(g) I could probably yap along about Fidonet for a very long time. Hmmm.. the
basics -- it was a network of computers that did NOT connect in real time.
Users would dial into their local Fidonet BBS, answer messages (as with a
regular BBS) and then late at night (to save on phone rates), our BBS would
autodial the local coordinating BBS and dump messages. The huge dumpfile would
be transferred from the coordinating hub BBS to a statewide hub, and a sequence
of coordinated exchanges would take place.
These were threaded messages, about like today's Usenet (groups.google.com) only
with no spam. Adult threads/pornographic threads were available, but the sysop
had to be very careful with those (complaints would get you arrested.) The
individual BBS could accept those threads and put them into an area that
required membership dues and registration to access. In addition to chat, text
gaming and storytelling also took place.
It would take about 2 days for a message to travel from one point in the system
to anywhere else in the globe (yes, it was international.)
We sysops ate the phone costs for the most part. We also had a fund that we
paid into so that the poor sysops running the hubs would get some reimbursment
for the national/international calls.
About 1990, someone figured out how to dump messages to and from the Internet
servers, and we started getting Usenet feeds on the Fidonet. Fidonet went into
decline in the mid 1990s (as it got cheaper to get on Internet) and as far as I
know there are only a handfull of Fidonet BBSs left.
http://www.fidonet.org/
Uhm... what else did you want to know about?
Quoting Alan Sondheim <[log in to unmask]>:
> information, I'm very tired, I wanted to ask Mel - please, can you talk a
> bit about Fidonet?
-- Mel. White
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