The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998/hackers_encyclopedia.iso/zines/n_z/pirate4.007

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***  Pirate Magazine Issue IV  /  File 7 of 10  ***
***  Good Boards and BBS Ethics                 ***
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What makes a BBS a *GOOD BOARD*? Here's a discussion logged from a good BBS. We
think the *USERS* make a good BBS, and we like Steve King's "BBS ETHICS," so
reprint it here. It appears on most TELEGARD systems, and in case you haven't
read it, you should.

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  Date: 6:19 pm  Wed Dec 27, 1989      Public 17/53
  From: Sparkplug                      General Messages
    To: Potato Man
 Title: Good BBS

A good BBS is not only having all files online (as the phringe used to do) but
also! having a good user base that is helpfull and not worring about petty
problems.  There aren't many real good boards among the many boards available
here locally, but a board that comes to mind that you should try to emulate and
exceed is winplace's old board wasteland I, This is just my opinion and I hope
that this board becomes as good as you hope it to be!
                                                 Sparky


  Date: 1:33 pm  Wed Dec 27, 1989      Public 15/53
  From: Potato Man                     General Messages
 Title: What makes a BBS a "GOOD" BBS?!

Well I had this chat talk with a user and he referred to few BBSs as the "GOOD"
BBSs and I stopped him to ask him why are those the good BBSs and if there's
anything the matter with this one so the answer to that was that I should'nt
even "DARE" to compare my BBS with those "GOOD" ones!  The question is WHY?
What am I missing in this BBS that the others don't or what the A or B bbs is
missing (not mine in particular).  So that brings up another very INTERESTING
topic that I expect to hear some views on...WHAT MAKES A BBS TICK???
Is it the users?
Is it the file section?
Is it the Message section?
Is it the mass storage?
etc etc....
If you want my opinion, I think that the users make a BBS tick and thats the
bottom line, a BBS with no users or dorky users or users that are just there
and they just exist without offering anything is just NOT a BBS... This guy
also said that the BIG BBSs (the ones with mass storage, and lots of phone
lines and stuff!) are BAD! he says that "you rich guys! (without even knowing
me or my W2) think you can put 300 or 600 megs online and have a BBS" well I
personally think that a BBS with most of the files being ONLINE and not OFFLINE
has a TREMENDOUS advantage over the BBS that has every file in the world but
all of them are OFFLINE!... What good would it do me if I need a file right now
and I call my supporting BBS to take it down but due to the lack of space the
sysop has it OFFLINE and then I kinda have to beg for the file to be online and
call back till he or she decides to put it up for me (not necessarily the case
always!).  I was also reffered to as "a snobish guy"! (again without knowing
me)..Now please really tell me if (and this is your best chance to get back at
me!) I seemed snobish or not willing to help any and all of you outthere... I
wanna make this BBS work and try to make it (if not the BEST in the MIDWEST) at
least one of the best, I want it to have a unique look I want it to have
respect for its users and I want its users to have respect for it..

Please FEEL FREE to respond to this message and I do expect you to FREELY
express your opinions and let us know WHAT MAKES A BBS TICK?!



  Date: 12:58 am  Sat Dec 30, 1989     Public 22/54
  From: Gil Fish                       General Messages
 Title: Good BBS's

Well, I feel what makes a good BBS is a friendly attitude between the users and
the sysop('s). I just logged off the Melting Point and felt verbaly abused.
That board bombards you with demands that you participate in every aspect of
his bbs. This is not an attack on him, as I'm sure he isnt attacking me
personally, but I dont like to have demands thrown at me in mass e-mail.  And
this post or die attitude many boards are getting is putting me off too. I dont
know, mabey the majority of us pirates are a bunch of assholes that need to be
screamed at, but I like to think not.


  Date: 5:26 pm  Sat Dec 30, 1989      Public 24/54
  From: Rocky Roccoco                  General Messages
    To: Gil Fish
 Title: Melting Point

i think people should contribute to a board,there are those of you who log on a
bbs,look through the board,then log off!.....thats just wasting the time of the
sysop (trying to provide a quality bbs not a library book) and wasting the time
of other user that are probably autodialing like mad to get on and contribute.
i have a few users that do it and i get fed up with it. ....also the sysop go's
out and spends MULTI THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS makeing a bbs buying the equipment
and so forth.....i think the sysop has a right to know who's using his bbs and
what the user has to offer him in exhchange for the privelige of haveing time
on the system......so all you out there that read this and dont abide by "the
way it is" shouldnt bitch about it.....just dont call anymore.....its not good
to lose people on a board but if u look at it this way.......there are alot
more people out there to take your user number!  replies are always encouraged
in the constant effort of keeping users happy with the systems they
call........SO LETS SEE SOME POSTS!!!!!!


