Subj : Social Media Subsitute
To : Tony Langdon
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Wed Aug 05 2020 10:52 pm
Hello Tony,
TL> Well, I'm not sure what you're proposing, or if it even makes any
TL> sense,
OK, I'll explain again.
TL> because the BBS is the entry point to the network.
Yes, I am thinking such a server could be a stand along thing, or part of a BBS since a BBS does have the "stuff". None of this exists outside of my mind currently and may never exist. It's just an idea on my part.
TL> Sure, you can run a point, but there's a lot more complexity there.
TL> And for those of us who want mobile access to existing accounts, the
TL> point paradigm is totally wrong. That would be like logging into
TL> social media and finding all your stateuses and group memberships are
TL> different on every device you own!
I am thinking of a simple app for a tablet, phone or other device or PCs designed for FTN messaging. The interface might look like Aftershock but I am thinking of something very simple so folks don't need to learn all the FTN fun and games. Folks might just need to enter their name and the info for a server to connect to.
We would need to design/implement/maintain all that.
You'll notice there is no authentication in the above. We may need that as well for netmail, if we implement that (I think we should but it makes it more complex).
TL> The BBS at least provides something that can keep track of those
TL> variables across multiple devices.
If this was connected to a BBS login of some sort that should be doable.
AI>> In the 80's and most of the 90's if you wanted to get online you
AI>> got on a BBS but that's not the case anymore. BBSs are among my
AI>> favorite things but they don't have the place in the world that
AI>> they once did.
AI>> I think the idea of apps for a tablet or phone, or other device
AI>> is interesting but it's not easy. We'd need a way to serve those
AI>> apps also so we'd have to design, implement and maintain that on
AI>> top of what we are already doing. We would need to experiment
AI>> with all that to find what can work.
TL> You may be going a bit Internet centric with this and overthinking it.
Well, yes.. how were you thinking of doing it? :)
TL> What's wrong with a network where you choose your home base (i.e.
TL> BBS?). With cooperation from BBS authors, you could simplify the
TL> signup process to "username and password", with the rest of the info
TL> being stored in your profile on the device and sent to the BBS during
TL> a registration "handshake". And of course, if you register on your
TL> mobile device, you can simply login later from your PC. :)
Yes, that sounds good. If we can do it and make the user experience easy to get up and running it could work.
Synchronet probably has all the stuff needed to do that on the server side. Of course it needs to be written and supported.. not to mention apps for users.
Ttyl :-),
Al
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