Subj : Ideas to make Fidonet Great Again
To   : MATT MUNSON
From : August Abolins
Date : Wed Jul 01 2020 11:02 pm

Hello MATT!

** On Sunday 21.06.20 - 09:38, MATT MUNSON wrote to All:

 MM> 1. I am thinking a traffic report should be avaliable about the message
 MM> base activity on the backbone might be an idea.

There are a couple of better-than-nothing solutions:

[1] The stats report in the weekly FidoGazette newsletter.

[2] The display listings at select Synchornet-based BBSes that use one of  
Synchronet's display options:

 http://bbs.tdod.org/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet

 http://sectiononebbs.com/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet

 https://sestar.synchro.net/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet

 http://1stchoicecore.co.nz/msgs/subs.ssjs?msg_grp=Fidonet%20Message


That is the same tool/method I describe at:

 http://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/future4fido/

The closest to real-time we have is solution [2].

But each BBS may only carry a reduced selection of echos, and therefore  
not represent the entire backbone.

It would be very nice if there was a reporting mechanism that took  
advantage of the 24/7 connectivity of today's BBSes over the internet so  
that the user had a near real-time report to look at in one place.


 MM> 2. I also think it will have to take marketing from various groups that
 MM> are chased away from places like Facebook and Reddit to come back to the
 MM> bbsing world.

People need to know that Fidonet and its echomail system exists. The  
system could be viable alternative to traditional web forums, and  
newsgroups for people concerned about tracking, ads, and uncontrolled  
spam.

Sysops have never been very good at marketing themselves beyond posting  
into select ad echos.  Promotion outside takes more time and actually  
talking to people!  <gasp>   LOL

But sysops and users can always put in a plug for the Fidonet/BBS world  
wherever they meet online.  Even a simple reminder/link in an email  
signature could help spread the awareness.

I was working on adapting an old laptop to operate as a BBS. For my  
convenience, I used VNC to access the laptop from a more comfortable  
desktop station.  Meanwhile, the laptop was facing the public at my  
workplace. It drew a lot of attention as I navigated through various BBS  
menus of other systems, ansi art, etc.  During idle time, I'd just leave  
some ansi art on screen, or a random bbs login.  All that generated a lot  
of interest from the public and from younger people who had never seen  
anything like that before. From that, the conversions spanned from BBSing  
in general to messaging in Fidonet and othernets.

From a messaging perspective, I've steered people to Synchro's BBSlist.   
It is a nice presentation of the services that each BBS offers and the  
message networks that they participate in - all in one glance. But sadly,  
in takes extra convoluted steps to research what the echomail activity is  
like in each network.

Also, it is too small to use from a smartphone or a tablet.  A responsive  
design to support the first-time user would be good.

The telnetbbsguide.com is responsive.  A S)earch for "fidonet" yields many  
results.


  ../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.45
 * Origin: The future is not what it used to be. (2:221/1.58)

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