Subj : Re: fsxNet Feedback
To   : All
From : Avon
Date : Fri May 14 2021 03:08 pm

On 13 May 2021 at 09:00p, Avon pondered and said...
 
 Av> Final call for anything else you want to add. I plan to circle back to
 Av> this thread in the coming day or so.

OK here's the final version of the feedback received to date. For things that
have been posted since I published the first summary of feedback I have
prefaced them with a # so you can see they are new.

In the coming day or so I'll work on a response to the themes and ideas
raised and post my comments here. We can progress stuff from there. In some
cases I think we can kick on and do some things quite quickly. Other ideas
raised I think will need more discussion (not a bad thing) before we progress
them.

Anywhoo... here's the final summary as it stands on 14/5/21 here in NZ.

[snip]

General Feedback
================

fsxNet has grown, not a bad thing but at times feels less close knit
(+1 agree - think it's not a bad thing)

Things are going well.

Enjoying reading echomail and nothing else to add.

More beer.

Nice network, welcoming to people, not narrow minded nor overly strict with
rules etc.

Like it a lot.

One of the more active networks.

A great net, has been since joined it.

If it aint broke, don't fix it. It aint broke.

# Thank you very much for your work to ensure this network is alive and
kicking!

# Thanks Avon!



Echomail
========

# Is there a need for separate BBS echos? Could they be merged to one?
(+1 agree, -2 disagree)

# Individual echos for different software is not a bad thing. It's good to
have separate places to discuss development etc. for specific software

Could use more echomail areas, not a huge number but more than we have at
present where we can talk about other things (+1 nice to see gen echo split
up into a few more).

Could we have other echos to cover non-technical hobbies / projects?
Add a retro computing echo? (+1 agree).

Gaming related echos? (+1 agree).

Long names for echomail tags (+1 agree - 35 avail chars, let's use them).

Low echomail echos are OK, quite like the separation of BBS info, good idea
to keep them or at least the Mystic echo.

fsxNet seems largely technical and lacking an entertainment
sort of echo (+1 agree).

Better message threading for posts would be good. Is there a problem in
fsxNet FTN?

Discussions in fsxNet
=====================

The 'no politics / religion' request in fsxNet housekeeping is working well.

Discussions on politics and religion have led to some clashes in the past.

Perhaps more moderation required / designated moderators (HUB admins?) to
hand out reminders about re bad behaviour.

I wish people would update the subjects on their messages, would make
following stuff easier, I'm guilty of doing this too.

Security / Privacy
==================

Binkp secure encryption for all hubs.

Better privacy.

SSH officially supported.

SSH for specific echos.

# More discussion needed around these points. It's only as strong as weakest
link and echomail may not have been designed with privacy in mind. How best 
to enforce an echomail area only available via SSH?

# We can offer echos and netmail but not privacy

# What would we talk about in a 'secure' echomail area?

# Not all systems could handle echomail over SSH, changes/requirements should
be platform-agnostic. Don't think security in FTN echomail is an issue.

# We could choose to 'secure' the network using something like ZeroTier

# Perhaps use gpg/pgp. Echomail content doesn't matter - what matters is an
echo controlled by it's members.

Documentation
=============

Docs for InterBBS games. especially Synchronet BBS setup would be great.

File Bases / Distribution
=========================

FDN for gaming related files (+1 agree).

# File area for BBS themes (menus, ANSI, ascii etc.)

[snip]

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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