 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Eddies in the Ether Dave Mitchell |
 |
Major Panic! I just looked at the closing date for this issue and it's tomorrow! Well obviously I made it but not without some scratching around for interesting stuff that's been making the rounds. Normally I make hard copies of interesting messages and major threads but I have been a bit slack of recent date so this month I'll be shooting from the hip.
BBSs and Porn
Regular users of bulletin boards other than the Melb PC BBS would have seen or know about the availability of graphics files, both animated and still, depicting what is generally termed pornography. Recently in Queensland and New South Wales a number of very negative articles have been written in mainstream newspapers condemning both the general availability of these files and the "fact" that they are openly available to children.
Apparently the Governments of these two states are considering legislation to restrict or ban this type of file and charge sysops who carry them on their boards. As you may imagine this has generated a good deal of discussion on many Australia-wide chat echoes, with many sysops contributing.
This is a particular hobby horse of mine so before I go any further I might warn you that the next few lines are going to contain some fairly opinionated views.
First let me state that the our BBS does not carry this type of material and probably never will. This is probably because this type of thing does not fit the "image" of the club as a whole and, with the availability of this material elsewhere, Melb PC's BBS has no need to carry it. I personally agree with this on both counts.
However, there are other BBSs in which this type of material does not detract from the general "image" of the board and, in fact, there are some boards where this type of thing is the main theme. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with this. Like many other things in life, if you don't like it you don't have to look at it. I find Governments legislating against something like this to protect me from myself to be personally insulting.
Let's have a look at the "fact" that this sort of material is openly available to children. In my experience no sysop has ever allowed me access to these areas without verification of my age in one form or another. In the discussions I have seen regarding this subject this rule of no access before verification seems to be a very general one and policed to the best of the sysop's ability. One other thing, the great majority of this material is no worse than that available in The Picture or People magazines both of which are on open display on most newsstands and may be purchased by anybody.
I suppose the main thrust of this is that it should be the right of every individual adult to see and read that which he/she wishes to. To me the mentality of the "thought police" in saving us from our own seemingly unstoppable base urges is incomprehensible. The ongoing problem is where will they stop? If, ten years down the track, I call Colin a "blithering idiot" will that be classed as a crime?
Sorry about that but it is important, in my opinion. If anyone wants to discuss this further feel free to leave me a message on the BBS.
Of Dogs, Cats and Lawyers
I am, apparently, the one and only defender of man's best friend amongst the resident loonies inhabiting the general message area of our BBS - as such I have been the butt of many and varied diatribes from the resident cat aficionados. Particularly vehement have been Ron Taylor and Bob Thomas, who have repeatedly questioned my, undoubtedly superior, judgment many times. This has, of course, resulted in me explaining in the simplest way possible where they are misguided. The insults and accusations flow thick and fast with no sign of abating. It's the most fun I've had in weeks.
Fortunately both Ron and Bob have shown some abatement in failing reasoning powers when the subject of our friends (?) in the legal profession has raised its head. Spurred on by our resident QC Colin Lovitt and his various incarnations, i.e. Claude Balls and Rumpole, such comments as...
Q. What do lawyers use for birth control?
A. Their personalities!
have been abounding. Some rotten individual (me) even put up a spurious list of Victorian regulations governing the hunting of lawyers. Naturally Colin gives as good as he gets, or at least his clones do.
One thing about this type of banter is that it may be misconstrued by a new user as being for real. Believe me it is not, so feel free to jump in on one side or the other (or both if you're really game) and fire away!
Internet
In last month's PC Update there was a registration form for entry into the club's connection to the Internet. I thought I'd give you my impression of it from the perception of one who had never used it until testbox was first set up for trial.
First, if you need a menu driven interface like our BBS, forget it. The Internet interface is a command line like DOS, actually I'm reliably informed that it's more like a UNIX command line but it's a command line nevertheless. That being the case, there aren't a lot of visual clues as to what you should do next.
Internet tip 1. When in doubt type ? and you will be given all the command choices for the area you are in.
Internet tip 2. Turn on your capture log in your comms program (Alt+L with Telix and Terminate) so that later you can make a hard copy of these commands.
Like a standard BBS there are files available and message areas for perusal. I didn't look too much at the files, but I did have a good wander through the message areas. The first thing you'll notice is the large range of topics. Even on testbox, which has only a limited selection, there are 500 or so areas. I'm told that when the full connection is made there will be over 2000! You can choose to join whichever of these you wish but I believe initially you are joined to all of them.
All of the action, such as reading and answering mail, happens while you are online. Ash is checking to see if there is a compatible offline reader and mail packer around but currently you have to do it all online.
The bottom line, and this is my opinion only, is that while it is very interesting and diverse I'm quite happy with Fidonet and our normal BBS. However I doubt that those of you who decide to part with your readies will be disappointed with the experience.
Lurkers
It's been a topic of discussion both face to face and on the BBS, particularly with Tessa Melland (she of the bug-infested A: drive), as to the seeming proliferation of lurkers out there. What's a lurker? A lurker is an individual who loggeth on and readeth the mail but writeth not.
According to our esteemed sysop, Barry McMenomy, about 1500-2000 people log onto the board each month. That being the case there is obviously a heck of a lot of lurkers out there!
Now a lot of these people may be getting the more technical areas of the message board only for their enlightenment but it has been rightly said that communication is the life blood of a BBS and communication is of necessity a twoway affair. As Charles Wright stated in the November issue of PC Update the social aspect of the club is as important as the more technical side and it is the social side of the club that the general chat areas of the BBS is there to promote.
So next time you log onto the BBS, either tag the general local chat area for download or have a look online. Enter a "Hi, this is me" message - we don't bite (alright Colin and I do bite but not new people generally) and I'm sure everyone will welcome you as a new friend and fellow member.
Mmmmm, I just reread all that. Wasn't bad for someone letting their brains flap in overdrive. I promise I'll be better organized next month (maybe).
Here's the tagline. Unzip! Expand! Explode! ....... What pervert wrote this?!
Reprinted from the March 1994 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
