BBS Toolkit/BBS Toolkit.iso/spitfire/sf0493.zip/SF04-93.TXT

Text File | 1993-04-10 | 36KB | 722 lines

        ╔════════════════════════════════════════════╗
        ║                                            ╟─┐
        ║      K E E P I N G   I N   T O U C H       ║ │
        ║      ═══════════════════════════════       ║ │
        ║    SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter     ║ │
        ║      for registered SPITFIRE Sysops!       ║ │
        ║                April 1993                  ║ │
        ║   Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE    ║ │
        ║     Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496     ║ │
        ║       38400/19200/9600/2400/1200 Baud      ║ │
        ║                  2 Nodes                   ║ │
        ║                                            ║ │
        ╚═╤══════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
          └────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    Edited by Jacque Shipley
       The Mother Board BBS - [phone] - 19200 Baud
                Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede
      Roam This Fertile Land -  [phone] - 2400 Baud
         Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz
                  Other Contributions As Noted


╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
║    Notes from the author of SPITFIRE!   ╟─┐
╚═╤═══════════════════════════════════════╝ │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────┘


SPITFIRE Experimental Tech Support Program Started
--------------------------------------------------

   As the SPITFIRE project continues to grow at a rapid pace, it has
become perfectly clear that Buffalo Creek Software needs to grow also.
Therefore, we are experimenting with ideas in an attempt to provide
even better service to you our customer as well as removing some of the
burden from the Woltz family.  We have many ideas we want to try and
each of them will take a tremendous amount of time and effort to
implement.

   We currently are experimenting with a "SPITFIRE Tech Support Team"
here at Buffalo Creek Software.  Hopefully, this 'support team' will
soon be able to provide support for nearly any question asked regarding
SPITFIRE.  Accuracy is extremely important to me when providing
SPITFIRE support so we hope our techs will provide accurate answers.
In event we discover that no-so-accurate support is being provided,
then the 'support team' will be disbanded.

   As our 'support team' develops, we hope that we can recognize the
strong points of each team member.  Once we recognize those strong
points, then we are hopeful of specializing the support.  For example,
we are hopeful that messages can entered to 'Door Support', 'Modem
Support', etc etc etc ... this, of course, is down the road a piece but
hopefully it will all work out.

   I ask for your support of and your patience with our newly formed
'SPITFIRE Tech Support Team' ... I am sure we will make our mistakes in
getting this put together but I hope the end result is worth any
problems which may be incurred.

   We are trying.


SPITFIRE v3.3 Upgrade Controversy
-----------------------------------

   Over the years, Buffalo Creek Software has offered FREE SPITFIRE
upgrades to eligible SPITFIRE Sysops in an effort to show our
appreciation of their continued support and promotion of SPITFIRE.
There is NOTHING which requires us to do this.  We simply do it show
our appreciation and to treat people right (there is far too much greed
in our world).

   I have been advised that for whatever reason there has been a
controversy on Circuitnet regarding the SPITFIRE v3.3 FREE upgrade
offer.  It is clear to me that the instigator stirred this
controversy with no constructive purpose in mind, rather, a
destructive purpose.

   I understand that there are a few, during the above described
controversy, who expressed certain dissatisfaction with the SPITFIRE
v3.3 FREE upgrade offer.  To further our continued effort to treat
people right, I would ask those few to please leave me a message on my
board expressing their dissatisfaction.  I will then mark them as
ineligible to participate in any future FREE upgrades offers which may
be made.  This way they will not be offered to participation in
something they disagree with and I hopefully I won't have to put up the
slander, character assassination, character defamation, product
assassination and product defamation which some seem to believe is
proper in a public forum such as a BBS message base (mail system).  I
will attempt to remember to report (in next month's newsletter) the
number of Sysops who accept this offer.  Thank you!



