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BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News
COPYRIGHT 1992 ISSN 1055-4548
November 1992 Volume 5, Issue 10
Table Of Contents
-----------------
Article Title Author
Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Staff
From The Editor................................Scott Hollifield
Baud Politics: Election '92, BBS-style.........Local Sysops
The BBS: Business or Hobby?....................Mark Maisel
Elections? (or, Jeez, Not Again)...............Lurch Henson
The Golden Pair................................Shayne Hardesty
Review: BirdData v2.0.1a.......................Kelly Rosato
BBS ProFile: Janet Rawlins.....................The Bishop
Special Interest Groups (SIGs).................Barry Bowden
Known BBS Numbers..............................Staff
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN
We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and
information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for damage
due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability, if any for BTN, its
editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions,
etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN,
even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood
of such damages occurring.
With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our
policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish
monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to
publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any
time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear
in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise
harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the
content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their
work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles
from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a
reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article.
Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as
the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the
article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles,
please forward a copy of your publication to:
Mark Maisel
Publisher, BTN
606 Twin Branch Terrace
BHM, AL 35216
(205)-823-3956
We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that
you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing
all of this and not get too serious about it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
F R E E B I E : G E T I T W H I L E I T S H O T !
The following boards allow BTN to be downloaded freely, that is with no
charge to any existing upload/download ratios.
ADAnet One Alter-Ego Bus System
Channel 8250 Crunchy Frog DC Info Exchange
F/X BBS Joker's Castle Kiriath Arba
Lemon Grove Martyrdom Again?! The MATRIX
The Outer Limits Owlabama BBS Owl's Nest
Playground Safe Harbor Teasers
Thy Master's Dungeon
If you are a sysop and you allow BTN to be downloaded freely, please let
me know via The Matrix or Crunchy Frog so that I can post your board as
a free BTN distributor. Thanks. SH
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S F L A S H
OUR BBS LIST GETS AN OVERHAUL!
See the end of the issue.
(But read the rest first.)
ELECTION DAY IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3!
Yes, it's a big deal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM THE EDITOR
by Scott Hollifield
"I'm Number One!" -- Truman Capote
"To me, ya look like number two. Know what I mean?" -- Peter Falk
from Neil Simon's Murder By Death
Yes -- it's that time again. Election day? No! Beginning of the
holiday season? No! Time to listen to me rant and rave within the
confines of this column? No!
Well, actually that last one was a lie -- it is indeed time again to
listen to me rant and rave (mostly rant, admittedly). But just to
provide that all-important sense of balance and parity, I'll say a few
words on the other two topics as well.
First of all, the election.
Right here, right now, I'm going to reveal a secret which few people
know about, so pay attention. The secret is that there is a hidden
organization of people who exist in this country, whose aim, conscious
or not, is to impose their perception of American society, culture and
politics, as well as what should be done about it, upon the minds of
all the rest of us innocent upstanding citizens.
Am I talking about the politically correct? NO! I'm talking about the
politically HIP.
First, an explanation of the term. What's one of the biggest trends in
this country this year? You guessed it - P.C.-bashing. Now, I'm not
politically correct, nor do I claim to be. I am me-correct. However,
when all this business about "political correctness" first started up -
when all the pundits, commentators and common men first began flashing
this phrase around - I was astounded by how fast it became a national
trend.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with national trends, but they do
have one disadvantage to them, and that is: Trends tend to lead to
trendiness.
No one minds being part of a trend, but everyone HATES being trendy.
Hence the "politically hip" - the backlashers, the conforming
non-conformists, the politically COUNTER-correct.
Still confused? Here's a quick primer:
Politically correct people believe that human civilization began with
African-Americans. Politically hip people complain about how Columbus
is being mistreated these days. What hogwash! Every newspaper and
magazine column I've seen about Columbus this year is "In Defense of
Chris", or "A Bad Rap For Columbus?". Would that *I* received such
mistreatment.
Politically correct people distrust the national media. Politically hip
people distrust the national media except for Rush Limbaugh.
The politically correct make a big deal about potentially offensive
sports mascots. The politically hip make a big deal about the
politically correct's big deal about this.
You get the idea.
We here at BTN even have an occasional member of the politically hip
writing for us; his name is Lurch Henson, and we don't begrudge him.
He's a fine writer and an interesting fellow - I suggest you read what
he has to say. He'll tell you this month that it doesn't make any
difference if you vote or not. If I were talking to one person, I'd
probably say the same thing, but if I were talking to potentially
hundreds of thousands of people, I'm sure I'd say something different,
because although one person's vote rarely makes a difference, the vote
of an entire demographic often does.
I plan on voting because it's fun. It's the only sporting event that I
truly take an active interest in. I guess I'm still young enough that
I'm not disillusioned by politics, culture or life. Hopefully, I have a
few years left in me for that. If you feel the same way, I gently
offer the suggestion that you do likewise. It's free.
Another thing I'm still naive about is Christmas. No, I don't believe
in Santa Claus, but I still do believe in the spirit of the season,
which I suppose is just as bad. Of course, being a child of the '80s,
I'm highly motivated by image and icon, so it's no wonder that seeing
Christmas decorations jacks my mood up a couple of notches. That's why
I'm one of the few people who don't complain about seeing Christmas
begin early. As if, after seeing the same old shopping mall for ten
months, it's a big deal if they change the way things look for the
remainder of the year, you know? (Complaining about Christmas
decorations is, naturally, politically hip.)
I have a feeling, though, that it goes a little bit deeper than simply
being put off by gaudy spectacle. I think it's possible that seeing
Christmas decorations reminds people, down deep somewhere, of something
that they don't want to think about. I think it annoys people that the
holiday gets a jump on them - they'd rather get THEMSELVES in the mood
for it, and THEN see the decorations. Having Christmas decorations
around when you don't feel Christmas-y can't be too much fun. Of
course, I'm flexible that way.
Well, okay, so let's get to this month's issue. Yep, it's my second
issue as editor of BTN, and you'll notice that I kept my promise of
making it larger than last month. One of the more notable pieces in
this month's BTN, I feel, is Shayne Hardesty's paen to shopping for new
shoes. I remember when I was young enough to feel the urge to write
about every trivial thing that happened to me, and write passionately
about it at that. The rest of it is also similarly high quality work
from the city's most top-rated telecommunications writers. Enjoy their
fruits, and note that all cash contributions should be directed to my
address.
(Oh yes, I promised BTN's first ever presidential endorsement. Well,
truthfully, there was no getting around this -- I either have to name a
serious candidate and end up looking pretentious, or come up with
someone completely goofy and off-the-wall, and end up looking, well,
pretentious. So in lieu of that, BTN hereby forfeits its endorsement
and encourages you, if you vote, to vote your mind, heart, soul and
conscience. And please don't drink and vote.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
BAUD POLITICS
---------
Birmingham's sysops speak their minds about the Presidential Election
---------
Responses compiled by
Scott Hollifield
---------
Editor's Note:
I asked local sysops to name who they endorse for President of the
United States, and why, in 30 words or less. As you might well imagine,
my length restriction was a bit on the tight side, and many of the
respondents went on to defy the 30-word limit. Good on 'em -- that's
what America's all about. If you're a local sysop, and I passed you
over somehow, my apologizes; I did make an effort to reach every sysop I
had on record. Now - on with it!
