Does anyone partake in internet forums much?
I know they are often used for Q & A, but do any of them have this warmer atmosphere, like the one we have in BBS land? Where people just post what's on their mind?
I know of a few places where people make comments, but where might I find some rich conversation? It's usually pretty one-linerish everywhere I end up.
metalhead wrote to All <=-
Does anyone partake in internet forums much?
I know they are often used for Q & A, but do any of them have this
warmer atmosphere, like the one we have in BBS land? Where people just post what's on their mind?
Does anyone partake in internet forums much?
Does anyone partake in internet forums much?
I know they are often used for Q & A, but do any of them have this warmer atmosphere, like the one we have in BBS land? Where people just post what's on their mind?
I know of a few places where people make comments, but where might I find some rich conversation? It's usually pretty one-linerish everywhere I
end up.
As a (casual) guitar player, there are a couple guitar-related internet forums related that I like to visit:
http://www.strat-talk.com
Once upon a time, I did frequent the VenDiscuss forum on a daily basis. This was during a time when I had hung up the Sysop hat and tried my hand at Gumball and Capsule vending. It was a community board that specialized in vending of all types, which included my gumball and capsule vending, as well as candy and full-service vending. I burnt out of vending after about 5 or so years, so I sold off all my routes. I also stopped frequenting that forum since I was no longer involved in the field. But once I gave that up, I
When it died out, nothing really took over - most of the momentum for photo sharing had gone to Flickr by then, and nothing really took over
for it.
internetAs a (casual) guitar player, there are a couple guitar-related
forums related that I like to visit:
http://www.strat-talk.com
I'm a casual guitar player too, but I will have to look for something pertaining to my brand of choice.
I guess that a part of me wishes I could find forums that behave more like message bases do, where the user is expected to read everything. It wouldbe
so cool if I could find that somewhere.
Once upon a time, I did frequent the VenDiscuss forum on a daily basis. was during a time when I had hung up the Sysop hat and tried my hand at Gumball and Capsule vending. It was a community board that specialized vending of all types, which included my gumball and capsule vending, as as candy and full-service vending. I burnt out of vending after about 5 so years, so I sold off all my routes. I also stopped frequenting that since I was no longer involved in the field. But once I gave that up, I
You got out at the right time. The vending community really fragmented
a while back - too might infighting, backstabbing, and drama. There
were some helpful folks, but they were outnumbered by people with the wrong attitude. The old-guard coin-op purists looked down their noses
at everybody else; the professionals with the most machines wouldn't
give newcomers the time of day; the cowboy antics of the hardcore
machine modders made everybody look bad, and so it became harder to attract newcomers to the scene.
Ultimately a lot of people left altogether, wondering why they were bothering with vending machines any longer when they could offer all the same products and more by opening up a proper, shiny, fancy storefront. Things really fell apart for good when the head of NAMA had to step down amid allegations of sexual misconduct and accepting kickbacks from a
major bill-acceptor manufacturer. There are still a few hundred
hold-outs in the community, but it's a shadow of its former self.
Believe me, you're better off here in BBS-land.
Nightfox wrote to metalhead <=-
I feel like many of the web-based message forums behave fairly
similarly to BBS message forums. You can browse one of the topics,
then choose a message to read, then reply. I don't think it's all that different from a BBS message forum.
thatI feel like many of the web-based message forums behave fairly similarly to BBS message forums. You can browse one of the topics, then choose a message to read, then reply. I don't think it's all
givedifferent from a BBS message forum.
Except that the web interface is _much_ slower than using an offline reader on a BBS. Threads drift, so picking and choosing isn't always going to
good results. With an offline reader, it's a breeze skimming posts for the interesting ones. A dozen or more posts can be skimmed offline in the time it takes a single post to load in a web forum. And advancing from one post to the next is a single keypress, while many forums require several clicks to achieve the same thing. My pet peeve with web forums is the one size fits all interface that doesn't suit me at all. And what I like about BBS packages like Synchronet is the multitude of ways to access messages - online with telnet, web or offline with QWK, to name a few. :)
Hi Nightfox,
You play acoustic or electric guitar?
I have a bass that I play around with but I am by no means any good at it.
Is this your perspective from the outside looking in, or the inside looking out?
Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I suppose that's true. I don't really use offline readers, so I didn't think about that.. One time I tried using MultiMail, and what seemed
odd to me is that I seem to remember it showing the internal codes for
the message area descriptions instead of the real area descriptions,
which I would have liked to see. I'm not sure if there's a way to get
it to show the actual message area descriptions..
As far as Synchronet, I also like that it allows multiple different
ways to access the messages, even with NNTP, so you can use a news
reader. I tend to use the telnet interface to read messages though..
to BBS message forums. You can browse one of the topics, then choose a message to read, then reply. I don't think it's all that different from
a BBS message forum.
I use Multimail a lot, works for me.
I mostly read using Multimail, but occasionally check a message using telnet. Again, choice of protocols and interfaces works heavily in Synchronet's favour. Telner, QWK, NNTP and web, to name a few. :)
With the BBSs, the users are at least presented with all messages immediately. With the internet forums, it's more like you just find a
topic that you want to read about, and you follow that thread by itself first, right?
to BBS message forums. You can browse one of the topics, then choose a message to read, then reply. I don't think it's all that different from
a BBS message forum.
With the BBSs, the users are at least presented with all messages immediately. With the internet forums, it's more like you just find a topic that you want to read about, and you follow that thread by itself first, right?
ROBERT WOLFE wrote to VK3JED <=-
@VIA: VERT/OTHETA
@MSGID: <56BB7A90.82647.dove-gen@vert.synchro.net>
On Feb 10, 2016 02:01pm, VK3JED wrote to NIGHTFOX:
I use Multimail a lot, works for me.
When I am on the Mac, that is what I use.
These work in Wildcat!'s favor, too :) Granted, at the moment I am
using the editor that comes as part of PXTools, but I still like to
visit the ANSI side of my BBS from time to time. Let's me keep tabs on all my custom mods to be sure they are still working :)
Nightfox wrote to metalhead <=-
I still don't really see that there is much of a difference.. On a web forum, you are presented with all messages immediately, and you choose
one to read (unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean by "presented
with all messages immediately"). On a BBS, it's possible to list
messages in an area and choose which one(s) to read, more or less
similar to a web forum.
Fair enough. I haven't done anything with the menus, I was never a creativegatewa
one on that side of things, my speciality was managing messaging. I had ech
from all over the place, as well as a multi FTN aware Internet/Usenet
With BBSes, users are presented with messages in only the areas they want. Internet "forums" can work the same way. And depending on what BBS
software you use, you can follow threads by themselves if you want to. That's one of the ways the Wildcat! web interface can present messages.
webI still don't really see that there is much of a difference.. On a
QWK/BlueWaveforum, you are presented with all messages immediately, and you choose one to read (unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean by "presented with all messages immediately"). On a BBS, it's possible to list messages in an area and choose which one(s) to read, more or less similar to a web forum.
One big difference is I find traditional text mode BBS interfaces (ANSI, offline) are _much_ more responsive than web forums and easier to navigate, so it's easier to skim a message area. I don't trust users to keep the sunject up to date, as threads drift, so I tend to skim all messages. Painful on a web forum, not so bad on a BBS, piece of cake in a
packet).
Re: Internet Forums
By: metalhead to All on Sun Feb 07 2016 08:34 pm
I'm on Internet forums all day at work cuz I have nothing else to do. The majority being gaming forums.
ROBERT WOLFE wrote to VK3JED <=-reative
Fair enough. I haven't done anything with the menus, I was never a
one on that side of things, my speciality was managing messaging. I hadch
from all over the place, as well as a multi FTN aware Internet/Usenet
gatewa
Yeah, that's pretty much what I do here :) I do, however, do a lot of wcBASIC scripting (and my BBS is proof of that *smiles*).
Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
That's true. I was thinking more along the lines of how they're used rather than the speed/responsiveness. I do tend to choose which
messages to read based on subject, but you're right, people don't
always keep the subject up to date and the topic can drift. It seems that's one difference between BBSes and web forums, at least for the
web forums I usually use. On the web forums I use, people tend to stay
on topic in the threads and post a new thread for different subjects.
