BBSs vs The Internet - Round 2
Introduction
To paraphrase Samuel Clemens, "The reports of the death of BBSing have been greatly exaggerated." -- well, okay, maybe he didnt say that exactly, but had he been around today, I'm sure he would. To be frank, the scene as we know it from the 1990-1997 period pretty much got annihilated by the explosion of ISPs that appeared from 1995 through 1997. Since ISPs provided cheap access to resources across the world that they provided, BBSs started looking less and less appealing. Why chat with a few people on a local board when you can hop on IRC and hear from people from all over the world? Why leech files from a local board when there are FTP sites with the latest juarez scattered all over the internet, all with far greater bandwidth than a dialup system, and all of them at your fingertips? Why post to fido-style store-and-forward mail networks when you've got USENET and mailing lists? You get the idea.
Having removed the artificial barriers (ie: the costs of calling outside your LATA) imposed by the telephone oligopoly, the many local boards that duplicated files and services across different LATAs were suddenly made redundant. This, combined with the huge amount of resources available on the Internet, drove users to leave BBSs. A mass exodus began in 1995 and by 1997 it was all over. Most systems had closed up shop. Barely a handful of systems remained, and in time they too would close their doors. The exodus of so many users had caused sysops to close up shop, causing still more people to leave, ad infinitum.
Now, with cheap (relatively speaking) broadband access and boards which are accessible via telnet, users have begun migrating back to BBSs. Now why is that?
Advantages of BBSs over the Internet
One of the first things you notice when you enter IRC or USENET is... people are fucking rude. Seriously fucking rude. They've got a thorn-covered, splinter-giving fuckstick rammed up their ass, and if you're not one of their cock-gobbling clique-buddies, then you're going to get a fist full of ugly for no other reason than not being a part of the crowd (baaaaaa, mooooo!). The reason they can get away with this is because there is simply no oversight. Nobody is looking over their shoulder and saying, "Hey! That sort of spuggery is un-fucking-welcome here! Pack up your bags and get out!". Then there's the legions of marketeers who think USENET and IRC are their own private playgrounds where they can spam the hell out of people. While there are spamblockers out there on USENET (and we all love them for what they do), spam is still nevertheless a massive problem on the internet. As a result, the signal-to-noise ratio of the net is piss-poor at best.
And what of search engines? Have you ever tried something like Google or Yahoo or (your favorite search engine here) and been innundated with a bunch of crap that has absolutely nothing to do with what you're looking for? Keyword search engines work fine on a small scale where the file system's contents are well managed, but on the internet's scale and with the internet's complete lack of control, keyword searching is an utterly unacceptable way of finding what you want. You inevitably wind up getting a bunch of garbage links and spam - not to mention the pop-up ads that the search engines themselves sling at you.
BBSs, however, are completely different. Instead of a sprawling network of networks ruled by no one, you're presented a single system ruled by a benevolent dictator, the sysop. He sets what files are available. He sets what forums are available. He organizes all the content. He ensures that assholes who go on powertrips and disrupt conversations get pimpslapped or otherwise booted off the system so contributing members of the community dont become discouraged and leave. He, and any co-sysops he chooses to appoint, provide a specialized system in which you can quickly find the files you need and the conversations you want are allowed to flourish. On this small scale, keyword- search engines become effective at finding what you want, and benevolent dictators and their cohorts can easily patrol the forums for losers and keep things on-topic and asshole-free. Through control comes community, with the sysop at its head imposing law and order.
In short: small is beautiful. A small system ruled by a benevolent dictator beats the chaos of the internet every time.
So How Come They All Suck?
One of the major problems confronting BBSs today is that, quite frankly, sysops have no clue how to run a board. They're all fired up about being a sysop, but they really dont know what it is that attracts people to a BBS in the first place, nor how to keep them there. Their previous experiences with BBSs before the exodus to the internet has clouded their minds. They figure all they have to do is set up a system that works just like it did in the old days, and people will come running. In short, they learned nothing from the exodus. So, having learned nothing, they blindly set up their systems, and nobody comes.