---------
"I do not support George Bush. I dislike his oppressive policies, his
failed conservative trickle-down economic policies (his failure to even
notice that an economic crisis is occurring), his tax increases and
increases in user fees that only seem to affect the middle class, and
his broad-based discrimination against Indians, Gays, Blacks and people
with disabilities."
Bill Freeman
Sysop, Adanet One
"Frankly, I think we have a poor lot to choose from, thus cannot endorse
any of the candidates. As a case of 'lesser of evils' Bush will have
to get my vote."
Maggie Harden
Sysop, Alter Ego
"I do not support Clinton because he is so flimsy in his statments. I
do not support King Perot because big busines needs to stay out of
government. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"
Thor
Sysop, Asgard
"Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and the republicans have raped this
country. Under the many years of republican control, the primary goal
as I see it is for the rich to get richer and the poor to get even
poorer. I do not know if Bill Clinton can solve the problems or even
keep them from getting worse, but I KNOW that he can not do any worse.
The only jobs a person can find now are ones that will not pay enough to
make ends meet. It's time for a change."
Omega Ohm
Sysop, Byte Me!
"I do not endorse any political candidate for President of the United
States. However, my own personal vote will be for George Bush based
basically upon his understanding of the constitution, his economic
theory and his reluctance to rely upon race envy."
Jeff Brumlow
Sysop, Christian Apologetic Board
(C.A.B.)
"I support none of those Three Stooges posing as candidates."
Wizkid
Sysop, Datalynx
"At this time I would vote for Bush. Don't get me wrong, I don't
think he is really that much better than Clinton, but from what I have
read, and heard, Bush would do 'less' to hurt the veterans and the
general public. The reason I use the word "less" is that I don't think
we really have a good choice for president, and I feel that Clinton
would do a worse job than Bush. Lesser of evils, one might say.."
Lee Harden
Sysop, The Den
"Of the three candidates running, my pick would be Perot. His strategy
of pulling out for the summer and letting the other candidates 'cover
themselves with mud' is, IMHO, brilliant. That's the kind of strategy
we need in our relations with other nations."
James Corbitt
Sysop, Deep Space Nine
"I am going to vote for President Bush. While I am not particularly
pleased with his performance for the past four years, I see no one that
is as qualified running. Also, the next president may be replacing up
to four justices on the Supreme Court. I certainly do not want Bill
Clinton picking them!"
Henry McGraw
Sysop, Drawing Room
"I endorse Bush/Quayle. Clinton has a number of endorsements from
special interest groups that I don't think is appropriate and may be
indicative of where our taxes may go to. Perot is a good board chairman
but I don't think he could rally enough Democratic or Republican support
necessary to get the country back on track."
Larry Linville
Sysop, Genesis Online
"I most likely will vote for Ross Perot. He in my opinion is the most
likely of candidates to attack the national debt with vigor and have an
impact over the next 4 years. We the American tax payers are the ones
who will have to pay and I would prefer to start paying now rather than
wait for Clinton or Bush to squander monies over the next few years and
the debt continue to increase. This problem is so huge we need to
address it now while it can be managed. Ross Perot is the most sincere
candidate we have at this time."
Jerry Hayden
Sysop, Hoots With Owls
"I endorse Perot. He has the experience in business to handle the
financial matters of the government, plus administrative experience to
make the two parties come together."
Intruder
Sysop, Intruder Enterprizes
"If I had to chose today, I suppose I would have to say I'm supporting
Perot. Why? Again, I suppose, at this juncture I have to relate back
to the old quote 'if there's no one (thing) you want to vote for, vote
against some one (thing).' I firmly feal Bush and Clinton are
programmed politicians, caring for little more than getting re-elected
or instituting their pet (read -- lobbyist faction with the most money)
policies; perhaps we need someone to shake things up a bit, that leaves
Perot -- a business man cum polititian."
Rick Morgan
Sysop, Joker's Castle
"I am a Bush supporter. If anyone has noticed Mr. Clinton is yet to say
how he is going to do all the things he promises, and now that he seems
to be leading in the polls the interest rates have gone up to over 9%
again. Mainly, I do not support anyone who would be unwilling to serve
in defense of our country as Mr. Clinton did. Another thing, if Mr.
Clinton applied for a high security government job with his background,
he would be denied, and people want to put him in charge of the most
delicate security position available in the country."
Vikki Highfield
Sysop, Magnolia
"Clinton/Gore because Gore particularly has for years pushed to fund the
National Data Backbone, and electronic equivalent of the Interstate
Highway system."
Rocky Rawlins
Sysop, The Matrix
"I think Perot would be a real change, probably either very, very good
or disasterous. The thing I like most about Perot and Stockdale is
that they seem to be focused on the real problem, which is the national
deficit and deficit spending, instead of getting willingly sidetracked
into, admittedly important, but lesser issues such as abortion rights.
So I'll probably vote for either Perot or who ever the Libertarian
candidate might be...At the moment I feel relatively sure that I don't
want to vote for either the Republican or Democratic offerings."
Marlin Johnson
Sysop, Metaboard
"George Bush - lesser of the evil. Perot is a good businessman but the
country *obviously* isn't run like a business."
Lamar Smith
Sysop, Night Watch
"I endorse Bill Clinton for President in 1992. While I am not a
Democrat, I cannot stand to watch the country continue on the route to
self-destruction that we are taking. I am willing to give the
Democrats four years to prove what they can do with a united
government."
Asengar
Sysop, Nirvana
"I think I'll vote for George Bush. I really don't agree with a lot of
things he's done but Bill Clinton is just too liberal for my tastes.
Ross Perot is OK, and I was seriously considering voting for him before
he dropped out back in July, but that changed my mind. Now I don't
think he stands a chance."
James Minton
Sysop, Outer Limits
"I will be voting for Perot, because he is the only candidate that will
admit that things are a mess and it is going to be painful to fix it."
Leaping Lotharious
Sysop, Owlabama Mensa
"Two weeks from E-Day, I am still undecided, but leaning towards the
Republicans. The alternative is more government, more spending, and a
bleaker future for America."
Anita Abney
Sysop, Party Line
"I will go with Clinton... First of all he is more open about the
subject of abortion, and I like his view. Secondly, I believe that
'busch' [sic] has proven himself incapable of being a world figure as
he goes around attacking an opponent's character - not acceptable a
World leadership role. As for his economics -- CANT be any worse than
what the last 4 years did."
Bill Knaffl
Sysop, The Playground
"I am voting for Andre Marrou, Libertarian candidate. I believe that
the Demopublicans have lost sight of what our limited form of
government means. Thomas Jefferson said, 'The government that governs
best governs least,' and we sure have forgotten that! The Libertarians
want a federal government that protects our rights and freedoms, and
defends us against enemies foreign and domestic. No foreign aid, no
loan guarantees, no bureaucracy, no undue burden on the taxpayers."
Mark Bodenhausen
Sysop, Quiet Zone
[Editor's Note: Mark Bodenhausen is a Libertarian candidate for the
U.S. House of Representatives.]