Mro wrote to ROBERT WOLFE <=-
most people arent going to use wildcat! due to it costing an arm and a
leg and due to the developer's attitude.
regarding forums what my biggest grip is, when you are looking up an
issue and you find a popular forum and they have a tread about your
issue, there's 3 pages of 'me too' posts. they might not even resolve
and issue. it just might go on and on and never be resolved but these dickheads will keep doing me too.
also they dont like necroposts. even if it's actually useful they will scold a guy who solved an issue to a 5 year old problem or someone thanking someone for helping them. they will deal out warnings and
bans for that shit on popular forums. that's just crazy.
With the BBSs, the users are at least presented with all messages immediately. With the internet forums, it's more like you just find a t that you want to read about, and you follow that thread by itself first right?
Hmmmm. Do you get paid for having "nothing to do" at work? Where can I apply for a job where you work? ;-)
most people arent going to use wildcat! due to it costing an arm and a leg and due to the developer's attitude.
Andrea and Hector need to see this. I am sure that if these two
things change, people's opinions would change, too. When it all comes down to it, Wildcat! is not that bad of a software package. It's the people behind it that are giving it the bad reputation.
down to it, Wildcat! is not that bad of a software package. It's the people behind it that are giving it the bad reputation.
You have to understand. They probably sold everything they had and cashed in all their savings to purchase that from Mustang Software. While I disagree with them about a lot of things, they are probably not able to
give it away and would rather go down with the ship so to speak.
On 2/11/2016 3:29 PM, VK3JED wrote to MRO:
most people arent going to use wildcat! due to it costing an arm a leg and due to the developer's attitude.
Andrea and Hector need to see this. I am sure that if these two things change, people's opinions would change, too. When it all comes down to it, Wildcat! is not that bad of a software package. It's the people behind it that are giving it the bad reputation.
To be fair, it seems like it's still living in the past. I signed on to your
BBS the other day, and went through the new user signup process. I don't know if it's your particular setup or if it forces you to use the old fashioned way of thinking. It's asking me for my phone number and my DATA number; the number I use at night. It asked me if I was a sysop, and I said yes, and it asked me for the name and PHONE NUMBER of my BBS. I couldn't do much beyond that, but those things stood out in my mind.
ROBERT WOLFE wrote to VK3JED <=-
@VIA: VERT/OTHETA
@MSGID: <56BCFDEE.82673.dove-gen@vert.synchro.net>
On 2/11/2016 3:29 PM, VK3JED wrote to MRO:
most people arent going to use wildcat! due to it costing an arm and a leg and due to the developer's attitude.
Andrea and Hector need to see this. I am sure that if these two things change, people's opinions would change, too. When it all comes down to it, Wildcat! is not that bad of a software package. It's the people behind it that are giving it the bad reputation.
My company pays me well. If I want to take a job elsewhere I would have to t a massive pay cut which just isn't feasible. At the same time I'm not qualif to apply for jobs that pay competitively. On top of that my employer offers ZERO training so I can just sit here and become obsolete like I've seen othe before me at this place.
yeah i can understand that.
but i never believed those wildcat! login success stories. :D
Trust me - you don't want a job like mine. 8 hours is a long time to just sit and wait for something to break. So I keep myself occupied by visiting forums and other social media and editing my YouTube videos.
I just want to get out of here and the day is just dragging. I honestly don't know if I can do this for another 24 years. It's depressing going
home every night feeling you haven't done anything productive.
but i never believed those wildcat! login success stories. :D
Not many did! ;) I admit I used to own Wildcat!, I sold my license to another sysop because it just started to tick me off with the constant message base corruptions. Since switching to ezycom, one base got messed, and it was a simple ezyutil command to repair it. ;) I know others can't make it work, but boy I love me some ezycom. ;)
Except that the web interface is _much_ slower than using an
offline reader on a BBS.
most people aren't going to use wildcat! due to it costing an arm and
a leg and due to the developer's attitude.
regarding forums what my biggest grip is, when you are looking up an
issue and you find a popular forum and they have a tread about your
issue, there's 3 pages of 'me too' posts. they might not even resolve
and issue. it just might go on and on and never be resolved but these dickheads will keep doing me too.
also they dont like necroposts. even if it's actually useful they
will scold a guy who solved an issue to a 5 year old problem or
someone thanking someone for helping them. they will deal out
warnings and bans for that shit on popular forums. that's just
crazy.
tracker1 wrote to Vk3jed <=-
There's not much reason a web based reader couldn't be exactly the same experience or better... You can add keyboard shortcuts to web readers,
as well as be able to actually click links, etc.
I'm also very sensitive to network/server lag, because of the high volume of messages I read in a day - 1 second lag in 1000 messages means around 20 minutes spent staring at the monitor waiting! :)
i liked wildcat 4 and i bought it from my friend. i dont know if
that's recognized as legit by them but ah well. my friend's wc bbs was probably the most elite modded wildcat bbs ever.
Re: Internet Forumsmessed,
By: Tiny to Mro on Fri Feb 12 2016 04:15 pm
but i never believed those wildcat! login success stories. :D
Not many did! ;) I admit I used to own Wildcat!, I sold my license to another sysop because it just started to tick me off with the constant message base corruptions. Since switching to ezycom, one base got
and it was a simple ezyutil command to repair it. ;) I know others can't make it work, but boy I love me some ezycom. ;)
i liked wildcat 4 and i bought it from my friend. i dont know if that's recognized as legit by them but ah well.
my friend's wc bbs was probably the most elite modded wildcat bbs ever.
There's not much reason a web based reader couldn't be exactly the same
experience or better... You can add keyboard shortcuts to web readers,
as well as be able to actually click links, etc.
I'm also very sensitive to network/server lag, because of the high
volume of messages I read in a day - 1 second lag in 1000 messages
means around 20 minutes spent staring at the monitor waiting! :)
You must not have been around during the 1200 baud days. Watching screens
of quoted text going by, with a "Me, too!" at the end...
I am still proud of the way I made my WINS BBS look. I still have
the last VM with it installed here. I think you called it at least once,
I had removed all the horrible yellow text and used custom menus, and
wrote a pile of WCbasic apps to make the rest of it look good. Granted
it still looked like my BBS, not elite but as I said, still proud! ;)
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
You must not have been around during the 1200 baud days. Watching
screens of quoted text going by, with a "Me, too!" at the end...
tracker1 wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Again, there is *NO* reason a web based reader couldn't be the same experience or better... a websocket connection doesn't have to be
slower than an ansi terminal, for that matter, prefetch/caching can
net you better performance. That isn't to say that most
implementations aren't absolute crap... Doesn't mean it *has* to be
that way. --
tracker1 wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-
@VIA: VERT/TRNTEST
@MSGID: <56BFC2A3.979.dove-general@roughneckbbs.com>
@REPLY: <56BF62DC.13123.dove.dove-gen@realitycheckbbs.org>
@TZ: 41a4
You must not have been around during the 1200 baud days. Watching screens
of quoted text going by, with a "Me, too!" at the end...
My first modem was 1200bps. (me too)
You must not have been around during the 1200 baud days. Watching screens of quoted text going by, with a "Me, too!" at the end...
That's great... there's nothing wrong with not being an elite BBS,
running stock is a bigger shame (that I currently carry).
*ALL* stock WC. After that, I don't think I ever saw a WC board
that varied significantly from the stock setup...
I hope that I have an intersection of time and motivation in the near future, as there is a lot I'd like to do.
Just had a busy weekend which involved 250km travel in a bus both days and was thinking how much use I would have got out of an offline reader for the iPad. Mobile coverage is a bit hit and miss over some of the route, and 3G speecs can vary. I'd have downloaded the overnight mail before leaving and read it on the bus. :)
Spacesst wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Just had a busy weekend which involved 250km travel in a bus both days and was thinking how much use I would have got out of an offline reader for the iPad. Mobile coverage is a bit hit and miss over some of the route, and 3G speecs can vary. I'd have downloaded the overnight mail before leaving and read it on the bus. :)
What the name of Your offline readers
Does Exist on android also
Just had a busy weekend which involved 250km travel in a bus both days and was thinking how much use I would have got out of an offline reader for the iPad. Mobile coverage is a bit hit and miss over some of the route, and 3G speecs can vary. I'd have downloaded the overnight mail before leaving and read it on the bus. :)
That's great... there's nothing wrong with not being an elite BBS,
running stock is a bigger shame (that I currently carry).
