Daniel wrote to Doug Cooper <=-

You know, I find it really difficult to keep contact with my friends. They're hard to have a sustained conversation with on text message and forget the notion of talking on the phone. I have one friend who'll
call to talk for any period of time. The rest, nah.

I've had a weekly zoom drinking call with some old BBS friends of mine from the Dial-up days - we had 9-10 people filling the screen at one point. Get- togethers were a rarity as we've all moved out of the SF bay area, but it's nice to meet up by video again.

I don't think we would have done this if the SIP hadn't happened.

There's a weekly BBS gettogether on MRC on wednesdays that's pretty fun.

--kW


... The most easily forgotten thing is the most important
--- MultiMail/XT v0.52
* Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)

Doug Cooper wrote to Daniel <=-

Daniel,

You know, I find it really difficult to keep contact with my friends. They're hard to have a sustained conversation with on text message and forget the notion of talking on the phone. I have one friend who'll call to talk for any period of time. The rest, nah.

It was like that before, but the lockdown made it worse.

I discovered that owning my own business. People use text as a form of ToDo list. I would get random texts as late as midnight on weekend,
with clients making requests. that I used to think I had to reply to right away. Most requests or concerns required a phone conversation
for clarity and or explanation. They would refuse to talk on the phone and I'd spend hours scripting a carefully worded email. My friends,
same way. They'll send a brief text or facebook message, but it's a
short conversation that fizzles out due to lack of substance. I've
really enjoyed the Marco Polo Ap for smart phones ... it's allowed each friend/family member to actually speak and reply to questions. For the current circumstances, it's been the only format I've found that has allowed me to stay connected to those I'd normally see. You download
the ap and invite them .. then text and call them until they download
it (takes persistance lol) but once they do, it becomes viral. It's
like text, but you have to do so via video. Friends and family can
reply with a video only, when they have time (or look presentable) to
so. It's replaced any other form of communication other then the telephone I choose to reply to. If I get a messanger or text, I tell
them to marco polo me, and don't answer their questions.

Yeah smartphones. I transitioned from a cell to satellite phone over two years ago. I sms/mms with a mobile PDA called 'Gemini.'

If someone wants to reach me by voice they have my landline. This seems to have been a major success with this lockdown adn work from home (which is now permanent with my agency).

Daniel Traechin

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)

Daniel,

You know, I find it really difficult to keep contact with my friends. They're hard to have a sustained conversation with on text message and forget the notion of talking on the phone. I have one friend who'll call to talk for any period of time. The rest, nah.

It was like that before, but the lockdown made it worse.

I discovered that owning my own business. People use text as a form of ToDo list. I would get random texts as late as midnight on weekend, with clients making requests. that I used to think I had to reply to right away. Most requests or concerns required a phone conversation for clarity and or explanation. They would refuse to talk on the phone and I'd spend hours scripting a carefully worded email. My friends, same way. They'll send a brief text or facebook message, but it's a short conversation that fizzles
out due to lack of substance. I've really enjoyed the Marco Polo Ap for
smart phones ... it's allowed each friend/family member to actually speak and reply to questions. For the current circumstances, it's been the only format I've found that has allowed me to stay connected to those I'd normally see. You download the ap and invite them .. then text and call them until they download it (takes persistance lol) but once they do, it becomes viral. It's like text, but you have to do so via video. Friends and family can reply
with a video only, when they have time (or look presentable) to so. It's replaced any other form of communication other then the telephone I choose to reply to. If I get a messanger or text, I tell them to marco polo me, and don't answer their questions.

Doug

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/32)
* Origin: The Underground BBS (1:227/702)

Kurt Weiske wrote to Daniel <=-

Daniel wrote to Doug Cooper <=-

You know, I find it really difficult to keep contact with my friends. They're hard to have a sustained conversation with on text message and forget the notion of talking on the phone. I have one friend who'll
call to talk for any period of time. The rest, nah.

I've had a weekly zoom drinking call with some old BBS friends of mine from the Dial-up days - we had 9-10 people filling the screen at one point. Get- togethers were a rarity as we've all moved out of the SF
bay area, but it's nice to meet up by video again.

I don't think we would have done this if the SIP hadn't happened.

There's a weekly BBS gettogether on MRC on wednesdays that's pretty
fun.

Who hosts it? I don't see the adverts

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)

On 19 May 2020, Daniel said the following...

There's a weekly BBS gettogether on MRC on wednesdays that's pretty fun.