"Well, I am voting for Bush. I am not very pleased with his performance,
but I am scared to death of the added taxes that Clinton and Perot have
both said they will impose if they are elected."
Steve Turner
Sysop, ST BBS
"As for who I support in the presidential elections.....for awhile it was
Morris the Cat (seriously), but then I hear a compelling argument that
MIGHT shift my support, I haven't fully decided yet. It was 'Vote for
Cthulu, why vote for the lesser Evil?' None of the candidates, in my
opinion, are worth voting for, or against, this time around. I'd
probably go for Bush, since he's a known, if I were going to bother to
vote this time around. Not worth it though."
Lurch Henson
Co-sysop, Teasers
"My endorsement goes to Bill Clinton mainly because of his stand on gay
rights but also because after twelve years of Republican presidents,
our economy just can't take anymore. Our national debt and federal
spending has skyrocketed under the present administration. 'Read my
lips' is too little, too late."
Festus
Sysop, Torch Song
"George Bush. He did not raise taxes, the CONGRESS did, which is
predominantly DEMOCRATIC. I want to clean out the congress, and keep a
Republican in office."
Goldblade
Sysop, Viper's Pit
"Well, it's a very hard decision to make. If Ross Perot would not
have dropped out then he would definately have my vote, but the fact
that he dropped out just plainly shows that when the 'going gets
tough', Perot doesn't get it going. So, Clinton is going to get my
vote... I'm not happy with that, but he is the lesser of two evils.
Bush can forget it. If Perot would be Clinton's vice-president, I
would be very comfortable with the way the country would be run."
Chase
Sysop, The Wanderer
"Personally I like Ross Perot. While Bush has had a good policy in
dealing with other countries, I have not been happy with his domestic
decisions. I do not like Clinton at all!!!!"
Willie Moore
Sysop, Willie's
Dial-Your-Match
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The BBS: Business or Hobby?
by Mark Maisel
You know, I've beaten a subject nearly to death, or so I think.
I've been talking lately about the changes we've been witnessing the
past few years on bbs'. I did so hoping to begin some sort of
discussion on a bbs about all of this. No success... This indicates one
of two things: either people don't care or they haven't read any of this
stuff I've written. I find the changes intriguing and I think they
really deserve to be aired. Am I all alone out here, for whatever
reason? I think not, so I'll try once more.
As I remember, bbs' started off as an extension of the hobbyist
heyday of micro-computing. I've still got an old acoustic coupler modem.
For those of you unfamiliar, I'm sure some old timer will be glad to
ramble about it endlessly on your behalf, if prompted. When I got
involved with modems, I had a TI-99/4a, and used to go to a friend's
house to play with his 110/300 baud wonder of wonders. It was attached
to a Commodore VIC-20. To dial out, you used the telephone, and when
you got an answer, you flipped a switch on the modem and then hung up
the phone. It usually worked. There were a few boards in town, but
before I found those, we would call up someone else with a modem just
for the novelty of typing back and forth to each other, marveling at the
idea and technology. Once we managed to write or acquire something with
a transfer protocol, we used to swap little BASIC or assembler programs
we'd written. The TI didn't last much longer because it was so
expensive to expand it. I got a VIC-20 and modem of my own. I remember
that modem very well. It was a "Mighty Mo" ($110) and could even dial
out. It was real fancy, for its time. The software coming with it made
no allowance for file transfer, however, so that was frustrating. None
of the other software available for other modems would work with "Mighty
Mo" at first, because much of its innards were proprietary. Eventually,
someone figured it out and managed file transfers. By that time, I'd
moved up to a Commodore 64 and 1200 baud Volksmodem ($225). I thought I
was really doing something when I experienced a 4 fold increase in
transmission speed. Reflecting on the time, I suppose I was. By that
time, there were lots of bbs', though nothing like the thousands in
existence today. At this stage, things were still geared toward the
hobbyist. I got frustrated by the growing presence of IBM compatible
machines, primarily because they worked in 80 columns and my C64 would
only display 40. I got around this eventually with a nifty terminal
program I snagged off of Compuserve that generated an optional 80 column
display. I stayed with this system for a long time. It did everything
I needed at the time. I didn't even consider an IBM compatible machine
till Kathy graduated from college. As her major was accounting, she
wanted something that would run Lotus 1-2-3. I had wanted an Amiga, a
fairly new machine at the time. It had great graphics and sound unlike
anything else on the market. It would not run 1-2-3 so I didn't get one
for her graduation, and instead purchased an Everex 286-8mhz clone with
EGA, and a mighty 30 megabyte hard drive. With this system also came a
new modem. An Everex internal 2400 baud modem ($245) was an option I
elected to purchase. I thought I'd been speedy before, but this thing
was incredible. It suddenly became worthwhile to spend time on bbs'
downloading files. It didn't take any time at all, hahahahaha. Another
useful feature of this modem was that it had a speaker! I could
actually listen to the carrier tones and connection. What a treat! I
look back on that machine and modem with fondness. It enabled me to do
things I'd never tried with a computer. It also marked a drastic change
for me from primarily programming my own stuff to using that written by
others. I purchased Turbo Pascal 3.0 for my use but never did much with
it. By the time I'd purchased the 286, there was so much good software
already written, I couldn't imagine writing it any better myself. I
quickly became sold on the relatively new concept of shareware. Most of
the software I used for years was shareware. I still use quite a bit of
it, and much of the commercial software I use today had its origins in
shareware. I tried several terminal packages and settled on Procomm. I
used it as shareware until it finally became commercial and it is still
on a machine in use. I switched to QModem right about the time it
became commercial and I still use it. For you trivia buffs, the Crunchy
Frog's node 2 is that ole 286. I gave it to Kathy to replace the XT she
had been using for the Frog back when it was running only one node. She
plugged in the 286 and it became node 2 when she decided to expand to
two nodes. She used and is using a 386sx to serve the Frog. Anyway, I
got a chance to purchase a used US Robotics HST ($300) after I'd been
using the Everex modem for a year or two. The HST would run as fast as
9600 baud when connected to one of its own kind. Once again, I thought
the increase phenomenal, and it was another 4 fold increase over what
I'd had. I used that modem for about 3 years and eventually sold it. I
then went on to purchase a Supra FAXModem. This thing runs as fast as
14,400 baud and is my current modem. I thought that surely things
couldn't get any faster on a conventional phone line. The phone
companies had been telling us it was impossible for years, even to
achieve 2400 baud. Not to be too harsh on them there are still people
who are otherwise regarded as intelligent that think the earth is flat.
The Supra is a pretty good modem, though I've had some trouble
connecting to a few other modems with which is compatible. I write most
of that off to the way the sysops have their modems set. One other
thing about the Supra is that its speaker has mysteriously died. I'd
send it back to be repaired but I hate to do without it for the time it
is going to take. Anyway, that is about it for my rambling. You now
have an idea of the roads I've traveled, how I got where I am, and where
that is.