Now, I'd love to help these people out. Really, I would. However, I've discovered that trying to tell people how they can make their systems better is like yelling at a brick wall. Some people just cant take criticism in any form. No matter how little work they've put into their system, no matter how ineffective it is at drawing in users, they expect to be worshipped for it. They expect you to worship them, and god forbid you should make any suggestions as to how they could make their system better. If you dare to open your mouth, suddenly you're an asshole. You've committed the grievous error of having an opinion and daring to voice it. As far as they're concerned, if you dont like their system you should simply not call it - and not tell anyone else it sucks, either. Yep, that's right. You can have an opinion, you just cant share it with anybody.
So as a result, there are shitloads of BBSs out there, but pretty much all of them suck. Good users are scattered across the network in jury-sized groups which tend not to call outside what few boards they know of because they know there are a lot of 'sysops' out there who dont know how to run a board worth a damn, and it'd take forever and a day to wade through all the crappy boards to find those one or two good ones buried in a BBS list somewhere.
This is unacceptable. My time -- hell, your time -- is valuable. I dont have all day to track down all the great BBSs out there, and neither do you. What we need is someone who wont blow sunshine up someone's ass; someone who will review the boards out there and place the cream of the crop at our fingertips; someone who will voice their opinion without regard for the feelings or closed-minded attitudes of the majority of sysops. Well, you found him. I am Spartacus! -- er, I mean, I am that man. Yeah.
So What Makes a Good Board, Anyway?
1. It's not the software. It's not whether you access it thru telnet, a java applet, or some specialized client. Technology does not a good board make.
2. A good board begins with its sysop. I hope you've got no social life whatsoever (or you know how to manage your time well), and all the local pizzerias and chinese takeout joints on speed-dial, cuz you're going to need to put in some serious time into setting up your board, and at least an hour or two a day starting up conversations, keeping them going, ending them (if they get out of hand), removing assholes who dont know when to shut up, maintaining the file system, and so on. If you cant make that kind of commitment then go the hell away. FAR away. You may think it's cool to set up a system that sucks, but I dont. If you want to set up a system for your friends, fine, you do that - but dont advertise it. If you advertise it and I have to waste time calling it just to find out it sucks, you bet your ass I'm going to be pissed about it - and rightfully so.
3. Next come the users. Have you decided on a theme yet? Better decide now. You need to know what you want out of your BBS so you know who you're marketing to. Once you know that, you can determine what they want, where they are, and how to market to them. Simply tossing an ad in alt.bbs or the local loser board isnt going to cut it. Dont shit a brick if you dont get tons of users right away. Give it time and culture those few users you get initially.
4. Do you know any boards that are active? Well then dont just stand there, ADVERTISE! But wait - before you go shooting your mouth off - have you contributed to those boards? If not, dont waste your breath. One of the secrets of marketing - whether you're marketing for a business or your BBS - is that people value the opinions of their friends more than they do some random stranger. If you establish a relationship with the users on the system first, then they're more likely to listen to you than if you simply spammed the crap out of them. Also, you might want to consider simply putting the board's address in your autosig rather than telling people outright (cuz people really hate to be told what they should or should not like - even by friends - so autosigs from friends are the best way to get their attention cuz it looks totally incidental rather than looking like spam tailored for them).
5. Okay, so you've put out those ads, and you've dropped word in #ascii and #goatsex that your board is online and filled with mule pr0n. So, your job is done, right? Wrong. Now that you've got some users and you've goaded them into posting, you have to carefully monitor your system to ensure the signal-to-noise ratio and the post-quality do not deteriorate. This is a neverending process. So long as you are vigilant in holding quality discussions and keeping out the riff-raff, the community you've built up will prosper. The second you slack off, some asshole will emerge and start bothering the regulars, who'll eventually get tired of their shit (and your lack of activity) and simply leave. The price of a good bbs is eternal vigilance. (Add it to your quote file, kids.)
