Well due to Internet monitoring and governments censoring communication, I   
   think BBSes like Fax Machines are a technology they cannot control.   
      
   Everyone got forced into Internet usage and forgot about Arpanet the Internet   
   came from was developed in part by governments. It was designed to be a way of   
   communication after a nuclear war or some other disaster. It had much better   
   commercial uses and became the Internet. BBSes had to die because governments   
   could not control or censor them. So they made the Internet as cheap as   
   possible to access to shut out the BBS systems.   
      
   But the mistake they made was that some BBS systems still existed and they   
   converted to Telnet access and other Internet protocols. Netmail may be a more   
   secure method to send an email that Internet email. It may be better to use   
   Fidonet or Dove-Net than to use the Internet.   
      
   If I had the money I'd buy a new modem and get a second phone line for dial-up   
   for my BBS. I could have people using it for free to get access to the Netmail   
   and other parts of the Internet. I want to connect to other 314/636/618 area   
   code BBS systems. We used to have a list of them, but I am not sure how many   
   are left. Some people still use the old systems with MODEMS and are looking   
   for BBS systems to dial into.   
      
   I just finished installing my BBS here, but I have even more work to do on it.   
   It is Linux based, Ubuntu 11.10 and I just got it on Dove-Net and will figure   
   out how to put it on Fidonet next and then maybe use DOSEMU for DOS based BBS   
   Games.   
      
   But yeah, the BBS scene and technology is an alternative to the Internet and   
   it is always good to have alternatives. The documentation for configuring   
   Scynchonet for example is not user friendly and not always easy to find. They   
   talk about libraries to use but don't go into detail how to install them or   
   even configure them. Try to add in more user friendly detail to the Wiki, and   
   someone removes it and then makes it more cryptic and tries to make the   
   document as short as possible. If you have a HOWTO guide you need details of   
   steps to take and then make it user friendly so even a novice can set up a BBS   
   and get going. But sadly we don't have that yet. It is what scares everyone   
   away from BBSes and Linux and alternative technology, the lack of user   
   friendliness in the HOWTO guides, getting angry at novices/noobs who don't   
   read the documentation (well they cannot find it or it is too cryptic for them   
   to read), and of course being different from the WWW and Windows means there   
   is a learning curve for them.   
      
   ---   
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