Laugh, I remember your last board isn't wasn't stock. :)
*ALL* stock WC. After that, I don't think I ever saw a WC board
that varied significantly from the stock setup...
I think there were only about 3-4 ever. ;)
I hope that I have an intersection of time and motivation in the near
future, as there is a lot I'd like to do.
You'll find time. What's funny with me, I tend to do a lot of my BBS mods
/ programming when I'm at the trailer in the summer time. (If it's
raining) or while Andrea is sleeping in. :)
Vk3jed wrote to Spacesst <=-
What the name of Your offline readers
Does Exist on android also
I think you misread my message. An offline reader for mobile devices (especially iOS, since that's all I have)
... To eat is human; to digest divine.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
tracker1 wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yeah, designing web apps for offline mode and data persistance is
another thing that would be nice... I haven't had to support a web app doing that for a few years, but it can be done... could be almost the
same experience as an OLMR in a
web UI. I've thought it would be nice to have at times as well.. for
me, the biggest desire is a half way decent interface for doing bbs message bases on my phone.... No web forum has even a decent
experience, let alone nice in my opinion.
I think there were only about 3-4 ever. ;)
customization... that said Mustang did some pretty cool stuff towards
the end of BBSing's heyday, it's just it was the same everywhere.
I just used offline mail. Problem solved! No network (or BBS/modem) lag, I could go away and have a coffee (or lunch!) while the mail download occurred. :) Later, I had a BBS or point, so the mail came in when I slept. ;)
Just had a busy weekend which involved 250km travel in a bus both days and was thinking how much use I would have got out of an offline reader for the iPad. Mobile coverage is a bit hit and miss over some of the route, and 3G speecs can vary. I'd have downloaded the overnight mail before leaving and read it on the bus. :)
I have a 300 baud Apple modem for several years back in the early 80s and remember paying around $300 for it. By the time I went 1200 baud, I had moved over to PC (286-12) and picked up a Hayes 1200 baud.
That's great... there's nothing wrong with not being an elite BBS,
running stock is a bigger shame (that I currently carry).
I think you misread my message. An offline reader for mobile
devices (especially iOS, since that's all I have)
Yeah, I have the time, but usually after working all day/week, no
motivation to do BBS stuff. Which is funny, because at work, I'm thinking
to myself, "man, that would be a cool idea for the bbs." ... Sometimes I wish I didn't work as a programmer, or in IT at all... but it pays so much better than anything else I'm qualified to do.
Just like when I ran Maximus, I had it customized, where
almost no one else EVER did. ;)
There seems to be many people in the BBS world that also work in some for o IT. I'm another one that has spent my entire professional career in IT (technology). I have loads of hobbies, but this is without a doubt my brea and butter. It is like getting paid to do a hobby and get to spend other people's money to get toys to play with!
- Mark
Yeah, I have the time, but usually after working all day/week, no
motivation to do BBS stuff. Which is funny, because at work, I'm thinking to myself, "man, that would be a cool idea for the bbs." ... Sometimes I wish I didn't work as a programmer, or in IT at all... but it pays so much better than anything else I'm qualified to do.
Web forum interfaces generally suck. Why can't developers get it right? ;) ... A cat is always on the wrong side of the door!
I had what I thought was a pretty slick Maximus system. I found my
old backup CD and loaded Maximus from 1999 up on my current system,
and man, did it look bad! So many colors -- so little integration
between add-ons I'd loaded! When does Red and Green look good in
ANSI after December?
I'm also very sensitive to network/server lag, because of the high
volume of messages I read in a day - 1 second lag in 1000 messages
means around 20 minutes spent staring at the monitor waiting! :)
Again, there is *NO* reason a web based reader couldn't be the same experience or better... a websocket connection doesn't have to be
slower than an ansi terminal, for that matter, prefetch/caching can
net you better performance. That isn't to say that most implementations aren't absolute crap... Doesn't mean it *has* to be that way.
There seems to be many people in the BBS world that also work in some for of IT. I'm another one that has spent my entire professional career in IT (technology). I have loads of hobbies, but this is without a doubt my bread and butter. It is like getting paid to do a hobby and get to spend other people's money to get toys to play with!
I am still proud of the way I made my WINS BBS look. I still have the las
VM with it installed here. I think you called it at least once, I had remov
all the horrible yellow text and used custom menus, and wrote a pile of WCba
apps to make the rest of it look good. Granted it still looked like my BBS,
not elite but as I said, still proud! ;)
I had a similar experience, except my $300 modem was the Anchor Signalman 300 modem on the far superior Commodore 64 platform (ducks and runs)
Funny, the elite BBSes I remember ran total stock-looking Forum software, looked like a fresh install. It wasn't until you validated that the fun started.
I really envy you. Is there anyway for me to go back in time 20 - 30
years? '-)
I like keeping the BBS running to keep up my technical chops; most of my day to day responsibilities are administrative and leadership-based. I haven't had to build a system and admin it for about 10 years now.
There is no time like the present to go in that direction if it's something you want to do. Having technical skills will always be in demand.
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I was a huge BlueWave offline reader user (posted so much on the
BLUEWAVE echo in Fidonet that I got a message of mine included in the sample packet!)
Now I use MultiMail.
When I first started realitycheckBBS, Telegard BBS software didn't have
a QWK door. When I added the BlueWave door, the number of callers
jumped greatly when people didn't have to read online. before that, I
gave people 30 minutes a day and I'd see them reading right up to the
30 minute mark and getting disconnected. As soon as they hung up,
another person would call.
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Before I'd fly anywhere, I'd load up a packet with the weeks' mail on
it from my BBS and a couple of other BBSes. I could easily fire off
50-60 messages when I had nothing else to distract me. :)
And since I was using a DOS console app, I didn't have to worry about trying to mouse around on a tray table.
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I think you misread my message. An offline reader for mobile
devices (especially iOS, since that's all I have)
You can run DOSBOX on Android, and once you get that, you can run the gamut of older console software, including an offline reader.
Mro wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Web forum interfaces generally suck. Why can't developers get it right? ;) ... A cat is always on the wrong side of the door!
they did get it right. it's called vadv
that ran on our local machine. It would be nice if they offered tools where could download some data to our local machine, work locally, then upload our updated data when we're done.
Indeed, it was all text mode back then, very convenient, and it was easy to copy my Bluewave setup to a convenient work laptop or other PC.
Doesn't help me, I don't run any Android devices of any consequence.
... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
I really envy you. Is there anyway for me to go back in time 20 - 30
years? '-)
There is no time like the present to go in that direction if it's something you want to do. Having technical skills will always be in demand.
- Mark
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Indeed, it was all text mode back then, very convenient, and it was easy to copy my Bluewave setup to a convenient work laptop or other PC.
I had an oddball system back them, an HP Omnibook 300. It was a 386 SLC laptop, non-backlit system, had a little mouse on a stick that popped
out from the side.
It had 4 megs of RAM, but ran Windows 3.1 out of a ROM, so the RAM was
all for user memory.
It was light and the battery ran for 6+ hours - unheard of back then.
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
A quick trip to my search engine of choice revealed iDOS. Don't know
how it deals with a filesystem on IOS, but it'll get you halfway there.
He said, and I'm paraphrasing, that people (kids) need to learn how to
lead and how to solve interesting problems. There are countries out there that are raising people who are willing to out-obedient you at a lower
cost than you, so you need to be able to out-lead or out-solve them.
He said, and I'm paraphrasing, that people (kids) need to learn how to lead and how to solve interesting problems. There are countries out there that are raising people who are willing to out-obedient you at a lower cost than you, so you need to be able to out-lead or out-solve them.
My thoughts are that any skilled work is a good thing. Being really good
at something that not everyone is good at. It can be plumbing, HVAC, mechanic, builder, technical professional, etc.
Web forum interfaces generally suck. Why can't developers get it right? ;)Because the technical skill of programming and understanding how to implement an interface is a separate skill from aesthetic design, user experience, and so on. Some programmers have both skills, but most don't. That's why companies or well-organized volunteer (i.e. open source) projects have teams where one or more people are dedicated to designing user interfaces and then telling the programmer(s) "this is what we want you to implement".
Why don't you take online courses if you have all that time on your hands? With a degree or certificate, perhaps you could find a job that pays as well or better, or at least has a growth path. It's awful to be bored on the job. I've gone through periods like that myself.I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I don't have money for online courses or to take on a student loan. I need a new used car which will put a strain on the finances.
