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                      B  B  S  *  B  U  L  L  S  H  I  T

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                                  WHY I DO IT

                                 P. L. Olympia
                     Sysop, SUGI SIG/M RBBS, 301-963-5249
                                   02/08/85
    PURPOSE

    The purpose of this little piece is to  explain  to you who are users of my
RBBS why I operate the board and  why  the  BBS has the "peculiarities" that it
has. I also want to let you know what it is like being on this end of the modem
line in the hope that once you understand   what  it is like to be a Sysop, you
will be more sensitive to the code of behavior expected of you as an RBBS user.

    There is one other reason for this piece: I am increasingly forced to adopt
certain restrictions that are diametrically opposed to my "religion" of keeping
an open RBBS. I have  always  said,  when  I  first  started this, that I would
rather shut down the BBS than  adopt  certain policies that I find distasteful.
So, if one day you call, and find the phone just ringing, you will know why.

    Let me say at the outset that  in  my experience, many RBBS callers observe
the ground rules and truly deserve  the  service.  If  you belong to that group
please ef not be offended by what  I  have  to say here as any offensive remark
you find in this piece clearly is not meant for you.


    WHY I DO IT

    I operate the SUGI SIG/M RBBS as a free public service for several reasons:

  o  Computing, particularly DBMS and telecommunications, is  my hobby. I run a
     lot of experiments with the BBS for my own intellectual growth;

  o  As a forum of information exchange  among SUGI SIG/Mmembers in particular,
     and the public in general;

  o  To repay those Sysops and users  who  have  shared with me (from the early
     years when I operated a private CP/M  BBS)  some of the best public domain
     programs in the world;

  o  To help responsible novices get started  (I  was  a novice too at one time
     [Noooooo! -EGBSS!]) so that  they  may  later  share  their knowledge with
     others;

  o  I have watched RBBS-PC grow over the  years,  and I lamented the fact that
     unlike RCP/M, no one bothered to organize and maintain a comprehensive and
     up-to-date list of RBBS's in the country. I  knew that doing that is a lot
     of work, but someone had to do  it.  I "volunteered" to be that one. Thus,
     one of the important functions of the  SUGI  SIG/M RBBS is as a repository
     of the most complete and up-to-date RBBS  list  as a service to the entire
     RBBS community.

    The SUGI SIG/M RBBS, like most boards in the country, is a professional BBS
    intended solely for serious  business  users.  It  has an educational games
    section only because most serious professionals have children who might use
    those games to get started. Mine did  at  the  age of four and is now doing
    very well, thank you.

    I like to think that my RBBS is  one  of  the best in the country. If it is
    not, it is NOT because I  did  not  try.  I am still trying. [Right, that's
    quite enough of the ego-trip, thank you very much! -EGBSS]


    WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING?

    I am a firm  believer  of  an  open  RBBS,  that  "registration" is totally
unnecessary. I was convinced that  users  who  have  been provided a useful and
free tool will, at the very least, observe certain ground rules laid out by the
Sysop. For more than six  months,  mine  was  probably  the only RBBS-PC in the
country where no daily time limit was imposed - a user can log on any number of
times on a given day so long as she  waits at least 20 minutes between calls to
give others a chance.
    While 95% of the callers did  just  that,  the rotten 5% spoiled things for
everyone and I was forced to impose  the  daily time limit you now labor under.
As if  that  were  not  enough  some  callers  persisted  in  logging  on under
fictitious names despite my plea right there on the Welcome screen that aliases
are not tolerated on the board. Some  did it because they never matured; others
did it as a way to get around  the  daily time limit so that, to paraphrase Jim
Anderson in his REQUIEM.TXT (which is required  reading for you), the "pigs can
feed some more at the trough".

    Against my will, I was then  forced  to  institute  a policy that new users
cannot download files or perform  most  normal  RBBS functions until they leave
their name, address and phone. The  policy  was  meant  to be temporary; I have
removed the restriction twice in two months only to institute it again, because
a very small minority of callers made life difficult for me and everybody else.
The day I adopt this policy on a  permanent  basis  is the day I shut down this
BSw>R think that new callers owe it to  the Sysop to leave the information as
a gesture of COURTESY even if the  BBS  does  not have a registration policy. I
encourage my callers to tell me where they  work only because I deal with a lot
of companies and just in case my business  folds,  I would like to have a place
to recommend to my staff. I look at  that as a service to the companies because
my staff is very good.

    Most BBS in the country now has  a "registration" policy. And who can blame
Sysops for adopting that? I know for  a  fact  that a Sysop would prefer not to
have that policy were it not for  a very small minority of immature, delinquent
and inconsiderate callers. Just so you understand  some of the reasons for that
policy, take heed of a Sysop's pet peeves  below. I do not speak for anyone but
myself but I am willing to bet that my own pet peeves are also other Sysops'.


    MY PET PEEVES

    1.  THE SYSTEM CRACKERS

    Crackers  (not  "Hackers",  the   press   has   caused  much  confusion  in
terminology) are the lowest  form  of  life.  They  are  a  bunch of delinquent
nincompoops who find special delight  in  trying  to  break into BBS's to cause
irreversible damage in the hope of depriving  people a free and useful service.
I am fortunate in that out of about 6000 calls thus far, I have been visited by
these slimes only 15 times and all attempts  to break into the system have been
fruitless. These jokers have tried many times to download the RBBS secure files
including user  passwords,  commercial  programs  (a  definite  no-no)  used to
operate the RBBS, and even my  AUTOEXEC.BAT  and CONFIG.SYS files which contain
nothing that will help them. Ninety  percent  of  these delinquents call at 300
bps, one reason I will no longer support 300 bps in the very near future.