                     Ethics for BBS users - By Steve King

The following are a few points of general BBS etiquette.  If  you wish  to
maintain your welcome on whatever system you  happen  to call,  it would be to
your advantage to observe these few  rules.  (Sysops - feel free to download
this & display it on your BBS)

1.   Don't habitually hang up on a system.  Every Sysop is  aware that
accidental disconnections happen once in a while but we  do tend  to  get
annoyed with people who hang up every  single  time they call because they are
either too lazy to terminate  properly or  they labor under the mistaken
assumption that the 10  seconds they  save  online is going to significantly
alter  their  phone bill.   "Call Waiting" is not an acceptable excuse for
long.   If you  have it and intend to use the line to call BBS systems,  you
should  either  have it disconnected or find some  other  way  to circumvent
it.

2.  Don't do dumb things like leave yourself a message that  says "Just
testing to see if this thing works".  Where do  you  think all those other
messages came from if it didn't work? Also, don't leave  whiney messages that
say "Please leave me a message".   If ever there was a person to ignore, it's
the one who begs  someone to  leave him a message.  If you want to get
messages,  start  by reading the ones that are already online and getting
involved  in the conversations that exist.

3.   Don't use the local equivalent of a chat command unless  you really  have
some clear cut notion of what you want to  say  and why.  Almost any Sysop is
more than happy to answer questions  or offer  help concerning his system.
Unfortunately, because  about 85%  of the people who call want to chat and
about 99%  of  those people have absolutely nothing to say besides "How old are
you?" or  something  equally  irrelevent,  fewer  Sysops  even   bother
answering their pagers every day.

4.  When you are offered a place to leave comments when exiting a system,
don't try to use this area to ask the  Sysop  questions.  It is very rude to
the other callers to expect the Sysop to carry on  a  half  visible
conversation with someone.  If  you  have  a question or statement to make and
expect the Sysop to respond  to it,  it should always be made in the section
where all the  other messages  are  kept.  This allows the Sysop to help  many
people with  the  same problem with the least amount of  effort  on  his part.

5.   Before  you log on with your favorite psuedonym,  make  sure that  handles
are allowed.  Most Sysops don't want  people  using handles  on the system.
There is not enough room for them,  they get  silly  games of one-upmanship
started, it is much  nicer  to deal  with a person on a personal basis, and
last but not  least, everyone  should be willing to take full responsibility
for  his actions or comments instead of slinging mud from behind a  phoney
name.

6.   Take the time to log on properly.  There is no such place as RIV, HB, ANA
or any of a thousand other abbreviations  people use instead of their proper
city.  You may think that everyone  knows what  RIV is supposed to mean, but
every BBS has  people  calling from  all around the country and I assure you
that  someone  from Podunk, Iowa has no idea what you're  talking about.

7.  Don't go out of your way to make rude observations like "Gee, this system
is slow".  Every BBS is a tradeoff of features.   You can  generally  assume
that if someone is  running  a  particular brand  of  software,  that he is
either happy with  it  or  he'll decide  to find another system he likes
better.  It  does  nobody any good when you make comments about something that
you perceive to  be a flaw when it is running the way the Sysop wants  it  to.
Constructive criticism is somewhat more welcome.  If you have  an alternative
method that seems to make good sense then run it  up the flagpole.

8.   When leaving messages, stop and ask yourself whether  it  is necessary  to
make it private.  Unless there is  some  particular reason  that  everyone
shouldn't know what you're  saying,  don't make  it private.  We don't call
them PUBLIC bulletin boards  for nothing, folks.  It's very irritating to other
callers when there are huge blank spots in the messages that they can't read
and  it stifles interaction between callers.