The bbs' in Birmingham grew in number pretty quickly as the price
of 8-bit Atari and Commodore machines came within reach of more folks,
and as more folks decided to learn about computers. About the time
these systems started gaining some sophistication, the IBM-PC clone had
become a marketing phenomenon, bringing with it, much faster and fancier
hardware & software. There are still some old Atari and Commodore
systems around but they don't see the level of traffic they did at one
time. The clone folks experimented with various packages including
Genesis, RBBS, and PC Board. There were others but none ever was so
widely accepted around Birmingham as PC Board. It was curious how
different cities around the country seemed to pretty much standardize on
a particular package. Birmingham to this day remains pretty much a PC
Board town. Wildcat! has made a pretty good leap from anonymity in the
past year too, but PC Board is still the top dog, volume-wise. Anyway,
every day, more and more folks discovered bbs' in Birmingham and we
chatted away. I primarily involved myself in discussions of current
events and answering questions about computer hardware & software. As
more people came online, they began to come from less technically
oriented backgrounds, and to have more diverse opinions. I enjoyed
these trends immensely. One day, a bbs called Pinson Valley (at the
time, Apple Valley), began to carry a collection of conferences shared
with lots of different bbs' all across the country. This message
network, Interlink (tm), was certainly an interesting opportunity. The
audience was much wider in depth and volume. There was even an offline
mail reading system, available since it was nearly impossible to
participate in any significant number of conferences within a reasonable
amount of time. I tried this system and didn't like it at all. It was
cumbersome, slow, and not at all convenient for me. It left a bad taste
in my mouth for offline mail reading schemes for years. Just as things
were getting cranked up good for Pinson Valley and local Interlink (tm)
usage, Pinson Valley had to go down. Shortly thereafter, a small group
of sysops and hangers-on were invited to a party. At that party, the
concept of EZNet was born. I won't go into detail here but EZNet was
the only message sharing going on in Birmingham for at least a few
years. It was all local too. I found it handy and I continue to do so.
It is a great way to get a message out to folks on many different bbs'
in town.
It was with these two events that I began to think about what might
lie ahead for bbs'. EZNet had no particular cost to the sysop above and
beyond existing expenses, but Interlink (tm) involved nightly calls to a
hub for mail transfers. Somewhere along the way, long distance call
charges were being run up, and there needed to be a way to pay for them;
other than the sheer generosity of the sysop calling. With Interlink
(tm) and others like it, also came rules. People who rose to positions
of authority, influence, or what-have-you within various networks, along
with sysops who passed on their expenses via subscriptions, began to
have a vested interest in making bbs' more than just a hobby. Message
networks and access to "the newest programs (files)" could easily be
marketed as value added or enhanced services, for which a fee could be
charged. These things did happen though Birmingham was slow to accept
this change. This also fell hand in hand with the slowness of national
and international message networks to come here. Long established
message networks like RIME and FIDO didn't get here until fairly recent
times, given my time scale. As I recall, the first one to come after
our brief brush with Interlink was Metrolink, and this was on Channel
8250. Once the Channel had hooked up, the idea of being part of a big
message network caught on like wildfire. Many sysops bought into it
because they thought it necessary to attract callers of quality (those
who are active in message bases), and because they could generally get
into cheaply. The cheapness came from the fact that early network
members in Birmingham generally allowed any other local sysop to
transfer network mail with them. On the matter of bbs access becoming a
business transaction, the first attempt that met with any success in
Birmingham was America Online (tm). Yes, that was the name, and through
amazing foresight, the sysops, Rocky Rawlins and Tom Egan registered the
name as a trademark. They sold the name to the commercial venture of
the same name a few years back. Anyone want to purchase the name, "The
MATRIX (tm)"? To their credit, they allowed anyone access to the system
whether or not they'd paid. That access was limited to 30 minutes per
day, initially; hardly sufficient time to access the huge system they'd
put together. That huge system and limited time was the incentive
offered to get folks to pay for additional time. It worked. They were
able to break even most of the time, which was the stated goal, as I
recall. Several systems tried to emulate this success but none quite
made it since there remained so many free systems in Birmingham. Another
reason why America Online (tm) made it, I think, is because the
resources dedicated to the system were beyond anything that anyone else
in town was doing or could afford to do.
Prices for computers and bbs related hardware continued to fall.
This enabled more sysops to have more than one phone line for the use of
callers, as well as giving them more money to use for long distance
calls for network mail & files. Folks kept on trying to compete against
or at least duplicate the success of The MATRIX (tm), but the lower
prices allowed it to keep on expanding at the same time as others were
just reaching the original dimensions of the old America Online (tm).
Additionally, the number of free bbs' continued to grow, thus making it
even more difficult for those who sought to profit or at least make
their systems self-sustaining. Outside of Birmingham, in both rural and
urban areas, bbs' that charged a fee were becoming widely accepted as
the standard. There were and are lots of bbs' tossed up by the
hobbyists but most don't tend to last very long. This last statement is
true for Birmingham though there are many free hobbyist boards up and
running that have been doing so for several years. The "for- fee" bbs'
seemed to have made their place and it was going to get bigger. Within
the last year, at least two other bbs', Baudville and Genesis Online,
have begun a seemingly successful subscription service. I'm sure that
more will follow, and that they will find some market niche in which to
prosper, or at least pay the bills.
The changes are many and not everyone is in agreement about whether
they are for the good. Lets see, we have a (possible local) tendency
toward fee based bbs', huge bbs' (networks, conferences, and file
libraries), a proliferation of offline mail reading and writing, and
even more folks getting into bbs' that aren't necessarily computer
experts, or even computer literate beyond managing to get online. If
you're still with me, I'd like to talk about these changes with the idea
of getting some sort of discussion going in regards to them.
Is a fee based bbs a good idea? I don't know. I've subscribed to
some of them in the past. I am not currently paying for access to any
sort of online service. A fee based bbs can be a good thing, especially
for a rural or otherwise under served area. It allows the costs to be
shared among those who take advantage of the service. It may also
provide a viable primary or secondary source of income for the owner(s).
It has disadvantages too, at least in its infancy. Locally and abroad,
I've seen systems go up, ask for money, and then disappear. Who can you
call, the Better Business Bureau? Most of these systems are either ill
conceived, under funded from the start, or premeditated scams. One must
be a careful consumer indeed to avoid being bitten by such a system. The
MATRIX (tm) recently joined the Better Business Bureau in order to
instill confidence in the consumers that, yes, they will be around and
accountable. A complaint I've heard about some fee based systems is
that there are usually more rules and that they are more vigorously
enforced. This makes sense to me since the owner is running a business,
is much more exposed to liability, and has a much more vested interest
in making sure potential and existing customers aren't run off by other
customers who may offend.
BBS' are getting larger too, especially those that charge a fee.
America Online (tm) started off with three lines and now The MATRIX (tm)
has 15. I'm told that more will be available soon. There are even more
extraordinary examples of growth to be found across the country. The
file libraries are measured in gigabytes and range among every category
of files you can imagine. The numbers of conferences and message
networks has grown beyond comprehension as well. The Information Age is
upon us and it is a deluge. Is it easier to find something out of the
ordinary by way of a conference or file? Yes, in that it is more
likely to exist than previously. No, in that there is so much out there
from which to choose to search, that one may easily lose track,
perspective, or even interest, given the vastness of some of the systems
online today.
