularly - I don't have the habit of checking others on a consistent basis, so I miss out on conversations in local areas of other boards. Network message areas also give the option to use one's BBS software of choice, or to setup a point, which gives the power users some control over how they read mail.

Local areas on BBSes could have some more capacity for becoming truly unique areas, while network message areas will tend to have some level of compromise as to what is acceptable for all the boards involved. Keeping local areas alive and thriving on a BBS is no easy feat, it is great to see boards like 2oFB doing so well!


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Interesting that you specifically mention BlueWave.. BlueWave wasn't
the only way to read mail. But if even local phone calls cost money,
then I could see why people would often use an offline mail reader.
Even then, I thought there were other offline mail readers besides
BlueWave.

There likely would have been QWK then, with readers like SLMR. That
said, some BBS software only supported QWK while others may have only
supported Blue Wave.

The first offline reader I remember using was, IIRC, Megamail. I think
it was written to work specifically for a format that PC Board used but
someone had ported the format to work with GT Power BBSes. So, until a
QWK door was introduced for GT, that was the way I read my mail offline.



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

Maybe establish a board that is specific to "Frankfort USA or
the Greater Frankfort Area" ?

I have done that. Thing is there are no BBS users in this area. Never
really were. I moved here in 1997, from Louisville, where I had the
board up about 10 years. It was a long distance call from Louisville,
and also a long distance call from Lexington (where there was also a BBS community).

The thing with this area is that most folks sort of skipped over the BBS
era straight into the Internet era. My job is in IT and, back then, I
was one of my few coworkers who even had a home computer. They didn't
start buying those until they wanted one to get on the Internet.

The only BBS in this area, besides mine, was run by state government, and
it was taken offline as soon as that department got their own website,
circa 1998 or 99.

So the only person who has ever posted in my "Frankfort local board"
during those 27 years since has been me. ;)



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

Nightfox wrote to Roon <=-

Interesting that you specifically mention BlueWave.. BlueWave wasn't
the only way to read mail. But if even local phone calls cost money,
then I could see why people would often use an offline mail reader.
Even then, I thought there were other offline mail readers besides BlueWave.

BlueWave was a format and a reader, and there were a couple of BlueWave-compatible readers (even Windows readers).

QWK had lots of readers out there - BlueWave could read/write QWK,
offline was a simple reader, and SLMR (silly little message reader) was
a bone-simple reader.

I never understood the allure of SLMR, but some people swore by it.



... Once the search has begun, something will be found
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

BY: Blue White (21:4/134)

|11BW|09> |10The thing with this area is that most folks sort of skipped over the BBS|07
|11BW|09> |10era straight into the Internet era. My job is in IT and, back then, I|07
|11BW|09> |10was one of my few coworkers who even had a home computer. They didn't|07
And I tried to call my former bbs users to come back and it was even a tough sell in 1996.


--- WWIV 5.9.03741[Windows]
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)

Hello Poindexter Fortran ->,

On Sat, 4 May 2024 14:45:00 -0700, you wrote:

I never understood the allure of SLMR, but some people swore by it.

I've never used it, and to each their own. However, any message reader/editor that truncates the message subject is a no-go for me.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

I never understood the allure of SLMR, but some people swore by

I've never used it, and to each their own. However, any message reader/editor that truncates the message subject is a no-go for me.

It truncates it now. Back then, most of the BBSes I used it with only
allowed subjects of 24-30 characters even when you were posting directly
on the boards. I only remember seeing BBSes that allowed longer after it became popular for BBSes to carry Usenet, which allowed subjects long
enough for a poster to include their whole message in them. ;)



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

BY: Accession (21:1/200)

|11A|09> |10pF> I never understood the allure of SLMR, but some people swore by it.|07
|11A|09> |07
|11A|09> |10I've never used it, and to each their own. However, any message|07 |11A|09> |10reader/editor that truncates the message subject is a no-go for me.|07
I would rather use multimail over slmr.


--- WWIV 5.9.03741[Windows]
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)

Hello Blue White ->,

On Sat, 4 May 2024 20:17:10 -0500, you wrote:

It truncates it now. Back then, most of the BBSes I used it with only allowed subjects of 24-30 characters even when you were posting directly on the boards. I only remember seeing BBSes that allowed longer after it became popular for BBSes to carry Usenet, which allowed subjects long enough for a poster to include their whole message in them. ;)

According to the FTSC documentation the subject should be limited to 71 characters.

I do see your point, though. I'm using Thunderbird via nntp during this writing and it looks like I can put as many characters as I want in the subject (which is kind of dumb, but whatever).

