Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/090/sysop.txt

Text File | 1985-03-15 | 14KB | 264 lines

                             WHY I DO IT

                            P. L. Olympia
                 Sysop, SUGI SIG/M RBBS, 301-963-5249
                               02/08/85


PURPOSE

     The  purpose  of this little piece is to explain to you  who  are
users  of  my  RBBS why I operate the board and why the  BBS  has  the
"pecularities"  that it has.   I also want to let you know what it  is
like  being  on this end of the modem line in the hope that  once  you
understand  what it is like to be a Sysop,  you will be more sensitive
to the code of behavior expected of you as an RBBS user.

     There  is  one other reason for this  piece:  I  am  increasingly
forced to adopt certain restrictions that are diametrically opposed to
my  "religion" of keeping an open RBBS.   I have always said,  when  I
first  started this,  that I would rather shut down the BBS than adopt
certain policies that I find distasteful. So, if one day you call, and
find the phone just ringing, you will know why.

     Let me say at the outset that in my experience, many RBBS callers
observe the ground rules and truly deserve the service.  If you belong
to  that group please do not be offended with what I have to say  here
as  any  offensive remark you find in this piece clearly is not  meant
for you.


WHY I DO IT

     I  operate  the  SUGI  SIG/M RBBS as a free  public  service  for
several reasons:

  o  Computing, particularly DBMS and telecommunications, is my hobby.
     I  run a lot of experiments with the BBS for my own  intellectual
     growth;

  o  As  a forum of information exchange among SUGI SIG/M  members  in
     particular, and the public in general;

  o  To repay those Sysops and users who have shared with me (from the
     early years when I operated a private CP/M BBS) some of the  best
     public domain programs in the world;

  o  To  help  responsible novices get started (I was a novice too  at
     one  time)  so  that they may later share  their  knowledge  with
     others;

  o  I  have watched RBBS-PC grow over the years,  and I lamented  the
     fact that unlike RCP/M,  no one bothered to organize and maintain
     a comprehensive and up-to-date list of RBBS's in the  country.  I
     knew that doing that is a lot of work,  but someone had to do it.
     I  "volunteered"  to be that one.   Thus,  one of  the  important
     functions  of the SUGI SIG/M RBBS is as a repository of the  most
     complete and up-to-date RBBS list as a service to the entire RBBS
     community.

     The  SUGI  SIG/M  RBBS,  like most boards in the  country,  is  a
professional BBS intended solely for serious business users.   It  has
an  educational games section only because most serious  professionals
have  children who might use those games to get started.  Mine did  at
the age of four and is now doing very well, thank you.

     I  like to think that my RBBS is one of the best in the  country.
If it is not, it is NOT because I did not try. I am still trying.


WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING?

     I  am  a firm believer of an open RBBS,  that  "registration"  is
totally unnecesary.  I was convinced that users who have been provided
a useful and free tool will, at the very least, observe certain ground
rules  laid  out by the Sysop.   For more than six  months,  mine  was
probably the only RBBS-PC in the country where no daily time limit was
imposed - a user can log on any number of times on a given day so long
as  she  waits  at least 20 minutes between calls  to  give  others  a
chance.   While  95%   of  the callers did just that,  the  rotten  5%
spoiled things for everyone and I was forced to impose the daily  time
limit  you now labor under.   As if that were not enough some  callers
persisted  in logging on under fictitious names despite my plea  right
there  on  the  Welcome screen that aliases are not tolerated  on  the
board.  Some did it because they never matured; others did it as a way
to get around the daily time limit so that, to paraphrase Jim Anderson
in his REQUIEM.TXT (which is required reading for you),  the "pigs can
feed some more at the trough".

     Against my will, I was then forced to institute a policy that new
users  cannot  download files or perform most  normal  RBBS  functions
until they leave their name,  address and phone.  The policy was meant
to  be temporary;  I have removed the restriction twice in two  months
only  to institute it again,  because a very small minority of callers
made life difficult for me and everybody else.   The day I adopt  this
policy on a permanent basis is the day I shut down this BBS.   I think
that  new  callers owe it to the Sysop to leave the information  as  a
gesture  of  COURTESY  even if the BBS does not  have  a  registration
policy. I encourage my callers to tell me where they work only because
I  deal with a lot of companies and just in case my business folds,  I
would like to have a place to recommend to my staff.   I look at  that
as a service to the companies because my staff is very good.

     Most BBS in the country now has a "registration" policy.  And who
can  blame  Sysops for adopting that?  I know for a fact that a  Sysop
would  prefer  not to have that policy were it not for  a  very  small
minority of immature,  delinquent and inconsiderate callers.   Just so
you  understand  some of the reasons for that policy,  take heed of  a
Sysop's pet peeves below.   I do not speak for anyone but myself but I
am willing to bet that my own pet peeves are also other Sysops'.

MY PET PEEVES

1.  THE SYSTEM CRACKERS

     Crackers (not "Hackers",  the press has caused much confusion  in
     terminology)  are the lowest form of life.   They are a bunch  of
     delinquent  nincompoops  who  find special delight in  trying  to
     break  into  BBS's to cause irreversible damage in  the  hope  of
     depriving  people a free and useful service.   I am fortunate  in
     that  out  of about 6000 calls thus far,  I have been visited  by
     these  slimes  only 15 times and all attempts to break  into  the
     system have been fruitless.   These jokers have tried many  times
     to  download  the  RBBS secure files  including  user  passwords,
     commercial  programs (a definite no-no) used to operate the RBBS,
     and  even  my  AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS  files  which  contain
     nothing that will help them.  Ninety percent of these delinquents
     call  at 300 bps,  one reason I will no longer support 300 bps in
     the very near future.

     These frustrated crackers vent their frustration by leaving nasty
     messages.  And I thought I already have a wide vocabulary!