1993 SPITFIRE Conference
------------------------

   While arrangements are still tentative, it is about 99.5% sure that
the 1993 SPITFIRE Conference will be conducted in Des Moines, Iowa
on June 18-19-20, 1993.  We will confirm this just as soon as possible.
The conference will be conducted in the downtown Holiday Inn.  We should
be mailing an offical notice, including hotel reservation information,
within the next 10 days.


SFTOPMSG Released!
------------------

   Buffalo Creek Software released a new SPITFIRE utility named SFTOPMSG
on this April 4, 1993.  SFTOPMSG creates a display file which lists the
top ten callers who have entered the most messages.  In our tradition of
treating people right, the registration fee is $1.00.


SHAREWARE SPITFIRE Version 3.3!
-------------------------------

   Buffalo Creek Software has released the shareware of SPITFIRE v3.3.
The shareware copy of SPITFIRE v3.3 can be downloaded from Buffalo Creek's
BBS by downloading SF33-1.ZIP and SF33-2.ZIP.


Common SPITFIRE v3.3 Mistake!
-----------------------------

   There seems to be a common mistake being made with SPITFIRE v3.3.  The
mistake is attempting to use DAILYLMT.DAT to prevent callers from
<D>ownloading rather than setting the security of <D>ownload (in the
SFFILE.MNU) file in a manner which will prevent callers of certain
security levels from downloading.  More specifically, Sysops are setting
the number of downloads per day in DAILYLMT.DAT to 0 for certain security
levels (new caller security).  Then, they think that a caller will have
download rights after the new caller has been verified thus increasing the
caller's security.  WRONG!  This method will not work.  The correct method
is to set the security level of the <D>ownload feature (SFFILE.MNU) so as
to prevent certain security levels access.  The number of downloads per
day in DAILYLMT.DAT MUST always be set to an amount greater than 0.  Then,
when the caller's security is raised (normally via verification) the
caller will be able to download.  Clear as mud?????

    Until next time, may God's rich blessings and comfort be with each
of you.

                                            Best wishes...
                                            Mike Woltz


╒══════════════════════════╕
│ SPITFIRE UTILITY REVIEWS │
╘══════════════════════════╛

MAILSF12
--------

   MAILSF12 is a SPITFIRE utility which creates a bulletin of system
activity, reporting on all aspects of the BBS, including messages.
The file name was somewhat misleading in that I expected it to be
devoted entirely to a statistical report on messages and mail door
usage.  But quite surprisingly, it reports on many facets of BBS
activity as you can see from the example below from my sample run:

              Presented By The Mother Board BBS On: 03-28-1993
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       «««« GENERAL INFORMATION »»»»                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┤
│     Total Number Of Callers = 1210  │    Colour Graphics Selected =  760  │
│                   New Users =  108  │      Mono Graphics Selected =  450  │
├─────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│       Error Correction Used =  462  │      «««« FILE ACTIVITY »»»»        │
│       No Activity Log Off's =   26  │   Total Downloaded Programs = 1277  │
│       Carriers Were Dropped =   96  │     Total Uploaded Programs =  181  │
├─────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│     «««« SYSOP ACTIVITY »»»»        │   «««« OTHER BBS ACTIVITIES »»»»    │
│     Number Of PAGE Requests =   74  │  Times Bulletins Where Read =  257  │
│      Comments Left To SysOp =   78  │      Door Games Were Played =  629  │
│     Password / DOB Failures =  128  │   Security Level(s) Changed =   14  │
├─────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┤
│                       «««« BOARD MAIL ACTIVITY »»»»                       │
│      Total Private Messages =   75          Total Public Messages =   35  │
│      Total Deleted Messages =  262      LAKOTA (QWK Packets) Used =   45  │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 Lakota  Usage :▀▀
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                        MailCall v1.2 Shareware Copy
                  Excalibar Software (Ç) 1993 [phone]

The information contained in this bulletin is more complete than any other
statistical bulletin I have encountered!  The documentation states that
it will also report on any caller's activity in SFMail.