6. Let's jump back to the topic of theme ... what is your theme, anyway? Do you know why you should have a theme? Consider this: you're building a community. Communities need identity. Communities need purpose. Is your board there to provide a place for local users to chat? For demoscene flunkies to speak of pushing pixels? For trackers to knock their skulls together and talk music theory? For uber-code monkeys to talk shop and trade gobbets of good code? If you dont pick a theme then nobody will have a reason to stick around. I mean, what's the point of calling a board if there's really nothing to do there. Dont try to be the Seinfeld of BBSing. Seinfeld doesnt work.
7. Building a community means establishing lots of local forums rather than subscribing to shitloads of networks (or installing lots of CDs full of shit I can get somewhere else). I mean, why should I call your system to get messages and files I can get at a dozen other systems that all look the same anyway? What makes you stand out from the crowd?
8. Giving your board its own identity and sense of community is job one, and that extends to what artwork and menus you choose. You dont necessarily have to write all your own stuff (and in some cases its best that you dont - seriously, some of you folks out there just CANT DRAW), you just have to provide a set of screens and menus that look like you put more than five minutes worth of work into them. Take menus and ansis from artpacks if you must so long as you give proper credit and you dont use the whole damn pack (that shows almost as much of a lack of originality as simply using the default menus that came with your board).
9. A good interface is vital. Exactly what defines 'good' is up for grabs at this point. Simply copying the interface of another BBS because users are familiar with it is not the answer. I think that what really makes for a good user interface is when the commands are grouped by function into separate menus, and/or when the commands keys correspond to the functions assigned to them (ie: 'r' for read messages, 'g' for goodbye, and so on). If you group commands improperly or assign them to non-intuitive command keys (like using 'z' for goodbye, for example) or you create an interface that doesnt work in a consistent manner (such as choosing to create a shell-like interface, but requiring that people use CD to change menus in some places but not in others), then users will get frustrated and refuse to work through your shitty interface to find whatever gold may be buried in an otherwise great board.
10. Time limits? Post/Call Ratios? What's this kibble? Real boards dont entertain that sort of nonsense. Limits and Ratios wont turn a leech into a contributing member of the community. Better to simply let them leech what they want and then, once they've had their fill, maybe they'll contribute. If they dont, oh well, nothing you can do about it. OTOH, time limits are understandable if your board is single-tasking or if you have a very limited number of lines available and a lot of people are calling. In that case, you may want to impose a limit so people arent turned away from the system. However, since most of you dont run systems that are that busy, you dont need a time limit - not for a while yet.
11. One does not flame the new guy because he is new, but because he has failed to live up to community norms, and even then one does not carry on like an asshole. Instead, you simply yell at him once (making sure you mention WHY you are yelling at him) and be done with it. If the idiot in question still refuses to repent for his grievous error (such as, for example, asking a stupid question that must've come up a bazillion times and could've easily been answered had the cluebie in question read the fucking manual or FAQ or otherwise spent more than five minutes asking Google the same question instead of your users), then twit him. This may sound harsh and it may indeed cost you a few users, but please remember: your time is valuable. Your users' time is valuable. They dont want the message bases to be clogged with crap any more than they want a BBS list filled with crap. It wastes their time and thus pisses them off. So, a polite reminder to the newbie is ineffectual. A good flaming is just right. A ten-page rant on the supposed simian ancestry of the unfortunate poster is probably not an effective means of enforcing community norms. Just make sure that your norms are spelled out as explicitly as possible when they first sign on (so they know what to expect, so they'll have no excuse later on), and flame them so they know that breaking those norms will have consequences (ie: people will get really pissed at you).
12. So, now that you've extensively warned the newbies not to ask stupid questions and do a little research on their own first, you should make sure that there are easily-accessible help files for your board's commands. Provide a help section and fill it with FAQs. Its okay for users to have questions, and its okay to seek answers. Its not okay to ask questions that could've been answered yourself with five seconds worth of work. Now, come and chant your new mantra with me ... RTFM ... RTFM ... RTFM ...