Doctor Who wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Web forum interfaces generally suck. Why can't developers get it right? ;)
Because the technical skill of programming and understanding how to implement an interface is a separate skill from aesthetic design, user experience, and so on. Some programmers have both skills, but most
don't. That's why companies or well-organized volunteer (i.e. open
source) projects have teams where one or more people are dedicated to designing user interfaces and then telling the programmer(s) "this is
what we want you to implement".
myself. I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I don't have money for online courses or to take on a student loan. I need a new used car which will put a strain on the finances.
I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I don't have money for online courses or to take on a student loan. I need a new used car which will put a strain on the finances.
I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I don't have money for online courses or to take on a student loan. I need a new used car which will put a strain on the finances.
There are many free courses available online. Even if they don't apply to a degree, they're useful on resumes and may give you enough knowledge to test out of some courses.
Re: Internet Forums
By: Crystal Chandelier to Vectorgamer on Wed Feb 24 2016 02:14 pm
There are many free courses available online. Even if they don't apply a degree, they're useful on resumes and may give you enough knowledge t test out of some courses.
MIT has a bunch of free courses at edx.org, including an intro to CS class t I took.There really is a treasure trove of online learning. Some general, some highly specialized. If one has time on one's hands, it would be a more productive pursuit than playing games.
Re: Internet Forums
By: Crystal Chandelier to Vectorgamer on Wed Feb 24 2016 02:14 pm
There are many free courses available online. Even if they don't apply to a degree, they're useful on resumes and may give you enough knowledge to test out of some courses.
Web forum interfaces generally suck. Why can't developers get it right? ;)
Yeah, I have the time, but usually after working all day/week, no
motivation to do BBS stuff. Which is funny, because at work, I'm
thinking to myself, "man, that would be a cool idea for the bbs."
... Sometimes I wish I didn't work as a programmer, or in IT at
all... but it pays so much better than anything else I'm qualified
to do.
There seems to be many people in the BBS world that also work in
some for of IT. I'm another one that has spent my entire
professional career in IT (technology). I have loads of hobbies,
but this is without a doubt my bread and butter. It is like getting
paid to do a hobby and get to spend other people's money to get toys
to play with!
I wish more web-based tools were faster.. I currently use some
web-based tools at my job (mostly Rally for keeping track of task
status and Jama Contour for managing test cases) and have used
others in the past such as Google Docs, etc., and it seems one
thing they have in common is that they feel slow due to the client/
server lag.
Sometimes the server itself is just slow and can take a while to
respond to requests. It's nice that everyone can all access the
same information, but I often wish we could use tools that were
as quick as software that ran on our local machine. It would be
nice if they offered tools where could download some data to our
local machine, work locally, then upload our updated data when
we're done.
I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I don't have money for online courses or to take on a student loan. I need a new used car which will put a strain on the finances.
tracker1 wrote to Vk3jed <=-
It looks like NodeBB has a decent, scaling UI... though it's not
classic BBS style, for a forum style, it's pretty good.
tracker1 wrote to Nightfox <=-
others in the past such as Google Docs, etc., and it seems one
thing they have in common is that they feel slow due to the client/
server lag.
I haven't noticed that with Google Docs... though, admittedly, I don't
use it much. It seems "good enough" as a stop-gap.
Sometimes the server itself is just slow and can take a while to
respond to requests. It's nice that everyone can all access the
same information, but I often wish we could use tools that were
as quick as software that ran on our local machine. It would be
nice if they offered tools where could download some data to our
local machine, work locally, then upload our updated data when
we're done.
I think you just don't remember how slow locally-running tools used to really be for some things. I'm mostly okay with most web-apps... but I agree, it can get sluggish, and it's easy to get some things wrong, especially with larger and more disconnected teams on a project.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the work I do (usually, aside from some politics).. that said, I'm usually really drained at the end of the day,
and motivation to do more is pretty hard.
--
Trust me - you don't want a job like mine. 8 hours is a long time to just sit and wait for something to break. So I keep myself occupied by visiting forums and other social media and editing my YouTube videos.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the work I do (usually, aside from some politics).. that said, I'm usually really drained at the end of the day,
and motivation to do more is pretty hard.
yeah, i dont get why people think that doing their hobby for work will be their dream job.
if all i did was touch computers at work all day, i wouldnt want to do anything with them when i'm home.
Does anyone partake in internet forums much?They do not have a warmer atmosphere. Most people will rip your head off for posting something that they don't like.
I know they are often used for Q & A, but do any of them have this
warmer atmosphere, like the one we have in BBS land? Where people just post what's on their mind?
yeah, i dont get why people think that doing their hobby for work will
be their dream job.
if all i did was touch computers at work all day, i wouldnt want to do anything with them when i'm home.
That happens to me sometimes, but I do have more hobbies than just
computers and technology. I'll work on the car or build something.
The main thing for me is keeping things fun and not getting bored. Fortunately, there is always something new to learn in this field.
- Mark
Mark Hofmann wrote to Mro <=-
if all i did was touch computers at work all day, i wouldnt want to do anything with them when i'm home.
That happens to me sometimes, but I do have more hobbies than just computers and technology. I'll work on the car or build something.
The main thing for me is keeping things fun and not getting bored. Fortunately, there is always something new to learn in this field.
dont you have kids too? where do you get the time for all this?
i'm work eat sleep unless it's the weekend.
That's the main thing! I'm enjoying relearning the art of running a BBS.
:)
- Mark
dont you have kids too? where do you get the time for all this?
i'm work eat sleep unless it's the weekend.
Mark Hofmann wrote to Vk3jed <=-
@VIA: VERT/TCP
@MSGID: <56D9B378.19070.dove-gen@curmudge.hopto.org>
That's the main thing! I'm enjoying relearning the art of running a BBS.
:)
Me too! It was such a part of my life growing up. I'm so glad I was
able to virtualize everything and bring back my original system.
Running it on the super old hardware I had for it was really no longer
an option. It can run on anything now..
What kind of job is it though, for those of us curious to know.... What company? How good exactly is the pay?
I've looked for jobs and the ones I'm interested in pay significantly less than what I'm making now. Jobs that pay equal or more than I make now I'm not qualified for because they have a laundry list of requirements.
Re: Re: Internet Forums
By: Vk3jed to Vk3jed on Mon Feb 15 2016 05:29 pm
I think you misread my message. An offline reader for mobile
devices (especially iOS, since that's all I have)
You can run DOSBOX on Android, and once you get that, you can run the gamut older console software, including an offline reader.
I read an interesting article by a graphics designer who wanted to be able t do basic photo manipulation in Photoshop when working with clients. He had a Android tablet, loaded DOSBOX in it, Windows for Workgroups, and Photoshop 4 which was the last 16 bit version of PS. That gave him the ability to do mos basic manipulations with the standard Adobe toolset on a tablet.
It looks like NodeBB has a decent, scaling UI... though it's not
classic BBS style, for a forum style, it's pretty good.
I'm not familiar with that forum software. Is there a readily accessible example around?
Don't get me wrong, I really like the work I do (usually, aside from
some politics).. that said, I'm usually really drained at the end of
the day, and motivation to do more is pretty hard.
yeah, i dont get why people think that doing their hobby for work will be their dream job.
if all i did was touch computers at work all day, i wouldnt want to do anything with them when i'm home.
i like to keep work and play separate.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the work I do (usually, aside from
some politics).. that said, I'm usually really drained at the end of
the day, and motivation to do more is pretty hard.
My situation is a bit different since I get to work with so many different things, it is tough to get burnt out on any one particular thing.
I try to stay as versatile as possible.
yeah, i dont get why people think that doing their hobby for work will be TR>> their dream job.
if all i did was touch computers at work all day, i wouldnt want to do TR>> anything with them when i'm home.
i like to keep work and play separate.
Simple answer for me, it pays way better than anything else I'm qualified to TR>do. But I would like to do some more of the personal projects rolling aroun TR>in the back of my head.
yeah, i dont get why people think that doing their hobby for work will be TR>> their dream job.
if all i did was touch computers at work all day, i wouldnt want to do TR>> anything with them when i'm home.
Well I work in IT and have other hobbies, but there's a difference
between doing computers for work and doing computers for play, at least
IMHO there is. :-)
i like to keep work and play separate.