  Following the process outlined in the documentation, MAILSF12 is easily
set up and running in just a few minutes.  Perhaps the biggest drawback,
and something to look forward to in future releases is the fact that
MAILSF12 does not create a complimentary .CLR file.

   MAILSF12 is written by Paul Costeau of Excalibar BBS and requires a
registration fee of $5 if you continue to use it after an appropriate
evaluation period.


NSTAT11
-------

   Sysops who make netmail available on their BBS will appreciate NSTAT11!
NetStat creates a bulletin (any display file of your choice may be
configured for use) which informs callers when the last successful mail
run occurred.  This is not a new concept, but NetStat offers some unique
new features.

   First, most utilities that report the success of a mail run can be
somewhat misleading.  As long as your BBS connects to the hub and
a packet is received, these other utilities assume that the run was
successful...even if the packet contains 1 or no messages.

   With NetStat you, determine what is considered a successful mail
run.  This is done by using GOODRUN (included in the NSTAT11 archive).
The command line parameters for GOODRUN are used to define the file
name of your mail packet and to specify the size this file must be
before the mail run is considered successful.  Once the success of
the run is determined, NETSTAT creates the bulletin which reports
the number of messages exported, messages imported as well as the
date and time.

  NetStat creates both color and mono bulletins.  A sample of the
.BBS bulletin NetStat generates for a single netmail system looks
like this:

╓──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖
║■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ The Mother Board BBS Netmail Exchange Report ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■╟─┐
╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ │
║  Last Successful Intelec NetMail                Messages Imported:  429  ║ │
║  Transfer Was at 01:46 on 03-28-93              Messages Exported:    4  ║ │
║                                                                          ║ │
╚═╤══════════ NETSTAT v1.1 Copyright (C) 1992 by Kevin Cummins ════════════╝ │
  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                             < Evaluation Copy >

   Notice, in the above example, only one network is reported on.  NetStat
is capable of creating a bulletin which will report on up to a total
of five netmail runs.  This is an especially nice feature for Sysops
who have more than one netmail system available on their BBS.

  This version of NetStat supports the following networks; PCRELAY,
POSTLINK, TNET and JNET.  However, the configuration file also explains
how NetStat can be configured to work with other "non-standard" mail
networks.

  The setup for this utility is a bit more complicated than most
bulletin generating utilities.  However, with the documentation and the
sample batch and configuration files, installation can be accomplished
quite readily.

  NSTAT11 is brought to us by Kevin Cummins.  Kevin requests a minimal
fee of $1 for registration of this utility.


╒═════════════════════════════╕
│ SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH │
╘═════════════════════════════╛