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Hello Utopian Galt -> Accession,

On Sat, 4 May 2024 19:36:10 -0700, you wrote:

I would rather use multimail over slmr.

I have never used any offline readers, as I've always been able to access my message bases directly, whether it be via BBS, Golded, or nntp clients.

Either way, I don't remember MultiMail truncating a message subject recently, but I could be wrong. I have only seen it done by SLMR in the recent past.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

There likely would have been QWK then, with readers like SLMR. That
said, some BBS software only supported QWK while others may have only supported Blue Wave.

I remember BlueWave arriving here first, followed by QWK all door implementations. Later by QWK being written into most software that still had development. After that BW kinda disappeared.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

Quoting poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox <=-

I never understood the allure of SLMR, but some people swore by it.

I always prefered Bluewave both format and reader. Still use it today. :)
I did go through a period of time where I used Silver Xpress (reader and format) but the author of that made me insane and it's horribly broken
with y2k issues anyway.

Shawn

... I used to be schizophrenic, but we're alright now.

--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

Either way, I don't remember MultiMail truncating a message subject recently, but I could be wrong. I have only seen it done by SLMR in
the recent past.

For a while I was using both as MM handles Bluewave, too.

This post got me thinking, though, so I fired up MM on a QWK packet. It truncates the subjects to ~24 on replies also. I wonder if that is a
*QWK* standard and all QWK readers do it when processing QWK packages?

In BW packet mode, I do believe that MM allows for more, but it has been
a while since I have needed to read BW packets so my memory may be faulty
here.



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

I remember BlueWave arriving here first, followed by QWK all door implementations. Later by QWK being written into most software that
still had
development. After that BW kinda disappeared.

That could be how it went. I didn't really see BW local to me until much
later (truth be told, until after I started running apam's BBS software!)
but I knew of its existence at some point.

For all I know, that MegaMail door I mentioned was using BW format and
just not advertising it. I wish I had kept a copy of some of that as I
am a little interested in seeing how it worked now. I don't think I ever
had a copy of the door, though, but just a reader.



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

Hello Blue,

On Sun, 5 May 2024 13:07:18 -0500, you wrote:

This post got me thinking, though, so I fired up MM on a QWK packet. It truncates the subjects to ~24 on replies also. I wonder if that is a *QWK* standard and all QWK readers do it when processing QWK packages?

That's definitely possible. I haven't kept up with (or even looked at) QWK standards. But even taking a look at Synchronet's wiki about QWK it does seem to show the length of 25 bytes (with the last byte reserved for an ascii 32 character = 24 bytes). So good call on that, as that would explain it.

In BW packet mode, I do believe that MM allows for more, but it has been
a while since I have needed to read BW packets so my memory may be faulty here.

Yeah, as I mentioned, I've only seen it recently from SLMR, but it's also possible I wasn't paying that close of attention, and the fact that quite a few subjects are usually less than this limit anyway. ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Hello Tiny!

used Silver Xpress (reader and format) but the author of
that made me insane and it's horribly broken with y2k
issues anyway.

Ah.. Hector! Yes.. he seemed angry and bitter most of the
time.

--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Tiny wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

I always prefered Bluewave both format and reader. Still use it today.
:) I did go through a period of time where I used Silver Xpress (reader and format) but the author of that made me insane and it's horribly
broken with y2k issues anyway.

Yeah, I never used Silver Express - Hector Santos' idea of customer
service in public forums rubbed me the wrong way.

I had a couple of callers rave about Wave Rider, a BlueWave-compatible
GUI bluewave reader. To me, reading BBS messages needed to be in a black console screen. GUI windows and proportional fonts didn't seem right.



... Infinitesimal gradations
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Utopian Galt wrote to Blue White <=-

And I tried to call my former bbs users to come back and it was even a tough sell in 1996.

I am friends with quite a few of my callers from the '90s. When I
restarted the BBS as a telnettable BBS in the early 2000s, I invited
them back, and one or two of them called but never called back.

My co-sysop said one word - "Momentum". The 90s were the scene, and
after the BBS scene, people moved on to other scenes. There was no
reason to go back for most.

I didn't get that memo, apparently. Here I am, still reading my BBS
echomail in the morning with a cup of coffee, as I've done most mornings
since I started the BBS in 1991.

Odd, since before I started my own BBS, BBSing was a late-night thing,
because of busy signals and calling rates.



... Infinitesimal gradations
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

I never understood the allure of SLMR, but some people swore by it.

I always prefered Bluewave both format and reader. Still use it today. :) I did go through a period of time where I used Silver Xpress (reader and format) but the author of that made me insane and it's horribly broken
with y2k issues anyway.

