BBS lists
Steve Hayes
geographical area, interests, networks and so on. I will post
these reports in the appropriate echoes from time to time, and
will produce a report for anyone one request, which can be sent
to a netmail or e-mail address.
You may see a sample of the kind of listings it produces at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/bbsweb.htm
Here is a form to list, or update the listing, of your BBS in
the database I maintain. To fill in the form, just reply to this
message, and fill in the blanks between the [ square brackets ]
Please DON'T ALTER the field names, and especially DON'T try to
"prettify" the form by separating the left square bracket from
its field name - that breaks the database. Please DO type
BETWEEN the left and right square brackets [ and ]. See the
notes on the field names below before filling it in, and save a
copy of the form before you reply, in case you mess it up (and
also to pass to your downlinks etc.) Try to keep what you put in
all fields to one line, except for the last one - BBSNotes[ -
there you can write 4-5 lines.
If any field does not apply to you, leave it blank, but do NOT
delete the field name. Don't type "n/a" or anything else there.
=== Form begins - cut here ======================
Bulletin Board Systems BBS[*] Updated[ ]
BBSname[ ]
Dataphone[ ]
Telnet[ ]
City[ ] State or Province[ ]
Country[ ]
Sysop[ ]
E-mail[ ]
Web[ ]
Networks[ ]
Featured Echoes[ ]
Subjects[ ]
Other Info[ ]
Keywords[ ]
BBSnotes[
=== Form ends - cut here =====================
SOME NOTES ON THE FIELDS
Dataphone[ - put the phone number of your BBS here, with the
local area code. It's probably best not to put inter-
national codes, since it's primarily local callers that are
needed. If you have more than one phone line to your BBS,
put the one you would like new users to call on. If really
want to list all your numbers, copy the whole field, and
put one number per field.
Telnet[ - if your BBS is telnettable, put the URL here,
otherwise leave it blank.
Featured Echoes[ - Obviously you can't list EVERY echo on your
BBS here, so list some of the most popular echoes on your
BBS, or ones that you would like your callers to use. If
you are a moderator of any echoes, list the ones you
moderate. If you must go over one line on this one, press
Enter to move the right square bracket ] to the next line.
Please use the Fido echo tag to list the echoes.
Networks[ - this should indicate the actual networks the BBS
is connected to - Fidonet, FamilyNet, Fishnet, Ilink, RIME
etc. They should be separated by spaces rather than commas
to save space.
Keywords[ - askSam, my database program, is pretty good at
picking up keywords from anywhere in a record, but if they
are not included elsewhere, a keywords field can make it
easier to find certain groups of records. Leave it blank,
though - I'll use it for cryptic abbreviations.
Subjects[ - This, or the keywords field, could contain
information about subjects that the BBS specialises in.
Here you can put "Genealogy" or "Ham Radio" or "Computer
Games" or "Chess" any other subjects that are appropriate
for your BBS - see the sample form for my BBS below to get
some ideas.
Web[ - if you have a Web page that gives information about
your BBS, put the URL here, and DON'T forget the "http://"
bit. If you don't have a web page, leave it blank. DON'T
FORGET THE http:// BIT! Web browsers DO NOT recognise links
without it! DON'T FORGET THE http:// BIT! Web browsers DO
NOT recognise links without it! DON'T FORGET THE http://
BIT! Web browsers DO NOT recognise links without it! DON'T
FORGET THE http:// BIT! Web browsers DO NOT recognise links
without it! DON'T FORGET THE http:// BIT! Web browsers DO
NOT recognise links without it! DON'T FORGET THE http://
BIT! Web browsers DO NOT recognise links without it!
Other Info[ - Here you can put information about offline
readers available on your BBS, or online games, or the BBS
software you are using etc.
BBSNotes[ - This field can be 4-5 lines long. Use it to give a
brief description of your BBS. You can use it to express
the vision for the BBS, specialities that it has and so on.
Try to use key words in your description that can be picked
up in searches. This could be published in lists that could
help users to find BBSs that cater for their needs, or help
moderators to publicise their echoes etc.
SAMPLES
Here is a sample showing how I filled in the form for my BBSs -
this is how the forms are stored in the database.
=== Sample form begins ==================
Bulletin Board Systems BBS[*] Updated[ 8 May 1999 ]
BBSname[ Unisa Editorial ]
Dataphone[ (012) 429-8641 ]
Telnet[ ]
City[ Pretoria ] State or Province[ Gauteng ]
Country[ South Africa ]
Sysop[ Steve Hayes ]
E-mail[ haye...@yahoo.com ]
Web[ http://www.unisa.ac.za/dept/red/bbs.html ]
Networks[ FamilyNet Fidonet OCNet CCCNet
]
Featured Echoes[ GENEALOGY_EUR OC_ORTHODOX AIC_FMY PHILOS ]
Subjects[ Genealogy, Family History, Community Development]
Other Info[ Silver Xpress, QWK & Blue Wave mail packets ]
Keywords[ xn rsa wp language ]
BBSnotes[ A general purpose BBS run by the Editorial Department
of the University of South Africa. It is the FamilyNet and
CCCNet hub for Southern Africa. It has conferences for
professional editors and translators, and also specialises in
Christian theology and missiology, community development,
education and other topics of interest to churches, NGOs and
other non-profit organisations. It has several conferences on
local and family history.
=== Sample form ends =============
I hope that is clear enough.
Please return the forms by e-mail to:
Or just reply in the echo where you saw this posted
Steve Hayes
FamilyNet: 8:7903/10
Fidonet: 5:7106/20
E-mail: haye...@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/pretbbs.htm