───═════ ╓─────┐ ╓─┐    ╓─────┐ ╓─────┐ ╓─────┐ ╓──────┐ ╓───┐ ╓─────┐
──══════ ║ ┌───┘ ║ │    ║ ┌───┘ ║ ┌─╖ │ ╙─╖ ┌─┘ ║ ┌──╖ │ ╙╖ ┌┘ ║ ┌─╖ │
───═════ ║ └─┐   ║ │    ║ └─┐   ║ │ ╙─┘   ║ │   ║ └──╜ │  ║ │  ║ │ ╙─┘
  ──════ ║ ┌─┘   ║ │    ║ ┌─┘   ║ │ ╓─┐   ║ │   ║ ┌─╖ ┌┘  ║ │  ║ │ ╓─┐
     ─══ ║ └───┐ ║ └──┐ ║ └───┐ ║ └─╜ │   ║ │   ║ │ ║ └┐ ╓╜ └┐ ║ └─╜ │
      ─═ ╙─────┘ ╙────┘ ╙─────┘ ╙─────┘   ╙─┘   ╙─┘ ╙──┘ ╙───┘ ╙─────┘
   ─═══════ ╓─┐ ╓──┐ ╓───┐  ╓─┐ ╓───┐ ╓──────┐ ╓─┐ ╓─┐ ╓─────┐ ╓─────┐
  ───══════ ║ │╓╜ ┌┘ ║   └┐ ║ │ ╙╖ ┌┘ ║ ┌────┘ ║ │ ║ │ ╙─╖ ┌─┘ ║ ┌───┘
    ──═════ ║ └╜ └─┐ ║ ├╖ └┐║ │  ║ │  ║ │ ╓──┐ ║ └─╜ │   ║ │   ║ └───┐
      ─════ ║ ┌──╖ │ ║ │╙╖ └╢ │  ║ │  ║ │ ╙╖ │ ║ ┌─╖ │   ║ │   ╙───╖ │
       ─═══ ║ │  ║ │ ║ │ ╙╖   │ ╓╜ └┐ ║ └──╜ │ ║ │ ║ │   ║ │   ╓───╜ │
        ─══ ╙─┘  ╙─┘ ╙─┘  ╙───┘ ╙───┘ ╙──────┘ ╙─┘ ╙─┘   ╙─┘   ╙─────┘
 ─═══ ┌┬────.                                 ╓──┐ ╥  ┬ ╥──┐  ╓─┐  ╓─┐
─════ ││     \           \ │ /                ║    ╟──┤ ╟─    ╙─┐  ╙─┐
 ─═══ ││      └──────┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬.        │       ╙──┘ ╨  ┴ ╨──┘ ╙──┘ ╙──┘
──════'│─════       ─┴─────────══════.│                 ╥─┐  ╥─┐   ╓─┐
  ─════ \   SFv3.3   ┌┬──────.     ╧  ╞╞─               ╟─┴┐ ╟─┴┐  ╙─┐
     ─══ '─═════════╧╧╧╧═════╧════╧══'│                 ╨──┘ ╨──┘ ╙──┘
 Brants FIRST registered SPITFIRE BBS │    RelayNet(tm) Node: ELECTRIK
     ═════════ SF330279 ═════════                              #1001
  SPITFIRE + BBS-CHESS + ChessCOM + RelayNet(tm) = The BEST in Chess!
  ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█████████████

        SYSOP: Bill Brown

        LOCATION: Paris, Ontario, Canada

        PHONE: [phone] -  8/N/1 - 2400 BPS ONLY
                       (soon to support up to 14400, GIVE IT A TRY)

        MAILING ADDRESS:  Electric Knights Chess,
                          C/O Bill Brown,
                          69 Willow St.,
                          Paris, Ontario   N3L 2K8
                          CANADA

        SPECIALTY: CHESS

        =================================================================

  As you may surmise from the initial log on screen, Electric Knights
BBS is not just an ordinary bulletin board.  Electric Knights is a
specialized bulletin board.  It's focus is chess and only chess.  The file
areas feature chess data and chess playing programs and not the usual
collection of utilities and games and gifs etc.

  The SYSOP is Bill Brown, a computer marketing specialist for InterTan
Canada (all you Americans will know it as Radio Shack).

  Bill's boyhood hobby was chess.  He wasn't very good at playing but he
had slowly developed an interest in chess history, and he loved to play a
game or two now and then.

  His big problem was that there was never anyone to play with when he
wanted to play!  His job required him to work lots of evenings and
weekends and those who would normally be available for play were simply
not around and it was pretty much impossible to find a good opponent in
the late evening hours.

  He discovered the local bulletin board scene when he purchased a modem
for his personal computer and began haunting the local boards looking for
chess data and chess opponents.  There simply were none to be found and
the few chess programs he found on local BBS's were really dismal.

  Bill's solution was to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and do
it himself.

  He decided that chess was his focus and started the hunt for some decent
bulletin board software that would allow him to do what he wanted.

  Some rigorous criteria were set.

    1.  The BBS Software had to be absolutely reliable so that it could
        run unattended most of the time.

    2.  The BBS Software had to be highly configurable so that the BBS
        would not look like everyone else's.

    3.  The BBS had to incorporate a "help" structure so the users could
        figure it out easily without reading a manual.