Offline mail reading and writing has been around for a long time,
but only in the past few years has it really gotten popular in
Birmingham. Channel 8250 lead the way by being the first, after Apple
Valley, to offer offline mail service. At one time, the ability to be
active in many conferences and/or on may bbs' depended on quick
thinking, quick typing, and lots of spare time. It has been argued that
the quality of messages has declined and the volume increased since
offline mail service has removed the need for the above abilities. It
has been said that there are many leaving messages now that otherwise
would not do so, or at least not in the volume at present. I say that
this is a two edged sword. I find offline mail service to be extremely
helpful to me in remaining active on many systems and in many
conferences. I have always been very active but the availability of
offline service allows me much more flexibility. I can download packets
of mail to read at my leisure. If I require a reference not readily at
hand, I can get it without having to worry about a bbs dropping me for a
lack of activity while I research. I can read whenever I feel like it
and have my system automatically poll for mail when I know bbs' are
least busy. The process of interaction with the bbs is completely
automated for me and I can use the bbs as a tool for learning and
communication without having to worry a whole lot about knowing the nuts
and bolts of the tool. I can merely use it. The other edge of this
sword is that I can more quickly skip over messages about things, from
or to folks in whom I'm not interested. I have more sophisticated
techniques available to me to find only those messages of interest to
me. This is a great way to help in paring down the flow of information
to a manageable portion.
With the coming of so many new folks, especially those who are
using computers as tools and not as ends unto themselves, there are
things to be said. I rather like the diversity, though the increased
volume does make it tougher to sort through the chaff to find those
gems. Not everyone is an intellectual, nor is everyone in agreement. If
they were, the bbs' and the world would be a dull place. There are many
who seem to forget that and their complaints have been heard by me. Not
everyone is a terrific comedian either, but that doesn't stop some folks
from trying. Is it elitism to want the not so smart, not so agreeable,
and not so funny to go away? I don't know. BBS interaction is different
from the personal kind but there are similarities. There are those folks
who attract others, repel others, and those who are content with the
status quo, whatever it may be. Over the years, I've seen folks leave
the local bbs', and many of them say they left because of the networks
and all these new folks. I don't know nor do I care if this is true. I
miss some of them but many more, some even more entertaining, have taken
their places.
There, I've spit out about as much as I can manage without some
interaction. I feel better and hope that you will be interested enough
to discuss this with me somewhere. I regularly call Crunchy Frog, The
MATRIX, and Channel 8250, at least a few times a week. I also scan the
EZNet conference that is available on several boards in a few states. I
hope you've enjoyed this and to hear from you soon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Elections?
or
Jeez, not again.......
by
Lurch Henson
This article isn't going to be as popular as some of mine have been
in the past, but that's ok, I'm not writing it to make anyone else
happy, I'm writing it because I'm tired of seeing all this garbage on TV
all the time about "YOU can make a difference....." First things first,
your vote makes no difference at all. Oops, he's said something
nasty.... Well, that's teh way it is. YOU do not elect the president.
Ask any high school student if you don't believe me. The president is
chosen by a group of men sitting in a room all by themselves, making
whatever deals they want to make, and deciding, by themselves, for us,
who will sit in the chair for the next four years. The only thing that
the vote we cast does is act as a poll for them to look at, then decide
if they want to follow public opinion, or not. They don't always do it,
either. Presidential candidates have been elected by popular vote, and
the other candidate has won, because these men decided we were wrong,
and the other guy was better.
Now, don't get me wrong, your vote CAN make a difference, it just
DOESN'T. What upsets me is the way that we are lied to about it. You
see all these stars on TV "talking frankly" with you from the screen,
saying things like the above, "YOU can make a difference....." I see
this as an insult to our intelligence. Especially for the high school
students..... Unless things have changed since I went to high school,
you are still taught the way things work. You still find out about the
guys sitting in that room deciding things for everyone else. Then, you
go home and see the stars of "90210" on the set saying things like "Let
me talk to you for a sec,".... and "You know, they don't think we
matter, show them that `young people' CAN make a difference." I don't
know, maybe high school students are more gullible than when I was in
high school, but somehow I doubt it. All this money that is being spent
to lie to people on TV is crazy. Spend it somewhere that it'll do some
good. Quit hiding under the candidates beds and following each other
around with cameras and get to work on fixing some of the damn problems
we've got in this country. There is more than enough work out there for
all of the people in public office to have more than enough to do
without worrying about who's telling the better lie. Jeez, people, quit
pestering the Hell out of people that are tired and just want to watch a
little relaxing TV when they get home at night.....we'd do alot better
without having to put up with watching some billionaire buy up all the
TV time he can to show infomercials about his kids...... If I wanted to
be bored with home movies I'd go back to Lower Alabama and get my dad to
run his videos.
I for one will be REAL glad when the elections are over and done
with, I CAN'T WAIT..... An no, I am not voting this time around (not
surprised, are you?). Since gaining the "right" to vote, I have never
once voted FOR anyone, I've only voted AGAINST. I'd vote for the guy
that wasn't the one I didn't want in office, hoping that maybe it'd make
a difference somewhere down the line.... This time around, I don't
particularly want any of them in office, each for their own reasons. I
think that they would all do more damage than I want to see done, but if
I had to go with the lesser of all evils, I'd probably just hope for
four more years of the same as the last four, hoping that maybe next
time around someone worth the office would take a shot at it.
Oh yes, one more thing.....your vote might not mean anything, might
not be what puts the next guy in the big chair, but your vote DOES elect
the guys below him, so in that way you can make a difference. I'm not
telling anyone not to vote with this article, far from it, I'm mainly
just blowing off a little steam at all the people on TV talking down to
the general public. If you want to vote, please do so, but do it where
it does the most good. Vote for those that make the laws, and vote for
the ones that make the laws YOU want made. The most important part of
our government is it's structure, NOT the idiot that sits on top. Put
together a good structure and the guy on top gets less and less
important.... Vote for the little stuff.....you'll find that the little
things always turn out to be the most important......in everything you
do. Take care of the little things in life and the big ones take care
of themselves.....
9210.26
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Golden Pair
by Shayne Hardesty
As you may or may not know, there are three major things that a
teenager really looks forward to. The first, of course, is Christmas,
the time of the year where everyone paints on a happy face and bombards
you with cool stuff, expecting nothing in return except a hug (there's
got to be a catch somewhere). The second thing we look forward to is
the glorious day when we turn sixteen, and we get a taste of freedom for
the first time. And finally, the third thing we look forward to is that
time when you start back to school and get that new pair of shoes.
I'm sure you know the story well. Your parents pick that one day,
and they save up for years for it. This is your day; the kid's day to
make the decisions. The word "power" comes to mind. Anyway, you get all
dressed up in your shoe-buying clothes and head down to the shoe store.
You arrive on the scene and are informed that you limit is fifty
dollars (yeah, right). You get out of the car, walking about twenty feet
ahead of your parents so that no one thinks you're really with them.
You arive in this store, which is blasting some kind of oldies
music at full volume which your parents seem take some sort of odd
pleasure in. So you gaily stroll around staring blankly at the walls and
racks of shoes, confident that your parents are standing behind you
somewhere with pocketfulls of money.
