************************************************************* STARK NAKED The Journal of Stark County Telecom Brought to you by: The Necropolis BBS (216)/966-8970 (3/12/2400 8N1 24 hrs) Running Renegade Beta Located in North Canton, Ohio Sept 20, 1992 : Volume #1, Issue #5 >> Now Serving Stark County & Summit County << ************************************************************* [ Mandatory Participation: Growing Trend or Ancient Relic? ] Just recently, Tim Stedman announced that his BBS, the Amiga Asylum, will begin enforcing a mandatory participation rule. Thus, the Amiga Asylum becomes the third local bulletin board to enforce such a rule. While many sysops feel that mandatory participation is a great idea, there are others who feel that it is not something that is necessary. This ideology is far from how things used to be: expressions like "post or roast" could be seen on just about every bulletin board. But today, many sysops don't like the idea of using BBS priveleges as an incentive to participate. Mandatory participation goes beyond the mere upload- download ratio. Mandatory participation often means the use of PCRs -- Post/Call Ratios. For every call, the user must post so many times or BBS rights will be taken away. Often, the BBS program will automatically do this for the sysop. Mandatory Participation Stances in Stark County ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Necropolis - A post/call ratio is in effect for online games. Long-time lurkers are deleted. Arrakis - Selective rights: if a user posts, he has access to the subs. If not, his access there is revoked. Amiga Asylum - New anti-lurker attitude. Rising Power - None. Canton Conn - None. Walkman's Ware - Unknown. The question that must arise is: do programs like these work? Does mandatory participation help out a bulletin board? The first few days after the Asylum began the mandatory participation rule, people who never posted began to post. Reports of success from the Necropolis have also supported the theory. It is the opinion of STARK NAKED that post-call ratios and mandatory participation is in the best interest of Stark County telecommunications. [ The Shareware Update: Continuing News on New Releases! ] STARK NAKED will attempt to offer readers current news on Shareware programs in each issue. PKWare ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PKZip v2.x will be out soon, according to Phil Katz. Remember that v2.01 and v2.2 are HACKS and you will not want to use them. PKWare has also signed a business agreement with ASi (a multi-platform development company out of Dayton) that will, among other things, allow PKWare Data Compression libraries to be ported to other computer platforms. In the plans right now are ports through Unix, MacIntosh, MVS, Amiga, and Ultrix. A rep from ASi hopes that PKWare/ASi will become an industry standard for data compression. TradeWars 2002 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Gary Martin is planning a release of TradeWars 2112 within the next two years. Current registered sysops will have to re-register. Little other information is available on TradeWars 2112. [ Bob Larson Comes to Akron: Necropolis Users Set to Go! ] Radio talk-show host and Christian fundamentalist, Bob Larson, is coming to the Akron Civic Center to speak on issues relating to occultism October 23. The Necropolis BBS, which is known for "Bob-bashing," is planning on organizing a Necropolis Caravan to see Bob speak. If interested in going, users should contact the Sorcerer, Elminster, or just leave sysop feedback on the Necropolis. Information will be posted publicly at the Necropolis BBS on the Theology Sub. [ Akron Sysop Organization Cancelled: Pegasus Goes Down ] The proposed Akron Area Sysop's Organization (AASO) was recently cancelled along with the Pegasus BBS, an Akron bulletin board running on Maximus. According to Dan Steill, the ex-sysop of Pegasus, the bulletin board had to be taken down because of personal reasons. With the the Pegasus BBS went the sysop group. Steill does think that a sysop organization would be helpful for all area sysops. An FBI agent was scheduled for the first meet to discuss pirated software and copyright laws. [ Random Scribblings: Various Notes from Various BBS'es ] ... Still no word on the future of Seraglio BBS. Attempts to contact the sysop have resulted in busy signals! Stay tuned to Stark Naked for further developments. ... Power Man's BBS (the name of which is unconfirmed) is allegedly going to be carrying the Boondock nets. In response, the Necropolis BBS will be dropping the Boondock nets in favor of an international network which has yet to be named. One echo that will be definitely pulled will be a Christian echo, which will balance the Pagan/New Age selection currently on-line. The Boondock/MSI/Wildnet nets are also being carried by the Confederate BBS and the Pentagon BBS. ... Several issues of Stark Naked were recently sighted on a bulletin board in South Carolina! The editors of Stark Naked would like to know who uploaded them there ... to thank them! Stark Naked has also been making rounds on packet radio boards! The message of Stark Naked (aside from the news of local events) is for freedom of telecommunication ... hopefully that message is being spread! ... A new conference at the Necropolis ... the Star Trek / Science Fiction conference has been put up not only for ST/TNG fans ... but also for political reasons. Apparently, after a small war on the USS Paramount BBS, the Sorcerer decided to put up a "conference that would teach the Paramount how to run a Star Trek theme." The conference features a Star Trek echo, Science Fiction echo, TradeWars 2002 Echo, as well as a number of sci-fi related files. The sysops of USS Paramount refused to