Subj : Re: SSH on BBSes
To   : Andre
From : boraxman
Date : Wed Apr 06 2022 22:38:47

-=> Andre wrote to boraxman <=-

 bo> This is what we should be working towards. Does this involve BBS's? Maybe,
 bo> maybe not. A BBS which is open to all involved, but invisible to others is
 bo> indeed possible. Is this a future model, who knows? But we should at least
 bo> be discussings ways we can ameliorate this rather poor state we are in at
 bo> the moment.

 An> Let's be clear about what you're asking. There is this community of
 An> hobbiests whose common interest is a vintage and nostalgic messaging
 An> platform, who have been communicating under this same social contract
 An> around sysop/user and near-anarchy. You want them to change behavior
 An> and expectations, that have been entrenched sometime between
 An> BBS-networking and usenet gateways, to change their philsophies about
 An> the whole thing and then pile hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours of
 An> effort into modernizing BBS software, messaging protocols, developing
 An> federated access between different systems, and then roll that out to
 An> hundreds of systems people run out of their homes.

 An> There is *nothing* stopping you from doing this work yourself and
 An> creating a network like you're describing of likeminded BBS operators.
 An> You could even try to find some of them that would help develop it. But
 An> that's really where this discussion should end.

 An> This is a hobby. Nothing more. BBS will never be more relevant than
 An> they currently are (enjoyment and nostalgia).

Haven't asked anyone to do anything.  It's more a discussion of how times have
changed, new expectations.  I wrote a response which I lost, so I'll try and
recap.

People are free to do what they like, and maybe BBS's is just about nostalgia. 
A few months ago I was discussion with friends (who didn't actually use BBS's
back in the day), about alternatives to Social Media and platforms which are
controlled by Big Tech.  The incident with Parler was fresh, and that was a
result of one organisation not having complete control and owership of their
servers and underlying hardware.  Autonomy is an important thing.

The BBS is kind of an already build system (albeit primitive), which allows
people to create their own 'online communities', on a platform they completely
control.  It wasn't just the potential for privacy, it was the potential for
autonomy.  Such setups empower people.

Maybe people here aren't intersted, but I think people in general are, and some
might look at this situation and see the opportunity to offer something
different.

Thats all.  If a BBS is public, I have no issue with it (though I consider it a
matter of decency to give the user a good idea of what privacy they actually
have), if it is private, thats fine and good.  Depends on the purpose.
 
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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