Glad to see you, All!
Sorry, it attached instead of copied. Trying again:
*Future Messaging Proposal
John Dovey (BoonDock 4:92/1, 4:920/1) **
dovey.john@gmail.com*
16 May 2021
*Background
*I've loved online messaging and files for as long as it's been possible to do so, starting in the mid 1980s with dial-up bulletin board systems, moving to FidoNet shortly afterwards as first a point and then establishing my own board. I made the shift along with the rest of the world to Usenet and then Email. I established and started running an email list in the early 90s (still running in 2021) which iterated through all the various changes in that technology. And then cell phones arrived and at first SMS messages (which were free) then the various messaging apps, in fact writing one of the very first (called Sticky Notes) whose source was the inspiration and basis (from what I could determine) for ICQ. I dabbled with ISeeU (the first video conferencing app) and with Mixit, ICQ, QQ and a plethora of others. Currently on my phone I have WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and a few more obscure ones.
I used Napster, MySpace and various Torrent clients.
I've used the online forums epitomized by phpBBS and all its variations. Not to mention Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. This just to establish that I'm besotted with online communication and file sharing. I've investigated (and implemented to various degrees of success) different networks types, including "SneakerNet" and Mesh Networks.
*Motivation
*A short while ago, I decided to start a BBS again as part of investigation into a distributed messaging and resource sharing project that I'm exploring together with a colleague living in the UK who works across rural Africa, in some of the most disconnected communities it's possible to imagine. My focus is on local communities in Panama who are almost as isolated.
I turned to BBS technology, together with FidoNet (FTN) and QWKnet primarily because it's got a few key features. The important ones for us are primarily;
1 Availability of free software
2 Software for almost any platform, including some of the oldest and simplest (DOS), as well as some of the most modern (RasberryPI).
3 Ease and simplicity of setup and operation
4 Simplicity of networking messages
5 Anarchic by design ie not controlled by anyone
6 Store and Forward operation.
*Discovery
*I have evaluated a wide range of software and technology that is currently available and have come to some conclusions
1 There are a few stand-out pieces of software and some incredible people involved in this world. They do this as a passion and contribute their expertise and tone without any more recompense then the acknowledgment that they receive. My thanks for out to them, because as always, we stand on the shoulder of giants.
2. The current iteration of BBS systems is pretty much dominated by Synchronet and Mystic. There are a variety of others, lots of older ones which have been resurrected and some brand new ones (Talisman for example) which are newly written.
The vast majority of the Internet aware BBS software and traffic though is based on Rob Swindell's work, with even Talisman using parts of it to fill in the gaps. There are also numerous older programs and utilities which are either still going strong or being used in the original form, such as BinkD, MultiMail, various versions of Fossil drivers, the SEXYZ communications app, various tossers and mailers and bridges and front doors and nodelist compilers and a variety of each as well as others.
3. What underlies all these disparate pieces of software is a series of old ideas. Some really good principles and realization of those principles and some things which just aren't in tune with the modern way of doing things.
The most glaring omission is a simple app for Android or IOS. There are "point" systems (such as GoldEd+) and the configurations that they require, but they are at best clunky and difficult.
*Vision
First Principles
*I believe that the requirements and usage for the majority of people has shifted.
*** [Netmail-to-Telegram address: 474405162@2:460/256]
... Tag, you are IT!
--- tg BBS v0.6.4
* Origin: Fido by Telegram BBS from Stas Mishchenkov (2:460/256)