Simple answer for me, it pays way better than anything else I'mqualified to TR>do. But I would like to do some more of the personal
Does anyone partake in internet forums much?
I know they are often used for Q & A, but do any of them have this warmer atmosphere, like the one we have in BBS land? Where people just post what's on their mind?
I know of a few places where people make comments, but where might I find some rich conversation? It's usually pretty one-linerish everywhere I end up.
I guess that a part of me wishes I could find forums that behave more like message bases do, where the user is expected to read everything. It wouldbe
so cool if I could find that somewhere.
By "message bases", are you referring to BBS message forums? Even then, I don't think there's an expectation that a user will read every single message. Many of the message forums on a BBS can have messages that go back years, with possibly hundreds or thousands of messages. And in my experience, many BBSes let you jump around to different messages - In Synchronet's (stock) message reading interface, for instance, you can type a message number to jump directly to a message.
Except that the web interface is _much_ slower than using an offline reader on a BBS. Threads drift, so picking and choosing isn't always going to give good results. With an offline reader, it's a breeze skimming posts for the interesting ones. A dozen or more posts can be skimmed offline in the time it takes a single post to load in a web forum. And advancing from one post to the next is a single keypress, while many forums require several clicks to achieve the same thing. My pet peeve with web forums is the one size fits all interface that doesn't suit me at all. And what I like about BBS packages like Synchronet is the multitude of ways to access messages - online with telnet, web or offline with QWK, to name a few. :)
most people arent going to use wildcat! due to it costing an arm and a leg and due to the developer's attitude.
regarding forums what my biggest grip is, when you are looking up an issue and you find a popular forum and they have a tread about your issue, there's 3 pages of 'me too' posts. they might not even resolve and issue. it just might go on and on and never be resolved but these dickheads will keep doing me too.
also they dont like necroposts. even if it's actually useful they will scold a guy who solved an issue to a 5 year old problem or someone thanking someone for helping them. they will deal out warnings and bans for that shit on popular forums. that's just crazy.
You must not have been around during the 1200 baud days. Watching screens of quoted text going by, with a "Me, too!" at the end...
I just used offline mail. Problem solved! No network (or BBS/modem) lag, I could go away and have a coffee (or lunch!) while the mail download occurred. :) Later, I had a BBS or point, so the mail came in when I slept. ;) Web forums don't offer anything equivalent to that sort of functionality. :)
Me too (sorry, couldn't resist ;) ). But before I got my first modem, I was using a friend's dumb modem at either 300 or 1200/75 baud. :)
My thoughts are that any skilled work is a good thing. Being really good at something that not everyone is good at. It can be plumbing, HVAC, mechanic, builder, technical professional, etc.
People can't be experts in everything. Having skills in any area like that is a positive thing.
I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I don't have money for online courses or to take on a student loan. I need a new used car which will put a strain on the finances.
Good point, and I'd certainly be happy to help developers improve their useer experiences. I'm particulerly demanding when it comes to latency and consistency of UI behaviour.
to post any followups. I use NewsTap with my BBS to read posts while away from home (since I don't yet have a viable QWK reader for iOS).
I used to be at risk of this sort of burnout, but I no longer work in IT, and my recreational activities that take up the most time are sporting pursuits or other hands on activities, so IT (and ham radio) now complement everything else. :)
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Exactly. Forums are contrived, take a long time to load, show so much unnecessary content (full bios of the poster, their rank, their points, their location, lots of random crap), don't make it easy to follow previously interested threads, etc.
Offline mail solves a lot of the problems that a slow connection or
slow interface might provide!
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Me too (sorry, couldn't resist ;) ). But before I got my first modem, I was using a friend's dumb modem at either 300 or 1200/75 baud. :)
I had a 1200 first too, but used 300 and 1200 with friends first. I
used their couplers too. That was nasty.
Knight wrote to metalhead <=-
This is all really because the Internet has fragmented everything.
Every site becomes a specialty site. Nothing is really interconnected.
And there's a lot of silence outside of the very focused specific topic areas (i.e. a Mac site is going to have thriving Mac Q&A forums, but
not a Philsophy board).
I started work on a platform called ForumNet a few years ago -- a kind
of BBS Message Net / USENET style heirarchical forum network platform where sites could link up and share content for the web (with a mass appeal, which sadly BBSes don't have anymore) -- but I've been much too busy on other projects to give this more attention right now. I might revisit it if/when demand kicks up. The idea was that it would allow
new sites to be born with immediate content (via the network), but then augment it with local content.
Anyway -- I'm certain there must be interesting communities out there
-- the world is such a huge place. The key is figuring out how to find
out where all the cool ones are.
If you find anything... let me know... please!
Knight wrote to Nightfox <=-
Ahh but I get what he means. Synchronet lets you "walk through" the messages in order, so you get this sense of obligation to read
everything. You obviously don't have to, you can skip around. But it's much harder to do than on a web forum where you can browse the pages of posts, search more easily, etc.
There is definitely some magic in being led through each message.
I really can't stand the format that web forums are in.
I never had to use a coupler, the friend's modem was a dumb modem - the old set to originate, pick up the phone, dial the BBS, wait for the answer tone, hit the data switch and hang up. :)
True, and that means having to log onto a zillion forums, too hard to keep track of. In my BBS days, I simply took feeds that I thought were interesting into the BBS, then I could combine it all into mone big, fat Bluewave packet each time I fetched the mail. :) We had over 500 message areas on our board at one stage, with an incredible array of topics. Those were the days. :)
If you do, please try and make it compatible with BBSs, or help the BBS software developers (Synchronet and Mystic) incorporate into their software. I'd like to keep my BBS interface, but happy to add all sorts of stuff.
Yes, BBSs encouraged reading all messages, web forums discourage it. Unfortunately, the best filter and message tracker I have is between my ears, so the BBS style is far more compatible, especially if I use an offline reader. :) I can skim messages, drop threads when they become boring, etc much more efficiently.
I've been longing for something like this too. DOVENet and similar help
to make up for it, but it's still rather
quiet in some ways.
A few months back I started longing for The Well. They had a really thriving sce ne back in the day. I spent hours
reading messages about the interesting topics, dramas, and history of
it. I was on BBSes back then, but the
thought of paying for a membership just to write on message boards
seemed insane to me then. Now I'd consider it.
And I even did just that recently... considered paying for the *current* Well.
But of course, it's not the same place anymore. It's changed ownership a few tim es, and it's really just on
autopilot. It doesn't have the same thriving conversations or strong forward thi nking community.
This is all really because the Internet has fragmented everything. Every site be comes a specialty site. Nothing is
really interconnected. And there's a lot of silence outside of the very focused specific topic areas (i.e. a Mac
site is going to have thriving Mac Q&A forums, but not a Philsophy
board).
By "message bases", are you referring to BBS message forums? Even
then, I don't think there's an expectation that a user will read every
single message. Many of the message forums on a BBS can have messages
that go back years, with possibly hundreds or thousands of messages.
And in my experience, many BBSes let you jump around to different
messages - In Synchronet's (stock) message reading interface, for
instance, you can type a message number to jump directly to a message.
Ahh but I get what he means. Synchronet lets you "walk through" the messages in order, so you get this sense of
obligation to read everything. You obviously don't have to, you can skip around. But it's much harder to do than
on a web forum where you can browse the pages of posts, search more easily, etc.
There is definitely some magic in being led through each message.
I really can't stand the format that web forums are in.
KNIGHT wrote to MRO <=-
also they dont like necroposts. even if it's actually useful they will scold a guy who solved an issue to a 5 year old problem or someone thanking someone for helping them. they will deal out warnings and bans for that shit on popular forums. that's just crazy.
Dude, this drives me bonkers! Why the hell would they do that? They are insane. Pisses me off that anyone would be bothered by that.
KNIGHT wrote to VK3JED <=-
Be honest -- do you miss hearing modem handshake tones?
Ahhh, those *were* the days. The other nice thing about downloading messages in BWluewave or QWK packets was that you could get caught up on a new BBS in bulk.
This is all really because the Internet has fragmented everything.
Every site be comes a specialty site. Nothing is
really interconnected. And there's a lot of silence outside of the
very focused specific topic areas (i.e. a Mac
site is going to have thriving Mac Q&A forums, but not a Philsophy
board).