   4.  The BBS Software had to be compact and not have gigantic memory
       requirements.

   5.  The total cost of the BBS Software could not require more than a
       $100.00 investment.

   6.  It had to be able to support whatever Chess Door program that Bill
       wanted to run.

   7.  It had to support a variety of doors written for various BBSs.

   8.  Technical support for the BBS had to be easily available and not
       costly (free would be best).

  With all these goals in mind, Bill began his search.  It took over six
months of testing and evaluating before Bill settled on SPITFIRE.  SPITFIRE
was the 12th BBS tested and Bill was getting more than just a little ticked
off at the high cost and poor quality of the products he had tested so far.
He accidentally came across SPITFIRE 2.7 on another local PCBOARD BBS.

   He decided to give it one more try.  Bill set up SF 2.7 on a small,
diskette only, laptop computer to see if it would really set up in 20
minutes like the manual said.  It set up in 15 and worked exactly like it
said it would.  Bill was amazed!

  After a month of testing, Bill was ready for the next step.  He
registered Spitfire 2.7!  Imagine his surprise, when in less than a week,
the post man brought him his registered software and it wasn't Spitfire
2.7 but the very latest 2.8 version!  There was a kind note inside
explaining that 2.8 was $5.00 more but that the author would not delay
him and sent him 2.8 on trust.

   Bill was absolutely aghast!  Who was this crazy guy that actually still
trusted people he would probably never even meet?  The $5.00 was duly sent
and Electric Knights was born.

   On June 20, 1990 Electric Knights became a public BBS.

   Since then, EKC has grown rapidly.  It caters to a select group of people.
It isn't trying to be a gigantic file base, nor is it trying to have a large
number of message conferences.  It isn't even trying to have a large number
of users!  As a matter of fact, EKC has strict rules about who uses the BBS,
but more about that later.

  In keeping with our chess theme, EKC participates in a select few
PCRELAY(tm) conferences. EKC carries only the RIME Chess conference and
the Spitfire support conferences. (and of course the mandatory conferences.)
RIME was chosen for the quality of the chess echo and for no other reason.
After looking at several chess echoes, it was decided that RIME would be
our echo of choice because of the quality of the messages.

  The major feature of Electric Knights is of course chess and toward that
end, Bill features BBS-CHESS by Byron Forbes of Humble, Texas.

  Electric Knights has tried and tested almost every major piece of chess
door software and the users have overwhelmingly supported the BBS-CHESS
concept every time.

  EKC runs spring and fall chess tournaments and encourages chess on the
local scene.  Most of the users are local players who never seem to get
enough chess.

  There are areas to gain a chess rating.  You play games against the other
users and are rated according to your ability.  The more games you play,
the more accurate your chess rating becomes.

  There is also a practice area to try out the latest and greatest openings
and traps and combinations, without affecting your chess rating on Electric
Knights.

  There is even chess strictly for fun, with 4 knights chess, and timed
games no longer than 5 minutes, or 60 minutes and blitz games with moves
not longer than 30 seconds.

  In the message conference area, along with the PCRELAY(tm) chess echo,
there is a resident chess master.  Canadian Chess Master Paul Simon hosts
a message conference called "ASK THE MASTER" and he will gladly answer
any and all chess related questions from the most advanced user to the
newest beginner.

  Don't despair when you look at the very low number of local messages you
see when logging on to EKC.  The majority of messages are over the board
messages, carried within the BBS-CHESS door.  Local chit-chat is minimal,
but within each game area, there are hundreds of messages between opponents.

  The future of Electric Knights Chess is very bright.  With a multi-node
version of BBS-CHESS on the way, and a new version of the ChessCOM
communications package (used to give bit-mapped) graphics and mouse
control to the chess games) it is highly probable that EKC shall go
multi-node within the next year or two.

  We have recently purchased a high speed modem, and hope within the next
few weeks to take delivery and put chess into the high speed area.

