I agree with the concept of hanging out in a place, virtual as
   it may be. Certainly, it's more efficient to download everything
   in one burst, and then scan through at your leisure. But that
   would be like Cable companies downloading all of the programs in
   a given day to your VCR tapes, and then allowing you to sort
   through and get what you wanted there. Sure - it's more
   efficient, but it's a lot less fun. *It would turn BBSing into a
   CHORE rather than... "cool- I'm talking to another computer
   right now!". Offline messaging is a great idea. *And for those
   that want to do everything at once then do it locally at their
   leasure, there are facilities for that purpose. *But overall...
   simply having a dumb terminal hooked up to a smarter computer is
   the best feeling on earth. Kenneth Udut listowner of
   y-rights@sjuvm.bitnet - discussion on the rights of kids/teens
   Operator of Free Speech in New Jersey 908-241-0537 via
   https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.bbs/dB_yam0IOLA/XM6iS-ZyITsJ