Who hosts it? I don't see the adverts

Don't remember if it's Hawk or who but I see them all the time. Hop on if
you get the chance. I am normally working unfortunately and can't join in but most of the boards running MRC you should be able to join in.

-=>Richard Miles<=-
-=>Captain Obvious<=-
-=>bbs.shadowscope.com<=-

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/05/17 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Shadowscope BBS | bbs.shadowscope.com | Temple, GA (1:3634/24)

Richard Miles wrote to Daniel <=-

On 19 May 2020, Daniel said the following...

There's a weekly BBS gettogether on MRC on wednesdays that's pretty fun.

Who hosts it? I don't see the adverts

Don't remember if it's Hawk or who but I see them all the time. Hop on
if you get the chance. I am normally working unfortunately and can't
join in but most of the boards running MRC you should be able to join
in.

I just got out of a day of meetings. Working at home still, and likely will from now on.

I'll check and see if MRC has any action going on. Going to log in thru bottomlessabyss.

Daniel Traechin

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)

Hello Doug!

** On Monday 25.05.20 - 01:54, Doug Cooper wrote to Daniel:

I'm about ready to go back to a land line as well.

Why?

I keep Facebook because my family is on there and I don't even read
what they say. My dad, at 74 is posting his daily schedule and
expects the family to read it.

He's found a purposeful activity. Keep encouraging it. FB is fairly
simple. I steered my mom to FTN echomail in the pre-FB days. She
mastered the quoting and cleaning up of wrapped lines very nicely. She participated in a few online forums too.

...and I'm not sifthing through 10,000 cat meme's to get to his
schedule update posted within my newsfeed. So, we're in a pickle.

That is one of the annoyances of FB for me.. lack of proper S)earch in a regular personal account. Otherwise, FB resembles one long continuous toilet-paper roll of meaningless crap: photos of food, stupid shared memes/jokes, etc.

But I found out that a Group account does allow S)earches. Maybe have a group account for your dad.

One wish ... on my list .. is a network with no more then 20 GENERAL
TOPIC discussion areas that are more user focused, active, and non
SysOp or Tech related to enjoy. During times like we are in right
now, a break for WORK, Politics, and this virus are of value. But
I'm finding many networks, even Fido, only have active echos within
HAM Radio, politics, BBS related topics.

This echo, COFFEE_KLATSCH, is a good home-base to start from. Then, find another echo that might interest you, and try to steer people to that to continue those specific topics.

I'm hovering in MOVIES, INTERNET, CATS_MEOW (pets), FILM. The top non-
tech echos are:

COOKING 8.87%
WEATHER 6.46%
HOME_COOKING 5.96%
RECIPES 5.75%
NHL 2.30%
MEMORIES 1.54%
POLITICS 1.11%
DADS 0.57%
ENGLISH_TUTOR 0.22%

I'm not sure how we attract new and or past BBS USERS (not current
SysOps) when focused so internally

Put out posters in your community at places like grocery stores,
laundromats, post offices.

.... but ... if I must discuss Licensed Turf Management here ... feel
free to ask about crap grass, grubs, proper fertilization timing,
etc.... I have a bit of experience witin it.

There's a fido echo HOME_N_GRDN for that. Start posting and let people
here know that you're writing there.

Thanks for th welcome and the echo. This should be a good break for me. And if anyone desires ... give my BBS a connect .... It's, like any, a work in development, but I'm commited to daily changes to keep it fresh, configured, funcitonal, and relevant. And it's inception was April 2020.
So ... your feedback in email would be awesome! Good or bad.

www.theunderground.us:10023

Your "Breaking News" write-up at telentbbsguide.com is very good! Produce
a condensed version of that and get it posted at physical bulletin boards
or produce a pamphlet (3-fold version) that can be placed with retailers
in your community. Maybe even a local bookstore would welcome to have it!



../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.43
* Origin: [special text for this echo only via oxp's /S edit] (2:221/1.58)

I'm about ready to go back to a land line as well.

Why?

