16 Dec 15 19:56, you wrote to me:
WV> about: "Added - MBSEBBS":
VC>>> We don't. It really should be killed off.
ml>> why? it is just an entry in the echolist...
WV> Are you serious? It confuses the hell out of people that use the echolist
WV> to find areas...
quite serious... the echolist only lists echotags and some info for that tag...
seeing an echotag listed would then lead one to look in their feeds' listings
of available echos... the echolist carries information that cannot be placed in
a (eg) backbone.na file... this is why the various backbones have always had
their NA files... if the echotag is listed in the NA then the area is available
from that backbone... if you are connected directly to a backbone system, you
should be able to areafix the area with no problem... if you are a hop or more
off the backbone, then the systems between you and the backbone need to forward
the requests for unknown areas upstream unless they already have the area...
either way, the area should be turned on and sent downstream...
it isn't the cleanest system in the world but it works for the most part... it
is rather sad that others didn't fully pick up on it in the past... then things
like fidoweb broke it completely because there's no central set of systems that
can generate a list of all the areas the fidoweb carries... that puts folks
back into the dark ages trying to hunt around and find a system that might
carry the area...
FWIW: IIRC and truth be told, the NA extension originally started out to
signify the North American backbone's listing... one for europe might have been
backbone.eu... australia's might have been backbone.au... the NO file came
about to hold echotags that were no longer carried on the NA backbone... the
lists didn't have to be called anything specific, though... other distribution
systems had their own but most followed the NA/NO extension... then some bbs
authors came up with the idea to allow operators to fully populate their bbs'
message area configs by importing the NA files... sometime around then is also
when operators started simply sending areafixes for "+*" or "+all" to turn on
all areas at their feed regardless if they or their users were interested in
them...
)\/(ark
"So let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've
killed all the bad guys, and when it's all perfect, and just and fair, and when
you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going to do
with the people like you? The trouble makers. How are you going to protect your
glorious revolution from the next one?" - The twelfth Doctor
... Marriage is a long tedious meal with dessert at the beginning.
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* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)
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