I'm curious to know which editor you are using. Your text seems to be all misaligned and has that saw-tooth quality on the right margins. I'm trying to decide if it's your editor or my reader. Its interesting to note that it's only showing up on your posts and not others.
I'm curious to know which editor you are using. Your text seems to be all misaligned and has that saw-tooth quality on the right margins. I'm trying to decide if it's your editor or my reader. Its interesting to note that it's only showing up on your posts and not others.
What sort of "magic"?
I don't really like being (pretty much) forced to read every single message, since some messages might not interest me. It got to the point where I wrote my own message lister mod for Synchronet that let me more easily pick and choose which message(s) to read. It was actually inspired by newsgroup readers (such as Forte Agent) which presented the messages in a list and let you choose ones to read.
Goes back to the 'wide net' analogy...
Have it as a text tone on my iPhone now... :-)
I loved being able to get away from home with a laptop and focus on messages. Before free internet and wi-fi everywhere, I'd set my newscan pointers back a few days, download a packet, and get a chance to focus on the messages without interruptions.
I'm seeing it in his posts too. I've noticed that can happen when writing a message using Synchronet's old (Runemaster) web interface, particularly on a small screen.
But I can't walk through hundreds of messages on forums. I often just don't click on subjects that are not
interesting to me.
Somehow I read messages on BBSes that would qualify as
"not interesting" and end up reading
portions of them.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-2016 08:56 pm
Good point, and I'd certainly be happy to help developers improve their useer experiences. I'm particulerly demanding when it comes to latency and consistency of UI behaviour.
You're "hired" --- I need help with all of my development projects from
a usability, UX, and UI perspective. :)
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
This reminds me. I started work on a Ruby library to parse QWK packets
a year or two ago. Maybe I can jumpstart it onto iOS to at least get
some fundamental support in place.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I was in IT for a long, long time. I moved over to software
development, and the pace is definitely different. Certainly a lot of pressure to meet deadlines, but in IT everything is always negative. IT never gets the rewards (other than financial), since entire companies
are riding on the success of the infrastructure, workstations, software deployments, etc. But write some good code and solve some core
problems, and you'll also get celebrated (to some degree).
Now I run my businesses, and well, that's a whole other beast of
stress. One brings in a strong revenue, and the other is a startup
(read: delayed payoff, aka: money pit), so that breeds a whole
different set of stresses and burnout.
But I do not miss the late night pager escalations, server outages,
data wipes, hacker investigations, etc that IT brought :)
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Be honest -- do you miss hearing modem handshake tones?
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Ahhh, those *were* the days. The other nice thing about downloading messages in BWluewave or QWK packets was that you could get caught up
on a new BBS in bulk. I also liked how you could read/write messages without getting interrupted by a user/sysop page to chat when you were offline, so you could put all of your attention into it.
If you do, please try and make it compatible with BBSs, or help the BBS software developers (Synchronet and Mystic) incorporate into their software. I'd like to keep my BBS interface, but happy to add all sorts of stuff.
Good idea.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yes! No to mention the unadulterated speed that comes with a native experience. You can zip around between messages at light speed. Unliked when you're connected over a modem, telnet/ssh, etc. And a web browser with a web page adds to that threefold with multiple netorks requests
and the overhead that brings, and the refreshing, and the browser rendering, etc.
Is it impossible to replicate the experience on the web? No. But no one has done it yet.
Nightfox wrote to Knight <=-
I don't really like being (pretty much) forced to read every single message, since some messages might not interest me. It got to the
point where I wrote my own message lister mod for Synchronet that let
me more easily pick and choose which message(s) to read. It was
actually inspired by newsgroup readers (such as Forte Agent) which presented the messages in a list and let you choose ones to read.
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Knight <=-
I loved being able to get away from home with a laptop and focus on messages. Before free internet and wi-fi everywhere, I'd set my newscan pointers back a few days, download a packet, and get a chance to focus
on the messages without interruptions.
Knight wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-
I loved being able to get away from home with a laptop and focus on messages. Before free internet and wi-fi everywhere, I'd set my newscan pointers back a few days, download a packet, and get a chance to focus on the messages without interruptions.
I did exactly that. It was kind of zen.
Unlike email today. We're under a constant barrage of junk, spam,
mailing lists, and unimportant emails. The whole "inbox zero" thing is absolutely impossible for me, and pretty much meaningless.
Taking your Bluewave or QWK packets in bulk and sitting somewhere quiet with a cup of coffee or tea... that was great.
Nightfox wrote to Knight <=-
That's exactly the reason I think it's useful to be able to pick and choose which
messages to read.
Somehow I read messages on BBSes that would qualify as
"not interesting" and end up reading
portions of them.
I think the only reason it can be good to do that is that sometimes the conversation wanders off and people don't always change the subject, so after a while, the subject not match the conversation. That doesn't
seem to happen too often on web-based message boards though. People on web-based message boards tend to stick to the subject more.
Delphi Forums used to be nice...
You're "hired" --- I need help with all of my development projects from a usability, UX, and UI perspective. :)
Cool, well if you have something to be taken for a test drive, slip a sample (or link) my way and I'll give it a look. :)
I think for iOS, you might want to look at a combination terminal (telnet/rlogin/ssh)/QWK reader, might make file management easier (because of how iOS likes to keep its apps mostly segregated from each other). Would be nice if you added Bluewave support too. :)
Another thing I would like to see is the ability to store a BBS profile (derived from the last packet read), so you can compose a message without having to have a QWK/BW packet already lying around.
do their own software training. Debugging some of those setups was fun - we even once discovered one client's database could not run outside of a LAN environment, because the slightest bit of latency made it slow to a crawl (it was very "chatty").
Neither do I. Today, the only server outages I have to deal with are my own. :)
I do, in a kinda strange way. :)
Yep, I'd rather work with the software and communities that have compatible goals.
The days of no wifi and being able to dial up the BBS to download a mail packet, then go off and read it was good. I also remember being quite ill at one stage over 20 years ago and getting up every few hours to download the latest packet, then retire to bed to casually read my mail. There was always the anticipation of opening a new mail packet. :)
I use a lot of heavy filtering to simulate message echos from mailing lists, so my inbox is relatively quiet, the other IMAP folders take the lion's
share. All I need is a _decent_ offline email reader that can scan folders as well as the inbox. I've tried a couple on the iPad, haven't been impressed, and the PC ones have to be constantly switched between online and
That's exactly the reason I think it's useful to be able to pick and choose which
messages to read.
The problem I have is it's more efficient to skim messages than to try and pick and choose from threads.
I think the only reason it can be good to do that is that sometimes the conversation wanders off and people don't always change the subject, so after a while, the subject not match the conversation. That doesn't seem to happen too often on web-based message boards though. People on web-based message boards tend to stick to the subject more.
Why do I still remember my compuserve address?
75300,1375@compuserve
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Cool, well if you have something to be taken for a test drive, slip a sample (or link) my way and I'll give it a look. :)
Sure, how about https://www.musedapp.com/
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
The thing with iOS is that you can register URI's and filetypes to open
in your app. So initially to give it the most flexibility, you could retrieve the QWK/Bluewave with whatever app, and have it open in the reader.
Also, iOS makes it very easy to share files between apps using iCloud Drive and other storage mechanisms via SDKs (like Dropbox, etc).
Another thing I would like to see is the ability to store a BBS profile (derived from the last packet read), so you can compose a message without having to have a QWK/BW packet already lying around.
This is a nice idea. Apps have storage areas on device and in iCloud,
so we could store a history of previous BBSes.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Oh yeah, I've seen that in the past. I remember one mid-sized company I worked for had spent like $50 million on some crazy software to replace the one they were using, to keep track of all the customer data,
orders, etc. It was a staggering aount of money to spend. And it ran
like dog crap. Amazingly terrifying.
Neither do I. Today, the only server outages I have to deal with are my own. :)
Yes, exactly!
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I do, in a kinda strange way. :)
Me too :)
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Yep, I'd rather work with the software and communities that have compatible goals.
I agree. Compatibility makes for a much better user experience.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Ahh yes, the anticipation ... that's something I don't feel with the internet at large. There's just so much instantaneous stuff that I
don't get that feeling.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I do too. I also use a service that sorts my mail out into folders by topic (Receipts, Shopping, etc). It helps a lot.