     I  am getting tired of these delinquents and hereby issuing  fair
     warning.  If you are a twit, start growing up.  The next time you
     try to download a forbidden file from me, the system will give it
     to you, but if you try to use it ... bingo!

2.  THE GIMMES

     Jim was right on target in his condemnation of callers who  labor
     under  the illusion that an RBBS is a one-way street that  exists
     only for the enrichment of their software collection.   It is sad
     but  true - the majority of callers fall under this  category.  I
     have  entertained  the idea of modifying PC-TALK so that it  only
     has a DOWNLOAD function.  Might as well.  The upload function has
     never  been used by these callers.   I was going to re-issue  the
     program under the name ... you guessed it ... PC-GIMME.EXE.

     If  you  are a novice,  no one is blaming you if all  you  do  is
     download.   One of the reasons for an RBBS is to help novices get
     started.   It seems to me,  though, that once you have downloaded
     40  or so files,  you should have benefited from those files  and
     stopped being a novice.   It is time to repay some of those folks
     who  helped  you.   I  have  two callers on my  system  who  have
     downloaded  230+ files and uploaded NONE.   I hope those  fellows
     download this file - their last.

     Not everyone is born to be a programmer.  Even if you do not have
     an original program to contribute to the public domain, there are
     many things you can do to help your Sysop.

     I  am  still  naive and believe that most people  would  like  to
     contribute and may not know how. Well, here's how for a start.

     One, if you see a message on the board (you do know that there is
     a  message  section on the BBS,  right?) from  someone  asking  a
     question  or asking for help,  and you think you have the answer,
     by  all means respond to the message.  Don't just depend  on  the
     Sysop to provide a free consulting service to everybody.

     Two,  if  you  discover something useful either in the course  of
     your work or as a result of reading an article or whatever, don't
     keep it to yourself.  Either post a message on the BBS or write a
     little text file and upload it.

     Three,  a  Sysop should not have to call all over the country  so
     that you may have files to download.  If you run across a new and
     useful  file on another BBS (particularly if it is  long-distance
     from your favorite Sysop's BBS),  upload the file.   Some callers
     think  that Sysops do not want their files sent to other  boards.
     Nothing can be farther from the truth. All public domain programs
     are  meant to be shared and all boards exist for that purpose  if
     nothing  else.   Just  the other day I sent one  of  my  original
     programs  to  my  favorite board in the  South,  and  later  that
     afternoon  a Sysop from NJ sent me the same file that I had  just
     released a few hours earlier!

     There   are  two  severe  forms  of  "gimmes".   One  is   called
     "vulturitis"  and  afflicts a very few (thankfully) who  logs  on
     every  single  night - at prime time at that - and picks off  the
     files as soon as the Sysop puts them up.   Another form is called
     "author-gimmes"  and  afflicts  two  users on  my  BBS  who  have
     authored one or two useful programs that somehow found themselves
     on  other  local  boards but mine.   These  fellows  are  regular
     "gimmes" on my board. I don't get it.

3. THE INCONSIDERATES

     The  inconsiderates (1) download a file then go to  Peoria  while
     the  file transfer is in progress and let the system time out and
     log them off, (2) just drop carrier when they're done without the
     decency of issuing G(oodbye), (3) calls to see the color screen
     and  hear the Welcome music,  drops carrier then calls again  for
     another  round  of  color and music,  (4) sign on  with  multiple
     aliases for more time at the "pig trough".

4. THE CONTROL-S'ERS

     These  callers  like to do a CTRL-S to prevent  the  screen  from
     scrolling without realizing that unless they caused the system to
     do otherwise,  the system will pause per screenful of lines.   If
     you  belong  to this group you should know that (at least  on  my
     system)  whenever you do a CTRL-S,  both partitions of  Multilink
     freeze  and I am not able to continue whatever I am doing in  the
     foreground.   I  promise  you that I will only tolerate  so  many
     CTRL-S  in  one session particularly during daytime when I am  at
     the  office using the machine in the foreground.  I  will  always
     drop  carrier  on CTRL-S users who call in at 300 bps during  the
     day as that compounds the problem. You should know that extensive
     screen listing at 300 bps slows me down in the foreground.  Thus,
     if  you have a choice of ASCII or XMODEM download,  pick  XMODEM.
     If you are an incurable CTRL-S'er,  call at night - very late  at
     night.


5.  THE INGRATES

     These hopeless creatures do not bother to read the bulletins  and
     become  very upset because their access level is low.   One  even
     left  a  message saying "I demand a high access  level".  Demand?
     Have  I got news for you buddy!   You use this BBS because I  say
     so.  You  don't  use it for the same reason.   This is  not  your
     birthright. I think Jim said much the same thing.


WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RUN AN RBBS?

     By  now,  you should have an idea of what a Sysop's life is like.
If  you are thinking of starting a first-class RBBS,  you should  know
that it takes infinite patience and a lot of time.  I spend an average
of  two  and  a  half hours a day on the RBBS  doing  such  things  as
responding  to  comments  and messages,  uploading  files  from  home,
changing new users access level, organizing file directories, deleting
useless  files,   looking  new  files  over  and  updating   bulletins
particularly the RBBS list.

     You must love computing to be a Sysop. You also have to be crazy.


PARTING NOTE

     I  would  like to end this piece with a note of thanks  to  those
callers  who have made running the RBBS worth all the heartburn.  I am
priveleged  to  have  a community of 25-30 callers (out  of  almost  a
thousand)  who know what RBBSing is all about.   What makes  the  SUGI
SIG/M RBBS unique is not that it has far more out-of-town callers than
local callers,  but that it has this small community of users who have
gone  out  of their way to help the system grow and who think  of  the
RBBS as their own.

     Which, of course, it is.