Subj : Re: Telgate/Mudgate Echo
To   : Jazzman
From : Tracker1
Date : Fri Jul 01 2005 10:32 pm

Jazzman wrote:
> Addon's of both bbs's and cars take money, with some ability needed
> to install the parts. Skill level needed always depends on what it
> is one is installing on the car/bbs.

I've done plenty with sync without spending a dime (note: I do have the bbs 
compiled from vc++, but could have used the BCC compiler (free) just as 
easily, or run from linux (also free)... it does cost time, but that isn't the 
same.

> I have dialed what i'd call
> sleeper bbs's. Basically plain vanilla installs of software that
> served the sysops purpose for whatever. Example: Remember McAfee's
> bbs ?  I'd say that was a sleeper that served one heck of a purpose.
> Nothing pretty but everything worked and it had alot of mileage.

True enough...

> Course you have OTOH scene, or modded boards. Serves the same purpose
> as sleeper boards but much prettier to look at is all. My point is
> don't think people call your bbs simply because you have some killer
> ansi's. I use to have one user who donated to my board monthly
> that only called in to grab their qwk mail bag of Rime. That's it!
> Didn't matter how much time i spent on menus or games, this user
> could simply care less about flash and only wanted to grab his mail
> bag like clock work. The most important thing imho is "does it work"?

True, I guess it just comes down to, what makes a given BBS unique, there are 
so many accessible now, I mean probably close to what was available in my AC 
in the early-mid 90's (#602 had about a thousand or so bbses), and can say 
that at least 2/3 had taken the time to put up a few ansis, nothing special 
for 90% of them, but at least something different.

A lot of the active boards also had active sysops... in this day and age, any 
network can be grabbed from a few hundred boards online, some like minimalist, 
some like modded to hell, just varies a bit.

> That's where TBird's all started for me in the early 90's. When i
> discovered bbsing i just thought man, this is absolutely the coolest!
> Look at me now, still can't create a decent looking ansi! :-p

Like I've said, it isn't about the art so much... just something unique in a 
system... telnet into 100 boards from the sync bbs list at random, and will 
probably find at least half, don't have much more than the stock bases + 
dovenet, and a few doors, that they all have in common...

-- 
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1(at)theroughnecks(dot)net - www.theroughnecks.net
icq: 4935386  -  AIM/AOL: azTracker1  -  Y!: azTracker1  -  MSN/Win: (email)

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