Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Apologies if this is a well-covered topic :)





--

Alpha
Card & Claw BBS
The Drunken Gamer BBS

--- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.12-beta (linux; x64; 12.18.3)
* Origin: The Drunken Gamer (21:4/158.2)

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet

basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Apologies if this is a well-covered topic :)

Pretty much...

See the magicka echo for the most recent discussion re fidonet.. aparrently there are a hand ful of areas with content, but the most of it is either empty or no good :)

Andrew


--- TitanFTN (Linux/x86_64)
* Origin: Wunderlust BBS - wunderlust.ddns.net:2023 (21:1/126)

Hello Alpha,

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is
fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo
areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Fidonet seems fine here. Have you not been getting traffic?

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- GoldED+/LNX
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106)

Re: fidonet done?
By: Alpha to All on Sat Aug 15 2020 09:44 pm

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Apologies if this is a well-covered topic :)

--

Alpha
Card & Claw BBS
The Drunken Gamer BBS

Yes, it is a well-covered topic.

Yes, as far as I have seen, the general consensus is fidonet is in decline and some othernets are on the rise.

Fidonet's politic groups are still fun to lurk for the lolz.

--
gopher://gopher.operationalsecurity.es
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

See the magicka echo for the most recent discussion re fidonet.. aparrently there are a hand ful of areas with content, but the most of it is either empty or no good :)

So many questions there, but I'll stick to one.... is it the empty ones that are good?

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)

On 15 Aug 2020, Alpha said the following...

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Mostly junk now. A few political arguments, but almost no other traffic. We
did just have a few back and forth messages in the Amateur Radio echo about
the guy from End of the Line BBS wanting to upgrdae his license.

- Andre

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Runaan BBS (21:3/117)

On 16 Aug 2020, Spectre said the following...

So many questions there, but I'll stick to one.... is it the empty ones that are good?

Any thread that isn't >50% Lee Lofaso and/or automated messages. So technically, yes.

- Andre

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Runaan BBS (21:3/117)

Mostly junk now. A few political arguments, but almost no other traffic. We did just have a few back and forth messages in the Amateur Radio echo about the guy from End of the Line BBS wanting to upgrdae his license.

I tend to assume the Fidonet is for netmail, and for checking in on the
Mystic sub, since g00r00 answers questions there.

So it's probably useful in certain places, and from time to time, but eh.

I have also wondered about the BBS ads area, as there's probably some level
of usefulness to that, if only a limited amount.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

Alpha wrote to All <=-

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is
fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Apologies if this is a well-covered topic :)

After the spike in traffic caused by everyone being trapped indoors, I feel like it has drifted back to the more normal traffic patterns of Summer in
Z1.

The only place I have noticed what seems like an unusual decline in traffic would be the Memories echo and the Windows/Linux echos. I think one or two
of the frequent posters in Memories may be missing... they were frequent posters in an othernet echo I read and they've disappeared there also.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the traffic in this echo has fallen off of its usual levels. Still plenty of chatter, but I can
remember when it a lot more busy than right now. I am not worried about
it, but I have noticed it just as I've noticed it in FIDO and on Scinet.


... Keep your stick on the ice
--- MultiMail
* Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)

Hello Blue!

** On Sunday 16.08.20 - 12:49, Blue White wrote to Alpha:

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the traffic in this echo
has fallen off of its usual levels. Still plenty of chatter, but I
can remember when it a lot more busy than right now. I am not
worried about it, but I have noticed it just as I've noticed it in
FIDO and on Scinet.

Here are my local stats for this echo from Aug 1 to date:

OpenXP Newsgroup statistics of 16.08.20
from 01.08.20 to 16.08.20

No Newsgroup KBytes Mess. % HT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 /FSXNET/FSX_GEN 362 470 8.4 90




470 msgs seems to be quite healthy for just 2 weeks.



--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Re: fidonet done?
By: Alpha to All on Sat Aug 15 2020 09:44 pm

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Yea, I try to keep some of the topics alive such as in L.O.R.D where i ask for info about the best non game breaking igms. Maybe we need to revitalize the backbone and clean the fat.
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (21:1/183)

On 16 Aug 2020, Adept said the following...

I tend to assume the Fidonet is for netmail, and for checking in on the Mystic sub, since g00r00 answers questions there.

I prioritize other networks if I'm going to start a post, but still check topics I care about on Fido and respond. Any activity is good activty.

- Andre

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Runaan BBS (21:3/117)

On 16 Aug 2020, Ogg said the following...

470 msgs seems to be quite healthy for just 2 weeks.

A large number of those are COVID discussion with a lot of political
bickering. Only in the last few days do I recall the messages being significantly better.


