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***** JEFF'S BBS REVIEW *****
by Jeff Hunter & the Temple of the Screaming Electron
1-510-935-5845
NIRVANAnet(tm) node 9:900/2
Fidonet node 1:161/211
Puppynet node 16:900/1
I originally created The BBS Review after moving to Walnut Creek and
spending too much time tracking down BBSes that specialized in things that
I was interested in. There are a lot of BBS lists out there, but most of
them just give you names and phone numbers. The BBS Review also gives a
description of each BBS so that you can quickly find a BBS that caters to
whatever your interest is. The main features of the BBS Review are:
* It allows people to describe their favorite BBS in detail, which allows
readers to quickly locate BBSes that they wish to call.
* The Review is sorted by area code first, and then alphabetically by BBS
name within each area code. This makes it possible for readers to
quickly find BBSes that are local calls.
* It is available in both ANSI and ASCII formats, so it makes a great
color bulletin file.
* It automatically deletes BBS listings that are over six months old, so
readers don't end up wasting time calling defunct BBSes. This also
insures that BBSes which change over time get fresh reviews periodically.
* It is implemented as a *distributed* questionnaire, so that people can
answer the Review's questions on many different BBS systems and all of
the reviews from all of the different systems can be compiled into one
report.
* BBS entries are keyed by phone number. You can change ANY review at ANY
time by simply answering the questionnaire again using the same phone
number.
Jeff's BBS Review is produced by the & Temple of the Screaming Electron BBS.
It may be copied and distributed as long as no changes are made to the list.
For BBS DELETIONS send Netmail to Jeff Hunter at & the Temple of the
Screaming Electron.
**** SETTING UP THE BBS REVIEW ****
Setting up the BBS Review is easy. Just get a copy of the current
Remote Access questionnaire file BBSREV.Q-A and install it as a Remote
Access questionnaire on any menu of your system. I recommend having a main
menu option called "[B] BBS List" which calls a sub-menu. The sub-menu can
have three options: "[A] Add to BBS List", "[R] Read BBS List", and
"[Q] Quit to Main Menu".
The "Add" option calls the BBSREV.Q-A file as a questionnaire type menu
option. The "Read" option displays the text file BBSREV.A?? as a type 45
menu option.
Currently the only questionnaire available is for Remote Access -type BBS
systems. I am currently working on getting a Telegard version of the
questionnaire written. If you have a BBS that supports questionnaires and
you'd like to add the BBS Review to your system, please contact me and
I'll give you the specs.
**** GETTING A CURRENT COPY OF THE BBS REVIEW ****
The latest version of the BBS Review can always be file-requested using
the magic name BBSREV from either &TOTSE @ 1:161/211 or KnowledgeMatters
@ 1:161/201. I recommend trying to get it from KnowledgeMatters since
&TOTSE's line is usually busy. In fact, &TOTSE's lines are so busy that
Earl Ruby, the sysop of KnowledgeMatters, has agreed to allow me to use
his board as the main support board for the BBS Review. Throughout the
rest of this document you will see me list 1:161/201 as the board to work
with when getting new copies of the Review or uploading answer files for
the BBSA Review. More support BBSes will be added in the future and their
names and network addresses will be listed here.
To make your system automatically file-request the BBSREV, you can get a
program such as XROBOT which will do automatic file requests, or you can
do things in a more simple-minded fashion like this:
In a mailer such as FrontDoor, go into the editor and create a message to
1:161/201. For the subject type "BBSREV" and for the status hit ^R,
file-request. Also select "Crash" and "Immediate" status. Leave the text
of the message empty.
Look and see what the message number is. If it's message number 87, write
that down. Then go into the directory where mail is stored. With
FrontDoor, that's usually \FD\MAIL. There should be a file in there with
the message number as a file name and the extension .MSG. For example, if
the message number was 87 there would be a file in \FD\MAIL called 87.MSG.
Rename that file to 999.BBS. Now, Frontdoor won't recognize the message
as a message.
In your BBS batch file, create a monthly event which does the following:
========================================================================
:nightly_maintenance
REM *** Do nightly maintenance ***
REM *** Use a shareware utility such as DOM to set
REM *** the errorlevel to a particular day of the month.
