RE: Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
BY: All

1. I am thinking a traffic report should be avaliable about the message base activity on the backbone might be an idea.
2. I also think it will have to take marketing from various groups that are chased away from places like Facebook and Reddit to come back to the bbsing world.

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Re: Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
By: MATT MUNSON to All on Sun Jun 21 2020 09:38 am

RE: Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
BY: All

1. I am thinking a traffic report should be avaliable about the message

base activity on the backbone might be an idea.

2. I also think it will have to take marketing from various groups that are

chased away from places like Facebook and Reddi

to come back to the bbsing world.

Wild idea: set a BBS with an interface available as an i2p hidden service, then advertise it on the big i2p forums and chat
platforms. I bet at least somebody will join.

--
gopher://gopher.operationalsecurity.es
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Hello MATT,

1. I am thinking a traffic report should be avaliable about the
message base activity on the backbone might be an idea.

There is a list of areas and traffic in those areas posted in the fido gazette every week.

The STATS area also has stats posted from various systems so you can see what areas are avtive and just how active they are.

2. I also think it will have to take marketing from various groups
that are chased away from places like Facebook and Reddit to come back
to the bbsing world.

I don't think the BBS has much of a future. I have always enjoyed BBSing myself and prefer a telnet or ssh session but folks today don't need an interface like that and just don't understand what it is or what it can do for them.

I think if we had a client/server model of some sort that folks could easily connect to with the app of their choice we would see more usage.

My lady friend for example has a desktop and laptop of her own. She has not used either since she got her tablet. She simply installs the app she wants and away she goes. She does not know or care what FTN is. She just wants to install her app and go.

We don't currently have a client/server model or the apps that folks might install but we could do that if we wanted to and if we had folks with those skills on board. We would need a plan to create all that and make it as simple as installing.

I recon that's a fairly tall order. :)

Ttyl :-),
Al

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RE: Re: Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
BY: Alan Ianson(1:153/757)

We don't currently have a client/server model or the apps that folks
might install but we could do that if we wanted to and if we had folks with those skills on board. We would need a plan to create all that and make it as simple as installing.

Perhaps maybe us running the forums as newsgroups and have a easy way for people to sign up for the nntp server might be the idea.

--- WWIV 5.5.0.3121
* Origin: Inland Utopia BBS * utopiabbs.duckdns.org:2323 (1:218/109)

We don't currently have a client/server model or the apps that folks
might install but we could do that if we wanted to and if we had folks
with those skills on board. We would need a plan to create all that and
make it as simple as installing.

Perhaps maybe us running the forums as newsgroups and have a easy way for people to sign up for the nntp server might be the idea.

A news server is one possibility. That works for folks who know how to setup a newsfeed and know the details to enter for a specific server or servers. There are a number of those servers setup now that folks can use. It does have an advantage in that we already have the servers and apps available for folks to use so that is a big plus.

What I am thinking is something designed for what we want to do, FTN netmail and echomail in an easy to install and use format for folks who just want to chat and not need to learn what FTN is and how to set it up. Does that make any sense?

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Re: Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
By: MATT MUNSON to All on Sun Jun 21 2020 09:38:00

1. I am thinking a traffic report should be avaliable about the
message base activity on the backbone might be an idea.

this already exists by at least one backbone star... it may or may not be accurate for all the stars but it should be very close...


)\/(ark
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Hello MATT!

** On Sunday 21.06.20 - 09:38, MATT MUNSON wrote to All:

1. I am thinking a traffic report should be avaliable about the message base activity on the backbone might be an idea.

There are a couple of better-than-nothing solutions:

[1] The stats report in the weekly FidoGazette newsletter.

[2] The display listings at select Synchornet-based BBSes that use one of Synchronet's display options:

http://bbs.tdod.org/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet

http://sectiononebbs.com/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet

https://sestar.synchro.net/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet

http://1stchoicecore.co.nz/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet%20Message


That is the same tool/method I describe at:

http://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/future4fido/

The closest to real-time we have is solution [2].

But each BBS may only carry a reduced selection of echos, and therefore
not represent the entire backbone.

It would be very nice if there was a reporting mechanism that took
advantage of the 24/7 connectivity of today's BBSes over the internet so
that the user had a near real-time report to look at in one place.

2. I also think it will have to take marketing from various groups that are chased away from places like Facebook and Reddit to come back to the bbsing world.

People need to know that Fidonet and its echomail system exists. The
system could be viable alternative to traditional web forums, and
newsgroups for people concerned about tracking, ads, and uncontrolled
spam.

Sysops have never been very good at marketing themselves beyond posting
into select ad echos. Promotion outside takes more time and actually
talking to people! <gasp> LOL

But sysops and users can always put in a plug for the Fidonet/BBS world wherever they meet online. Even a simple reminder/link in an email
signature could help spread the awareness.