After wondering around for hours, you finally come upon the wall you
were looking for, the one that says, "Reebok" on it. The wall contains a
couple million shoes. You spend time narrowing them down by picking them
up and then listening to what your parents think is wrong with them.
Then, of course, it is your parents turn to pick up the shoes for
$19.95 and tell you how perfect these are for you. You turn away trying
to explain to them that these shoes determine your social status for
the whole next year.
So you make a bold decision and decide that Reeboks might not really
be what you want. Nike's? Where are they? After seaching the store
you fail to find them. So you pick on one of the little bubbly, happy
salesmen that is more-than-eager to help you (I wonder if these guys
work on commision???) and ask him if he can help you find the Nike's.
He says, "No problem, dude." and leads you through a maze of winding
passageways and tunnels. When you finally come out into the light you
are blinded by the millions of shoes that are on the wall ahead of you.
So you spend the next four hours and finally narrow it down to that
perfect pair of shoes, the shoes that were made just for you. So you
pick on a happy little salesman and ask him if he has these in an
eleven. He says, "I'm sure we do, let me check--I'll be back in a
second."
You wait there for three more hours while you can envision the clerk
in the back snorting coke and laughing at you with the other salesmen,
while your parents are over browsing the $9.95 discount shoes rack.
After an eternity he appears from this little doorway with two boxes.
One is a size seven and the other in an eighteen. He says, "Sorry, but
we didn't have those in an eleven. Would you like to try this eighteen
instead?"
By this time you are fed up, so in the middle of throwing shoes at
him you carefully explain to him that you requested an eleven, and
that's all you want to see.
And you pick out another pair. Not the cool shoes you wanted, but
these are five dollars more expensive and not too ugly. And of course,
the process is repeated. They only have these in a five and a fifteen.
Now you decide that you really wanted Reeboks, so you hire a
tourguide and find the Reebok wall again. And, invariably, the process
is repeated. They only have the Reeboks in eights and nineteens.
By this time the music is starting to eat away at your brain and you
are getting fed up, and so are your parents. So in a last effort to
keep your sanity you request the $29.95 pair of offbrand generics. And
of course your parents make you try them on, putting the new shoe on one
foot and your old shoe on the other. And of course you hear those
dreaded works you hoped you were too old to hear. "Walk around in it and
see how comfortable it is."
So you do the "dorky shoe walk". One new shoe, one old shoe, making
one lap around the little aisle where you are. You don't like the way
the shoe feels, but when you tell the salesman he just explains that the
shoe is new, and you are too stupid to know that new shoes have to be
broken in. So you convince yourself that this is really the shoe you
wanted (even though your really hate it). Your friends make sure you
know of their dissaproval all year long by their constant nagging about
how pathetic your shoes are. So next year you vow to get that all cool
$149.95 pair of shoes that would be the envy of the whole school. Too
bad they only make those in fours and you just aren't aware of it yet...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A Review of BirdData 2.0.1a
by Kelly Rosato
OVERVIEW: BirdData 2.0.1 is a Windows 3.1 based package for use
by aviculturists for maintaining the various records related to
exotic birds. (IE: breeding, weights, pets, sales and so forth).
It requires at least a 80286 based CPU with 1mb of ram, Windows
3.1 and a mouse.
EVALUATION: After downloading BirdData 2.0.1 (refered from this
point as BD) I unzipped the file to a work directory and proceeded to
install the program. The install went smoothly, and was fairly simple. The
few things that I could be improved as far as installation were small,
the install is DOS based, and when installing it should step through
the default directory. In my case, I did not want to install the program
to C:\BIRDDATA, I wished to install to a subdirectory called
C:\WINDOWS\BIRDDATA. So I had to halt the installation and restart it,
being careful to instruct the install program the specified subdirectory.
Once past this small hurdle, I started windows and and fired up BD.
I was then asked to specify where BD's datafiles were at. This should
be logged by BD during the installation for this purpose, since this
is redundant. Given that most of the people that are using are more
concerned with Aviculture than computers operation, this should be as
streamlined as possible.
Once up and running the program was simplicity itself to use, showing
Mr. Bradner's admirable adherance to the Windows Programing Guidelines.
With 22 iconbuttons in a tool bar on the right side of the screen
representing various aspects including: Weights, Search, Print, Undo,
Graph Weights, New Bird, Toolbox, African Greys, Amazons, Cockatoos,
Conures, Lories, Macaws, Pionus, Poicephalus, Ringnecks, Electus,
Breeding Pairs, Pets, Information, Trash. The Iconbuttons are well
laidout and mostly pleasing to the eye. The toolbar itself is fair,
but does not allow for and customization other than changing the
Iconbuttons themselves, it would be nice to be able to dispense with
icons that one does not need and be able to move the toolbar to another
location if needed. I did not NEED to move the toolbar during my
evaluation, but the option would be nice since I am left handed
and refer to the left side for things such as in Excel where I
can customize the enviroment to my taste.
As I worked (I added about a 2 dozen faux birds for a test bed) It seemed
that the program was slightly slow. This I can only attribute to the BASIC
engine, since I have no methodology for benchmarking this type of program due
to the fact it is the only one if it's type. Other than this I found nothing
little that detracted from the programs simplicity, power and ease of use.
The Iconbuttons cover almost every aspect of an exotic birds life, from
the breeding pair and vet records to the business aspects such as purchases
and sales points. If you have a computer and keep birds, this package is
a godsend for keeping track of the staggering amount of data that keeping
exotic birds produce. and all in all I was pleased with Mr. Bradner's work
with BirdData 2.0.1.
best worst
RATING SCALE: EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR UNACCEPTABLE
PERFORMANCE: This program was tested on an AST EISA 486/25DX with a
670mb HDD, BOCA SVGA card with NCR graphics co-processor, and NEC 4D
monitor. As mentioned above the performance was slower than expected
considering that I was not sorting large databases (100,000 records or
more) and it is not a Query By Example, "QBE" system) RATING: FAIR
SUPPORT: Since BD is a shareware program and is a part time
venture rather than a full blown commercial venture, BD is supported
at this time only on the Bird Info Network (303-423-9775) technical
assistance is a hit or miss prospect. However this is balanced by
the fact that I know that since it's release Mr. Bradner has feverishly
worked on fixing any bugs that have appeared. RATING: FAIR
VALUE: Again BirdData 2.0.1 is Shareware and considering it's feature range
and niche market, the $25.00 price is exceptionally low. Giving it a powerful
Price to Performance ration. RATING: EXCELENT
PROS: Nothing else of this class available, price, ease of use and
some customization.
CONS: Speed, installation could be simpiler.
OVERALL: Good package for the money.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ProFile
by The Bishop
-----------
The ProFile is a light-hearted attempt at allowing the BBS community
to get to know the selected user or sysop better. The harassees...er...
candidates for the ProFile are selected purely by random (or maybe not -
read up on 'chaos'). If anyone has any suggestions for questions to be
included in the ProFile or for users to be harassed by the ProFile, then
feel free to E-Mail them to me (The Bishop on Crunchy Frog, or Aaron
Dees on most other boards in town)...
