In todays cyberspace oriented world, the local dial-up BBS is no
longer the novelty or cool thing it once was as the Internet has
taken over and usurped that novelty away. Computing has gone
from a hunt and peck interface to a point and click interface.
What worked yesterday wont work today and certainly wont work
tomorrow.. For many of us our BBS systems have gone from the
typical format of offering files, international messaging and
online games to only being a shell for online games as message
and file base usage has been neglible and our caller ranks have
fallen, we have become the horse and buggy of cyberspace.
Depending On where you live your BBS usage profile may not be the
same as what has befallen most of the dial-up BBS world, but the
conclusion remains the same, things have changed and they are not
the same as they once were.
The tips that follow are put forth from the viewpoints,
experiences and opinions of this author and are not to be
construed as criticism or foolproof... [USERS]
There was once a time when we all had all the callers we could
stand and that it was common practice to pack out our users file
to purge out those callers whom might have failed to call within
a set period of time.. Well Caller ranks have dropped and it we
can no longer afford this practice, some of us never did so,
while some of us did? TIP:
Increase the time period criteria or dont pack user file based on
a time period. [ACCESS]
Just like on the Internet, when we access a page to find a
particular link, we tend to not go there again if we had to
follow a whole bunch of links to get there or enter a whole slew
of info to access it. The same could be said for DIAL-UP BBS
systems, the harder we make it to access for new callers the less
likely they will want to access our systems, word of mouth can
hurt. Making new callers feel like criminals doesnt help. TIP:
Eliminate the use of CALLBACK VERIFIERS, more often than not it
confuses the caller more than it insures the identity. Instead
carefully word a script questionnaire to grant them access, if
they fail the script questionnaire, you can give them a access
level that you can utilize for voice verification etc.
When presenting the system rules to a new caller, tell them what
is and is not allowed on the system, dont tell them what you will
do to them if they violate a rule. If they violate a rule you
can tell them at that time. Point is you want to make them feel
perfectly welcome to enter your system without having to duck
their head as they enter or feel paranoid to do so. Its the same
principle applied to how retail stores try to treat their
customers, you dont want to make the customer feel uneasy to
enter, so why make your prospective callers feel the same way?
Callers are not a dime a dozen like it used to be. While there
are troublemakers still out there, the Internet has gotten them,
while what few you could possibly attract can be filtered out
with a well editted JOKER.DAT file and once detected could be set
at bogus security level, so these tips are advocating running a
more open system... [INTERFACE & APPEARANCE]
How your board looks, how well maintained it appears and what you
offer or force callers to go through do affect who calls, if you
get any calls or how many calls? Sometimes bigger is not always
better, sometimes plain is better than fancy, quality is more
often than not better than quantity but faster will always be
better than slower.. :) TIP:
Dont put your callers through a gauntlet of screens, utilities
and such in order to access the main features of the system
(Files, Messages or Games) or even the main menu. Use the
bulletin menu to allow callers to optionnaly view who the last
few callers were or what the latest system statistics are? While
as sysops we think putting up a whole slew of welcome screens
makes our system look good, to the caller the screens mean
nothing to them after they have been viewed once even if they get
updated frequently. To them it seems like an eternity to wade
through as they make their way to the main menu even though it
make take seconds to do so... Let the caller voluntarily view
your info screens. Remember we all tend to avoid things that
seems to be a P.I.T.A. so the same logic applies to your BBS
layout, dont make your callers avoid your BBS!
Having said the above, you still need to give your system the
appearance of being maintained, you dont have to be neurotic in
maintaining your BBS, but if your callers are aware that you are
around watching it, they will know that you still care and are
making sure that things are up to date. Callers can sense when
they are on a well or poorly maintained BBS system, if things
always look the same is one sure fire way to give a poorly
maintained system away. Redraw your menus from time to time,
break in and chat with a caller every now and then, let your
callers know what you are doing to improve the system, get them
involved! [FILES]
File bases are definately a dieing breed, all the latest and
greatest is more and more being moved to and found on the
Internet, conversely the latest and greatest files are no longer
of file sizes easily downloadable within a callers daily limits
even at 28,800 - 33,600, conversely callers are seeing no reason
to upload anything new? TIP:
Many shareware authors have stopped programming and supporting
their wares while others have just stopped programming for DOS in
favor of the 32bit OS. Conversely a majority of your callers no
longer run under DOS! Tailor your file areas to keep up with the
times or eliminate them!! Do away with byte and file ratios and
if your capable let your CDROM drive take over responsibility for
a file base. Callers whom are interested in files can be
assigned a security level needed to grant them access time needed
to D/L... Another thought is to set aside a portion of the day
when you could use a DAILYLMT.DAT file configuration that gives
callers more time to download files that would fall outside of
the times when the majority of your callers would use for games
or messages? [MESSAGES]
Our ability to fullfill the cyber need for information and chit
chat has dwindled tremendously having been usurped by Internet
E-MAIL and newsgroups/ListServs. What we have to offer in
general is moderated message echoes with a fairly stable
structure as opposed to the free for all found on the Internet..
How well this translate to or for your system depends on how well
you use it, promote it and present it. TIP:
In a message network such as FIDONET, offer to your callers,
message echoes which deal with topics that can tap their
interests or curiousities. This might mean carrying message
echoes that deal with hot bed topics such as abortion, religion,
civil liberties, politics or if sports are big in your area there
are echoes dealing with the NBA, NFL and NHL.. What really would
help is carrying echoes that deal with computer software and
hardware issues that could benifit your callers such as the
Windows echoes, LAN or Novell echoes or The Hard Drive echo? The
Ultimate is to import all of the FIDONET echoes! *
(* NETMAIL ME AT ORIGIN BELOW FOR A QUICK EFFICIENT WAY TO DO SO *)
Dont force your callers to use the message base, it will turn
them off and they will only post rubish to meet the requirement.
Offer and promote offline mail doors and readers and extoll the
benifit of FIDONET message bases despite some failings versus the
Internet free for all newsgroups. [GAMES]
This aspect of our systems doesnt really need any bolstering, its
probably the one thing that keeps our boards active to any
degree? TIP:
Reset your games when needed, register those that become popular
and stop using the unregistered ones that dont. Lastly offer to
your callers a wide selection of games to choose from, there is
afterall more than just Legend Of The Red Dragon!
**Addendum**
These tips are exactly what they are, TIPS! Some might work,
some wont, I will post this tip file monthly in hope that someone
might be able to utilize? I will also welcome other tips and
append them to this file if anyone cares to throw one in.. :)
Ross Cassell
SysOp - The Dark Corner BBS
Voice - 864-582-1019
Data - 864-573-7069
Fido - 1:3652/1
Email - ross@ww-interlink.net or rcassell@bellsouth.net
