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Text File | 1986-08-24 | 29.3 KB | 649 lines

(Note from Henry: My experience has not been as bad as this guy's, but if you contribute to this system, I thank you. If you don't, you know who you are.) REQUIEM FOR A SYSOP ------------------- Excerpt from an article in "PC WEEK", Nov. 20, 1984: "There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there is an ample supply of free software that's yours for the asking. All you have to do is dial up, make a connection, browse through a couple of menus, check over long lists of available software, make your choices and start downloading." Exchange of E-Mail between sysop and BBS user: ------------------------------------------------ Well, John, the good news is that the faulty file has been fixed but the bad news is that your downloading privileges have been revoked. I just went through the last two months of logs and came up with some interesting statistics. During that time you have logged on 23 times, downloaded 66 files and uploaded NONE. You have called for chat twice, and left a total of two messages on the board, one requesting a specific program and the other informing me of a disk error in a download file. I can only draw the conclusion that you are interested in this board for ONE REASON ONLY -- to rape hell out of the download menus. I've left plenty of messages regarding PARTICIPATION in the BBS and the Message Base, but you either haven't read them or else you ignored them. Sorry, but one-way streets just don't hack it around here. Jim. Jim, I have been taking part in the BBS. Every time I log on I read all the new messages. John. John, I just can't help but feel that in all that time you could have at least said "Hi" or "Thanks for the downloads" or SOMETHING to acknowledge that there's a real live human being on this end. Jim. Except for power failures, my computer has been continually running since Nov. 11, 1982, and has fieldedèover 12,000 telephone calls operating as a BBS. Back then, it was a joy to be a part of the realm of computer telecommunications -- now it's a drag. It seems to me that a "GIMMEE" attitude has pervaded the whole arena of BBSing, with callers interested in nothing more than material gains in the way of software. My board is far from the busiest, being isolated in the "foreign country" of Montana, but an average day will see about 20 or 25 calls to the system. An average day will also see about three or four messages (of ALL types, including E-Mail) being posted. The typical log entry shows so-and-so logging on, going to the file transfer area, downloading several files and then logging off. Thanks, that's why I started up a BBS, to supply people with free programs. Really makes my day to see that I've spent all this time and money just to watch pigs at the trough. Whatever happened to the COMMUNICATIONS in telecommunications? Is this the result of the Computer Age, that people don't talk or communicate with each other? Are we getting so totally in tune with our equipment that we're excluding PEOPLE? If so, then Orwell's predictions are tame in comparison with the reality. Who took the BULLETIN BOARD out of Bulletin Board System? The file transfer section of my board is shiny from daily use, but the bulletin section is obscured by cobwebs. The thought has crossed my mind more than once just to load up a host program and let people grab whatever programs look interesting. "Do you have a logon code for this system (Y/N) ==> Y <==" "What is your account number? 775" "What is your logon code? PASSWORD" "INVALID LOGON CODE" "Do you have a logon code for this system (Y/N) ==> Y <==" "What is your account number? 305" "What is your logon code? PASSWORD" et cetera, ad infinitum et ad nauseam. Hackers. Or so they'd like to believe. Vandals, pests, yes. Hackers? They should be so talented, devoted and lucky. Why do these computerized delinquents find such delight in trying to break into bulletin boards? Don't they realize that sysops are ordinary people just like themselves trying to find a little enjoyment in their hobby? Why pick on me? I'm spending a lot of time and money trying to provide people a service for free, and they want to go and spoil it for everyone. Heck, if they want onto the system, all they have to do is apply for a logon. Why make life difficult for everyone? Leave me alone. Goèpick on CompuServe. Caller logs on. Leaves E-Mail to a friend. Lines only fill half the screen, so he's probably using a Commodore 64. Goes to file transfer section, and selects UltraTerm protocol. Chooses a file that indicates it's a TRS-80 program. BBS goes to send, he figures out that he's somewhere he doesn't want to be and drops carrier. Another caller logs on four times in a row, but keeps losing carrier before he can do anything. Probably phreaking on a cheapie phone service. Another caller successfully downloads a file. Sit. Wait. Wait some more. System eventually times out and drops him. I'm not the most polite person in the world and I'm certainly not one to stand on ceremony, but I am old enough to remember what manners were. They also went down the tubes with "communications" and "bulletin boards." Whoops! Dropped carrier! So what? If it's a halfway decent system, it'll reboot. Well, I'll just go to bed while downloading this long file, the system will eventually throw me off and reboot. Never mind that there's other people wanting to call into the board. Who cares that the