But even with that, my email address is like 20 years old. So I get a *LOT* of stuff. The bulk of it pretty meaningless. I get excited when I get a personal message --- you know, something crafted by an actual
human who took out time to write you specifically. Yeah, that's cool.
share. All I need is a _decent_ offline email reader that can scan folders as well as the inbox. I've tried a couple on the iPad, haven't been impressed, and the PC ones have to be constantly switched between online and
Yeah that's a pain. OSX's native "Mail" app doesn't really let me know when I have new mail in folders. And since I use gmail for all my mail accounts now, everything is getting wickedly slow. I have hundreds of folders and hundreds of thousands of emails. I think I'm at like 50GB
of email! But wow, going through that and deleting stuff is going to be really time consuming and painful.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Agreed here. Looking at a long list of forum post subjects doesn't
always work to figure out what to read. And then I often carefully
pick, because choosing wrong means I have to sit and wait for the slow site to load and then click Back when I realize I don't care for the thread. And then, oops, the index of posts just reset to the top and I have to use my eyes and scroll down again and find my place. To get
around that I will often only open posts in a new tab, but then it
becomes tab management day, and I'll have 30 browser windows open too.
So much easier to just walk through the posts by pressing ENTER to go through the message bases, and/or use numbers aoccasionally to skip, and/or use arrow keys to navigate through the index of posts!
Good luck navigating a web forum with only your arrow keys :)
Hmm, not for me. I like reading things I may not have even cared to
read if only judged by the subject line. For example, I read almost
every message posted on DOVENet across the different bases. I skip a
lot of the advertisements and such, but I do look (at least briefly) at just about everything else. Pressing ENTER makes it so much easier to
fly through it.
That's what I figured. The icloud option is particularly intriguing for those with two or more devices. Keep your profiles in the cloud, only have to configure the reader on one device. :)
Yep, same for me, and the responsiveness of the text interface here means the limitation is how quickly I can skim the post. :)
GRYPHON wrote to KNIGHT <=-
I've been longing for something like this too. DOVENet and similar help
to make up for it, but it's still rather
quiet in some ways.
I'm curious to know which editor you are using. Your text seems to be
all misaligned and has that saw-tooth quality on the right margins.
I'm trying to decide if it's your editor or my reader. Its interesting
to note that it's only showing up on your posts and not others.
KNIGHT wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Have it as a text tone on my iPhone now... :-)
Nice idea. Though I'm sure it pisses off everyone else around you :)
KNIGHT wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-
Unlike email today. We're under a constant barrage of junk, spam,
mailing lists, and unimportant emails. The whole "inbox zero" thing is absolutely impossible for me, and pretty much meaningless.
Taking your Bluewave or QWK packets in bulk and sitting somewhere quiet with a cup of coffee or tea... that was great.
POINDEXTER FORTRAN wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Delphi Forums used to be nice...
Why do I still remember my compuserve address?
75300,1375@compuserve
Be honest -- do you miss hearing modem handshake tones?
Delphi Forums used to be nice...
I'm seeing some sawtooth on the right, like he hit carriage return
rather than wrapping. I do that on my offline replys to make room
for the "quoted" part on the left when others reply. :-)
I agree. Having an iPhone in my pocket for instant communication is
great, don't get me wrong, but it's also so THERE that it's become
less and less personal!
BBS's and echonets meant replies were a day or two out - but that was
still faster than snail mail. :-)
And you knew it was REAL PEOPLE on the other end. Not that email is
not, but you don't really get the chance to converse deeply!
for example - k
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
That's what I figured. The icloud option is particularly intriguing for those with two or more devices. Keep your profiles in the cloud, only have to configure the reader on one device. :)
Exactly. I use it for so many things, and since I have so many devices this works well.
VECTORGAMER wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Delphi Forums used to be nice...
Are you referring to the Delphi online service? I signed up with them
in the early 90s because they were one of the first service providers
to provide access to the Internet. If memory serves it was Delphi for
DOS and it was a CLI/Menu interface much like found on a BBS. I used to use the chat rooms on Delphi because chat hadn't come to Prodigy or AOL until later.
KNIGHT wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
I'm seeing some sawtooth on the right, like he hit carriage return
rather than wrapping. I do that on my offline replys to make room
for the "quoted" part on the left when others reply. :-)
I'm not hitting carriage return to artificially wrap.
I was using iTerm and telneting out to the BBS. Window was an arbitrary size (I tried various narrow and wide variations).
Now I'm using SyncTERM.
If it's still happening, then it will be FSEditor to blame.
KNIGHT wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
BBS's and echonets meant replies were a day or two out - but that was
still faster than snail mail. :-)
And this meant you had to be more thoughtful about your writing, since
it was more analogous to a letter/postcard/etc... you thought, you
wrote, you "put it in a bottle" and then you threw it out into the
ocean.
Email is essentially instantaneous, and IM/text is immediate. It forces people to be a lot more thoughtless.
Most people I know don't send me emails (though I wish they did).
Instead I get text messages and Facebook private/public messages from them.
Maybe I just need to meet more thoughtful people :)
Yeah, I get that too, and don't get me wrong - I'd MUCH rather have FB messenger than to NOT have communication, but every now and then I think
I'd like to write a letter - or at least type one and print it and mail
it, since my handwriting is so terrible. :-)
Taking your Bluewave or QWK packets in bulk and sitting somewhere quiet with a cup of coffee or tea... that was great.
That was echomail heaven! :D It was always a downer when one ran out of messages in a packet. :)
KNIGHT wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
I still send letters via email and postcards in the snail mail to my grandmother and my dad. It really brightens their day. I wish everyone
did it more often.
Letters are kind of like little creative crafts that anyone can do
regardless of language skill. (I get letters from a 7 year old girl I sponsor in Africa -- and while she can't write, she will scribble some pictures on it, and a translator will write on her behalf)
To me it represents pure creative spark and a common part of the human spirit. I just wish more people were into it.
Then again, people like to be detached from each other these days... seemingly... (i.e. work, work, work, sleep, pay bills, work, work, go
and do something pretending to be rich and famous and post it on
facebook, work, work, work, sleep, etc.)
Poindexter Fortran wrote to Vk3jed <=-
That was echomail heaven! :D It was always a downer when one ran out of messages in a packet. :)
That was CLOSURE! Not something you get every day!
I worked at a job I was overqualified for and was unhappy in the
process. I ended up downloading packets and reading them -- and
remember posting 50 replied in one reply packet!
realitycheckBBS' home in the 1990s was in a little town called Albany, CA - a bit North of Berkeley. My apartment was the top story of a building that included a couple of retail shops and a coffee shop/pub/discussion salon next door called, aptly, THE PUB. Great for get-togethers and the occasional get-out-of-the-house-packet reading.
LOL - yeah, I know what you mean. Since getting back into BBS's (okay, it's only been a week - <g>) I've done LESS and less on facebook. Yes, I'm still there and 'following' certain people, but haven't posted ANYTHING but a
for sale thing in three days.
Twitter is great for a lot of things, but I hit 'overload' on that a LONG time ago and decided I was just not going to be able to stay 'caught up,'
so I've pretty much abandoned it...
I totally remember it was in Albany in the 90s. It was 510 right? I think &TOTSE was also 510, wasn't it?
LOL - yeah, I know what you mean. Since getting back into BBS's (okay,
it's only been a week - <g>) I've done LESS and less on facebook. Yes,
I'm still there and 'following' certain people, but haven't posted
ANYTHING but a for sale thing in three days.
Yeah, me too. Facebook has its advantages, but I don't really feel like I get closer to people with it. It's a nice ice breaker though.
Twitter is great for a lot of things, but I hit 'overload' on that a
LONG time ago and decided I was just not going to be able to stay
'caught up,' so I've pretty much abandoned it...
I was an early Twitter adopter, but it lost its appeal to me a few years ago. Even harder to cultivate a conversation there. It's like group chat with delays for ADD people.
I'm curious to know which editor you are using. Your text seems to be all misaligned and has that saw-tooth quality on the right margins.
I'm trying to decide if it's your editor or my reader. Its interesting to note that it's only showing up on your posts and not others.
I'm seeing some sawtooth on the right, like he hit carriage return
rather than wrapping. I do that on my offline replys to make room
for the "quoted" part on the left when others reply. :-)
VK3JED wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-
True! :) And it also meant that once you finished your mail packet,
there would be few online distractions, unlike today, where Facebook
can just keep bugging you. :)
... Profanity - The Language of Computer Professionals!