13. Adolescent whining like, "Yo, wassup beeeeeotch?!!" and other such content- free crap should be kept to a minimum. Yeah, I know, we were all like that at one point, but it didnt exactly contribute to creating that environment in which conversations flourish, now did it? Rather, it irritated the fuck out of the older callers and the regular posters who get the impression that nobody is interested in any serious conversation, so they pack up and leave unless an effort to control the kiddies is made. Well, that was then, and this is now - and that sort of juvenile crap is just as annoying today as it was back then. Other content-free nonsense like bickering, fawning over members of the opposite sex, and so on, are likewise a BadThing(tm) for the same reasons.
14. This does not mean you cannot discuss matters which are off-topic. Sometimes a system is established that, although it's officially for one thing, ends up being used for something entirely different. DEFCON's dc-stuff mailing list is a good example. From the conference one would get the impression that subscribers spend their time talking about computer security and the like. Well, while there certainly is a bit of that going on, subscribers also spend their time discussing guns, politics, law, lentil soup recipies, and a wide variety of topics that the most prolific posters have a keen interest in. It's not exactly off-topic if your target audience is talking about something they all want to hear about anyway. Of course, wading through messages filled with off-topic content can be a bit annoying and something of a time-waster. So, as a service to your users, you may want to keep on top of that and move messages to the appropriate bases if an off-topic thread gets a little too long.
15. Never, ever, ever, ever - be intimidated into not acting. Whether it's simple censure or outright banning someone, you should never be talked out of doing the right thing. Who cares how popular they are, or who they know, or what they do? If I were acting like a complete ass on someone's system, I'd expect the sysop to have the good sense to pimpslap me accordingly. If you dont, you risk alienating users. People who fawn over certain net.personalities should not disuade you from your task as a sysop.
16. By the same token, the ideal sysop shouldnt be on a powertrip. If you allow yourself or your cosysops to act like assholes and demand the users worship you for the five minute's worth of work you put into the system, and respect every diktat you give unto them, and tolerate your irrational and preferential treatment of others, then you're in for a rude awakening when your userbase dwindles down to four nuts and a squirrel.
17. sp34k1ng l1k3 4 d00d w1ll 0nl13 p1$$ p30pl3 0ph!#$^&!#$&!!!! Dont be a b1FF. Everybody does NOT love b1FF. This means, for example, avoiding the abbreviation of 'see' to 'c, and 'you' to 'u', and 'are' to 'r', and so on. Such abbreviations are NOT necessary and turn an otherwise perfectly legible statement into incomprehensible crap that offends the senses. This may seem like a rather inane requirement, but I dont see it as being any more so than the requirement against content-free posting. D00dsp34k makes you look like a complete ass who isnt interested in any serious conversation, so you would do well to check that behavior (save obviously for people who are speaking like a d00d to be sarcastic - we've all done that from time to time and it doesnt really offend anybody).
18. Users and sysops alike should not be so uptight as to not tolerate a little fucking foul language now and then for emphasis. If you're saying 'fuck' every other word you'll look like a flaming fool and will be treated accordingly by the sysop and users. However, if you're using it sparingly for emphasis then everyone else shouldnt get their panties in a bunch. This rule extends not just to BBSs, but to real life as well. Dont be a churchlady.
19. Spelling and grammar flames, much like dragging nazis and hitler into a discussion, are the last refuge of the damned. Of course, that's if the user makes one or two misspellings. If, however, they keep making the same mistakes over and over, their text starts to look like an AOLer's rant and it'll get on peoples' nerves in a big way - in which case by all means give them an earful for being unable to write worth a damn.
20. People who post anonymously when offering criticism are assholes. You should have the courage to stand behind your convictions, and if you cant then you should just shut the hell up. Sysops should be on the lookout for people abusing the privilege of anon-posting to flame others.