-----------
PRO FILE: Janet Rawlins
Age: Umm....oh, let's just say Thirtysomething.
Birthplace: Montgomery Alabama -- home of George Wallace, Emory Folmar,
racism, and of course our WONDERFUL State Legislature!
Occupation: You mean aside from being a sysop? Well, when I'm not
resetting nodes, validating new users, and answering
messages, I'm a Medical Technologist at UAB Hospital. (at
least THAT job pays something!)
My hobbies include: aquariums (oscars and tiger barbs at present), cats,
(5 at present), reading (novels, histories, aquarium
books, etc.), and, at one time, writing sleazy
stories and space romances.
Years telecomputing: About 3, and I'm still nearly as computer
illiterate now as I was back then.
Sysop, past/present/future of: The MATRIX BBS. I be's SYSOP #2!
My oddest habit is: Gee, you'll have to ask Rocky about that......
My greatest unfulfilled ambition is: To be a best-selling novelist.
The single accomplishment of which I am most proud is: the first story I
ever wrote.
My favorite performers are: Manneheim Steamroller, Enya, and Vangelis.
The last good movie I saw was: Casablanca. (believe it or not, I just
recently saw it for the first time!)
The last good book I read was: "In Mortal Combat" by John Toland. (It's
about the Korean War.)
If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played by:
Anjelica Huston. (I can dream, can't I?)
My pet peeves are: (oh boy! how many do I get to list, huh?)
1. calling long-distance to validate a new user, only to find out
it's a fake.
2. hearing the phone ring the EXACT moment I take my first bite
of supper.
3. people who walk their dogs and let them dump on my front grass.
4. Ross Perot.
5. George Bush.
6. Bill Clinton.
7. (nah, that's enough I guess...)
When nobody's looking, I like to: watch Ren & Stimpy cartoons.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SIG's (Special Interest Groups), Computer Related
-------------------------------------------------
BEPCUG CCS
Birmingham East PC Users Group Commodore Club South
Jefferson Sate Jr. College Springville Road Library
Ruby Carson Hall, Rm 114 2nd & 4th Tuesday (C64/C128)
3rd Friday, 7-9 PM 3rd Monday (Amiga)
Paula Ballard 251-6058 (after 5PM) 7:30-10 PM
BCCC BIPUG
Birmingham Commodore Computer Club Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group
POB 59564 UAB Nutrition Science Blg
Birmingham, Al 35259 RM 535/541
UAB School of Education, Rm 153 1st Sunday (delayed one week
2nd and 4th Sundays, 2 PM if meeting is a holiday)
Rusty Hargett 854-5172 Marty Schulman 967-5883
BACE FAOUG
Birmingham Atari Computer First Alabama Osborne Users
Enthusiast Group
Vestavia Library, downstairs Homewood Library
2nd Monday, 7 PM 1st Saturday, 1PM
Benny Brown 822-5059 Ed Purquez 669-5200
CADUB BGS/CIG
CAD Users of Birmingham Birmingham Genealogical Society/
Homewood Library Computer Interest Group
3rd Tuesday, 6:30PM-8:30PM Birmingham Public Library
Bobby Benson 791-0426 3rd Floor Auditorium
3rd Sunday, 2:30 PM
Robert Matthews 631-9783 or
Bone Yard BBS
RAHSPCUG
Ramsay Alternative High School PC Users Group
Ramsay High School
1800 13th Avenue South
last Wednesday of each month (September-April)
from 3:02-3:35
Lee Nocella 581-5120
SIG's, Non-Computer Related
---------------------------
BBC Birmingham Astronomy Club
Blue Box Companions Subject: Astronomy
Subject: Dr. Who Red Mountain Museum Annex
Hoover Library 4th Tuesday, 7:30PM
1st Saturday, 2PM-5PM
If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed,
please let us know by sending E-Mail to Barry Bowden on
The Matrix BBS.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area
Well, as you can see, I've restructured the BBS Numbers list. The main
reason I did this was that the number of networks being echoed into
Birmingham became so great, the list was starting to look messy. I was
also starting to run out of symbols to use. So, even though the list is
now twice the number of lines it used to be, I hope people will find it
easier and more convenient to use.
Also, something you should know is that I had to scramble a bit to
update the list. I apologize for any errors or omissions that crept in,
and ask that you leave ME (Scott Hollifield) a note about it. The ideal
places to do this are on Crunchy Frog or The Matrix. Letting Mark
Maisel know still works, technically, but realize that this only means
that he has to give it to me, stretching the process out an extra step.
NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES MODEM BBS SOFTWARE
SUPPORTED TYPE
ADAnet One (Nodes 1-3) 854-9074 1200-2400 PCBoard 14.5
[ez, fi, ad]
ADAnet One (Node 4) 854-5863 9600-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, fi, ad]
Alter-Ego BBS 925-5099 1200-9600 USR HST PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml]
Asgard 663-9171 300-9600 V.32 WWIV 4.21a
[ma, al, te]
Baudville (Node 1) 640-4593 300-2400 Major BBS 6.02
[none]
Baudville (Node 2) 640-4639 300-2400 Major BBS 6.02
[none]
Baudville (Node 3) 640-7243 300-2400 Major BBS 6.02
[none]
Baudville (Node 4) 640-7286 300-2400 Major BBS 6.02
[none]
Baudville (Node 5) 592-4684 300-2400 Major BBS 6.02
[none]
Bone Yard, The 631-6023 300-9600 USR HST PCBoard 14.5
[fi, bh]
Bus System 595-1627 300-2400 PCBoard 14.2
[none]
Byte Me! 979-BYTE! 2400-14400 USR HST WWIV 4.12
[ez, th, al]
Castle, The 841-7618 300-2400 C-Base 2.0
[none]
Castle Rock 995-9900 1200-19200 VBBS 5.52
[vi, al]
Channel 8250 (Node 1) 823-3957 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, un]
Channel 8250 (Node 2) 823-3958 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, un]
Christian Apologetic 808-0763 300-14400 V.32bis Wildcat! 3.55
[wi, bc]
Crunchy Frog (Node 1) 956-1755 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, lu]
Crunchy Frog (Node 2) 956-0073 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, lu]
Darkhold 681-0002 300-2400 Telegard 2.7
[none]
DataLynx 933-1974 1200-14400 V.32/V.42bis WWIV 4.21
[ez]
Deep Space 9 980-1089 300-14400 Wildcat! 3.51
[none]
Den, The 933-8744 300-9600 USR HST ProLogon/ProDoor
[ez, ml, il]
Disktop Publishing 854-1660 300-9600 V.32 Wildcat! 3.01
[pl]
Drawing Room 951-2391 300-2400 Wildcat! 3.02
[di]
EcoBBS 933-2238 300-2400 WWIV 4.21
[none]
Elysian Fields 620-0694 300-2400 Telegard 2.7
[al]
F/X BBS (Node 1) 823-5777 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ri, cc]