- Andre

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Runaan BBS (21:3/117)

Hello Andre!

** On Sunday 16.08.20 - 18:03, Andre wrote to Ogg:

470 msgs seems to be quite healthy for just 2 weeks.

A large number of those are COVID discussion with a lot of political bickering. Only in the last few days do I recall the messages being significantly better.

Ah... OK, I get it. It's the quality not the quantity of messages.

Then I would suggest you hop in and see if you can get a conversation
going. ;)

Pick a new topic. :)


--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Hello Alpha!

On 15 Aug 2020, Alpha said the following...

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

It appears to be very low-traffic, yes.

I posted a test message to FIDOTEST but got replies regarding Mystic not
adding a correct CHRS kludge (CP437) so some umlaut characters in my name turned out strange -- have e-mailed g00r00 about it, then haven't dared to
post anything more since then as I'm not sure how picky others are...

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

On 16 Aug 2020, Zip said the following...

I posted a test message to FIDOTEST but got replies regarding Mystic not adding a correct CHRS kludge (CP437) so some umlaut characters in my name turned out strange -- have e-mailed g00r00 about it, then haven't dared
to post anything more since then as I'm not sure how picky others are...

Those folks in FIDOTEST are just letting you know what they see. I looked at the kludges of your message and there was no CHRS kludge. I suppose my reply
to you will also not have a CHRS kludge?

In any case folks have been using mystic in fidonet for years and years and
it works just fine, so have no fear.. Mystic is just fine in fidonet.

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Equinox BBS - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.2)

Hello Al!

Thank you for your reply!

On 17 Aug 2020, Al said the following...

Those folks in FIDOTEST are just letting you know what they see. I

Yep! :)

looked at the kludges of your message and there was no CHRS kludge. I suppose my reply to you will also not have a CHRS kludge?

That's right!

I spoke with g00r00 regarding this and he is thinking of a good way of supporting multiple character sets in Mystic. So I guess we'll see in the future what might come...

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

for info about the best non game breaking igms. Maybe we need to revitalize the backbone and clean the fat.

Now if you rendered the fat, and turned it into soap, you could use it to clean the rest up :)

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)

Ogg wrote to Blue White <=-

470 msgs seems to be quite healthy for just 2 weeks.

There used to be times when you could expect 75-100 a day. 470/2 weeks is still healthy, but it also shows that traffic is dropping off. Nothing to
get crazy worried about for sure but also proof that it is not just
happening on FIDO.




... Tell me, is something eluding you, Sunshine?
--- MultiMail
* Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)

On 16 Aug 20 10:44:03, Zip said the following to Alpha:

I posted a test message to FIDOTEST but got replies regarding Mystic not adding a correct CHRS kludge (CP437) so some umlaut characters in my name turned out strange -- have e-mailed g00r00 about it, then haven't dared to post anything more since then as I'm not sure how picky others are...

Speaking as a Fido ZC - Ignore all of them. F 'em. F 'em *all*. Run whatever software you want. Tell anyone who complains about kludges to F right off.

Atreyu

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)

I posted a test message to FIDOTEST but got replies regarding
Mystic not adding a correct CHRS kludge (CP437) so some umlaut
characters in my name turned out strange -- have e-mailed g00r00
about it, then haven't dared to post anything more since then as
I'm not sure how picky others are...

Speaking as a Fido ZC - Ignore all of them. F 'em. F 'em *all*. Run whatever software you want. Tell anyone who complains about kludges
to F right off.

hmm..

Thats interresting. my first contact to my fido uplink (afaik an RC) was
about very similar topics.
He could not connect to my BBS first and listed me as MO (mail only).
then i explained i am on port 2023 and he found my ansi strange.. nothing strange about it when you do not use putty or use cp437.
next he mentioned i need to check my codepage mapping because of the
many different users out there and my codepage could be problematic. next
was the kludge that did not contain @domain added after the ^AVIA
address and it would be of absolut importance (he used alot of
exclamation marks there)
to have the @domain there for i dont remember what reasons. something
about netmail routing i guess.
he also mentioned that he would
have to cut me off when there would be loop mails between our systems.
at the end i was switching from (afaik completely ok Magimail,
wich he seemed to not know that it is forked from crashmail2) to htp
(husky)
and to be honest,
i dont know what that has changed now. except that i had to completely
learn a new mailer, tosser, tick processor, nodelist updater etc pp from scratch. so is this an ego thing to show the new one who is the boss and
that you are many levels of knowledge below. to make me small or what?
i did not like it and it still feels like an ego thing. to demand several technical things from (again) newbie who is using a technology that
is mostly outdated for many
decades already. still fun to use, but this is not up2date technology and probably will not be forever.
btw, one thing that was realy retro.. this is
what fido felt like back in the 90s

interresting to see that similar things happen to other new fido nodes
too.

its about first impressions in life often.

