Subj : Re: Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
To : August Abolins
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Wed Jul 01 2020 10:08 pm
August Abolins wrote to Alan Ianson:
AA> But those charts are a drab to read, and basically require an existing
AA> connection to even use. Something readily available and quick to access
AA> for the www-user would be good.
I have the beginnings of an MBSE setup here. I have the trmb.ca website back
online now. The webpage needs to be written still, there are only links
right now to some statistics pages including message area stats created by
NBSE.
It's limited to the nets and areas I have here but it's online for folks to
look at anytime and is updated at every toss.
AA> AI> I don't think the BBS has much of a future. I have always enjoyed
AA> AI> BBSing myself and prefer a telnet or ssh session but folks today
AA> AI> don't need an interface like that and just don't understand what it
AA> AI> is or what it can do for them.
AA>
AA> There is probably a very small demographic of users who would be
AA> entertained and patient with using the extra layer of a telnet client to
AA> reach a BBS.
Yep, I'm going to go on BBSing myself but I don't think it's for everyone.
Messaging is for everyone though. I'd be glad to hear from anyone regardless
of how they access our message bases.
AA> I still like a good keyboard-based menu every now and then. But new people
AA> expect something they can tap.
AA>
AA> The traditional BBS interface is not likely to win over young people.
Not today no. Before the internet we used a terminal to access BBSs. That
was "online" in those days, and still is but it's not something folks will
get on board with today.
AA> AI> I think if we had a client/server model of some sort that folks could
AA> AI> easily connect to with the app of their choice we would see more
AA> AI> usage.
AA>
AA> It would be very nice if BBSes and their services (eg. echomail) could
AA> adapt to the new devices like smartphones and tablets that more and more
AA> people seem to prefer using.
Yes, I think that is where people are these days and if we can do it that
would be a good thing.
AA> I'm not convinced that a laptop has lost favour in use. A telnet client to
AA> reach a traditional BBS could still be viable that way for many years.
No, my own laptop has a few terminals and might have a point connected to it
at some point. A laptop can render a BBS or some sort of messaging app
nicely.
AA> AI> My lady friend for example has a desktop and laptop of her own. She
AA> AI> has not used either since she got her tablet. She simply installs
AA> AI> the app she wants and away she goes. She does not know or care what
AA> AI> FTN is. She just wants to install her app and go.
AA>
AA> "BBSing ..but not for tablets" does not scream much of a future.
BBSing is not easy on a tablet because the keyboard is in the way. I think
it would work for a messaging app if we had any. We would need a server
setup of some kind. I'm not sure the best way to do that or if we have
programmers about who would like to take on that challenge.
Then we'd need programmers to write apps for the PC/Android/IPad so they
would need to know how the servers work and where to connect to them.
AA> AI> We don't currently have a client/server model or the apps that folks
AA> AI> might install but we could do that if we wanted to and if we had
AA> AA> folks with those skills on board. We would need a plan to create all
AA> AI> that and make it as simple as installing.
AA>
AA> AI> I recon that's a fairly tall order. :)
AA>
AA> It would be a tall order to have something that presents most of the
AA> features of a BBS that way.
I'm thinking just the message interface for tablets. If folks want the whole
BBS experience they would have to do that in the usual way with telnet or
ssh.
AA> But messaging (echomail) might be one of the first features of a BBS to
AA> implement with an app.
AA>
AA> Apple seems to offer a free design tools to build apps.
AA> Android has something called App Inventor.
I'm no programmer so I don't know about any of that.
AA> Maybe a good first step is a prototype so that the UI requirements could
AA> be fleshed out.
Yep, we just need someone who understands what we want to do and has the
time and a desire to see that realized as well.
tenser (Dan Cross) once asked folks (in fsxNet) generally what need to be
done or improved. I think he was talking FTN but I have wondered if he might
find this interesting.
Ttyl :-),
Al
... It works better if you plug it in.
--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.17 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.3)