August,

We both kind of prefer the written word then Tick Tock right? I think I've read you discuss that. We are to a point in society where people look at
their phones in the middle of a conversation with you and never look up. My wife texts me from the other room. My Dad facebook messages me a quick
update on his schedule rather then calling. Customers use text as a day planner, invasivly texting on weekends in the late evening hours, or during a family movie night. It's getting to the point where when people need to
solve a problem they email, or text. But dare ask them to pick up the phone and they act afraid and or inconvenienced. My wife, and I love my wife,
don't get me wrong, it's just easier to use real reference then point fingers .. her dad wants to buy us a chest freezer for her past birthday. She'll get online and see that it says "call store for details, no online orders," and she'll call her dad and simply say "They don't have any." Instead of simply calling the store and inquiring. Or If there is a problem with an inaccurate charge to her account from a retailer, she'll send a quick email, forget
about it, and never get it resolved. Or, my past clients, would ask "why do
I have weeds?" Well .. that requires a lot of questions, a lot of
explanation to type within email. So I'd try to call -- they won't answer.
So I used to spend over an hour compiling an email explaining their
situation, after reviewing their home, and it would go unread. I'm to a
point, until I own another business (Learning HTML right now ..) that if someone wants to talk to me they can call. I don't reply to texts from
family or friends, other then BBS friends. But not those that I've known for years. I don't reply to their emails either. They wanna talk -- call.
There is no substitute then hearing my dads voice, or seeing him face to
face. Not to mention that if not careful, people read tone into written communication, most of the time inaccurately. I literally could have taken a lot out of context to my newbie questions on FSXnet, but has not trained themselves to read with postive intent, they usually read tone into messages incorrectly. So, while I'm joking about a land line .. albeit their dang
cheap right now ... I treat my cellpone as one while unemployeed. Oh, and younger generations want to do a job interview via text too .. I never hired those that did.

Now smart phones have their place. I love the instant access to stocks, or weather, or my schedule, alarms, etc.... but not a replacement for human interaction, nor a rude distraction to someone who is genuinly trying to communicate with me.

He's found a purposeful activity. Keep encouraging it. FB is fairly simple. I steered my mom to FTN echomail in the pre-FB days. She mastered the quoting and cleaning up of wrapped lines very nicely. She participated in a few online forums too.

Yeah ..... Oddly he did not find a purposeful activity .. he grudgenly
adopted it and now uses it annoyingly, assuming everyone is able to see his messages. When I try to show him stuff like that .. he becomes a grump.
lol! He's a "self sustained living, retired minister" who lives in a town of no more than 50 people. He's funny, but when my children tried to connect
with him via the "Child Safe Facebook Messenger" feature .. he immediatly assumed it a scan and scalded us for having enough technology to deal with
and how it was likely a scan to steal his credit card information. lol! God love him ...

That is one of the annoyances of FB for me.. lack of proper S)earch in
a regular personal account. Otherwise, FB resembles one long continuous toilet-paper roll of meaningless crap: photos of food, stupid shared memes/jokes, etc.

But I found out that a Group account does allow S)earches. Maybe have a group account for your dad.

See my FSXnet reply to the above, however a quick add .. I started a facebook group to do videos and text on all things turf care. I have tons of videos
to edit and upload. And they are much more user friendly then the general
news feed.

This echo, COFFEE_KLATSCH, is a good home-base to start from. Then,
find another echo that might interest you, and try to steer people to
that to continue those specific topics.

Took your advice -- the DAD echo. I'm starting a FidoNet All Pro Dad group,
so any dads reading, go check it out. It's an excellent program that I'll be coordinating the material of for you to enjoy with your kids. It was onlyh
$50 for the year to be a "Captain," but was able to establish it as a FidoNet All Pro Dad Chapter .. and allows me access to all of the Family first
content. Next up August -- Lawn Care. But my HTML online class has consumed my time to write the material in text for a BBS format.

Put out posters in your community at places like grocery stores, laundromats, post offices.

Thats a cool concept I had not thought of. My sister, Mary, is a 40 year old Hippie stil hanging out at the Festivals with the 20 somethings. However, she's an incredible artist, very well known in her scene, and is at those to either display her paintings, or kinda odd to me, but paints on stage with
the bands playing .. Apparently it's a thing and she's requested every
weekend year round. I'll speak to her regarding that. She'd have the hook ups. But I do feel that the Millenials are very into Retro / Nostalgia, and have more in common with us GenX / Boomers that BBS then we think -- they too value their privacy, want annonymity, like to speak their minds, enjoy retro stuff, and prefer local community feel. And they too hate facebook ;)