comment. ... Several changes have occured at Stark's first commercial BBS ... Canton Communications. The most apparent is the addition of a high speed modem. Other changes include a more efficient logon method, addition of the Fred Fish library for Amiga, and the entire CD-Rom collection for IBM and Amiga. A new SIG, the Debate Sig, headed by Andy Curlutu, was also added. The high-speed modem line number is 478-0548. ... With the recent events in campaign politics, the Perot for President ECHO has been re-activated. The echo, which is part of the Searchlight net, was running in an effort to spread information about Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire whose name is now on the ballot of every state. ... In the next issue of STARK NAKED, we'll be taking an in-depth look at the world of x-rated BBS'ing! Features will include an update on Akron Anomoly (hopefully), a special section on Chat Sex, as well as legal implications of running an adult board. Also, a new feature that will hopefully be added to STARK NAKED is a New BBS Spotlight. If you know of a new bulletin board system in the Stark/Summit area, let us know and we'll do a feature article on them. The world needs more good boards! [ NEW BBS Software on the Market: Spec Sheet Available ] Synchronet Version 1a Features * Designed from the ground up as a reliable and feature rich multinode BBS * Up to 250 simultaneous nodes with multinode chat and online program support * Enhanced DESQview operation mode * Runs under DOS 3.0 or higher on any 80x86 compatible computer with 500k free RAM - BBS can shrink to 16k to execute external programs * Pay BBS features: Time credits, user expiration dates, credits, and 900/976 billing. * Interrupt driven COM I/O for the fastest through-put possible - even with multiple nodes per CPU via DOS multitasker * Any COM port configuration supported (one IRQ line per COM port) * Blazing fast even on a 10mhz XT * Familiar hotkey user interface with '?' activated menus at every prompt * The most advanced BBS security ever: Impenetrable to remote hackers, 100 security levels with 52 sysop configurable flags per user, Sysop can allow or disallow users to choose their own passwords, Sysop can force periodic password changes (uniqueness is also forced), External programs cannot access the command processor * QWK mail packet support built-in * Up to 10,000 message groups, up to 20,000 total message sub-boards with up to 5,000 messages per sub-board. * Up to 10,000 file libraries, up to 20,000 total file directories with up to 5,000 files per directory. * Extensive File Transfer Section: Up to 500 transfer protocols with optional DSZLOG support Batch uploads, downloads, and bidirectional file transfers Transfer credit system is completely configurable File viewing, extraction, and partial downloading of archives File descriptions can contain content rating and multidisk numberings Personal user to user(s) file transfers Optional batch download file flagging for user convenience Internal support for offline directories Multiple sysop file removal/move/edit search criteria Directories can be sorted by filename or date, ascending or descending Advanced extended descriptions Complete CDROM and other slow media support * Professional error handling and logging * Sysop inter-node control (remote or local): Interrupting - hang-up on any node Locking - only sysops can logon a locked node till lock is removed Rerunning - reexecutes BBS, reinitializing configuration, etc. * Inter-node message services: Current node status - user online, action, connect rate, and more, User activity - credited downloads, mail activity, logons, and logoffs, User communications - paging, one-line messages, and multinode chat * 48 Local macros and sysop function hotkeys * Real-time user database: Amazingly complete user edit function Remote changes to online-user data are immediately effective Disk image is always current for enhanced system fault tolerance Linked free-form data file for every user * Online, sysop configurable, chatting artificial intelligence engine * Up to 500 online external programs: Multiuser or single user programs Programs that use DOS I/O (don't use COM port directly) supported Multiple door file formats created Supports native WWIV color code expansion Free Software Development Kit (SDK) avaiable for program development * Multiple Events Logon and logoff events New user events Upload events (integrity testing, adding of comments, virii scan, etc.) Node and system daily events Timed event that supports forced exclusive execution * The most configurable BBS available today: Powerful object oriented menu driven configuration program All menus, text, and colors are sysop configurable without source code The use of aliases can be allowed or disallowed New User Questionaire is available and customizable Source code available for nearly unlimited customization (extra cost) To download the DEMO version of Synchronet (and purchasing information), call Vertrauen (Synchronet development site) at 714-529-9525 (2400bps) or 714-529-9547 (V.32bis/HST) +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ STARK NAKED :::: The Journal of Stark County Telecom Editor: The Sorcerer :::: Support BBS: The Necropolis BBS Published Periodically :::: (216) 966-8970 September 20, 1992 :::: Sysops interested in becoming a "If your sysop doesn't :::: Stark Naked Support BBS, please carry Stark Naked on :::: contact the Sorcerer. Users who a regular basis ... :::: are interested in reporting can find out why!" :::: also contact the Sorcerer. ::: Stark Naked appreciates _any_ feedback that readers might ::: have. Stark Naked also accepts any letters to the editor ::: concerning issues raised in Stark Naked. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+