  New trivia games are being developed by EKC users and the chess games go
on.  There have been thousands of chess games on EKC and we hope to sponsor
thousands more.  Our collection of chess shareware is growing all the time
and our data files are getting larger and larger.  The International Chess
Echo from the PCRelay(tm) network provides a truly universal flair to the
board and the opportunity to play chess over a very broad geographical base.

  The recent upgrade to SF 3.3 was almost a non-event to the users.
Nothing serious changed and most users noted absolutely nothing.  It was
one of the best upgrade implementations Bill has ever seen.  Absolutely
simple and no one was upset.

  Of course there was one small feature that everyone noticed.

  That was LAKOTA.  Everybody loved it.  As a matter of fact, everyone
loved it so much that Bill simply trashed all of the other mail processors
he had been testing.  LAKOTA worked first time, and has worked every time
since then.  It was so small and so fast, that all of the other mail
processors Bill was playing with were put to shame.  The simple, plain
Jane, no nonsense look and feel fitted in with Bill's goals perfectly.
The users love it because it always works.  It's never failed since the
installation, unlike most of the others that experienced little glitches
and memory restraints.

   We had earlier mentioned that EKC has strict user rules and this is
very true.

    1. No aliases are allowed.

    2. No profanity of any kind in private or public messages is tolerated.

    3. Players are expected to make moves in a timely manner and toward
       that end, moves not completed in 14 days result in a game default.
       (Special events like vacation and business trips are taken into
       account.)

    4. Players who default an unusual number of games are simply asked not
       to come back and are locked out of the BBS.

    5. Users who upload commercial software are warned and placed on
       probation.  Cheats and fixes for commercial programs are not
       welcome.

  We are very strict in these regards, however, we encourage participants
of all ages and any sex.  The only criteria is that you want to play chess.

  Over the years we have developed a simple set of rules for BBS chess
play and we are constantly seeking to improve them.

  To put it simply, EKC believes that you should behave in the same manner
as you would if your opponent was a guest in your home and was sitting
across the table from you.  We believe in common sense and courtesy and
this is one reason why we have been so successful.

   Electric Knights chess is not a "do it all" bulletin board.  We do
what we do, the best we can.  We encourage users who are looking for
other things in a BBS to call the other local SPITFIRE BBSs.  We don't
want to be something for everyone, but if you play chess, and you want
some challenging competition or just a friendly game, you are more than
welcome to come on over and join us.

  Our users are friendly and eager chess players.  There are whole families
of users who play chess and participate in the other doors.  Speaking of
other doors, we carry some trivia and some other game doors.  Every
non-chess door is registered (or in the process of being registered) and
every non-chess door was paid for by a user.  Not only that, but the use
of non-chess doors is very restricted.  ie. once a day or limited time

  So, if you play chess, pop over and play a game or two on Electric Knights.
If you are a RIME member or user, our Node ID is  ->ELECTRIK 1001.  Drop in
and say howdy.

  ========================================================================
      All of the users and the SYSOP of Electric Knights Chess BBS
      would like to say thank you to Mike Woltz and his family for all
      the the unwavering support given to us.  The SPITFIRE software
      is in a class by itself and without it the thousands of games
      played on EKC would never have taken place.   Thank you, Mike.
      You have provided pleasure for untold numbers of hours for each
      and every chess player at Electric Knights.  Your software is
      never in the way and is simply taken for granted by each and
      every user at Electric Knights.  I can't think of a higher
      compliment for a BBS system!  Not only that, but your SPITFIRE
      software has spawned a whole bulletin board community of fine
      BBS systems and operators who freely and unselfishly give their
      time and energy to helping other SysOps and users.  You may
      rightly take great satisfaction in your work.  We all thank you.
   ======================================================================

   A PERSONAL NOTE:  Bill Brown believes that the future of BBSing lies
with specialty bulletin boards.  There are now too many BBS's with huge
file areas in which you can't find anything, easily.  The specialist BBS
can provide unique services to the BBS community.  Faster data retrieval
will be possible and the ability to contact fellow BBSers with the same
interests will become the norm.

