Hello Nigel,
NR> Huh, I thought this was a sysop only group. If it's not, my bad. Maybe
NR> explains the dwindling node numbers then.
Over the past 20 years or more we have regurgitated that subject over and over
again.
The dwindling numbers are explained by technology leaps, the non-plug-and-play
of things ... An absolute moron can pick-up a device in a store and be on-line
in minutes yelling and insulting people. In Fidonet it's different ... you need
a certain level of IT-knowledge in order to participate and hence our yelling
here and our insults are of a different category than mainstay-internet.
We also know about the participants, it's not that anonymous. For example we
know that Dan Clough has nothing to say, therefor no-one is really worried when
he opens his mouth and out comes that gibberish that can be interpreted any
which way one wants.
But we also sometimes care about people ... when I don't see Janis posting I've
got the urge to find out if something's wrong on her side ... A while ago Sean
Dennis announced his departure. In the meantime nothing was heard anymore from
him while his system continues autoposts... Is he alright? Nobody seems to have
an answer ...
You don't have that on the internet ... even the Russian propaganda in Fidonet
about the Ukrainian war is totally unconvincing (true, outside Fidonet it's just
the same).
The Fidonet numbers have dwindled because the developers of old, the technology
guru's, the people that developed the technology have gone to different, more
attractive pastures ... Bob Hartman (Binkley) was scooped-up by Micro$oft for
example, I don't know what Randy Bush is doing and Tom Jennings is cleaning
toilets somewhere in California.
We all are "us" and there's not just a single reason or single person's fault
that the numbers went down. They just did and there's nothing we can do about
it.
The sexyness of Fidonet has gone, some people still try to do interesting things
... D'Bridge (of course), WinPoint, Binkd (without it, Fidonet would already be
dead), Mystic, Aftershock, Rob Swindell, ...
OK, we are down 97.5% from around 1995 ... just saying that if yelling and bad
words would be a contributing factor the light would have been switched-off a
long time ago ...
Well, in the end there's always Gert ... of course.
\%/@rd
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* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)
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