Yo! Scott:
Wednesday June 04 1997 05:07, Scott Christensen wrote to Bill Cheek:
 BC>> When you log on to a BBS, fer instance, and see the well organized
 BC>> file and message areas....you THINK that was easy to set up? And
 BC>> free?
 SC> You're not telling me anything.  I've been running a BBS for about 10
 SC> years.  However, I can't see a well-run, full service "web site" as 
eing
 SC> less time-intensive, probably more - just to keep it "fresh."
Keeping it "fresh" is one thing.....but the overall scope of running a Web 
site is a lot easier than for a BBS.  I'll allow an exception in the case of 
the SysOp who buys all the tools and goodies that *can* make running a BBS 
easier, but then we're talking some godawful COST....and STILL a lot of time.
 SC> I run a BBS as a hobby.
I used to.    :-)
 SC> I (still) enjoy the contact with other users of my favorite brand of
 SC> computer and folks in the RF using population. There are days I
 SC> suspect that I should try some other hobby, but a small group of
 SC> folks rely on my BBS for the same things I enjoy, and that makes it
 SC> pretty hard to pull the switch.
Yeah......people with Edsels, Packards, and Hudsons still flock together, 
o.
 BC>> I really could go on and on......but there is no need. BBS's are
 BC>> dying off by the droves. FidoNet has lost 25%-33% of its nodes from
 BC>> the peak in November, 1995. The Nodelist, now sized at just over
 BC>> 2.5-MB, shrinks at a weekly rate of 10-kB to 15-kB....and the rate
 BC>> is steepening, at that.
 SC> Bill, if you're tired of running a BBS, just leave.  Don't let the door
 SC> hit you in the fanny on the way out.  
I didn't.  I shut the board down at midnight on May 31.  Just running a mail 
node now.
 SC> It sounds like you're looking for excuses for the decision that you
 SC> already made.
How silly.  See my just previous message to Keith where I listed the 
nodelists for the last few weeks.  The obvious shrinkage is consistent back 
to the peak in November, 1995. The extensive decline is one thing.  Equally 
or more significant is the conspicuous absence of premier software for Fido 
applications now.  The authors have all frogged onto the Internet.  Fidonet 
remains mired and bogged down in DOS and ancient technology.
Take a look at the dumb-ass nodelist sometime.  Open it with a text editor or 
WordPad in Win95 and give it a good gander......header and footer, and a few 
points in betwixt.  How crude.  How ancient.  If you really got the "hair", 
take a close gander at the JAM, Squish, and Hudson message bases.  Then hop 
around to some of the Fido admin echoes and pay attention........
The times......they are a'changin.  And Fido ain't changing with the times. 
Unless something does change, Fido has done shat in its own nest and 
guaranteed itself a place in obscurity.  The signs are not good; certainly 
not healthy and wholesome.
Catch-22 is that it pays to be forewarned and forearmed.  But one just 
doesn't up and frog over to the Internet and take up where one leaves off.  
It takes a good year for the casual dude to get adjusted and comfortable with 
the 'Net. So while Fido wallows and flounders, people may as well get up to 
speed with the latest technologies and cool ways of doing 
things......including keeping up with scanners and scanning.  And the 
Internet has it all.....
No two ways about it.
Actually, I've been wanting to install Microsoft BackOffice on something 
around here.  I was a guest of Microsoft in Redmond, WA, a couple of weeks 
ago, and snagged BackOffice at a whopper of a decent price.  The Pentium 
machine that was supporting the BBS seemed a waste of my resources.  So I 
really am moving up....with NT 4.0 Server, SQL Server, SNA Server, Exchange 
Server, Information server,.....and in due time, probably an ILS server, and 
even a newsgroup server.
Do all that on your BBS.  Belly up to the measuring stick, eh?    :-)   I 
mean, it ain't no excuse, pal.  BBS's hold a feller down and won't let 'im 
get up. Talk about excuses..... BBS's are excuses for old farts to stay down 
and not move with the times.

Bill Cheek ~ bcheek@san.rr.com
Windows 95 Juggernaut Team ~ Microsoft MVP
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