I installed Silver Xpress (it was popular on the local BBS I called as a kid, so I have some memories of it), but I noticed Y2K issues and then didn't dig any further. I take it the Y2K issues didn't get patched? :(


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

This post got me thinking, though, so I fired up MM on a QWK packet. It truncates the subjects to ~24 on replies also. I wonder if that is a *QWK* standard and all QWK readers do it when processing QWK packages?

You are correct - 24 characters is the limit for subject lines in QWK packets.

The specs are a 25-byte ASCII string for the subject line - the last character must be NULL, so 24 printable characters.
http://wiki.synchro.net/ref:qwk

I assume the above site is considered a reputable source. ;)


I don't know the history behind it, whether the limit was arbitrarily chosen for QWK packets or if it was a pre-existing limit enforced by some BBS software.


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

I am friends with quite a few of my callers from the '90s. When I restarted the BBS as a telnettable BBS in the early 2000s, I invited
them back, and one or two of them called but never called back.

This is my experience as well. Most the guys in the early 90's that we built BBS's together have no interest anymore... Sad, because I have such great memories and great stories with these guys.

I didn't get that memo, apparently. Here I am, still reading my BBS echomail in the morning with a cup of coffee, as I've done most mornings since I started the BBS in 1991.

:) Much nicer then FB and some of the others. However, I use Discord and Reddit all the time.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

:) Much nicer then FB and some of the others. However, I use Discord and Reddit all the time.

Never looked ar reddit, couldn't be fagged with more accounts when it
arrived. I got to ask though, what do you do with discord? I have an
account, but the only thing I've ever used it for is to talk to #1 son. No
idea what else you can do with it really.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

Quoting Poindexter Fortran to Tiny <=-

Yeah, I never used Silver Express - Hector Santos' idea of customer service in public forums rubbed me the wrong way.

If I were him, I would go on a rant right now explaing how wrong you
are and how great my customer service is. When that fails I'll start
demanding you take a refund and stop using my software. That's how I
got my money back. <shrug>

I had a couple of callers rave about Wave Rider, a BlueWave-compatible
GUI bluewave reader. To me, reading BBS messages needed to be in a
black console screen. GUI windows and proportional fonts didn't seem right.

Agree, that's why the most modern I've gone is Multimail. I switched back
to the DOS bluewave client for the twit filter.

Shawn

... Gravity doesn`t exist: the earth sucks.
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/700)

tenser wrote to Dr. What <=-

EDS had a policy of effectively taking any outside work you do and "owning" it. I don't think it would ever hold up in court, but they
could make it difficult for you.

That's still pretty much par for the course for most
software companies in most places in the US. I believe
that California now has some protections in place, but
most have an IP ownership clause.

Times have changed since then, that's for sure. I think most tech companies realized a while ago that you can't do that - and get the good developers. Today it's usually "just don't write something that competes with us."


... Don't even TRY to THINK without proper tools.
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

Never looked ar reddit, couldn't be fagged with more accounts when it arrived. I got to ask though, what do you do with discord? I have an account, but the only thing I've ever used it for is to talk to #1 son.
No idea what else you can do with it really.

Reddit for myself is a means to read news and keep up with technology.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

used Silver Xpress (reader and format) but the author of
that made me insane and it's horribly broken with y2k
issues anyway.

Ah.. Hector! Yes.. he seemed angry and bitter most of the
time.

LOL, "angry and bitter" could describe a lot of folks that work in IT. :D



--- Talisman v0.53-dev (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * telnet:24/ssh:2122/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: Blue White to Ogg on Mon May 06 2024 08:59 am

LOL, "angry and bitter" could describe a lot of folks that work in IT. :D

"Hadn't you better get bitter and angry?"

"That's my secret, Cap - I'm always Bitter and Angry"

<goes to re-image the PC for the dork in Accounting who deleted his system32 directory to make space for MP3s...>
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Discord started as another piece of software for commuinicating with people
who played games, but it's best to describe it as an odd amalgamation of
IRC, and AIM. It's veristle and does whatever you want to use it for.
It can be a benefit or a , honestly. It's around because it's the
easiest to get and easiest to use. It's strange to see things come and go. Skype was big before Discord, then one day nobody was uising Skype anymore.


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
---
* Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)

Hello pF!

"That's my secret, Cap - I'm always Bitter and Angry"

<goes to re-image the PC for the dork in Accounting who deleted his system32 directory to make space for MP3s...>

People *did* that? :/



--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

It's around because it's the easiest to get and easiest to use. It's strange to see things come and go. Skype was big before Discord,
then one day nobody was uising Skype anymore.

