Subj : echos - a morbid curiosity
To   : Charles Pierson
From : August Abolins
Date : Wed Dec 16 2020 12:03 am

Hello Charles!

** On Wednesday 16.12.20 - 03:41, Charles Pierson wrote to August Abolins:

 CP> Fidonet or othernets for that matter are not particularly
 CP> known to exist outside of the participants for that
 CP> matter. Or if they are it's in a vague "old fashioned
 CP> computer thing" that gets an occasional nostalgia article
 CP> in computer articles.

With reminds me.. how's your fidonet article coming along?


 AA>> It's no good for example to have 3 different BBSes to
 AA>> boast that they carry Fidonet, when all 3 of them carry
 AA>> different combinations and/or only a handful of echos
 AA>> and never plan to change.

 CP> Fidonet is not a business, Its a platform for and by
 CP> hobbiests. These hobbiests have different interests, so
 CP> their BBSes are going to reflect thay.

Not a business - of course, I know that. But it consists of  
talented sysops who love solving coding and config problems -  
and maybe to look at new solutions to long-standing problems.


 CP> You aren't likely to convince very many sysops to change
 CP> how they do things. The way you would like things to be
 CP> only stands a chance of happening is for people with
 CP> views like yours to start BBSes in the way you would like
 CP> to see them.

Maybe a conversation like this could encourage new ideas  
though.


 AA>> If "bot" is the closest to real-time, that would be
 AA>> great!

 CP> They post in the STATS echo. Which youpve already said is
 CP> mind numbing for you.

You have no idea what is mind numbing for me.  ;)  Personally,  
I love stats and database things.  Wrt to the STATS echo, I  
was reflecting on it from an average chatting user's pov - not  
a statistician's pov.


 CP> You have ECHO_ADS for Moderators to post about their
 CP> echos.

Yes.. that is useful for annoucing/reminding people about the  
existence of specific echos. But it doesn't provide the info  
on which BBSes they can be found.


 CP> The best thing that I can come up with for a typical BBS
 CP> would be the sysop could post a bulletin with a list of
 CP> echos they carried and a desriptuon of them.

I like the sound of a broadcast bulletin, as opposed to an  
isolated bulletin on a BBS that might never be visited  
otherwise.


--
  ../|ug

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