sysop climbs the walls when he sees someone drop carrier or time-out on the system? Lately I've gotten into the habit of dropping carrier ON MY END for the worst offenders. One good hang-up deserves another. Along with all the other goodies that have bitten the dust, there's good old APPRECIATION. As I mentioned before, my BBS has fielded over 12,000 calls. Out of all of them, I have gotten maybe a dozen messages saying "Thanks for running your BBS." That's about one "Thank You" per THOUSAND calls! Unfortunately, it seems that people think they have all this automatically coming to them. It's their right! Sorry to disillusion anyone, but that just ain't so. The master switch for this system is two feet away, and I'm not so decrepit that I can't hit it in a flash. Alternatively, I can ban anyone I wish from my system. Callers use this BBS at my forbearance only, and it's not a God-given right. It's a sysop-given privilege! I sincerely feel that we should proclaim a "Sysop Appreciation Day." We certainly don't get any on a day-to-day basis! Don't get me wrong. There ARE joys and benefits inèrunning a BBS, although sometimes in my nether moods I'm hard pressed to enumerate them. But the fact is, there have been many occasions when I've rested my finger on the switch with the idea of going offline forever. Now for the moral of the story. I'm only one sysop among many, and I'm not trying to evoke sympathy for myself through this article. The point is that almost every sysop around has these feelings to some extent or another. And further, most of these sysops (especially the best and most devoted ones) are going to reach a saturation point and wind up depriving the general public of their services. I foresee a day coming, and very soon at that, when the high quality BBS's will be all gone. So all this is really a plea for everyone to shape up their acts before it's too late. If nothing else, when you're on a bulletin board, leave a little message to the sysop. "Thanks for the use of your system" or "Fine BBS you have here." Let them know they're appreciated. When I see a message like that, I say to myself, "THAT's why I'm doing all this!" Sysops are real, live human beings with feelings and emotions. Let's start treating them as such! Epilogue: Twelve hours after the above was written, I find out that one of my best friends (with higher than normal access to the system) has allowed a third party to use her logon. That's forbidden for anyone on my BBS to do, but it hurts even more because a valued and trusted friend who should have known better went and did it. That's the final straw. The Most Significant Byte BBS is no longer in existence. Jim Anderson, Ex-Sysop The Most Significant Byte BBS Billings, Montana January 13, 1984 ------------------------------- 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 BBSèhas the "peculiarities" 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 by 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 alot 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 fourè 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 unnecessary. 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 CRACKERSè 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 have lost my patience with these moral eunuchs, 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. è 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 "locals" 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. Pun intended. 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 inèat 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 privileged 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. ---------------------------- What ever happened to real bulletin-board systems? First off, I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I cannot be objective in these notes. These are observations, but they are from 1) a Sysop 2) a user of 8BBS, the greatest BBS ever evolved 3) a boy ... who's become a boyish programmer 4) an old timer....1977 was when I first startedè using BBS systems. 5) the author of a BBS system If you're expecting objectivity, then don't bother reading on. I have a rather unique perspective on the entire BBS scene. I've been around since close to the beginning, and I'm wondering what has happened. Have BBS's gone the way of CB? Is the entire system in a slump? Is there anything wrong at all? I'm going to try to present these questions and show how things have changed...for the better, and for the worst. HISTORY: A long time ago, in a city far-far away, two men had an insight. Ward Christensen and Randy Suess wanted a way to leave notes and messages to their programmer/engineer friends. Back then, modems were used by field-engineers and some high-level executives to talk to their companies computers. A 300 baud modem was extremely fast, as most people were using 110 baud TeleTypes. Ward and Randy devloped the concept of the BBS. They called it CBBS, for "Computer Bulletin Board System." CBBS was the first of its kind. It was an enormous program written in 8080 assmebly language. By our standards today, it was kludgy and bug-ridden, but back then it was heavenly. Users could enter messages and read messages... that was about it. CBBS was a wonderful concept, but it was localized to the Chicago area. Ward and Randy were the only ones who were running the program. Then Bill Blue came along and wrote ABBS, which was designed to "emulate" the CBBS system. I feel it was ABBS, rather than