DOM
REM *** On the 15th day of each month, get a new copy of the BBS Review
if errorlevel 16 goto end_rev
if errorlevel 15 goto get_bbs_rev
goto end_rev
:get_bbs_rev
copy \fd\mail\999.bbs \fd\mail\999.msg
:end_rev
REM *** Check to see if there's a new copy of the BBS Review
if not exist \fd\file\bbsrev.zip goto end_maintenance
REM *** There is a new copy. Update the bulletin
REM *** copy and the file section copy.
pkunzip -o \fd\file\bbsrev \ra\text
copy \fd\file\bbsrev.zip \files\bbslists\bbsrev.zip
:end_maintenance
========================================================================
This program will automatically copy file request message to 999.MSG on
the 15th day of each month. As soon as your nightly event returns to
FrontDoor, FrontDoor will see an immediate-crash file-request and will
send that file-request to 1:161/201. Upon connecting to 1:161/201, your
system will receive a new copy of the BBS Review.
Once your system has obtained the file, it will automatically update
the bulletins and the file section with the new copy of the BBS Review.
**** GETTING YOUR SYSTEM'S ANSWER FILE INTO THE BBS REVIEW ****
Anybody can download the BBS Review and add it to their bulletins and to
their file list. To get your system's answer file included in the BBS
Review, you have to set up an account with me.
First of all, call &TOTSE and fill out the BBS Review for your BBS.
Then leave me E-Mail stating that you want your board to carry The BBS
Review. Also leave me either a Fidonet node address or a phone number
where you can be reached. I will assign you a eight-letter "BBS Code"
which you will use when uploading your answer files.
Basically, you can upload your answer files using the same method outlined
above for downloading new copies of The BBS Review. First, create a
netmail message in your mailer's editor. The netmail should be addressed
to 1:161/201. The subject line will be the eight-letter BBS code that I
assign to you, followed by the extension .ASW. The status of the message
should have "File", "Crash", and "Immediate" included in it.
Look and see what the message number is. If it's message number 89, write
that down. Then go into the directory where mail is stored. With
FrontDoor, that's usually \FD\MAIL. There should be a file in there with
the message number as a file name and the extension .MSG. For example, if
the message number was 89 there would be a file in \FD\MAIL called 89.MSG.
Rename that file to 998.BBS. Now, Frontdoor won't recognize the message
as a message.
Further modify your BBS's batch file to look somewhat like this:
========================================================================
:nightly_maintenance
REM *** Do nightly maintenance ***
REM *** Use a shareware utility such as DOM to set
REM *** the errorlevel to a particular day of the month.
DOM
REM *** On the 15th day of each month, get a new copy of the BBS Review
if errorlevel 16 goto end_rev
if errorlevel 15 goto get_bbs_rev
REM *** On the 10th day of each month, send in new answers
if errorlevel 11 goto end_rev
if errorlevel 10 goto send_asw
goto end_rev
:get_bbs_rev
copy \fd\mail\999.bbs \fd\mail\999.msg
goto end_rev
:send_asw
copy \ra\bbsrev.asw \ra\BBSCODE.ASW
del \ra\bbsrev.asw
copy \fd\mail\998.bbs \fd\mail\998.msg
:end_rev
REM *** Check to see if there's a new copy of the BBS Review
if not exist \fd\file\bbsrev.zip goto end_maintenance
REM *** There is a new copy. Update the bulletin
REM *** copy and the file section copy.
pkunzip -o \fd\file\bbsrev \ra\text
copy \fd\file\bbsrev.zip \files\bbslists\bbsrev.zip
:end_maintenance
========================================================================
On the 10th day of each month, your system will rename the BBSREV.ASW
file to your system's BBS Code name and then send that file to 1:161/201.
1:161/201 will bundle all of the answer files that it recieves into one
big packet and send that to &TOTSE. &TOTSE will process all of the data,
create the next BBS Review, and send a new copy to 1:161/201.
On the 15th, your system will contact &TOTSE and get a new copy of the BBS
Review, complete with all of the new entries from your system.
**** SUMMING IT UP ****
If you want to carry the BBS Review on your system, contact Jeff Hunter at
& the Temple of the Screaming Electron. (The phone number is at the
beginning of this document.)
So that I don't have everyone trying to call 1:161/201 all on the same
night, please use other dates than the "10th" and the "15th" as shown in
the example. *DO* leave about 5 days between sending your answer file
and picking up a new review.
If you don't want to carry the questionnaire but do want to carry the
Review as a bulletin and/or as a file, that's fine too.