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) .