Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!hellgate.utah.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!umn-d-ub!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: BBS software Message-ID: Date: 17 Mar 90 16:50:58 GMT References: <2467@ultb.isc.rit.edu> Lines: 66 [In article <2467@ultb.isc.rit.edu>, clf3678@ultb.isc.rit.edu (C.L. Freemesser) writes ... ] > I need some input concerning BBS software. The board I currently run > for my user group is running off of Forem ST. Today was the breaking > point. Forem has been giving me untold grief, and I'd like new > software. However, very few ST boards run around here, and the ones > that do/did ran Forem. Ergo, I have no experience with other software. > > Would those who call BBS systems PLEASE let me know what you think of > the software? I've been looking over Michtron 3.0, and it looks nice. > However, I have yet to call a board running it. If there are any other > SysOps out there running non-Forem boards, what do YOU think of the > software? Is it easy to use and flexible (unlike Forem, on both > accounts). Michtron has a very slick GEM sysop interface that can function while the BBS is interacting with a caller. The caller interface is determined by the sysop -- it's very flexible, and the BBS actually interprets a program written in Michtron's own command language. This is both good and bad. It lets you modify it at whim, but it also lets you screw it up. :-) BBS preferences are like text editor preferences -- often the subject of neoreligious wars. Personally, I'm not a fan of either Michtron or FoReM. I prefer Citadel, which is much easier and faster to use BUT is radically different from most menu-bound BBSes, and therefore confusing to people whose expectations interfere with their perceptions. The Minnesota Atari ST user group (MAST) runs the ST version of Citadel, as does the Buffalo, NY, user group. The ST version of Citadel is called STadel. STadel's forte is message networking. There are Citadel systems throughout North America that are interconnected through their own store-and-forward network, plus BIX (the Byte Magazine system). STadel also supports UUCP mail and Usenet newsgroups, such as this one. I used to run a BBS; currently I run a UUCP system and have MAST forward a couple of the Citadel discussions to me in Usenet news format. STadel is not particularly sysop-configurable -- there are options, but you can't replace the basic (and very sound) structure of the BBS. Users, however, can choose varying user interfaces. And you can install external "door" programs, such as games, questionnaires, bizarre download protocols, etc. (I don't think that is possible with Michtron). The Citadel model is based on "rooms". Each discussion room also can be made a download room -- you don't have to go to a separate "download area". The rooms are named, not numbered. I think the software supports up to 56 rooms. If you choose to allow them to do so, users can create rooms quite easily. Rooms can be made private and any list of users can be invited into any private room. STadel has one more advantage: It's shareware, which means you can try it for free and pay only if/when you can figure out where the author lives this month. :-) The MAST BBS can be contacted at 612-472-6582; the BRASS BBS is 716-692-3843. I think both are "closed" systems; after you connect, type "M" for mail and "E" for enter, then leave a msg for the sysop including your name and a password. -- Steve Yelvington at the lake in Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org