NESA QUEST FOR THE PERFECT BBS PROGRAM

New England SysOp Association
Mark Linehan
32 Beaver Street
Salem, MA 01970

Well, I began my BBS'ing before I even owned a computer by leeching off of my friends, oh about a dozen years ago, maybe more. Well back then we were calling BBS' with 300 baud, 2 floppies, 6 message bases, and a scant few files to download. This was great, back then. Oh the times have changed drastically in just one short decade. I believe technology always makes jumps and leaps, then idles for a while. We are in one of those idle times right now I think, but we are about due for another leap. Well, until that leap comes, and we prepare ourselves for a whole new world of BBS'ing we still need something solid for a BBS program.

I have seen, used, called, set-up, and ran, dozens and dozens of different BBS programs. They have always intrigued me. Even when I did not have a BBS program up and running I would set them up and see how they looked. Well I can safely say I have never found one that did everything I wanted it to do, the way I wanted it to do it. Well, that's what brings me to writing this file. I have asked many sysop's and users about BBS's, what they think is better, what they think is best, and what they want to see. Here is an overview of what I have learned through my own adventures, and through the eyes and ears of other people.

MESSAGE BASES

-Messages should be available to read right at logon, just the new ones though.
-Not enough BBS' let you scan for new MAIL/MESSAGES at logon.
-Not enough BBS' have a full screen editor.
-Most full screen editors are too &%@*#$ up!
-A lot of BBS' keep 100's of messages stored, which is a bummer for NEW USERS.
-More BBS' should use OFF-LINE message readers and repliers. Blue Wave is cool.
*To date "MAJOR BBS" has the best MESSAGE HANDLING I have seen. It is simple, quick, and very configurable. (it does not, however, give you the option of scanning for new messages at logon)

FILE TRANSFERS

-File X-fers HAVE to be simple, but effective or I won't bother calling.
-File areas should have a (D)ownload New Files Option at logon.
-Too many BBS' collect crappy files just to make their file area(s) bigger.
-A lot of BBS' s use KEY-WORD searching, but noone ever puts in KEY-WORDS!
-A file system should allow for (F)lagging downloads while you are scanning the files.
-They should decide on one standard protocol to use, and use it.
*To date the best file transfer system I have used in on a PC-Board (I don't know if this was the standard file section for PC-Board or not)

ONLINE GAMES

-Door's should be written so that ANY BBS can run them, regardless of what BBS it is.
-Too many 3rd party developers. Why don't the BBS AUTHOR's write some DOORS!
-Not enough people write for compatibility these days!
-Flash games are AWESOME! I'll pay for those!
-We need more FLASH GAMES!
-Some of the SMALLER BBS programs need to support FLASH GAMES also!
-They need to decide on ONE STANDARD DOOR INFORMATION FILE like "DOOR.SYS"
*I agree with all of the above here.

Well that's about it. I hope this helps you in some small way, with a decision or something along those lines. It is always better to ask a large number of people questions, choose the best answers, and go with the flow.

Keep On Byting!