21. Accusing your opponent of being a nazi, commie, pinko, or whatever, is generally a sign that the thread has come to an end. So sysops, be on the lookout for such talk so you know when it's time to step in and take action. It's okay to let a discussion get heated, but when the exchanges start getting peppered with accusations like this, it's gone beyond a mere discussion into the realm of personal attacks which, if left unchecked, will drive users away.
22. Posting another user's docs is for fags. Seriously. Dont do that. No matter how much you may hate another user, it doesnt win you points with anyone other than your little adolescent friends when you do something like that. If someone is really doing something against the system's rules, then let the sysop handle it - and if he asks for help from the users in finding out who the offending jerk is, then help him - but otherwise do not go about posting information in the public like that for it just makes you look like a complete ass.
23. Massive cross-posting, spamming, or filling the message bases with crap is also a waste of your users' time. Dont let someone get away with it. This goes especially for other sysops advertising their board. If they must they should put a note in their autosig to call their board - at least that's not quite as obnoxious. As long as their autosig doesnt exceed five lines, nobody seems to mind.
24. So, you've kept your messages clear of content-free shit like childish interjectives ("what up, bitch?!!") and insults, and you've made sure that any flaming is always in response to someone doing something stupid, and even then making sure it doesnt get out of hand - so, what's left? Well, quality messages should convey useful information - be it news, asking questions, stating opinions, or otherwise starting or contributing to a thread. Oneliners are acceptable if they meet this requirement (which is usually the case with Citadel BBSs - they are often replete with oneliners which people sometimes mistake for being a sign of a system being filled with content-free crap).
25. You should make every effort to eliminate any default or stock settings in your software. This means changing strings around, replacing text files, changing menus, and so on. This is especially important at the login screen. I cant count how many times I've called a Synchronet board which clearly says to type in "Guest" to use the guest account, only to discover that the guest account isnt enabled and the sysop forgot to change the damn string. Not only does that make the board look stock, but it also makes it look broken. It frustrates the hell out of me, and I know I'm not alone on this. Well, guess that about covers it. These rules may seem a bit extensive, but I guarrantee that if you apply them diligently you'll see positive results. Conversations will bloom, and you'll have a kick-ass board that people will want to call. This of course benefits me all the more cuz I'm real tired of calling the same five boards over and over. :)
Okay, So Now That I Know What I'm Looking For, How Do I Get There?
Well, before we look over the boards on the review, let's talk about clients. Do you have a decent telnet client on your system? If all you have is that cheapass telnet.exe that came with Windows 3.1, then you'll want to look for a new one right away (as that particular beast has no ANSI support whatsoever and pretty much sucks ass). If you're running Win98 (and perhaps Win95 as well, I'm not sure) you should have a copy of HyperTerminal available. It's not a great client, but it'll suffice. It has ANSI support, at least. However, if you're looking for a really good telnet client, then you can't beat mTelnet. You can pick up a copy of it from ozone.eesc.com.
You also have the option of using the Java telnet applet made by the guys at www.mud.de. I've only used it a couple of times myself, but it seems to do the job (although, to the best of my knowledge, it doesnt support file transfers - so it's useful if you're just looking for a way to connect without a telnet client, but it's not entirely useful if you're thinking of doing some serious leeching).
Now, for boards that use SSH, I really only have experience with the client put out by the folks at www.ssh.com. Go through the downloads area and find an FTP site near you to leech the client. If it's not to your liking, just do a quick Google and you should be able to find a client that suits you.
And Now, the Moment You've All Been Waiting For...
So now that we've talked about what makes a good BBS, and you've got a client set up, it's time to give some examles of some systems that dont suck. The following is an abbreviated version of Digital Avatar's BBS Review (BBSs That Dont Suck) which is updated monthly at bbslist.htm.
