Subj : Re: Getting new users
To   : Nightfox
From : boraxman
Date : Tue Oct 11 2022 23:26:54

 Ni>  MM> The problem is we have to make a user interface that isnt foreign to 
 Ni>  MM> people. I was trying to encourage Santronics instead of making a Wild
 Ni>  MM> Navigator like AOL days, just make an Android and IOS app for a poten
 Ni>  MM> version 9. That would make people more likely want to interact with t
 Ni>  MM> BBS world at the same time. 
 Ni> 
 Ni> Regarding this, one thing I keep thinking about is that BBSes like the
 Ni> ones we run are a retro tchnology as far as their interface, and many of
 Ni> us sysops run BBSes for nostalgia, to preserve these systems of ours
 Ni> with the text interface, ANSI art, and way of interacting with the BBS.
 Ni> As more modern features (such as a mobile app, web interface, etc.) are
 Ni> added to our BBSes, it feels like we're re-creating what has already
 Ni> been done since the internet became popular.  I feel like the text
 Ni> interface, ANSI & ANSI artwork, etc. is a defining feature of the BBSes
 Ni> we run, and that's why we run them.
 Ni> 
 Ni> Also, what would you a mobile app to do with a BBS?  Do you imagine a
 Ni> mobile app that allows users to read & post messages, upload & download
 Ni> files, etc?  Or would it be something more basic like a telnet app? 
 Ni> Mobile telnet apps do exist.  And if you make a mobile app for reading &
 Ni> posting messages & accessing the files, etc., then you'd still probably
 Ni> want it to have some way to allow users to play the door games. 
 Ni> Switching into a text mode would be good, at least, and RIP support
 Ni> would be interesting too.
 Ni> 
 Ni> Nightfox

Completely agree.  There are already mobile and web versions of chat and messaging and forum and email services, so why reimplement it?  Trying to "modernise" the BBS would just be an exercise in reinventing Matrix, Web Forums, email, XMPP or Signal from scratch.

If I want to chat with someone over mobile, there are already mobile options! Why would be I bother with a BBS on the phone when I can use signal instead?

I think it is more valuable for BBS's to exist as they used to be, to serve as a working example of how things used to be, a different world.  It is like a heritage building.  Heritage buildings are kept as they are, because we want to still have the past with us.  

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

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