9.   If  your favorite BBS has a time limit, observe it.   If  it doesn't, set
a limit for yourself and abide by it instead.  Don't tie up a system until it
finally kicks you off and then call back with  another  name.  This same rule
applies  to  downloading  or playing  games.  Only one person at a time can be
logged on to  a BBS  and  it  isn't fair to everyone else if  you  overstay
your welcome.  Remember, a BBS is best when it can be left wide  open.  If you
try and cheat the rules you just hurt everybody by forcing the  Sysop  to adopt
more strigent policies.  I can't  count  the number of systems that are now
locked tighter than a drum because of people who cheat and abuse.

10.   Don't  call  a BBS just to look at the list  of  other  BBS numbers.
Most especially don't call a system as a new user  and run  right  to the other
numbers list.  There  is  probably  very little  that's more annoying to any
Sysop than to have his  board completely passed over by you on your way to
another board.

11.  Have the common courtesy to pay attention to what passes  in front  of
your face.  When a BBS displays your name and asks  "Is this you?", don't say
yes when you can see perfectly well that it is  mispelled.  Also, don't start
asking questions  about  simple operation  of a system until you have
thouroghly read all of  the instructions  that  are available to you.  I assure
you  that  it isn't  any fun to answer a question for the thousandth time  when
the  answer is prominently displayed in the system  bulletins  or instructions.
Use some common sense when you ask your questions.  The person who said
"There's no such thing as a stupid  question" obviously never operated a BBS.

12.   If by some chance you should encounter an error  while  you are  online
(Heaven forbid!), ALWAYS take the time to  leave  the Sysop  a  message
describing the circumstances.  Don't  just  say "There was an error".  That is
not helpful in the least.  Chances are  that he knows there was an error.  What
he needs to know  is what  you were doing when the error occurred so that he
can  have some chance of finding and correcting it.  If the error  happened
after you input something, tell him what it was.  Remember that a BBS can't
improve unless you're willing to help.

13.  Don't be personally abusive.  It doesn't matter whether  you like a Sysop
or think he's a jerk.  The fact remains that he  has a large investment in
making his computer available, usually  out of  the goodness of his heart.  If
you don't like a Sysop or  his system,  just remember that you can change the
channel  any  time you  want.  Calling a Sysop names or making  uninformed
comments about his lifestyle only shows you for the child you really are.

14.   Keep  firmly in mind that you are a guest on  any  BBS  you happen  to
call.  Don't think of logging on as one of your  basic human  rights.  Every
person that has ever put a computer  system online  for the use of other people
has spent a lot of  time  and money  to  do so.  While he doesn't expect
nonstop  pats  on  the back,  it  seems reasonable that he should at least  be
able  to expect fair treatment from his callers.  This includes  following any
of the rules for system use he has laid out without  grumping about  it.
Every  Sysop has his own idea of how  he  wants  his system  to  be run.  It is
really none of your  business  why  he wants  to  run it the way he does.  Your
business  is  to  either abide by what he says, or call some other BBS where
you feel that you can obey the rules.

Steve King is Sysop of Commnet-80 Riverside (714 359-3189) as well as the
author of the Commnet-80 Bulletin Board System

                                ***************

We've sen a lot of boards with great potential that don't live up to their
promise because of sysop laziness.  So, here's what the contributors to PIRATE
see as a good board:

1. The files are well organized into sections or topics so you don't have to
hunt for everything. TAKE NOTE SYSOPS!! You shouldn't have to search all files
to find the telecom program you're looking for.

2. There is a wildcard function so files can be found between directories and
uploaders can quickly check for duplicates by typing a "S" or "F" and then, if
looking for a program called first choice, the keyword "CHOI*.*" We especially
like TELEGARD.

3. A good board should support 9600 or higher.

4. Users should not be allowed in at 300, and even 1200 should be discouraged.

5. Programs *MUST BE* complete, properly labeled (to include version), and
sorted in some coherent fashion.

6. The users should not be lamerz who upload junk for upload credits and users
should participate regularly in message sections. Most users on good boards
call long distance and can't afford to hang out on message bases for too long.
The way around this is to capture message logs and respond after logging up by
tying out the responses and then uploading the ascii text as a message
response the next time logging on.

6. Sysops *MUST* be friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to put the files in
order, change descriptions, and weed out good/bad users.  Sysops should also
be patient and help nurture novices.

7. Batch up/down loading should be available, and so should bimodem.

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