BBS Name
Address
Sysop
Software
Location
Phone Number
NUP
Contact for NUP
[link here]
* Focus - Theme of the Board
* User Interface - How good is the UI? (crap, sucks, okay, good, great)
* Artwork - How good is the artwork? (crap, sucks, okay, good, great)
* Forums - Are there lots of people posting? Good stuff? No content-free crap? Sysop keeping after the riff-raff? (crap, sucks, okay, good, great)
* Overall Rating - Considering the three metrics above, how would you rate it? (crap, sucks, okay, good, great)
Black Thursday
telnet://blackthursday.gaschamber.net
skatter
--
--
--
--
Call Black Thursday Now!
* Focus: Door Games / Art Scene (ASCII/ANSI)
* User Interface: [Good] No problems whatsoever.
* Artwork: [Great] The menu headers and login screens just say it all, man.
* Forums: [Good] No shitposts or anything, there just simply arent as many people posting here yet as there are on, say, Uncensored or OSUNY.
* Overall Rating: Good
Broken Toenail
telnet://brokentoenail.mine.nu
Hanger 18
Renegade
--
--
Call The Broken Toenail Now!
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Great] No problems, and even went to the trouble of providing a small introductory screen for folks who are unfamiliar with BBSs (although I wish to god I could get that damn thing out of the login process)
* Artwork: [Sucks] Nothing personal, Hanger, its...well...damn, this is the part I hate, especially having talked with this guy already. It's just not that great. It's not, like, stick-figures or anything, but it wont exactly wow you either. *sigh*
* Forums: [Good] I would've given this a Great rating, but the QWK download option is broken, and it's a real pain in the ass for me to make those book- sized replies to threads when my ISP keeps deciding to drop me.
* Overall Rating: Good
Chaos Factor
telnet://domainsi95.com
Odysseus
--
--
--
--
Call Chaos Factor Now!
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Good] No problems to report.
* Artwork: [Great] Fucking wow, man. Great art. So...is that shit ripped? :)
* Forums: [Okay] Not a lot in the way of posts yet (less so than, say, Black Thursday). Other than that, no problems here.
* Overall Rating: Okay
OSUNY
ssh://osuny.co.uk:7734
_azure
Citadel/UX
812
--
--
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Great] No problems. It's a Citadel, tho, so for those of you unfamiliar with the interface it may take a moment to adjust.
* Artwork: [Okay] About the only 'art' on the system is the ascii login. It is a Citadel, after all.
* Forums: [Great] No shortage of users to converse with or topics to speak of. No problem users. Fucking great, really.
* Overall Rating: [Great]
Sector 7
telnet://sector7bbs.com
grymmjack
Synchronet
--
--
email: grymmjack@sector7bbs.com for NUP
Call Sector 7 Now!
* Focus: General Chatter / Art Scene (ANSI)
* User Interface: [Great] No problems whatsoever.
* Artwork: [Great] The login isnt anything fancy, but you'll find little bits of good art scattered in places you wouldnt think to visit, like the time bank, and so on.
* Forums: [Good] Lots of regular posting. No shitposts.
* Overall Rating: [Good]
Note: Current NUP is "alligators" .. don't tell Grymmjack I said that. :)
The Grove
telnet://shadow.skeleton.org
skeezix
--
--
--
--
Call The Grove Now!
* Focus: General Chatter / Atari ST Stuph
* User Interface: [Crap] Crap with a capital C. I cant stress enough just how horrifyingly bad it is. Menu commands assigned to keys in a fashion that make no sense whatsoever. Ugh.
* Artwork: [Okay] Really, it's all in black-n-white ascii and there's no art to speak of so, uhm, yeah. :)
* Forums: [Okay] Not many people posting yet. Then again, I dont think he's really done any advertising.
* Overall Rating: [Okay] If you like ST software and/or old ST doors then give it a ring.
The Shack
toga.cx
Kreat0r
Shack
Alaska
--
--
Call The Shack Now!
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Great] Granted, your options are rather limited, but the interface is by no means confusing.
