Subj : Re: incoming from Telegram
To   : August Abolins
From : Kurt Weiske
Date : Thu Nov 19 2020 05:02 pm

-=> August Abolins wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

> My BBS environment is intentionally separate from the web. The joy I
> receive from BBSing is specifically because of the lack of likes,
> links, and forwarded content. I want to read what people are thinking,
> not what they're clicking on.

AA> I don't think I haven't seen an echo that has never had a link in it to
AA> either some article or even to another bbs landing page over the
AA> decades.  The taglines and origin lines are regularly filled with
AA> http:// links. How is that "intentionally separate from the web"?

The majority of the content I'm reading isn't linked elsewhere, like
in a post that's just a link to an image, or a link to an article
elsewhere. Like I mentioned, I'm an edge case here - my environment
is vDOS (like DOSBOX), and doesn't easily support copy/paste out of
the environment.


AA> Sometimes a picture can express a thought much better than a lengthy
AA> message. An http:// link to a photo can be part of that discussion. It
AA> would certainly be nice if that same message could provide context at
AA> the same time.   But the presence of a message with just a link should
AA> not flash thoughts of horror and indestictiveness from the web.  Links
AA> and URLs are a normal thing to provide when writing a message.

Horror? Said no one.

> If there's a way to share the concepts, ideas and content of Fidonet
> through alternative means, I'm all for it. But keep what makes FTN
> unique.

AA> The TgBBS process is an attempt to grow and draw attention to Fidonet.
AA> What exactly is the uniqueness that you speak of?  A feeling?

Long form posts not limited by an interface that hinders writing.
Threaded conversations. Full headers (to/from/subject) and quoting.
Original content. Message order controlled by the reader. Real names,
"real names", or aliases - pick one.

These are some of the qualities that I see in Fidonet and the
othernets. Most of us here are sysops. While this is a definite part
of Fidonet now, it wasn't always that way, and I appreciate the
diversity that came when callers roamed the BBSes. It would be nice
to get some new perspectives in here.






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