You, I'm sure very much rember, the day of each SysOp sending $5-$10 a month
to the hub to make the long distance call out of state for networking? What
if we did that for facebook, snap chat, or other ads? I've also noticed that
a lot of BBS pages are set up as archive/historical purposes, and/or are not clean and user friendly; beit in UI or or in the nomenclature used to
describe what a BBS is. While it's silly to think we can reinvent acronymns, when hitting a landing page, maybe using the word "Apps" instead of "Files,"
or "Games" instead of "Doors," or "Blogs" instead of "Echos" would be
examples of ways to modernize the URL facing marketing toward BBS's. In addition, to your point, there are grass roots marketing that is simple and free, and could collect a few users. However, as a busines owner, you know, frequency and debth witin marketing is what creates the most clicks and traffic. Which also leads me to whether or not we are utilizing google (is
it called ad words?) correctly? I think, totally unrelated words: COVID, TRUMP, etc... included within our text can surely draw more clicks then "founded in 1989, My BBS was ..." Being strategic in how URL's are created, with click tracking tools can assist greatly. Lastly, I know two guys that
can redirect web traffic (albeit not always for long) to their website as opposed to another ... I don't like those dirty tactics. However, I think we have an excellent, relevant, and very much alive format of "Social Media"
that people crave from the mainstream tech companies out there; without the flaws .. however minus the photos ... which some just won't ever get or understand.

Your "Breaking News" write-up at telentbbsguide.com is very good!

Thank you! Can't wait till you call! :) I'll work on being less wordy. I free write. I don't have the patience to sentence combine, and reduction lol!

Glad I finally got the rescan on this echo ... love these types of conversations!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/32)
* Origin: The Underground [@] theunderground.us:10023 <-port (1:227/702)

Hello Doug!

** On Monday 01.06.20 - 23:28, Doug Cooper wrote to August Abolins:

I'm about ready to go back to a land line as well.

Why?

....It's getting to the point where when people need to solve a
problem they email, or text. But dare ask them to pick up the phone
and they act afraid and or inconvenienced.

Some of my suppliers have a totally annoying customer-care process over
the phone. Too many sub menus to pick. Then, often the only option
provided is to leave a message. They migh call back, but then I might be occupied with something else in the store and can't really pick up.

Other suppliers just instruct the caller to file a grievance or concern
via email.

My wife, and I love my wife, don't get me wrong.. [[..]] Or If there
is a problem with an inaccurate charge to her account from a
retailer, she'll send a quick email, forget about it, and never get
it resolved.

Then that would tell me that the money is not significant or not
important. ;) BUT.. the email can be good paper-trail or proof of activity.

Or, my past clients, would ask "why do I have weeds?" Well .. that requires a lot of questions, a lot of explanation to type within
email. So I'd try to call -- they won't answer. So I used to spend
over an hour compiling an email explaining their situation, after reviewing their home, and it would go unread.

In my biz, it's easier to use email for describing book details and
prices. Your gardening/landscaping biz had many more elements to deal
with. I too could spend an hour or so doing research and compiling a message. But then, it serves as a fine copy and a record of my work. If
I did it just over the phone, the work is simply ephemeral and can
disappear into forgetfulness.

..I don't reply to texts from family or friends, other then BBS
friends. But not those that I've known for years. I don't reply to
their emails either. They wanna talk -- call.

My landline phone is only "on" between 7p-9p, and the answering machine is OFF. Sometimes I forget to disable the "Do Not Disturb" mode on the
phone! LOL

There is no substitute then hearing my dads voice, or seeing him face
to face. Not to mention that if not careful, people read tone into written communication, most of the time inaccurately.

That reminds me of an incident when my mom who was quite confident and proficient in using email entered into a 4-way conversation with her
sisters who were using their sons or daughters as proxy and the
conversation just went off the rails for no reason. The tone of a written phrase or two was misinterpreted. A conference call would have been a
good solution, but it was hard to coordinate everyone available at the
same time.

...So, while I'm joking about a land line .. albeit their dang cheap
right now ... I treat my cellpone as one while unemployeed.

Are you getting spam calls on the cell? I'm afraid to disclose my number
for fear that I would end up with a neverending stream of unsolicited
calls triggered by someone's compromised cell phone.

Oh, and younger generations want to do a job interview via
text too .. I never hired those that did.

I have never encountered that! I would discredit a person who inquired or applied for a job that way.

Now smart phones have their place. I love the instant access to
stocks, or weather, or my schedule, alarms, etc.... but not a
replacement for human interaction, nor a rude distraction to someone
who is genuinly trying to communicate with me.

It can be a real challenge to juggle a live customer who is standing right
in front of me and deal with the phone when it rings. I hate those incidents. But, most of the time I can pick up the phone and ask the
caller if I can call back or if they can wait until I finish a current
sale.

I'd also rather like to have a phone that I could cradle between my
shoulder and my head. Today's cordless phones are totally useless in an environment where I need to be on the phone while completing a cash
register transaction and taking notes!

But I found out that a Group account does allow S)earches. Maybe
have a group account for your dad.

