shawn@mit-eddie (Shawn F. Mckay) (01/19/90)
Howdy, Please excuse this if I am treading on old ground, but I have an interest in ways to search out and find what on-line resources are available in my community, as well as around the country/world. My question centers on actual location of these resources. I have seen the bbs lists posted in the past, but they are of limited use in this context because they only give access information, without a small summary, it's difficult to get any idea of what the board would be useful for to me. And with the number of boards, busy signals, disconnects, etc, researching the list could take months. I also notice in most bbs systems, they have news type databases but little else, (except in most cases, a small download area, with a usually random assortment of programs). I guess what I am really looking for is a listing that might be more comprehensive than is currently available, I am interested in BOTH bbs systems, and r/cpm systems, and r-unix(?) systems, and free (or reasonably priced) database resources, (library ties?), job info databases, whatever. If no generic pointer comes my way, eventually I will begin building such a resource for the net, but I would rather not re-invent the wheel if I can avoid it. Since if I build such a list, it will be all inclusive, (short of usenet/Internet listings), please just send what you have, and I'll begin the process. When I'm done, I'll post to the net. Thank You, -- Shawn
dave@oldcolo.UUCP (Dave Hughes) (01/30/90)
>I guess what I am really looking for is a listing that might be >more comprehensive than is currently available, I am interested >in BOTH bbs systems, and r/cpm systems, and r-unix(?) systems, and >free (or reasonably priced) database resources, (library ties?), >job info databases, whatever. > >If no generic pointer comes my way, eventually I will begin building >such a resource for the net, but I would rather not re-invent the >wheel if I can avoid it. Since if I build such a list, it will be >all inclusive, (short of usenet/Internet listings), please just >send what you have, and I'll begin the process. When I'm done, Good luck. But beware. For every summary you write about what one system offers, figure you will have to re-confirm (1)that the system is still online (2)that it still offers what you said it did a few months before and (3)it doesn't have some significant new twist to it (fees, access methods, rules) about every 90 days for every system you survey. The name of the game in the online public -access world is dynamic change, with the rate of change increasing the smaller - and often the most innovative - the system. If you are 66% accurate at any point in time on any list of, say, 100 systems, you are lucky. Which is why I dial into systems to see what they have (versus what they say they have, or what somebody else says they have) Lets see, there are about 20,000 bbs's out there now, changing completely at the rate of probably 50 a day....:-)