KNIGHT wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Yeah, me too. Facebook has its advantages, but I don't really feel like
I get closer to people with it. It's a nice ice breaker though.
I was an early Twitter adopter, but it lost its appeal to me a few
years ago. Even harder to cultivate a conversation there. It's like
group chat with delays for ADD people.
I totally remember it was in Albany in the 90s. It was 510 right? I think &TOTSE was also 510, wasn't it?
Yep - I was 510 527 1662, TOTSE was in Walnut Creek at 510 935 5845.
I've tried Twitter, but it never really seemed very useful to me to post short 140-character posts, or to read such short/abbreviated posts from others. I don't really know many people I'd want to follow on Twitter anyway.
JIMMY ANDERSON wrote to VK3JED <=-
Agreed! I mentioned in another email that Twitter got to be
too much, and now lately I've not ignored Facebook 100%, but
it's taking less and less time... :-)
If I get to make it back to Gencon I'll probably turn on
SOME Twitter notifications for pick up games and such...
... Profanity - The Language of Computer Professionals!
Not just computer pros... Have you heard the language of
firefighters? EMS is almost as bad... SHEESH!
Facebook still gets a bit of my time, it does connect me to various regular groups of people from local groups, in a more practical way.
I don't bother looking at Twitter 99% of the time, but you can follow my IRLP node and see who connectes to it! :D
NIGHTFOX wrote to KNIGHT <=-
I've tried Twitter, but it never really seemed very useful to me to
post short 140-character posts, or to read such short/abbreviated posts from others. I don't really know many people I'd want to follow on Twitter anyway.
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Facebook still gets a bit of my time, it does connect me to various regular groups of people from local groups, in a more practical way.
Me too. I use it a lot. Just don't get a lot of "well thought personal messages" on there. I suppose I'm the guy in my network who is. But, it would be nice to get some sometimes too!
I don't bother looking at Twitter 99% of the time, but you can follow my IRLP node and see who connectes to it! :D
Haha, yeah, Twitter is so well suited for broadcasting information. I
use Twitter only as a marketing tool now too, not for truly connecting with others. It's just too difficult. You would have to be on it all
the time to nurture your contacts.
Agree, and I don't have that kind of time, it's going to remain a broadcast medium for me. If you want to see what my node is up to, you could always follow @stn6390. :)
I knew it! Do you still have archives? I wonder if my account is lying around... :)
I've tried Twitter, but it never really seemed very useful to me to
post short 140-character posts, or to read such short/abbreviated
posts from others. I don't really know many people I'd want to
follow on Twitter anyway.
That's the thing - I don't read it regularly at all. Sometime people
will share links, kinda like a 'headline' - if you like it, click
here for the full story kind of thing.
But at gaming conventions it's a great "broadcast" point... One
person posts (espescially with a hashtag) that they are getting
a pick up game going in a bit and others can 'see' this. This
prevents one person from having to make a group text to, say,
50 people and then hoping that if they can't make it they will
forward to others.
Instead, I can watch for #starwars or #EOTE (edge of the empire)
and when my friend Phil tweets "meet me in the lobby of the
Hilton at 1 am for #EOTE #StarWars #RPG - 6 slots open" then
me and others that are interested can show up or not.
VK3JED wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Facebook still gets a bit of my time, it does connect me to various regular groups of people from local groups, in a more practical way.
I don't bother looking at Twitter 99% of the time, but you can follow
my IRLP node and see who connectes to it! :D
VK3JED wrote to KNIGHT <=-
Agree, and I don't have that kind of time, it's going to remain a broadcast medium for me. If you want to see what my node is up to, you could always follow @stn6390. :)
Agreed! I mentioned in another email that Twitter got to be
too much, and now lately I've not ignored Facebook 100%, but
it's taking less and less time... :-)
I have a backup from 1999. NirvanaNet had mostly died off at that point, but Fidonet was still going strong.
posts without having to add ugly hash text to your posts. I'd think tags could appear as a separate field or something (and in fact, some online
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Speaking of your node -- how is it set up? What hardware/software do
you have going?
JIMMY ANDERSON wrote to VK3JED <=-
When I'm in a painting mood I'll look (and share) painting of
X-Wing miniatures.
I don't bother looking at Twitter 99% of the time, but you can follow
my IRLP node and see who connectes to it! :D
LOL
... Is fire supposed to shoot out of it like that!?
Hardware is an 800 MHz Celeron based board, 256M RAM, 2G CF storage. My
node is _heavily_ modified, running a one off configuration, using thelinkbox. Using an IC-2720 on receiver (overkill, I know, but it has blown finals), Kenwood TM-G707A on 10W as the transmitter. A second port
controls the FT-736R, which is the remote base radio. This one is fully optioned up with 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm.
JIMMY ANDERSON wrote to VK3JED <=-
@VIA: VERT/OTHETA
@MSGID: <56ECEC6A.83166.dove-gen@vert.synchro.net>
VK3JED wrote to KNIGHT <=-
Agree, and I don't have that kind of time, it's going to remain a broadcast medium for me. If you want to see what my node is up to, you could always follow @stn6390. :)
LOL - I just checked it out. You could use some punctuation. ;-)
Knight wrote to Vk3jed <=-
@VIA: VERT/PHUNC
@MSGID: <56ED1D92.4306.dove-general@bbs.phunc.com>
@REPLY: <56ED1A9A.842.dove-general@freeway.apana.org.au>
@TZ: c1e0
Re: Re: Internet Forums
By: Vk3jed to Knight on Sat Mar 19 2016 07:54 pm
Hardware is an 800 MHz Celeron based board, 256M RAM, 2G CF storage. My
Oh I miss the Celeron. Those suckers were so cheap (at the time).
node is _heavily_ modified, running a one off configuration, using thelinkbox. Using an IC-2720 on receiver (overkill, I know, but it has blown finals), Kenwood TM-G707A on 10W as the transmitter. A second port
Blown finals?
controls the FT-736R, which is the remote base radio. This one is fully optioned up with 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm.
What are you using that for?
Sounds like a nice setup. I'm assuming you have other radios for your
own use on location too. Do you have a lot of antennas?
Who uses your IRLP node? Just yourself? Or do you get some decent range that others use it too?
NIGHTFOX wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Yeah, I sometimes read stores I see posted on Facebook. But the difference is that I know people & organizations on Facebook I'm interested in following, whereas on Twitter I don't. And since I
already use Facebook for that purpose, I don't really feel much need to also use Twitter for that.
That's true. I've always thought hashtags look a little ugly, but they are useful for following particular subjects online.
One of the
drawbacks is that people need to remember to post a specific hashtag in order for people to easily find it..
TRACKER1 wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
Agreed! I mentioned in another email that Twitter got to be
too much, and now lately I've not ignored Facebook 100%, but
it's taking less and less time... :-)
FB Messenger did that for me.. and gimping their mobile website even
more so... They were the biggest battery users on my phone, and I
didn't want the two of them... the only social media app on my phone is twitter, and it's starting to get annoying lately.
FB Messenger did that for me.. and gimping their mobile website even more so... They were the biggest battery users on my phone, and I didn't want the two of them... the only social media app on my phone
I still have them all on my phone, but I also keep my phone plugged
in while at my desk or in the truck. Battery life is not really an
issue for me - it's more in what is giving me what I need as far as communicaton goes.
I was an early Twitter adopter, but it lost its appeal to me a few years ago. Even harder to cultivate a conversation there. It's like group chat with delays
I do like the character limit on Twitter because it eliminates tl;dr posts and forces people to get to the point.
The CTRL codes don't even correspond to their actions, and it's a pain to use.
I'm curious to know which editor you are using. Your text seems to be all misaligned and has that saw-tooth quality on the right margins. I'm trying to decide if it's your editor or my reader. Its interesting to note that it's only showing up on your posts and not others.
I'm using the stock FSEditor in Synchronet. But yeah, I'm noticing that in replies to my messages. Very strange.
Be honest -- do you miss hearing modem handshake tones?
Knight
MRO wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
i dont know what editor you are using but it's taking what i wrote and saying tracker wrote it.
MRO wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
i wouldnt install the fb app or fb messenger. i use a wrapper app that just retools the mobile website for me to use.
MRO wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
i wouldnt install the fb app or fb messenger. i use a wrapper app
that just retools the mobile website for me to use.
Have them both with no problems...
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