See my FSXnet reply to the above, however a quick add .. I started a facebook group to do videos and text on all things turf care. I have
tons of videos to edit and upload. And they are much more user
friendly then the general news feed.

FB makes it pretty easy to build a page with content like that. Hope the result is satisfactory for you. Is it getting interest?

Took your advice -- the DAD echo. I'm starting a FidoNet All Pro Dad group... [[snip]] ..Next up August -- Lawn Care. But my HTML
online class has consumed my time to write the material in text for a
BBS format.

You are juggling a lot of things!

You, I'm sure very much rember, the day of each SysOp sending $5-$10
a month to the hub to make the long distance call out of state for networking?

Yes.. I remember something like that was suggested when I joined Fidonet
and a few other nets. But in my case the main hubs that were making the
LD calls had good paying jobs and did not mind doing it out of pocket.
The occassional meet-up was encouraged where people could buy a dinner or
a beer.

What if we did that for facebook, snap chat, or other ads?

That could be a nightmare to maintain. Who would do it? Fidonet has the site fidonet.org. It's not very modern or interesting though. It seems to
be under tight control and there is not much passion or interest to
leverage it to be something more exciting.

I've also noticed that a lot of BBS pages are set up as archive/ historical purposes, and/or are not clean and user friendly; beit in
UI or or in the nomenclature used to describe what a BBS is.

I see that too. However, there are a handful of sysops who have rather
fine web calling cards for their BBSes. I posted a modest list of the
ones I thought were rather cool - but that was over a year ago. I'll try
to revisit the ones I can remember and let you know.

While it's silly to think we can reinvent acronymns, when hitting a landing page, maybe using the word "Apps" instead of "Files," or
"Games" instead of "Doors," or "Blogs" instead of "Echos" would be examples of ways to modernize the URL facing marketing toward BBS's.

OR.. use BOTH terms side-by-side like this: Apps/Files, Games/Doors Blogs/Echos/Forums.

Only the latter one bothers me. I always wondered how the heck did the
term blog ever arise to represent an online list of posts. A blog sounds like something that one would pick out of their nose! LOL

A blog is generally a continuous list of posts by one person. The blog
system has "comments" that serve as feedback, but that's about it. An
echo is entirely different and encourages dialog.

In addition, to your point, there are grass roots marketing that is
simple and free, and could collect a few users. [[snip]] .. I think, totally unrelated words: COVID, TRUMP, etc... included within our
text can surely draw more clicks then "founded in 1989, My BBS was
..."

I'm not fond of trick words to steer traffic. Instead, I think just something like "alternative , efficient, no-ads.." would be better.

Being strategic in how URL's are created, with click tracking
tools can assist greatly.

Even my openxp.kolico.ca page could use better words so that google could hopefully list it in the first page of results.

Lastly, I know two guys that can redirect web traffic (albeit not
always for long) to their website as opposed to another ... I don't
like those dirty tactics. However, I think we have an excellent,
relevant, and very much alive format of "Social Media" that people
crave from the mainstream tech companies out there; without the flaws
.. however minus the photos ... which some just won't ever get or understand.

Your words "alternative, relevant, alive, social media" + "no ads, no tracking" would be fine terms to use to help highlight WHY echomail might
be exactly what many people might prefer. The trick is to get the word
out there!

Your "Breaking News" write-up at telentbbsguide.com is very good!

Thank you! Can't wait till you call! :)

OMG. Something has always seemed to pull me in another direction and I
would forget. About a year ago I was on a mission to find specific BBSes that offered Bluewave. From that, I settled with less than a hand full as regular destinations. Now, I'm even weeding off calling those BBSes directly; I prefer using my OpenXP system. ;)

Glad I finally got the rescan on this echo ... love these types of conversations!

This is a l-o-n-g multi-screen one! Maybe we need to break it up into separate topics?


../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: (2:221/1.58)

On 01 Aug 2020, August Abolins said the following...

Only the latter one bothers me. I always wondered how the heck did the term blog ever arise to represent an online list of posts. A blog
sounds like something that one would pick out of their nose! LOL

It's short for Weblog, which was originally Web Log. Been around a lot longer than the software which is mostly used for them now (Wordpress). I hand coded mine originally, then moved to a php based software called Movabletype, then finally Wordpress.

-=>Richard Miles<=-
-=>Captain Obvious<=-
-=>bbs.shadowscope.com<=-

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/05/17 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Shadowscope BBS | bbs.shadowscope.com | Temple, GA (1:3634/24)