Mindsurfer


--- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/armv7l)
* Origin: FuNToPia telnet://funtopia.ddnss.eu:2023 (21:3/119)

On 18 Aug 20 00:13:14, Mindsurfer said the following to Atreyu:

i did not like it and it still feels like an ego thing. to demand several technical things from (again) newbie who is using a technology that
is mostly outdated for many
decades already. still fun to use, but this is not up2date technology and probably will not be forever.

Not surprising, and this is one of several reasons why Fido is what it is.

You are not required to run software to support any kludges beyond the
standard AREA kludge and INTL for Netmail. So we're talking the vast majority of software from the late 80's till early 2000's.

Technically I can route Fido Netmail without the INTL kludge but in other Zones it would likely be a serious complaint.

You will NOT lose your node number over kludge nonsense save for Area and INTL, at least I can guarantee that if you are in Zone 1.

Anyone who whines and complains about the CHRS kludge or even the MSGID/REPLY kludge has no life and according to Fido policy is "easily annoyed".

I have seen first-hand returning Sysops who found their old BBS floppies and decide to fire things back up. We're talking Searchlight, old versions of Wildcat, etc. which were never designed to support the kludges or cannot be patched. What happens is they get slammed with whining in the test-echoes over kludges. The Sysop doesn't want to be flamed so he jumps ship and quits Fido or, hopefully jumps to an Othernet like this one or others.

Atreyu

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)

Hello Zip!

** On Sunday 16.08.20 - 10:44, Zip wrote to Alpha:

I posted a test message to FIDOTEST but got replies regarding Mystic
not adding a correct CHRS kludge (CP437) so some umlaut characters in
my name turned out strange -- have e-mailed g00r00 about it, then
haven't dared to post anything more since then as I'm not sure how
picky others are...

Heheheh! I got nailed when it was discovered that OpenXP as using an
IMB437 instead of a CP437 kludge.

Good luck!


--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Hello Blue!

** On Monday 17.08.20 - 13:32, Blue White wrote to Ogg:

There used to be times when you could expect 75-100 a day. 470/2
weeks is still healthy, but it also shows that traffic is dropping
off. Nothing to get crazy worried about for sure but also proof that
it is not just happening on FIDO.

The stats look pretty good for select echos though.

Last week, the top echos with more than 10 messages/ wk.

287 WEATHER 11.65%
240 FIDO-REQ 9.74%
207 SYNCDATA 8.40%
174 ALLFIX_FILE 7.06%
170 RECIPES 6.90%
170 HOME_COOKING 6.90%
146 COOKING 5.93%
120 STATS 4.87%
118 ALL-POLITICS 4.79%
105 BBS_ADS 4.26%
95 FDN_ANNOUNCE 3.86%
77 SYNCHRONET 3.13%
75 BBS_PROMOTION 3.05%
47 SHAREWARE_SUPPORT 1.91%
42 POLITICS 1.71%
32 EARTH 1.30%
34 FIDOTEST 1.38%
33 FIDOGAZETTE 1.34%
27 FIDONEWS 1.10%
24 OTHERNETS 0.97%
20 FUTURE4FIDO 0.81%
19 WINDOWS 0.77%
19 DBRIDGE 0.77%
17 SYNC_SYSOPS 0.69%
16 ESSNASA 0.65%
15 MEMORIES 0.61%
14 RBERRYPI 0.57%
13 TAGLINES 0.53%
10 MYSTIC 0.41%
10 ENGLISH_TUTOR 0.41%



The week before that:

295 WEATHER 11.18%
277 SYNCDATA 10.50%
250 FIDO-REQ 9.48%
170 ALLFIX_FILE 6.44%
166 RECIPES 6.29%
166 HOME_COOKING 6.29%
121 BBS_ADS 4.59%
120 STATS 4.55%
117 COOKING 4.44%
92 FDN_ANNOUNCE 3.49%
81 BBS_PROMOTION 3.07%
63 ALL-POLITICS 2.39%
54 FIDONEWS 2.39%
47 RBERRYPI 2.05%
47 NHL 1.78%
46 SHAREWARE_SUPPORT 1.78%
40 SYNCHRONET 1.74%
34 POLITICS 1.52%
32 EARTH 1.29%
32 FUTURE4FIDO 1.21%
25 ENGLISH_TUTOR 1.21%
20 OTHERNETS 0.95%
19 COFFEE_KLATSCH 0.76%
17 ELIST 0.72%
16 FIDOTEST 0.64%
16 FIDOSOFT.HUSKY 0.61%
16 ESSNASA 0.61%
15 OS2 0.61%
13 TAGLINES 0.57%
12 WILDCAT!_SUPPORT 0.49%
12 MEMORIES 0.45%
11 MYSTIC 0.45%
10 LINUX 0.42%


Only a few of them have robots. And where there *is* conversation, it is generally fairly good quality. Even if it is just 10/wk, that might be
good enough in the scheme of things - considering that people can be
pulled into so many other directions these days: netflix, facebook,
youtube, growing families, dr appointments, etc..

