Hi. New user here. Fairly long-time C= user (but only ever Amiga), who caught the tail end of BBSing, ran a BBS for less than a year, misses it. Much more than that though, the internet has turned sour for me over the past few years. Want to cut it out of my life as much as is possible while still having a job and not going completely Thoreau. Hence a renewed interest in BBSing and pre-internet technologies.

Posting on CBM because the Fidonet general echo seems dead. Strange this one looks nice and active and the broad-topic ones aren't...is Fido as good as over?

Re: Hi to all
By: Simon Geddes to All on Sun Aug 04 2019 13:26:03

Posting on CBM because the Fidonet general echo seems dead.

what "fido general" echo are you talking about? there's not one with that echotag...

Strange this one looks nice and active and the broad-topic ones aren't...

you should be more specific and probably in another area but some areas welcome
any traffic...

is Fido as good as over?

no, not really... there are still systems connected and transferring mail/files... some areas have more traffic than others... it all depends on what you are looking for and where you are looking...

)\/(ark
--- SBBSecho 3.08-Linux
* Origin: SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR (1:3634/12)

nospam.Simon.Geddes@f1.n770.z410.fidonet.org (Simon Geddes) writes:

Posting on CBM because the Fidonet general echo seems dead. Strange this one looks nice and active and the broad-topic ones aren't...is Fido as good as over?

Well, at least Fido gateways to Usenet seem to have some activity. I
guess internet distribution was not your intention if you want out of
the Internet?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

Re: Hi to all
By: mark lewis to Simon Geddes on Sun Aug 04 2019 04:59 pm

what "fido general" echo are you talking about? there's not one with that echotag...

It was one called "Fidonet General Chat Echo" - the latest message I saw was late 2017. I was looking for a good generic starting point to start adding to the conversation. But a big fan of Commodore products and history (MorphOS is my main daily driver today) so will certainly follow this echo.

Re: Re: Hi to all
By: Anssi Saari to Simon Geddes on Mon Aug 05 2019 02:09 pm

Well, at least Fido gateways to Usenet seem to have some activity. I
guess internet distribution was not your intention if you want out of
the Internet?

No - I want to try and stick to dial-up if at all possible. As far as I know, there are no UK dialup BBSes left which carry any fidonet echos. Perhaps in the medium to long term I can look at starting up a new dial-up BBS, and carrying some fidonet echos myself. Need to walk before I run though, of course!

On 2019 Aug 05 14:09:36, you wrote to Simon Geddes:

Posting on CBM because the Fidonet general echo seems dead. Strange
this one looks nice and active and the broad-topic ones aren't...is
Fido as good as over?

Well, at least Fido gateways to Usenet seem to have some activity. I
guess internet distribution was not your intention if you want out of
the Internet?

:lol: i was wondering how quickly someone on the 'net side of the gate would come back with that :lol:

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

)\/(ark

Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set
them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
... Southerners think sugar in corn bread is some kind of commie plot.
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

Simon Geddes wrote to All <=-

Hi. New user here. Fairly long-time C= user (but only ever Amiga), who caught the tail end of BBSing, ran a BBS for less than a year, misses
it. Much more than that though, the internet has turned sour for me
over the past few years. Want to cut it out of my life as much as is

I can relate to that statement. What happened! .. dang beautiful thing is turning into something I don't understand, but that's the way of youth and new things right.
The darknet is ... probably the place for me most of the time, avoid all the flames of the indexed internet. .. not all bad but getting a bit sour for sure.

possible while still having a job and not going completely Thoreau.
Hence a renewed interest in BBSing and pre-internet technologies.

Posting on CBM because the Fidonet general echo seems dead. Strange
this one looks nice and active and the broad-topic ones aren't...is
Fido as good as over?

Is it?
How can non-bbs systems access it and store messages?

BBSING

--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
* Origin: Electronic Warfare BBS | telnet:\\bbs.ewbbs.net (1:227/201)

Re: Hi to all
By: mark lewis to Anssi Saari on Mon Aug 05 2019 03:18 pm

:lol: i was wondering how quickly someone on the 'net side of the gate would come
back
with that :lol:

Trying to work out if that means you're not 'online' - as in, an internet user. After 20 years of over-indulgence I am very interested in seeing what benefits there are to be had in a substantially different relationship with the internet. Sorry for the off-topic - still learning fidonet etiquette, and how fidonet works in general.

Re: Re: Hi to all
By: Bbsing Bbs to Simon Geddes on Wed Aug 07 2019 03:01 pm

I can relate to that statement. What happened! .. dang beautiful thing is turning into
something I don't understand, but that's the way of youth and new things right.
The darknet is ... probably the place for me most of the time, avoid all the flames of
the indexed internet. .. not all bad but getting a bit sour for sure.

Probably smart phones (no mental downtime) and addictive algorithms ("I'm sure this next Youtube video will change my life...ok..maybe this next one!") have played a big part. For me, having a near-infinite supply of information at my fingertips is as appealing and distracting as I'm sure crack would be. I guzzle it up, but can't remember any of it. When you come up for air, switch the devices off, and look around you realise that nearly everyone around you is in the samae boat. What have we unleashed?? And then the government winds down their telephone number services and offline tax submission options and makes everything online. Your friends all expect you to have a smartphone for WhatsApp. You can't escape it. A real life horror movie.