Blase's Baltimore BBS List - BBBLmmyy.ZIP A Chronological History of Changes and Updates June, 1992 Moved into the Baltimore area and was frustrated by the lack of good, up-to- date BBS information. Existing lists were out-of-date and poorly maintained. Guess I was spoiled by the BBS listing in the DC/MD/VA area put out by Mike Focke. July, 1992 After finally scraping together a few BBS's with (410) area codes, I began calling some Baltimore area BBS's to gather other phone numbers, and to try to find an accurate BBS list for the area - met with little success. Decided at the end of July to compile the numbers I had and to initiate a monthly list of VERIFIED BBS's for the Baltimore area - BBBLmmyy.ZIP was born. BBBL0892.ZIP was compiled and "put out on the street" for distribution on 07/30/92. August, 1992 Began looking for a BBS to help me distribute BBBL every month. Howard Michaelski of NetWork BBS was the first Sysop to contact me and offer his assistance. Howie and I began to search for software that could automate the monthly BBS verification process. I re-opened my old BBS - Silver Streak on August 27 at the phone number 410-683-1583. September, 1992 With Howie's help, I wrote a {COMMO} script that quickly and easily verified BBS numbers. Information on other BBS's came steadily from users on NetWork BBS, plus others I was digging up from other board's online listings. Responses from users and Sysops are positive. October, 1992 No major changes - tweaked BBS verification program a bit to report baud connect rates and error correction methods. Incorporated this information into the November list. Several Sysop's tell me that activity on their BBS has increased tremendously since their number appreared on the BBBL. November, 1992 More positive feedback received from callers and Sysops. Several requests for an 80-column format "long list" of BBBL have been received - for use on BBS bulletins. Will add an additional format to the Dec. 92 listing. Decide to add WHATSNEW.TXT (this file) to ZIP packet. December, 1992 Got rid of the 132 column "long list" and replaced it with the 80 column format (formerly BBBL-4.TXT). We are back to just three formats for the list - this will make the ZIP file smaller. Started playing around with CLIPPER again - might write a program to streamline sort/printing options. January, 1993 - April, 1993 No major changes - many new BBS additions to BBBL. May, 1993 Made a few cosmetic changes to the headers on the lists. Modified the BBBL.DOC to encompass the README.TXT file. Rearranged the doc's a little bit. It seems that the BBBL stirred up some controversy among some FidoNet -based Sysops - they just found out about the BBS list, and were livid over the fact that I did not ask their "permission" to publish their BBS numbers. "Too bad, and too late" was the answer. Gerald Todd, Sysop of Modem Ready BBS announced the first annual Baltimore BBS Poll - a ballot file is included in the May, 1993 issue of BBBL. He will be collating the votes from Modem Ready BBS - 410-360-8007. June, 1993 Added InterNet and BALT-Net addresses for additional contact methods to update BBBL. The Baltimore BBS Poll ballot is still available in this month's listing - vote! Have received many additions to the BBS list this month. The list will go out a little early this month - I'm going on vacation at the end of May. July, 1993 Joined Fido-Net during June - node address is 1:2617/205. Had trouble getting alot of the numbers verified - too many busy signals this month. I guess it's because all of the kids are out of school, and the modems are being burned at both ends. No real changes to BBBL - increased the description field from 40 to 70 characters to give more room for BBS descriptions. This was done after receiving several requests. Included Gerald Todd's results of the 1st Annual Baltimore BBS Poll (BBSPOLL.) - unfortunately, the votes were sparse, and no real "winner" could be determined. August, 1993 Was out of town during the first of the month, so the list is going out a bit late. No major changes this month in the format of the list. NetWork BBS is up for sale, so I have deleted references to it in the BBBL documentation. This was done in anticipation of a new phone number and Sysop for NetWork. The main contact BBS for the list will be Silver Streak from now on. Another secondary contact BBS may be recruited in the near future. September, 1993 Another busy month - NetWork BBS is down, so the main contact for BBBL is now by default Silver Streak BBS. Several other bigger BBS went down this month - let's hope its not a trend. Input to BBBL has been steady and strong - more Sysops are contacting BBBL directly through the BBS or FidoNet. Otherwise, another month - another list... HEY - BBBL is one year old this month! October, 1993 Added the "non-metro" (NM) status designator to accomodate BBS's that are within the 410 area code, but are not local calls to most of the Baltimore area. The Sysop of the NM BBS's must contact me each month to verify the operational status of their BBS to stay on the "main" list, and off of the long distance list. Had very few changes this month, compared to most. Only one BBS got disconnected, one changed numbers, and only a few did not answer. Received a fair number of new BBS's this month. November, 1993 Included new list manager program written by H. Michalski. The List Manager (BBBLM.EXE) allows viewing, searching, and printing of the Baltimore BBS List. This program requires the file BBBL.DAT to run. All of the standard format lists (BBBL-*.TXT) are generated with BBBLM.EXE now - I have included a BBBL.TXT file (like BBBL-1.TXT) from the old format for those who can't figure out BBBLM, or just want the text file for BBS bulletins, etc. Many BBS's refuse to answer this month - not many new BBS's this month. December 1993/January 1994 No real changes - Blase's Baltimore BBS List will featured in the upcoming issues of Balt-Wash Bitstream Magazine in February. Look for it on your local news-stand! February, 1994 Quite a few systems have been added to the Baltimore BBS List - and not many BBS's went down during the month of January. Silver Streak (BBBL's support BBS) opened up Node 2 for subscribers and Visiting Sysops. The number for node 2 is 683-1586 - Sysops can use this line to send updates for the upcoming issues of BBBL. March, 1994 MANY NEW BBS's this month - BBBL now has over 250 verified Baltimore area BBS numbers! A few changes also, but mostly additions to the list. Bitstream Magazine has been delayed due to baby arrival in January - hopefully, we'll get the first issue out in a newsletter format by the end of March. April, 1994 BBBL is featured in the April, 1994 issue of Boardwatch Magazine. The list featured is a modified version of the March, 1994 list. Relatively few changes in the list: 5 BBS's went down, and a few new ones were added. A new Windows-based BBS List Manager is in the works - the new application will be beta-tested in April, and hopefully will be available for the May BBS List. Get your copy of Boardwatch early - its sure to sell out in the Baltimore area this month! May, 1994 The April/May 1994 issue of Boardwatch just came out, and apparently quite a few people have seen the Baltimore list already. No real dramatic changes this month - a few new additions and deletions. I'm working on a Clipper program to improve the current list manager - I may release a beta version next month if I have time to work on it. Fidonets 2617 and 261 have merged back together again, so there will be a new Fidonet address for Silver Streak BBS this month. June, 1994 The June, 1994 edition of BBBL is dedicated to the late Tom Craver, former Sysop of the Rainbow Zen BBS. Tom passed away on May 4, 1994 at 9:00am. He had been battling with Lou Gehrig's disease for quite a while. He will be by the entire Baltimore online community. His BBS is still online. ==============================