AH> I feel like one of the main purposes of a BBS is the exchange of messages,
 AH> and I've always felt like so many packages just get that fundamental
 AH> aspect wrong, mainly with a poorly designed browsing/reading/writing
 AH> interface.

When I got back into BBSing in 2007, I decided on running Synchronet for my BBS
software.  When I started reading messages with it, I was surprised at
Synchronet's message reader interface - Namely, that it seemed to want you to
read through every single message in a message area.  When you start reading
messages, it drops you right into your first unread message, and then you can
go 
"next" through each message.  I used BBSes quite a bit in the 90s, though I
don't 
remember if most BBS packages worked like that; however, Synchronet's reader
interface seemed odd to me.  I tend to like to see a list of messages and
choose 
which ones I want to read based on the subject (although I do know that message
threads tend to drift off the subject after a while).  I ended up making my own
message lister/reader mod for Synchronet where I could bring up a list of
messages and choose the ones I want to read, rather than being (pretty much)
forced to read through every single one.

Eric
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