Hello mark!

19 Apr 15 17:08, you wrote to me:

 KvE>>  That is O.K. they can have their own dupechecker. ;)

 ml> most users[*] don't, though... they rely on the BBS' dupe checker
 ml> because they do their mail online on the BBS or they use offline mail
 ml> tools like QWK or Bluewave...

 I do no expect users to have their own dupecheckers when reading on a
 BBS, hence the ";)". As has been explained numerous times mass BBSing died
 an early death on this side of the pond. Here the users did not use QWK or
 Bluewave, but were provided with easy to configure Point packages.
 The most popular ones were based on Binkd, HPT and Golded. The remmnants
 of the popularity of point systems in Z2 can still be seen in the world
 pointlist. A list as poorly maintained as the Fidonet Nodelist.

 ml> [*] yes, most users... that because there are still users using
 ml> fidonet
 ml> systems even though a large portion of fidonet systems don't even run a
 ml> BBS any more... while some might argue that non-BBS systems are the
 ml> majority, they are dwindling and the percentage of systems with actual
 ml> users connecting to them and using the provided services is growing...

 I see old BBS's coming back and I see them disappear, when the hope op
 reviving the past evaporates. I see fidonodes disappear from the nodelist and
 I see sysops that kept their BBS's alive allbeit with fewer users.

 I can agree with you, that the relative number of BBS's in the nodelist
 is increasing, I doubt that that is also the case with their absolute number.

 As for the number of users, I have no idea. I see a few in the echo's, but
 their numbers can be served by half a BBS. If there is lively conversation
 between large numbers of users, this can only be local to the BBS's.

Kees

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5