CBBS which made the real breakthrough. While ABBS was much less powerful, and more difficult to use, it could be run on a "universal" machine: --The Apple ][-- Anyone with an Apple ][ and a D.C. Hayes MM][ modem could run ABBS. This program could be installed in a matter of minutes, and anyone could have their own bulletin board system. Soon after the release of ABBS, several other BBS programs (for various computers) soon followed. ABBS was the king for many years, just because there were more ABBS systems than any other BBS program available. It is this time that I would like to refer to as the "Golden age of the BBS." It wasn't as golden as you might think. Most Sysops would come home every evening from work to find that their BBS had crashed because of yet another bug. Even back then, user's logged in under false names and left obscene messages. The one point that made that age golden was the users. Without users, a BBS is just a program. With users, it gains a personality, and if I may be metaphysical, a soul. The users MAKE the BBS. A Sysop may have the greatest BBS program in the world, but without active users, he just has a computer wasting line-current.è LIFE IN THE "GOLDEN AGE" A user would think nothing of spending his Saturday helping "The Sysop" find an intermittant bug in the BBS program. A user would not only answer his or HER mail, but also butt into other people's conversations and throw in his/her two cents worth. A user would suggest improvements to make the system easier to use. A Sysop would care for his BBS like a baby. He'd spend 2 hours each night writing messages and playing with modifications to the program. A Sysop would NOT restrict conversation to one particular topic...such as CP/M software. A Sysop would tolerate kids who were just learning how to use modems. He'd even give them a hand getting things working. A Sysop would [on his own preference] dilligently weed out obscene or "pseudo-illegal" messages, -- or -- promote them as he saw fit. Users would start clubs, such as the well known "Gabber Gang" and later the infamous "Phone Phriekers" who figured so prominently into BBS history. The government didn't try to restrict BBS users. It was just "us" against tyranny (at that time "Ma Bell"). Although most users did not approve of "Phone Phrieking", everyone talked about it, and was interested in it for curiosity sake if nothing else. [Hard to believe, but true.] Uploading and downloading of programs did not exist. BBS's were few and far between. When I wrote the OxGate, the two closest other CP/M based machines were Kelly Smith in Simi Valley (375 miles away), and "Jim C" in Larkspur (100 miles away). People tended to congregate on the local system. WHAT HAS KILLED BBS SYSTEMS: 1) Program uploading and downloading. People just get their programs and leave. 2) The technical clique's retaliation against "gabbers" who just used the systems for personal communication. 3) Too many BBS systems in one area. BBS's are still alive and healthy in low-density areas. è 4) The loss of "anonimity" among BBS users. The BBS used to be the place to escape. Where no one had to be "themselves." Users such as "James Bond" and "Captain Scarlet" were given free reign to vent their fantasies. Today, most systems do not allow false names so they can keep track of users. 5) The anti-hacker movement. More and more people today think the word "hacker" means "phone phriek/computer crasher." All it ever meant was "great programmer." You would feel proud if someone labeled you a "hacker." 6) The press' ignorance of the BBS community. By trying to make a scandal out of all of it, they ruined a great form of communication. In particular, the magazine "InfoWorld" has done more harm to the BBS community than other press organization. While they actively TRIED to HELP the community, they have caused more harm in their mis-reporting of info. 7) Sysop's ignorance. Quite frankly, the average quality of "Sysop" has dropped. Sysop's are (on the whole) less active and less responsive than 5 years ago. More and more of them are technically incompetent, they couldn't fix a bug if it bit them in the nose. All of these problems are inter-related. We can't solve any of them until all of them are solved. From my descriptions it should be obvious that the "golden age" certainly wasn't all gold. People like "James Bond" and "Sam Daniels" had to be stopped, but the pendulum has swung too far to the opposite side. These observations are very general. I've noticed this swing, and it has taken place on 95% of all of the system's I've called across America. It's sad that these problems have stabbed us in the back, but it's not too late to try and bring about a change. I don't have the answers, but maybe these observations will prompt thought into this death of a virtual "art form" of communication. There is one possible solution to this problem... the acceptance of children again. For too long we've been kicking off kids (both phyiscal and "kids at heart"). They've been disruptive, and caused fights galore. Many have even tried to crash the systems they used. "If there's any hope, it lies with the proles." -- George Orwell, _1984_ Perhaps the thing to do is call a few local Commodore and Apple boards and let the users know that they're just as welcome on your super-fancy 100mb 2400 baud RCP/M system as any of your so- called "serious users" . . . "serious users" who can't even bring themselves to answer their own mail. Saddening.è