This message was originally addressed to All Sysops
and a carbon copy was sent to you.
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Fellow SysOps - The INTERNET has made a serious negative impact on
Community Dial-Up BBS's, as we are all aware. We have formed a
movement to re-awaken Community interest in BBS's and the benefits of
the LOCAL BBS as an adjunct to their Internet adventures.. :-)
         Please help us propagate this positive initiative!!
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Who We Are:
The Council for Online Community Alternatives (COCA) was formed in the
summer of 1997 by a group of dedicated Bulletin Board System (BBS)
System Operators (SYSOPs) with a common goal....To Keep BBSing Alive!
COCA membership is free and open to all sysops, regardless of bbs
software and geographic location.
Our Mission:
The mission of the Council for Online Community Alternatives (COCA) is
to promote BBSs and BBS/Web sites as an "Online Community Alternative"
to mere internet browsing and to bring awareness to computer users of
the availability of "Local Community BBS's" in their area.
It has become apparent with the growth of the internet that the role
of the community based BBS has become unclear and the awareness of
their existence obscure.
It is the premise of COCA that in recent years millions of people, who
never owned computers prior, went out and bought computers to seek out
the benefits of online communication. The internet was not only widely
publicized, but has become a business and educational tool, and is
known to most people in today's modern society across the world.
Our Goals:
1) To make the public aware that BBSs are in existence and that the
vast majority of them address most, if not all, of today's concerns
with the shortcomings of the internet.
The internet has value and a place in today's world. However, it's
enormity and lack of organization tend to leave countless numbers of
people yearning for something more.
2) To make the public aware of the Local Community BBS's in their
area. Many new computer owners are not aware of the existence of the
Local BBS. They need to be advised and educated.
Channels of Communication:
Communication and education are the keys to making the public aware
of bbs's.
COCA maintains a variety of methods to keep communications open
between it's members:
1) COCA Listserve (promote@atlsky.com)
To join send an e-mail to listserve@atlsky.com
put SUBSCRIBE PROMOTE in the body of the message
2) COCAnet BBS Network
COCAnet was started as an effort to archive the listserve messages. It
has evolved into a 5 conference network to allow members without
e-mail access to read the listserve messages and have 2-way
communications with other COCA members. The COCAnet info packet is
available for download on the COCA Website. COCAnet is available via
dial-up, telnet, WWW, e-mail and ftp in both QWK and FTSC formats.
3) PROMOTE_BBS is a new conference on FIDOnet
This conference is gated to a conference of the same name on COCAnet.
It has been posted in the FIDOnet ECHOLIST conference and that posting
is copied below for your information.  For FIDOnet sysops interested
in carrying the conference on their BBS, please keep this information
and note that the conference will be listed in the September 1st Elist
file (ELIST709.TXT):
4) COCA Web Site - http://coca.home.ml.org
Our web site consists of many different areas of interest and
new pages are added all the time.
Highlights include:
a) List of Member BBS's
b) List of Members and their Bio's
c) Calendar of Events
d) Web Site Information Update Form
5) COCA ICQ LIST
If you are running ICQ add your name to the list at:
http://cocalist.home.ml.org
6) COCA Web Ring
If you run a bbs on the internet add it to the Web Ring at:
http://cocalist.home.ml.org
7) COCA IRC Chat Meetings
The Steering Committee meets every Wednesday.
Public Chat Meetings are held alternating Tuesdays/Thursdays
every other week.  See the Calendar for details.
Join the effort! Join COCA!! Let's keep Community BBS's viable!
Tom McKeever - 1:374/22 - http://spacecon.net
  spacecon@gate.net    bravehrt@digital.net
 * WCE 2.1G1/2037 * Yeah, my dogs name is Phydeaux. What's this about a net?
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
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