AH> I feel like one of the main purposes of a BBS is the exchange of messages,   
    AH> and I've always felt like so many packages just get that fundamental   
    AH> aspect wrong, mainly with a poorly designed browsing/reading/writing   
    AH> interface.   
      
   When I got back into BBSing in 2007, I decided on running Synchronet for my BBS   
   software.  When I started reading messages with it, I was surprised at   
   Synchronet's message reader interface - Namely, that it seemed to want you to   
   read through every single message in a message area.  When you start reading   
   messages, it drops you right into your first unread message, and then you can   
   go    
   "next" through each message.  I used BBSes quite a bit in the 90s, though I   
   don't    
   remember if most BBS packages worked like that; however, Synchronet's reader   
   interface seemed odd to me.  I tend to like to see a list of messages and   
   choose    
   which ones I want to read based on the subject (although I do know that message   
   threads tend to drift off the subject after a while).  I ended up making my own   
   message lister/reader mod for Synchronet where I could bring up a list of   
   messages and choose the ones I want to read, rather than being (pretty much)   
   forced to read through every single one.   
      
   Eric   
   --- SBBSecho 2.32-Win32   
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)