-=> Quoting Eric Oulashin to Nancy Backus on 01-20-11  11:42 <=-

 EO> I like FidoNet, but in some ways, it seems limited.  Usenet offers
 EO> many more newsgroups, and different subjects, than FidoNet..  It seems

The internet proliferated newsgroups... and subdivided subjects as
well...   But I well remember the "glory" days of Fido when there seemed
to be an echo for just about any subject one could think of... well, any
clean subject...    There's a lot less spam in Fido, too.

 EO> that very few BBSs have carried usenet newsgroups, too.  Also, being

In the beginning of the rapid growth of newsgroups, a couple of the
local bbses that were into genealogy message areas carried the full
hierarchy of the genealogy newsgroups.  They used to have a lot of
really good discussions, and true, did leach off a lot of the bbs users
to the internet.  I've seen the genealogy newsgroups wither away,
though, in the interim... guess there are more people just talking
one-on-one, and not using public forums to discuss things... shame, too,
as that provided serendipitous contacts... more so when it was Fido
echoes, but still some when it was the Usenet groups... 

 EO> able to read & post messages is just one thing I like to do online. 

If that's the way one wishes, one can do that on the bbses too.  Gone
are the days when that would be considered "hogging" time... especially
if one is accessing from the web side as it is...  ;)

 EO> Another thing I like about the web is being able to get news from all
 EO> the various news sites out there..  That's something I've rarely seen
 EO> on a BBS. 

Fidotel BBS has a Reuters newsfeed on the bbs... I don't offhand know of
anyone else quite like that, though... 

 EO> There's also the multimedia aspect of the web - Web pages can include
 EO> pictures and video, which is something that can't be done with ANSI on
 EO> a BBS. 

Of course, as well, that can't be accessed by someone who is DOS and
text-based... ;)  Pictures, yes... I can view individual jpg's and gif's
etc, by choice.  But not video... or audio, for that matter.  But that's
my choice... and I don't expect others to make the same choice.  :)

Fortunately, one doesn't have to choose between Fidonet OR the internet,
one can do both, and enjoy them both...  :)  They have their different
pluses... :)

ttyl        neb

... A stoic brings the baby; a cynic is where you wash it.

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5