Subj : Comparing BBS Software Again
To   : Andre
From : Alpha
Date : Wed Jan 27 2021 02:59 pm

 > Any insight to help me out? I couldn't find anything that easily
 > answered my
 > concerns.

Hey Andre! You'll def. get a lot of opinions here. The reality is, it ends
up being a personal choice as it's all being driven by everyone's own
needs/bias/preferences.

Like many here, I've actively used pretty much all the currently
supported/modern BBS systems for the past year or more, learning, hacking
and documenting along the way. Each, piece of software,in their own way,
is incredible. Special. Mystic, Synchronet and Enigma I consider to be
mature software. And they each have their own philisophy, approaches
and communities which often reflect their authors' tastes.

And I've had positive enounters with all of them!

A couple more I'd also def. recommend:

|03- Talisman (brand spankin' new) 
|07The author, apam, has lots of ideas, is very accessible and listens to
the community. I ran it as my "shadow" BBS for a while to test, and I'm
now in the process of going all-in on it. Not feature complete, but if you
like being a part of new software and an emerging scene, check it out!
It's also relatively light-weight and I'm really digging what you can do
with the embedded Luascript, like Mystic's embedded Python, it makes
everything "hackable" (see below)

|03- WWIV (oldie but goodie)
|07Rushfan is doing an incredible job modernizing what I consider to be
the progenitor of 'modern' BBSs. It still has a lot of legacy quirtks, but
it's a ton of fun and there's a whole other community to explore around
WWIVnet. Some pretty cool ideas in there.

My personal criteria: 

1. Nothing will do 100% what you want it to do, that's just the reality,
so just pick one... But don't feel like you have to use it forever.

2. Community matters. Are there other sysops/users actively engaged in
conversation and experimentation? Are they helpful?

3. Open Source vs. Closed Source: I used to care alot about this, but the
reality: it's often just the maintainers doing the lion's share of
contribution anyway. I don't have the skill to fork and maintain
diddly squat -- so what's more important to me is that the author stays
engaged, and listens to the users, over time. It's a hobby for all of us,
including the authors, but it's still important that a system doesn't
stagnate for long periods of times or critical bugs go ignored.
 
4. Can you hack it? I mean, customize it. No one wants a BBS that looks
like a bone-stock carbon copy stepford wife. What mechanisms exist to
overhaul the interface? Beyond just adding ANSI art. From existing mods,
embedded scripting languages and menu system configurability -- it all
needs to be *accessible*--hopefully documented-- and allow folks with a
modicum of programming skills to modify it. Doesn't need to be WYSIWYG. I
find Talisman, Mystic and Enigma to be pretty flexible, each in their own
right.  

I know this doesn't answer your question :)

The reality is -- whatever you choose, you really can't go wrong. And when
you want a change, make a change. 

My catchphrase: GOTTA RUN 'EM ALL!

Much love to all the authors.

Cheers,
|04[] |11Alpha
|03The Drunken Gamer |08/ |14TheDrunkenGamer.com:2323
|07A Talisman BBS

--- Talisman v0.10-dev (Linux/armv7l)
 * Origin: The Drunken Gamer BBS (21:4/158)

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