hello Earl,

 MVDV>> Did you get my netmail?

 ET> Yes, I did finally get it.  I received your email today
 ET> also.

e-mail seems to be more reliable than netmail these days. :-(

 ET> I logged onto the BBS today to see an acknowledgment from
 ET> the sysop that there have been some feed problems.  I've been
 ET> seeing almost zero messages from anyone here for months

Yet there has been some traffic. Not much but certaiunly more than a few messages.

 ET> - including most of the regulars like Jan Siren and you.

I haven't been very active here as of late. I haven't heard from Jan in a long time.

 ET> Every time I would ask about problems, it would
 ET> temporarily improve or I would be told it was working fine.

Hmmm. Perhaps find another BBS to post from. There are still plenty around.
Are you familiar with the concept of the Nodelist?

Alternatively you may consider setting up a point.

 ET> Since I posted my original message above, there have been
 ET> 38 messages, most on a single topic, and from only eight different
 ET> people (not including my messages). I'm thinking that my BBS' feed
 ET> problems and probably being cut off from some regions (like the one Jan
 ET> is in) is the cause of my not seeing very many messages.

I am not sure it is a link problem. But if you tell me what region Jan is
in, I could check on it.

 ET> Can others share their view of how the traffic is holding
 ET> up in other areas?

FidoNet is nearing the end of its useful life. It just can not compete with
the Internet. The users have left for greener pastures. You are a member of
a nearly extinct species: the Fidonet user. In Europe users are extinct. i
compare Fidonet with a shipping company with ship, captains and pilots but
no cargo and no passengers. We (sysops) keep it running just because we
like to play with it, but it has become a museum piece.

It is not just the SCIENCE area that is drying up. Many areas have dried
up. The number of participants has dropped below critical mass. Just not
enough people to keep it going.

Maybe Jan is cut off. Maybe hel left for other reasons. People do that
sometimes. Their interests change and they just disappear. Where is Leslie
Rohrer? All I know is that someday he just disapeared.

This could be voluntary or unvoluntary. A BBS that closes down or - let's
be realistic, we are at the right tail of the bell curve of age
distribution - death. In case of the sudden demise of one of our
participants, the family will not know of our existence, let alone of how
to let us know the sad news.

 ET> Maybe just a change of BBS will help.

Maybe.

 ET> I changed to my current BBS a few months ago when my previous
 ET> one did not seem to be able to supply a reliable feed either.
 ET> I could use some suggestions on other good BBSs that I can reach
 ET> through the Internet - preferably with a QWK door.

I suggest you consider setting up a point. You are much mode flexible with
regard to links that way.

Regards, Michiel

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