  How many times have you phoned a BBS only to have to look through 4 or
5 cd rom collections for the data you want.  All on your long distance bill.
Specialty BBSs will provide more concise collections of data.  You will be
in contact immediately with users of similar interests.

  If you are starting a specialty BBS, I'd love to hear from you.  Just
drop me a note in the RIME Common conference, route it to ->ELECTRIK or
->1001 or drop me a note on Buffalo Creek's BBS.

  I'm going to compile a list of specialized BBS's and would love to put
your name on it.  But please, really be a specialty BBS, not just one
with a special door.  It doesn't matter the topic.  Perhaps you support
Windows, perhaps, like myself, you are a chess specialist, perhaps you
are a gaming expert.  Drop me a note.  It's the future of BBS'ing.

                          --- Bill Brown, Electric Knights Chess BBS


╒════════════════════╕
│ SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH │
╘════════════════════╛

                                 Steve Davis
                            ziGGy's PARTyTIME BBS
                                Amella.  Ohio

  "A close friend introduced me to the world of computers in 1987.  With
nothing more than a manual, a few basic commands written on a piece of
paper and a Tandy  1200HD XT I got my start," Steve informs.

   And continues:

   "Intimidated at first, shortly thereafter I became intrigued.  Although
I was a novice I became compelled to try things that most would hesitate to
try.  This taught me a valuable lesson: if it can be crashed, it can be put
back together.

  "Then came the modem.

  "In 1989 I  bought a 1200 baud modem and started calling some BBSs.
Overwhelmed by the amount of information that was available via a modem, I
became addicted.  I also noticed there were many types of boards and each
reflected the personality of the SysOps who ran them.

  "In December of 1990 I bought a 286/16 and a 2400 baud modem, it really
flew compared to the old XT and the 1200 baud modem.  Shortly thereafter I
decided to start a BBS.  After experimenting with many board software
packages, I logged onto Rossmoyne Mall, Walt Bush's board, and liked the
board so much I downloaded a copy of SPITFIRE v3.0.

  "I started my board on June 5, 1991, on the same 286/16 that it is still
operates on today . . . although there have been a few upgrades along the
way.  Currently, the system has 500+ megs disk space, USRobotics Dual
Standard modem, CD-ROM, 500+ callers, and 25,000+ calls logged to date.
Future plans include the retirement of the old 286 and replacing it with a
386/40 and the addition of a second node.

  "I recently installed frontdoor and joined InfoNet, an InterNational
netmail system.  Of course I have John Troher, Joseph (Tony) Sedler and
Tom Lind to thank for all their help in getting setup.

  "I spend most of my time with SPITFIRE . . . on my board and others . . .
both promoting  SPITFIRE and supporting it.  We all have Mike Woltz to
thank . . .  SPITFIRE has bought us all many new friends."

   Editor's footnote: Steve has remarkably echoed my experiences as a
systems operator,  as I'm sure he has of many others.  A tip of the hat
to you, lad.  Good show.


╒════════════════════════════════════╕
│  NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS │
╘════════════════════════════════════╛

   A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have
recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems:

Shoot For The Moon...........................519-756-0849...57600 Baud
Jose Nunes, Sysop...........................Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Wolverine's Lair.............................519-672-5646....9600 Baud
Joseph Pelley, Sysop...........................London, Ontario, Canada

Tech World...................................513-651-9681....2400 Baud
Kevin McMillan, Sysop.................................Cincinnati, Ohio

The Up All Night BBS.........................208-832-7321...14400 Baud
John Hinzman, Sysop......................................MH AFB, Idaho

Farmer's Almanac.............................903-882-0523....2400 Baud
Thomas Farmer, Sysop....................................Lindale, Texas

Computer Fix.................................801-965-8146...57600 Baud
Robin Patrick, Sysop......................................Kearns, Utah

Dorer's Doors................................814-255-3410....2400 Baud
Dave Wilkinson, Sysop..........................Johnstown, Pennsylvania