I was working on adapting an old laptop to operate as a BBS. For my convenience, I used VNC to access the laptop from a more comfortable
desktop station. Meanwhile, the laptop was facing the public at my workplace. It drew a lot of attention as I navigated through various BBS menus of other systems, ansi art, etc. During idle time, I'd just leave
some ansi art on screen, or a random bbs login. All that generated a lot
of interest from the public and from younger people who had never seen anything like that before. From that, the conversions spanned from BBSing
in general to messaging in Fidonet and othernets.

From a messaging perspective, I've steered people to Synchro's BBSlist.
It is a nice presentation of the services that each BBS offers and the message networks that they participate in - all in one glance. But sadly,
in takes extra convoluted steps to research what the echomail activity is like in each network.

Also, it is too small to use from a smartphone or a tablet. A responsive design to support the first-time user would be good.

The telnetbbsguide.com is responsive. A S)earch for "fidonet" yields many results.


../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: The future is not what it used to be. (2:221/1.58)

Hello Alan!

** On Sunday 21.06.20 - 16:06, Alan Ianson wrote to MATT MUNSON:

The STATS area also has stats posted from various systems so you can
see what areas are avtive and just how active they are.

But those charts are a drab to read, and basically require an existing connection to even use. Something readily available and quick to access
for the www-user would be good.

2. I also think it will have to take marketing from various groups
that are chased away from places like Facebook and Reddit to come
back to the bbsing world.

I don't think the BBS has much of a future. I have always enjoyed
BBSing myself and prefer a telnet or ssh session but folks today
don't need an interface like that and just don't understand what it
is or what it can do for them.

There is probably a very small demographic of users who would be
entertained and patient with using the extra layer of a telnet client to reach a BBS.

I still like a good keyboard-based menu every now and then. But new people expect something they can tap.

The traditional BBS interface is not likely to win over young people.

I think if we had a client/server model of some sort that folks could easily connect to with the app of their choice we would see more
usage.

It would be very nice if BBSes and their services (eg. echomail) could
adapt to the new devices like smartphones and tablets that more and more people seem to prefer using.

I'm not convinced that a laptop has lost favour in use. A telnet client to reach a traditional BBS could still be viable that way for many years.

My lady friend for example has a desktop and laptop of her own. She has not used either since she got her tablet. She simply installs the app she wants and away she goes. She does not know or care what FTN is. She just wants to install her app and go.

"BBSing ..but not for tablets" does not scream much of a future.

We don't currently have a client/server model or the apps that folks
might install but we could do that if we wanted to and if we had folks with those skills on board. We would need a plan to create all that and make it as simple as installing.

I recon that's a fairly tall order. :)

It would be a tall order to have something that presents most of the
features of a BBS that way.

But messaging (echomail) might be one of the first features of a BBS to implement with an app.

Apple seems to offer a free design tools to build apps.
Android has something called App Inventor.

Maybe a good first step is a prototype so that the UI requirements could
be fleshed out.


../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: The future is not what it used to be. (2:221/1.58)

Hello Alan!

** On Monday 22.06.20 - 01:02, Alan Ianson wrote to MATT MUNSON:

Perhaps maybe us running the forums as newsgroups and have a easy way for
people to sign up for the nntp server might be the idea.

What I am thinking is something designed for what we want to do, FTN netmail and echomail in an easy to install and use format for folks who just want to chat and not need to learn what FTN is and how to set it up. Does that make any sense?

Jamnntp sites offer a modest solution.

A newsgroup config only requires a small handful of things not much more complicated than signing up with other services that people are already familiar "registering" with.

[1] server name
[2] port
[3] user name, email address

Done.

I remember when simply accessing a link that begins with nntp:// would automatically launch the local program associated with that service. If it was a first-time access, the program would walk the user step by step to configure the account.

Maybe a simple first step would be an app that has preprogrammed Jamnntp supported BBSes that users can pick from and tie into an nntp service on their device.


../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: The future is not what it used to be. (2:221/1.58)

August Abolins wrote to Alan Ianson:

But those charts are a drab to read, and basically require an existing connection to even use. Something readily available and quick to access for the www-user would be good.

I have the beginnings of an MBSE setup here. I have the trmb.ca website back online now. The webpage needs to be written still, there are only links
right now to some statistics pages including message area stats created by NBSE.

It's limited to the nets and areas I have here but it's online for folks to look at anytime and is updated at every toss.

I don't think the BBS has much of a future. I have always enjoyed BBSing myself and prefer a telnet or ssh session but folks today
don't need an interface like that and just don't understand what it
is or what it can do for them.

There is probably a very small demographic of users who would be entertained and patient with using the extra layer of a telnet client to reach a BBS.

