Subj : Re: The Documentary...
To   : Digital Man
From : Finnigann
Date : Fri Aug 05 2005 12:19 am

-=> Digital Man wrote to textfiles <=-

 > From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
 >
 > Hi, everyone.
 >
 > Jason Scott, BBS Documentary director here. Saw some nice discussions
 > and debates and, well, accusations. Thought I'd jump in here.

 DM> Don't forget the compliments as well!

 > First of all, I want to thank, again, Rob Swindell and Frank Vest, who
 > both opened their homes to me and my equipment, knowing nothing of my
 > "work" before then.

 DM> Thank you! I hadn't told you directly yet, but the documentary
 DM> turned out very professional and I (and surprisingly, my family)
 DM> found it very entertaining and educational!

 > The focus of this documentary is the experience and the situation of
 > dial-up BBSes.

 DM> I don't think that distinction was made clear, at least to me. I
 DM> mean, you interviewed Vincent Cerf and other luminaries that had
 DM> nothing to do with dial- up BBSes, but certainly could be argued
 DM> to be instrumental to the BBSes of today. And of course, the
 DM> majority of *my* contributions to the history/evolution of BBSes
 DM> have been in the Internet era.

 DM> I'm *very* glad that my brother contacted you about my possible
 DM> participation in the documentary, but I'm pretty sure that
 DM> without his intervention, I wouldn't have been asked. I didn't
 DM> get the feeling that you were persuing interviews of those that
 DM> were *still* active in the development of BBSes. Did James Coyle,
 DM> Michiel Broek, Tobias Ernst or the like fall under your radar?

 > It's not meant to be about Internet BBSes, not meant to
 > be about web forums, not meant to be about current "scenes" that have
 > their roots in BBSes, and it's certainly not meant to cover the cutting
 > edge of BBS technology. This isn't hard information to garner, and if
 > someone thought that the video format would be the way to tell this
 > story, then they would do so, or even better, have the assembled people
 > available an e-mail or website away to do so. Applying that standard to
 > the BBS Documentary will inevitably lead to despair.
 >
 > Also, it's important to take into consideration the issue that
 > "complete is the enemy of interesting". In the case of these episodes,
 > they are meant to be INTRODUCTIONS to their subjects, to cover them in
 > as universal and straightforward as possible, without getting captured
 > into that horrifying geek loop of "but this exception... and this
 > one... and these.... and this..." and then each episode is a three-hour
 > laundry list of every variant concept.

 DM> I understand. I just feel bad for those who had an important part
 DM> to play in the history/evolution of BBSes and didn't get any
 DM> mention. Certainly, most viewers won't miss the references. As an
 DM> "introduction", the documentary is more than complete.

 > When I said "a few hundred BBSes" were left, I meant in the United
 > States, and I meant dial-up. This number came from consulting fidonet
 > and other BBS lists. And I think I was being generous.

 DM> In that limited context, you probably were being generous. But of
 DM> course, that context was not communicated to the viewer. I know
 DM> this point of contention can easily start the slide down the
 DM> slippery slope of "What is and is *not* a BBS?", but I don't
 DM> think anyone can argue that the Telnet BBSes of today are somehow
 DM> *less* of what we all think of as a BBS than the dial-up BBSes of
 DM> the past. As a Telnet BBS author and supporter of hundreds of
 DM> Telnet BBS Sysops around the world, I felt slighted when I read
 DM> that "fact" on the screen. It seemed to me you were taking
 DM> "creative liberties" to make your dramatic point (about the
 DM> reduction in the number of BBSes).

 > Remember, it's all about dial-up, not internet-based BBSes.

 DM> I somehow missed that.

I don't know if they were very wide spread, But I remember seeing in some ads,
BBS numbers to call for support. Usually the latest files and such. Sometimes
messages could be passed. I don't recall much more than that... Oh yeah, they
all seeemed to have a list of OTHER similar BBs' you could call.


        	  ³ James King - KC8UGV EN71 ³ 
	          ³ Sysop   Bits-N-Bytes BBS ³ 
        	  ³ Coldwater, MI      49036 ³ 
	      http://www.synchro.net/sbbslist.html³

       If the Republicans will stop telling lies about us, 
           we'll stop telling the truth about them."


.... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
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