NFB Net goes linux!

[Darrell Shandrow]

Hi Ann,

Good deal then.  We can agree on these points, and, yes, shame on NFB for
just suddenly getting RID of the NFB Net BBS.  I know they have been
experiencing some technical issues lately with their DSL connection and
such, but as far as I am aware, those were not systems related issues.  But,
then, I could have been missing something...

I am not totally surprised that NFB didn't tap their membership to find
people who had lots of Linux experience to determine a way to keep all
services.  Oh, well, then again, maybe they did, but they tapped the wrong
people.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ann Parsons" <akp at eznet.net>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: NFB Net goes linux!


> Hi Darrell,
>
> That's very true, Darrell, but what I'm objecting to is that the
> original message in the thread stated that telnet and the BBS features
> of their system would no longer be available.  This, I felt was short
> changing some of their members, and I thought it was too bad.  I
> wanted the techies to be more knowledgeable so that their members
> wouldn't have to give up telnet or BBS access.
>
> <smile>  No, I wasn't suggesting that the end users start using Linux
> out of the box, not at all.  What I was hoping to see was some
> evidence that they wanted to keep things as accessible as possible and
> keep the change-over as seamless as possible, thereby not losing any
> of their members.  Apparently, losing membership access is not
> important.  I think that is a shame, especially when it is a consumer
> based organization.  the offhand "we're sorry if this inconveniences
> anyone..." is a callous and a noncaring way to treat people, any
> people, and especially those who count on that particular means of
> access.
>
> For some, it may be their only way to talk with others and to learn
> about the world outside their own surcomscribed lives.  I think that
> the techies who run the machines at that organization would be
> astonished at the kinds of people who access their services and if
> they knew more about their constituency, they might not take such a
> cavalier attitude toward scrapping the telnet and the bbs services.
>
> I don't access their services, but as a netizen of some years, and one
> familiar with online communities, I can safely say that this BBS,
> whatever it is, is an online community and there are probably members
> of that community who need it.  They may not be the vocal members,
> they are probably the lurkers in the background who come on, take part
> in the community and consider it to be their home.  There may be
> others for whom this online community makes the difference between
> sanity and not.
>
> One doesn't destroy a community thoughtlessly with a paragraph or two
> couched in pretty phrases, not unless an alternative is offered.
>
> that is why the topic came up.  That is why I started this discussion.
> That is why I wrote to the original poster of the forwarded msg to ask
> about SSH to ask about alternatives.  I repeat.  You can not destroy a
> community thoughtlessly.
>
> Ann P.
>
> sy>>>>> "Darrell" == Darrell Shandrow <nu7i at azboss.net> writes:
>
>     Darrell> Hi Ann, Keep in mind that Linux is actually not
>     Darrell> appropriate for most users, especially the command-line
>     Darrell> interface.  Most people want their technology to be
>     Darrell> simple to operate.  They're not interested in how the
>     Darrell> computer works or anything of that sort.  They just want
>     Darrell> to use it to get work done!
>
>
> --
> Ann K. Parsons
> email:  akp at eznet.net ICQ Number:  33006854
> WEB SITE:  http://home.eznet.net/~akp
> "All that is gold does not glitter.  Not all those who wander are lost."
JRRT
>
>
>
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