United We Stand America, York County-BBS.....717-741-4700....9600 Baud
David Schroll, Sysop................................York, Pennsylvania

Wayne's World BBS............................207-621-0530...14400 Baud
Wayne Jackson, Sysop....................................Augusta, Maine

Bible Bulletin Board.........................615-579-5692....2400 Baud
Roger Williams, Sysop.............................Knoxville, Tennessee

Atomic.......................................649-410-4739....2400 Baud
Paul Giddy, Sysop......................Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand

PrimeComm BBS................................702-437-9831....2400 Baud
Dennis Fitzgerald, Sysop.............................Las Vegas, Nevada

Mr. Ed's.....................................215-435-1008...14400 Baud
Edward Ebert, Sysop............................Whitehall, Pennsylvania

Rob's Funhouse BBS...........................702-221-0549...14400 Baud
Rob Meadows, Sysop...................................Las Vegas, Nevada

Nightowl BBS.................................616-695-9212...57600 Baud
Dan Crago, Sysop....................................Buchanan, Michigan

The Switch Board.............................901-536-0748...14400 Baud
Dellitt Thompson, Sysop................................Troy, Tennessee

J.D.'s Home BBS..............................303-973-6304...14400 Baud
J.D. Laffoon, Sysop................................Littleton, Colorado

10 Forward...................................515-479-2116....2400 Baud
Warren Gummert, Sysop..................................Le Grande, Iowa

DEVOLAND.....................................408-263-7980...38400 Baud
Richard Newton, Sysop.............................Milpitas, California

TOM'S HAVEN BBS..............................602-966-6506...14400 Baud
Thomas A. Smith, Sysop..................................Tempe, Arizona

The Holt.....................................207-799-4122....2400 Baud
Ben Boulanger, Sysop.............................South Portland, Maine

Bear Facts II.............................<Phone Unknown>....2400 Baud
Bob Hindal, Sysop.....................................Des Moines, Iowa

Data-Exchange BBS............................519-756-8859....9600 Baud
Larry Barber, Sysop.........................Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Crash City BBS...............................302-945-3460...14400 Baud
Ronald McKinney, Sysop........................Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

The Lost City................................713-539-7250....2400 Baud
Chris Jones, Sysop......................................Houston, Texas

Richie's Place...............................817-539-1367....2400 Baud
Rich Krause, Sysop....................................Fort Hood, Texas

San Francisco BBS.........................55-075-811-2663....2400 Baud
Marcio Sergio Lino de Souza, Sysop.................Juazeiro Ba, Brazil



   In addition, there were 10 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems
registered.  These private SPITFIRE BBS's included registrations
from: Kansas City, Missouri; Edmonds, Washington; Mandeville;
Louisiana; Midland, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Tacoma, Washington;
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania; Milford, Ohio; Lisbon, Portugal; and
Denver, Colorado.


   There were 28 registrations for whom registration information was
incomplete.  These included BBS's in: Santa Rita, Gaum; Ephrata,
Pennsylvania; Christianburg, Virginia; Burleson, Texas; Rosario
Santa Fe, Argentina; Killeen, Texas; Mountain Home, Arkansas;
Pleasantville, Pennsylvania; Temple, Texas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Lake
Ronkonkoma, New York; Newberg, Oregon; Bellevue, Nebraska; Mountain
Home, Idaho; Housatonic, Massachusetts; Sante Fe, New Mexico; Agoura
Hills, California; Hudson, Wisconsin; McLean, Virginia; Mt. View,
California; Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Phoenix, Arizona; Macon,
North Carolina; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Virginia Beach, Virginia;
Castle Hill, New South Wales; Santa Clara, California; and Dallas,
Texas.

   The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is
largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's policy of accepting on-line
Mastercard and Visa credit card registrations.


   JUST A REMINDER...the newsletter is always looking for contributions!
Please forward any articles in ASCII text to either Buffalo Creek's BBS
or The Mother Board BBS.