Yep, I'm going to go on BBSing myself but I don't think it's for everyone. Messaging is for everyone though. I'd be glad to hear from anyone regardless
of how they access our message bases.

I still like a good keyboard-based menu every now and then. But new people

expect something they can tap.

The traditional BBS interface is not likely to win over young people.

Not today no. Before the internet we used a terminal to access BBSs. That
was "online" in those days, and still is but it's not something folks will
get on board with today.

I think if we had a client/server model of some sort that folks could easily connect to with the app of their choice we would see more usage.

It would be very nice if BBSes and their services (eg. echomail) could adapt to the new devices like smartphones and tablets that more and more people seem to prefer using.

Yes, I think that is where people are these days and if we can do it that
would be a good thing.

I'm not convinced that a laptop has lost favour in use. A telnet client to

reach a traditional BBS could still be viable that way for many years.

No, my own laptop has a few terminals and might have a point connected to it
at some point. A laptop can render a BBS or some sort of messaging app
nicely.

My lady friend for example has a desktop and laptop of her own. She has not used either since she got her tablet. She simply installs
the app she wants and away she goes. She does not know or care what FTN is. She just wants to install her app and go.

"BBSing ..but not for tablets" does not scream much of a future.

BBSing is not easy on a tablet because the keyboard is in the way. I think
it would work for a messaging app if we had any. We would need a server
setup of some kind. I'm not sure the best way to do that or if we have programmers about who would like to take on that challenge.

Then we'd need programmers to write apps for the PC/Android/IPad so they
would need to know how the servers work and where to connect to them.

We don't currently have a client/server model or the apps that folks might install but we could do that if we wanted to and if we had

folks with those skills on board. We would need a plan to create all

that and make it as simple as installing.

I recon that's a fairly tall order. :)

It would be a tall order to have something that presents most of the features of a BBS that way.

I'm thinking just the message interface for tablets. If folks want the whole BBS experience they would have to do that in the usual way with telnet or
ssh.

But messaging (echomail) might be one of the first features of a BBS to implement with an app.

Apple seems to offer a free design tools to build apps.
Android has something called App Inventor.

I'm no programmer so I don't know about any of that.

Maybe a good first step is a prototype so that the UI requirements could be fleshed out.

Yep, we just need someone who understands what we want to do and has the
time and a desire to see that realized as well.

tenser (Dan Cross) once asked folks (in fsxNet) generally what need to be
done or improved. I think he was talking FTN but I have wondered if he might find this interesting.

Ttyl :-),
Al

... It works better if you plug it in.

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.17 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
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August Abolins wrote to Alan Ianson:

Jamnntp sites offer a modest solution.

A newsgroup config only requires a small handful of things not much more complicated than signing up with other services that people are already familiar "registering" with.

[1] server name
[2] port
[3] user name, email address

I believe MBSE has an nntp server available. I have never tried it myself
but given some spare time I may give it a try.

Ttyl :-),
Al

... If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.17 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.3)

On Thu, 02 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0700, August Abolins wrote:

Hello Alan!
Jamnntp sites offer a modest solution.

A newsgroup config only requires a small handful of things not much more complicated than signing up with other services that people are already familiar "registering" with.

I have setup the news server in MBSE, at least a start.

I'm using pan right now.. It's not configured at all either but lets see
what happens.. :)

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.3@fidonet)

On 7/2/2020 1:08 AM, between "Alan Ianson : August Abolins":

I have the beginnings of an MBSE setup here. I have the trmb.ca website back online now. The webpage needs to be written still, there are only links
right now to some statistics pages including message area stats created by NBSE.

It's limited to the nets and areas I have here but it's online for folks to look at anytime and is updated at every toss.

The real-time or per toss update is to be expected, no exception! :)

The http://trmb.ca/stat/mareas.html is pretty darn good. It is very helpful to display the official Tag name like you have it (and not just a description like most of the Synchronet sites do).

You have a little problem with the "IndexIndex" pointing back to http://trmb.ca/stat/index.html

It's fine start. Dress it up gradually.

I'll send you a little "fido" doggie you might like to use.

Then we'd need programmers to write apps for the PC/Android/IPad so they would need to know how the servers work and where to connect to them.

The good programmers have been too busy in other markets! https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53263310 LOL

tenser (Dan Cross) once asked folks (in fsxNet) generally what need to be done or improved. I think he was talking FTN but I have wondered if he might find this interesting.

Try to rope him over here! :)

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* Origin: nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)

On 03 Jul 2020, August Abolins said the following...

tenser (Dan Cross) once asked folks (in fsxNet) generally what need to done or improved. I think he was talking FTN but I have wondered if he find this interesting.

Try to rope him over here! :)

I've been (and will continue) keeping an eye out for him but I haven't seen
him around lately. I'll pass the idea by him when I do and see what he thinks.

Ttyl :-),
Al

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