Subj : Re: Nodelist Development
To   : alterego
From : Avon
Date : Sun May 31 2020 15:42:26

On 31 May 2020 at 12:01a, alterego pondered and said...
 
 al> So, this might be the wine talking - and I've been out - but being
 al> compliant with Fido is not the priority (IMHO). "Not breaking" anything
 al> *IS*. Some folks might think that is the same thing, but I probably have
 al> this tanted view that changing the Fido standard is not done because
 al> there are a few resistant to change.

Yep I'm in general agreement with you in that we're not Fido and can run
things as we see fit.

 al> Where I'm coming from is that there is no reason why we cant change the
 al> way we use the nodelist, if (and that is the priority), it does change
 al> the way things work. Or said another way it does break anything that
 al> does work.
 al> (I'm really keen that the old stuff continues to work, but anything new
 al> works better :)

That's the ideal and yet also the rub in that if you embrace a known you also
have to account for all it's limitations if you're also aiming for backwards
compatibility with software that may use it for the reasons it was originally
created.

 al> So, the new things that didnt exist (when the nodelist was invented), is
 al> email, TCP/IP and web links, etc. My theory is a BBS is always at an
 al> address (aka the INA field). If it provides a service, eg: binkp, that
 al> is described by the IBN flag. If it provides a telnet service, that is
 al> described by the ITN flag. So why cant web be described by a "WEB" flag
 al> (for example), SSH be described by an "SSH" flag, etc. I think you get
 al> the idea.

Yep I do and it comes down (to me) as to what could/should be conveyed in a
nodelist vs another document?

 al> One of the goals of enhancing the nodelist is to not increase the
 al> workload of the person managing it AND getting more value out of it. So
 al> I'm keen to see the "single source of truth" (aka a nodelist) be used
 al> for multiple purposes.

For me it comes down to what are the goals trying to be met and does the
nodelist serve them best or perhaps it would be better that it contribute to
something else?

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