> -=> Fireball wrote to Fred Smith <=-   
    >    
    >    
    >  Fi> I was thinking a newslink kind of setup, no rex involved. They have a   
    >  Fi> big no sharing policy... No web-based access of any kind. I may try it   
    >  Fi> anyway. What's the worse they can do? Ban me? lol   
    >    
    > That's probably just end-user licensing.  Basically, if someone could spend   
    > a small amount, then gate to a large audience, it basically   
    > end-runs their business model.   
    >    
      
   I can understand the business side of things, but why make it so hard? These   
   days, I can't imagine there's a lot of traffic there, other than binaries   
   (legal and otherwise). What if my girlfriend wanted to use it? By their   
   agreement, I'd have to pay for a second account. It's like the cable company   
   coming in and saying each person in a house has to have their own account in   
   order to view their programming. That's essentially what the Usenet companies   
   are doing.   
      
    > As far as "no web-based access of any kind", that sounds more like   
    > Fidonet (or at least, how Zone 2 would like it to be).  I'm not going   
    > to go into THAT here...lol.   
    >    
      
   I haven't been involved in Fidonet in a very long time, so I'm not privy to   
   the goings on there. I've thought about rejoining, but I have very little   
   experience with BinkD. Internet Rex doesn't work as well on Linux from what I   
   have read, so I'd pretty much be stuck with BinkD.   
      
    >  Fi> WTF? When did usenet become a tightly controlled commodity? I remember   
    >  Fi> when it was free for all... But then, most usenet was run by colleges   
    >  Fi> and universities back then... I may just start my own usenet/nntp   
    >  Fi> style network and say screw the big guys.   
    >    
    > The network itself is very open.  You just have to find the right feed   
    > for your uses.   
    >    
    > Have you tried bbses.info?   
    >    
      
   I found a service that might be it. I emailed them and they pretty much said I   
   could get a full text news feed (client style a la newslink) for $10/year and   
   it would be fine to use on my bbs, since it'd be a small feed. It's at   
   http://www.glorb.com/   
      
   -=Fireball=-   
      
   ---   
    þ Synchronet þ Fireball Express!!! BBS - http://fireballex.com    
   elnet://fireballex.com   
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:340/400)