F/X BBS (Node 2) 822-4570 300-14400 V.32bis PCBoard 14.5
[ri, cc]
F/X BBS (Node 3) 822-4526 300-14400 V.32bis PCBoard 14.5
[ri, cc]
Family Smorgas-Board 744-0943 300-2400 PCBoard 14.5
[ez, fi, mj, bc, fa, ic, cf, cd, np, ag, hs, ve]
Final Frontier 681-6148 300-2400 USR DS Wildcat! 3.50
[none]
Genesis Online (Nodes 1-4) 620-4144 300-2400 Major BBS 5.3
[none]
Graphics Zone (Node 1) 870-5306 300-2400 MNP4 TBBS 2.1(16)
[none]
Graphics Zone (Node 2) 870-5329 300-2400 MNP4 TBBS 2.1(16)
[none]
Hacker's Corner 674-5449 1200-2400 MNP4 PCBoard 14.5
[none]
Hardeman's BBS 640-6436 1200-14400 Wildcat! 3.51
[wi, di]
HellBound BBS 444-9043 2400-14400 VBBS 5.52
[none]
Hoots With Owls 520-9540 300-2400 TriBBS 3.0
[none]
Illuminatus BBS 871-0489 1200-9600 VBBS 5.52
[vi, al]
Infinite Probability 791-0421 2400-9600 V.32 VBBS
[ww, vi, al]
Intruder Enterprizes 969-0870 300-9600 V.32 VBBS 5.5
[none]
Island 870-4685 2400-9600 V.32 Hermes 2.0
[fi]
Joker's Castle 664-5589 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, un]
Kiriath Arba 681-8374 300-2400 WWIV 4.21
[ww, ma, al]
Lemon Grove 836-1184 300-12000 V.32/42bis Searchlight
[fi, sl]
Lion & The Unicorn 424-1599 1200-57600 VBBS 5.52
[none]
Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300-14400 USR HST PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml]
MATRIX, The (Nodes 1-10) 323-2016 300-2400 PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, th, il, in, al, sh, sc, gl]
MATRIX, The (Nodes 11-14) 323-6016 9600-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, th, il, in, al, sh, sc, gl]
MATRIX, The (Node 15) 458-3449 9600-14400 V.32 PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, th, il, in, al, sh, sc, gl]
Medicine Man BBS 664-5662 300-14000 V.32bis GTPower 17.00
[gt]
MetaBoard 254-3344 300-14400 USR DS Opus
[fi]
Missing Link 853-1257 300-14400 USR HST C-Net Amiga 2.31
[none]
Monster, The 967-4839 300-2400 Telegard 2.7
[none]
Night Watch 841-2790 1200-2400 TriBBS 2.11
[cc, tr, di]
Nirvana 942-6702 300-2400 VBBS 5.52
[al]
Outer Limits 425-5871 1200-9600 USR HST Wildcat! 3.01
[fi]
Owlabama BBS 856-2521 300-14400 GTPower 17.00
[gt]
Owl's Nest 680-0851 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, ml, lu]
Party Line 856-1336 300-14000 V.32bis TriBBS 2.11
[cc, tr, di]
Playground 836-4200 300-2400 TriBBS 2.11
[tr, di, cc, ez, al]
Posys BBS 854-5131 300-9600 V.32 Passkey 1.31b
[none]
Quiet Zone, The 833-2066 300-9600 V.32 ExpressNET
[none]
Raven's Manor 681-4096 300-9600 V.32bis VBBS
[vi]
Safe Harbor (Node 1) 665-4332 300-2400 GTPower 17.00
[gt]
Safe Harbor (Node 2) 665-4355 300-14400 USR DS GTPower 17.00
[gt]
Safety BBS 581-2866 300-2400 RBBS-PC
[none]
Sperry BBS 853-6144 300-2400 V.32 PCBoard 14.5
[none]
ST BBS 836-9311 300-2400 PCBoard 14.2
[ez]
Teasers 987-0122 300-2400 WWIV 4.20
[al]
Thy Master's Dungeon 940-2116 300-9600 V.32 TriBBS 2.11
[none]
Torch Song 328-1517 300-2400 Wildcat 3.01
[pr, se]
Viper's Pit 856-2464 300-9600 V.32 WWIV 4.21
[al]
Wanderer, The 836-0603 300-14400 V.32/42bis Wildcat! 3.00
[th, pr, lu]
Waste Lands 991-5184 300-2400 WWIV 4.21
[ww, al]
Wild Side 631-0184 300-1200 WWIV 4.20
[al]
Willie's DYM (Node 1) 979-1629 300-2400 Oracomm Plus
[none]
Willie's DYM (Node 2) 979-7739 300-2400 Oracomm Plus
[none]
Willie's DYM (Node 3) 979-7743 300-1200 Oracomm Plus
[none]
Willie's DYM (Node 4) 979-8156 300-1200 Oracomm Plus
[none]
Word, The 833-2831 300-2400 WWIV 4.12
[none]
Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300-1200 Unaxess
[none]
The many symbols you see underneath the names of many of the bbs' in the
list signify that they are members of one or more networks that exchange
or echo mail to each other in some organized fashion.
ad = ADAnet, an international network dedicated to the handicapped
ag = AgapeNet, a national Christian network, multi-topic
al = AlaNet, a local network, multi-topic
bc = BCBNet, a local network, religion-oriented
bh = BhamTalk, a local network, multi-topic
cc = City2City, a national network, multi-topic
cd = CDN, a national Christian network for file distribution
cf = CFN, a national Christian network, multi-topic
di = Dixie Net, a regional network, multi-topic geared toward the south
eastern United States
ez = EzNet, a local IBM compatible network
fa = FamilyNet, an international network, multi-topic
fi = FidoNet, an international network, multi-topic
gl = GlobalLink, an international network, multi-topic
gt = GTNet, an international network, multi-topic
hs = Home-School-Net, a national network for home schooling
ic = ICDM, an international Christian network, multi-topic
il = ILink, an international network, multi-topic
in = InterNet, an international network, linking businesses,
universities, and bbs', multi-topic
lu = LuciferNet, an international network, adult oriented
ma = MAXnet, a local network, connecting WWIV and VBBS systems
ml = MJCN, an international network for Messianic Jews
ml = Metrolink, an international network which echoes RIME, multi-topic
np = NPN, a national network for new parents
pl = PlanoNet, a national network, multi-topic
pr = PrideNet, a local homosexually oriented network
ri = RIME, an international network, multi-topic
sc = Science Factor Net, a national network, science and technology
oriented
se = SEC, a regional network, homosexually oriented geared toward the
southeastern United States
sh = Shades N Shadows Net, a national network for role-playing games
sl = SearchlightNet, a national network, multi-topic
te = TECHnet, a local network, hardware and utility oriented
th = ThrobNet, an international network, adult oriented
tr = TriBBS Net, a national network, multi-topic
un = Uni'Net, an international network, multi-topic
ve = VETLink, a national network for military veterans
vi = VirtualNet, national network, multi-topic
wi = WildNet, a national network, multi-topic
ww = WWIV-Net, an international network, multi-topic
If you have any corrections, additions, deletions, etc., please let me
know via a message on the main board of The Matrix or Crunchy Frog.
The following BBSs did not answer the last time I tried to verify their
existence. If you have any information on their status, please drop me a
line.
EcoBBS Elysian Fields Hacker's Corner
Hoots With Owls Kiriath Arba The Monster BBS
Thy Master's Dungeon Wild Side
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