    These frustrated crackers vent their frustration by leaving nasty messages.
And I thought I already have a wide vocabulary!

    I have lost my patience with  these  moral eunuchs, and hereby issuing fair
warning. If you are a twit, start growing up. The next time you try to download
a forbidden file from me, the system will give it to you, but if you try to use
it ... bingo!

    2.  THE GIMMES

    Jim was right on target in his  condemnation of callers who labor under the
illusion that an RBBS is a one-way  street  that exists only for the enrichment
of their software collection. It is sad but true - the majority of callers fall
under this category. I have entertained  the  idea of modifying PC-TALK so that
it only has a DOWNLOAD function. Might  as  well. The upload function has never
been used by these callers. I was going  to re-issue the program under the name
... you guessed it ... PC-GIMME.EXE.

    If you are a novice, no one is  blaming  you if all you do is download. One
of the reasons for an RBBS  is  to  help  novices  get started. It seems to me,
though, that once you have downloaded 40 or so files, you should have benefited
from those files and stopped being a novice.  It is time to repay some of those
folks who helped you. I have two callers  on my system who have downloaded 230+
files and uploaded NONE. I hope those fellows download this file - their last.

    Not everyone is born  to  be  a  programmer.  Even  if  you  do not have an
original program to contribute to the public  domain, there are many things you
can do to help your Sysop.

    I am still naive and believe that  most people would like to contribute and
may not know how. Well, here's how for a start.

    One, if you see a message on the board (you do know that there is a message
section on the BBS, right?) from someone  asking a question or asking for help,
and you think you have the answer,  by  all means respond to the message. Don't
just depend on the Sysop to provide a free consulting service to everybody.

    Two, if you discover something useful either  in the course of your work or
as a result of reading  an  article  or  whatever,  don't  keep it to yourself.
Either post a message on the BBS or write a little text file and upload it.

    Three, a Sysop should not have to call all over the country so that you may
have files to download. If you run across  a new and useful file on another BBS
(particularly if it is long  distance  from  your favorite Sysop's BBS), upload
the file. Some callers think that Sysops do  not want their files sent to other
boards. Nothing can be farther from  the  truth. All public domain programs are
meant to be shared and all boards exist  for that purpose if nothing else. Just
the other day I sent one of  my  original  programs to my favorite board in the
South, and later that afternoon a Sysop  from  NJ  sent me the same file that I
had just released a few hours earlier!

    There are two severe  forms  of  "gimmes".  One  is called "vulturitis" and
afflicts a very few (thankfully) who logs on every single night - at prime time
at that - and picks off the files  as  soon  as the Sysop puts them up. Another
form is called "author-gimmes" and  afflicts  two  "locals"  on my BBS who have
authored one or two  useful  programs  that  somehow  found themselves on other
local boards but mine. These fellows are  regular "gimmes" on my board. I don't
get it. Pun intended.

    3. THE INCONSIDERATES

    The inconsiderates (1) download a  file  then  go  to Peoria [Huh? You mean
bed? -EGBSS] while the file transfer is in progress and let the system time out
and log them off, (2) just drop  carrier  when they're done without the decency
of issuing G(oodbye), (3) calls to  see  the  color screen and hear the Welcome
music, drops carrier then calls again for another round of color and music, (4)
sign on with multiple aliases for more time at the "pig trough".

    4. THE CONTROL-S'ERS

    These callers like to do  a  CTRL-S  to  prevent  the screen from scrolling
without realizing that unless  they  caused  the  system  to  do otherwise, the
system will pause per screenful  of  lines.  If  you  belong  to this group you
should know that (at  least  on  my  system)  whenever  you  do  a CTRL-S, both
partitions of Multilink freeze and  I  am  not  able  to continue whatever I am
doing in the foreground. I promise you that I will only tolerate so many CTRL-S
in one session particularly during daytime  when  I  am at the office using the
machine in the foreground. I will always  drop carrier on CTRL-S users who call
in at 300 bps during the  day  as  that  compounds the problem. You should know
that extensive screen listing at 300 bps slows me down in the foreground. Thus,
if you have a choice of ASCII or XMODEM download, pick XMODEM.
    If you are an incurable CTRL-S'er, call at night - very late at night.

    5.  THE INGRATES

    These hopeless creatures do not  bother  to  read  the bulletins and become
very upset because their access level is low. One even left a message saying "I
demand a high access level". Demand?  Have  I  got news for you, buddy! You use
this BBS because I say so. You don't  use  it  for the same reason. This is not
your birthright. I think Jim said much the same thing.


    WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RUN AN RBBS?

    By now, you should have an idea of  what  a Sysop's job is like. If you are
thinking of starting A first-class RBBS, you should know that it takes infinite
patience and a lot of time. I spend an average of two and a half hours a day on
the RBBS doing such things  as  responding  to comments and messages, uploading
files from home, changing new users  access level, organizing file directories,
deleting  useless  files,  looking  new   files  over  and  updating  bulletins
particularly the RBBS list.
    You must love computing to be a Sysop. You also have to be crazy.


    PARTING NOTE

    I would like to end this piece with  a  note of thanks to those callers who
have made running the RBBS worth all  the  heartburn. I am privileged to have a
community of 25-30 callers (out of almost  a thousand) who know what RBBSing is
all about. What makes the SUGI SIG/M  RBBS  unique  is not that it has far more
out-of-town callers than local callers, but that it has this small community of
users who have gone out of their way  to  help the system grow and who think of
the RBBS as their own.

    Which, of course, it is.


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