Used to use skype before it got swallowed by Micro$loth... it all went to
shite after that. Had never really figured Discord out though.. or how you'd find anything to look at over there.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

<goes to re-image the PC for the dork in Accounting who deleted his system32 directory to make space for MP3s...>

People *did* that? :/

People are stoopid and do all sorts of weird things....


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: Ogg to poindexter FORTRAN on Mon May 06 2024 07:08 pm

<goes to re-image the PC for the dork in Accounting who deleted his
system32 directory to make space for MP3s...>

People *did* that? :/

In the early 90s, I also heard about someone who was familiar with Apple Macs and went to work at a place where they used IBM-compatible PCs, and one day he said he backed up a bunch of their tools to a single floppy disc.. It turns out he only backed up a set of batch files they used for various things.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

SLMR was the first QWK Reader that I used after getting a 486 computer built. B4 the 486 I used a C=64 with a few Terminal programs, the last one was Bounty Bob (iirc).
Back then even though the PC had a 40column display I always set the terminal to 80 columns wheather on a CBM BBS or another system (Apple, DOS/Windows or Atari).

SLMR's 57 letter line length , to me, was noticeable when I couldn't save Taglines longer than 57 characters.
Also I noticed messages written with MultiMail lots of times were longer than the 50 or so lines a page SLMR could display, so I downloaded MultiMail 0.40 to be able to read the extra lines (sometimes several hundred lines ).

Oh, speaking of the C=64/Bounty Bob I used earlier, I would select the Read All New Messages option and watch the Buffer until it was about full and Pause the BBS, save Buffer to floppy, restart message sending -
Over and over until the BBS finished sending New Messages.

That worked for me until I got able to get QWK Packets w/ the 486.
Ed



S
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (21:1/175)

Discord started as another piece of software for commuinicating with people who played games, but it's best to describe it as an odd amalgamation of IRC, and AIM. It's veristle and does whatever you want
to use it for. It can be a benefit or a , honestly. It's around because it's the easiest to get and easiest to use. It's strange to see things come and go. Skype was big before Discord, then one day nobody
was uising Skype anymore.

I miss IRC and ICQ. :D

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

Used to use skype before it got swallowed by Micro$loth... it all went to shite after that. Had never really figured Discord out though.. or how you'd find anything to look at over there.

Yeah, this is kind of silly they don't really have a good search. I usually use a website to search for discord channels.

Teams and Discord are somewhat a like.

Personally, I would love to just go back to IRC. But there is benefits such as copy/paste screenshots, videos, deleting messages you sent, emojii's (if that's a benefit), etc...

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: niter3 to Newtype Len on Tue May 07 2024 06:24 am

I miss IRC and ICQ. :D

I miss ICQ too. I first started to use ICQ in late 1995 or 1996, and back then, I liked that it had a little form you could fill out with some information about yourself and it could find a random person for you to chat with. I made some friends online that way.. And I also miss Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger - I had many of my in-person friends and people I had met on those. I thought they were a very convenient way to keep in touch with people.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

I miss ICQ too. I first started to use ICQ in late 1995 or 1996, and
back then, I liked that it had a little form you could fill out with some information about yourself and it could find a random person for you to chat with. I made some friends online that way.. And I also miss Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger - I had many of my in-person friends and people I had met on those. I thought they were a very convenient way to keep in touch with people.

Yeah, it was a different time for sure.... ICQ was where all the girlfriends were. :D

Sharing mp3 files and chatting... Oh good times.. :/ Or was it? :D

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

Nightfox wrote to niter3 <=-

I miss ICQ too. I first started to use ICQ in late 1995 or 1996, and
back then, I liked that it had a little form you could fill out with
some information about yourself and it could find a random person for
you to chat with. I made some friends online that way.. And I also
miss Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger - I had many of my in-person friends and people I had met on those. I thought they were a very convenient way to keep in touch with people.

TRILLIAN.

It's a multi-platform chat program, handled all of the commercial
platforms, Jabber, oddball platforms like SILC, and even IRC. Loved
having that open on my desktop, wondered what the infosec people thought
when they saw all of the outbound ports.

Early on, I worked at a company that had an AIM proxy - it could even
connect clients when the internet was down. We used AIM internally.

Later, the company bought a stake in Skype and we went all-in with it.



... Adding on
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Re: Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Wed May 08 2024 07:36 am

TRILLIAN.

It's a multi-platform chat program, handled all of the commercial platforms, Jabber, oddball platforms like SILC, and even IRC. Loved having that open on my desktop, wondered what the infosec people thought when they saw all of the outbound ports.