* Artwork: [Great] Yeah, I know, it's all ascii. Sue me.
* Forums: [Okay] Not many monkeys posting. It's kinda funny seeing my posts in 40 columns. That, combined with the baroque interface, makes it so retro- looking its just fucking great. Still, that doesnt seem to have attracted anyone into posting, and yet people still call every fucking day. It's not like there are games there. Just the boards. So what the hell are you people doing with all your time on there, anyway?
* Overall Rating: [Okay] I gotta give him props for running the board on his own homebrew BBS software.
Shurato's Heavenly Sphere
telnet://shurato.darktech.org
Shurato
EleBBS Win32
Boise, ID
(208)-363-0790
--
Call Shurato's Now!
* Focus: Door Games / Anime
* User Interface: [Good] No problems, senor.
* Artwork: [Good] Some of those background ansis are crap, but then there's that flat-shaded pic of Piccolo that's just fucking great, so it kinda balances out.
* Forums: [Okay] Hmmm, not much activity here. The board's activity comes and goes in spurts.
* Overall Rating: [Okay] It's a great place to go if you're looking for some choice anime you couldnt find the stores, or you're looking for some anime or videogame soundtracks, but it doesnt look like anyone is really interested in conversation at the moment. Still, it beats the hell out of Anime Turnpike. :)
Tir Tairngire II
telnet://tirtairngire.net
Jinx
Mystic
--
--
--
Call Tir Now!
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Good] Huhuhuhh, yeah yeah...huhuhuhuh.
* Artwork: [Good] Uh, hey beavis, there's like...uhhh...not much here or something. Yeah, yeah...meheheheh.
* Forums: [Great] There's been an explosion of activity since like six of us got online at once one night and totally flooded the system. Of course, the conversations have gotten a bit more substantial since then.
* Overall Rating: [Great] Although the posting has levelled off, nobody seems to be going anywhere, and the activity ranks right up there with the likes of OSUNY. Definitely give it a ring.
Uncensored!
telnet://uncnsrd.mt-kisco.ny.us
IGnatius T Foobar
Citadel/UX
Mt Kisco, NY
--
--
Call Uncensored Now!
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Great] It's another Citadel, of course, so heads up!
* Artwork: [Okay] Art...on a Citadel? You're kidding, right? The only 'Art' on Uncensored is the sysop (*drumfill*)
* Forums: [Great] Overflowing with users and a hefty amount of posts (even if there are certain users I'd sorely like to see get the shaft for their bait-n-twit shennanigans).
* Overall Rating: [Great] Although I've had my differences with the staff there at times, it's still a great board, and it's the home of Citadel/UX BBS. If you're looking for a really artsy board, this isnt what you're looking for. However, it's got enough conversation for my tastes.
Warlordz
telnet://warlordz.darktech.org
Mod
Renegade
--
--
--
Call Warlordz Now!
* Focus: General Chatter
* User Interface: [Great] No problems.
* Artwork: [Okay] Hmmm...Renegade generic menus. Well, he did set up a nice purple color scheme so it doesnt totally look like crap.
* Forums: [Good] Traffic seems to be picking up, although there are really only about five or six of us posting regularly. No problems to report.
* Overall Rating: [Okay] The system is still growing and it needs your help.
Holy Shit, This is K-Rad - How Do I Set One Up?
Well, that's really a whole 'nother article entirely. However, if you're really curious, here are some pointers to some of the software out there:
* Citadel/UX
* Iniquity
* Mystic
* Oblivion/2
* Synchronet
Conclusion
Well, guess that's it. If you think your board belongs on this review (or know someone who does), or you have any questions, or you just wanna shoot the shit, fire off a line to davatar@sdf.lonestar.org. Want to know more about what makes a great board? Try bbs.htm. Finally, if you want the latest version of Digital Avatar's BBS Review (BBSs That Dont Suck), then go to bbslist.htm... and with that, I'm outta here. Hasta.