I'd say, find an echo and stir it up. Get writing. Tell 2 friends.. etc.


--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Hello Atreyu!

Thank you for your reply!

On 17 Aug 2020, Atreyu said the following...

Speaking as a Fido ZC - Ignore all of them. F 'em. F 'em *all*. Run whatever software you want. Tell anyone who complains about kludges to F right off.

Actually I do appreciate that the missing kludge was pointed out, however perhaps I was not prepared for "discussions" (war) that followed. :-O

And of course a little worried that the Swedish characters in my messages
would mess up something for someone, causing endless character "gibberish" in threads...

But I'll keep it in mind. :)

Thanks again!

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Hello Ogg!

On 17 Aug 2020, Ogg said the following...

Heheheh! I got nailed when it was discovered that OpenXP as using an IMB437 instead of a CP437 kludge.

:-D

Good luck!

Thanks! I'm gonna need it (perhaps at least in some echos). :)

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

On 15 Aug 2020, Alpha said the following...

Is it just me (like, literally, my FTN/upplink connection) or is fidonet basically dead? Very few messages and hundreds(?) of echo areas with ancient topics. Bloats my config file, LOL.

Still plenty of traffic in the areas that always receive traffic. Plenty of dead areas too of course, but mostly in the areas that haven't had anything
in years.

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

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/05/17 (Windows/32)
* Origin: * Shadowscope BBS * (21:1/157)

On 17 Aug 2020, Ogg said the following...

The stats look pretty good for select echos though.

Last week, the top echos with more than 10 messages/ wk.

287 WEATHER 11.65%

I'm responsible for 3 messages per day in that echo. It's all automated &
I doubt anybody looks at them, but they're there nonetheless.

Jay

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/11 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Northern Realms BBS | bbs.nrbbs.net | Binbrook, ON (21:3/110)

Warpslide wrote to Ogg:

I'm responsible for 3 messages per day in that echo. It's all automated &
I doubt anybody looks at them, but they're there nonetheless.

I've seen those here abouts and some other net.. so they are at least being seen.. :)

Ttyl :-),
Al

... I do not think it means what you think it means.

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.18 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106)

Hello Warpslide!

** On Tuesday 18.08.20 - 13:35, Warpslide wrote to Ogg:

The stats look pretty good for select echos though.
287 WEATHER 11.65%

I'm responsible for 3 messages per day in that echo. It's all
automated & I doubt anybody looks at them, but they're there
nonetheless.

Yes.. I did say that some of those echos are served by bots.

The cooking echos seem to have a lot of chatter.

I did not realize that your reports have a spot for my area, Southern Ontario.. but I find the morning radio, the evening editions of tv
reports good enough.

I do appreciate the fun of automating posts though.


--

--- OpenXP 5.0.45
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Warpslide wrote to Ogg <=-

I'm responsible for 3 messages per day in that echo. It's all
automated & I doubt anybody looks at them, but they're there
nonetheless.

I noticed! I was wondering who that was. Thanks for posting that info.
Daryl Stout and I try to carry on conversations in that echo, but most of what originates from my system is also automated information. Discussion is
always welcome! :)




... Tell me, is something eluding you, Sunshine?
--- MultiMail
* Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)

After the spike in traffic caused by everyone being trapped indoors, I feel like it has drifted back to the more normal traffic patterns
of Summer in Z1.

The only place I have noticed what seems like an unusual decline in traffic would be the Memories echo and the Windows/Linux
echos. I think one or two of the frequent posters in Memories
may be missing... they were frequent posters in an othernet echo
I read and they've disappeared there also.

All the bright shininess of having lots of time to blow through stuff you think about from time to time and forget to post has worn off. I don't tend to go near win/nix forums unless I'm looking for answers, they'll tend to get a bit of a belt and I run out of things to work on, I imagine theres a good slab of people that use them much the same way. You exhaust your need to post.

As for memories? I dunno, maybe there's only so much reminiscing you can do?

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)