I had used Trillian and a couple others like that. I'd often had problems with those which seemed to stem from them not being fully compatible with the official chat clients. It would be sometimes little things like not showing the emojis properly, to sometimes missing messages. I tended to stick with the official chat client software.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

I miss IRC and ICQ. :D

i still use IRC! :D

--mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

... Press any key to continue or any other key to quit...

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Datanet BBS | telnet://datanetbbs.net:23 (21:1/166)

I miss IRC and ICQ. :D

i still use IRC! :D

You find there is much activity ?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

i still use IRC! :D

Haven't use IRC much since P2P Chat went down. Apple II Aus mailing list has
a Friday session on I forget what server now... its usually pretty dead
though.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

BY: mary4 (21:1/166)

|11m|09> |10ni> I miss IRC and ICQ. :D|07
|11m|09> |10ni> |07
|11m|09> |10i still use IRC! :D|07
I also wished I still had my old icq number

--- WWIV 5.9.0.3695[Windows]
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: niter3 to mary4 on Sat May 11 2024 02:38 pm

i still use IRC! :D

You find there is much activity ?

It depends where you're chatting. I believe there are still some active networks and channels using IRC.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

You find there is much activity ?

nope...... only in FOSS projects like debian and freedos channels

--mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

... DOS=HIGH? I knew it was on something...

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Datanet BBS | telnet://datanetbbs.net:23 (21:1/166)

Utopian Galt wrote to Mary4 <=-

I also wished I still had my old icq number

86103423 here. Last time I was on looks to be 2020.



... Only a part, not the whole
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: niter3 to mary4 on Sat May 11 2024 02:38 pm

i still use IRC! :D

You find there is much activity ?

IRC still has its bunch of users.

I2P's official i2p network is quite active around the time Americans connect. Then there are a number of active channels in Canternet.

I find the best IRC networks are the ones operated by a small group of people for friends and family.
--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Arelor wrote to niter3 <=-

I find the best IRC networks are the ones operated by a small group of people for friends and family. --

Not IRC, but I still have a Jabber server at my web host. They
discontinued support for new servers, but grandfathered in the existing
ones. I always wanted to set up a F&F server, back in the
Trillian/Pidgin/IM days.



... Overtly resist change
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: Accession to Blue White on Sun May 05 2024 08:36 am

Hello Blue,

On Sun, 5 May 2024 13:07:18 -0500, you wrote:

This post got me thinking, though, so I fired up MM on a QWK packet.
It truncates the subjects to ~24 on replies also. I wonder if that is a *QWK* standard and all QWK readers do it when processing QWK packages?

That's definitely possible. I haven't kept up with (or even looked at) QWK standards. But even taking a look at Synchronet's wiki about QWK it does seem to show the length of 25 bytes (with the last byte reserved for an ascii 32 character = 24 bytes). So good call on that, as that would explain it.

Original/standard QWK message subjects can be a full 25 characters. The last byte is not reserved for a space (ASCII 32).

QWKE (QWK extended) extends the subject length to > 25 characters (no max length specified).
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #43:
Congratulations! You're now officially the cute one of the group.
Norco, CA WX: 64.1°F, 69.0% humidity, 11 mph WNW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

Re: Local vs Network message boards
By: AKAcastor to Blue White on Sun May 05 2024 11:05 am

This post got me thinking, though, so I fired up MM on a QWK packet.
It truncates the subjects to ~24 on replies also. I wonder if that is a *QWK* standard and all QWK readers do it when processing QWK packages?

You are correct - 24 characters is the limit for subject lines in QWK packets.

The specs are a 25-byte ASCII string for the subject line - the last character must be NULL, so 24 printable characters. http://wiki.synchro.net/ref:qwk

I assume the above site is considered a reputable source. ;)

It is. :-) But you're misreading it: there's no subject string termination needed (space or NULL), so the full 25 characters can be used in a standard/original QWK message. QWKE extends the subject lengths beyond 25 chars.

I don't know the history behind it, whether the limit was arbitrarily chosen for QWK packets or if it was a pre-existing limit enforced by some BBS software.

PCBoard limit, maybe. QWK was originally for PCBoard, iirc.
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #26:
David St. Hubbins: They were still booing him when we came on stage.
Norco, CA WX: 63.0°F, 70.0% humidity, 9 mph WSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

The specs are a 25-byte ASCII string for the subject line - the last character must be NULL, so 24 printable characters. http://wiki.synchro.net/ref:qwk

I assume the above site is considered a reputable source. ;)

It is. :-) But you're misreading it: there's no subject
string termination needed (space or NULL), so the full
25 characters can be used in a standard/original QWK
message. QWKE extends the subject lengths beyond 25
chars.

Thanks for the clarification!


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)