"TV SHOWS" by THE SHADOW on Nov. 16, 1990 at 18:00, about
DISCUSSION OF TELEVISION SHOWS (105 characters and 37 notes).
"PHILOSOPHY FOR AMATEURS" by MACBETH on April 13, 1990 at 10:08,
about TALKING ABOUT THINKING (187 characters and 97 notes).
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOTO" by PONDER on Jan. 2, 1992 at 14:34, about
AND I BET HE THOUGHT I FORGOT. (86 characters and 15 notes).
"ONLINE LOTTERY" by DEEDUB on Jan. 3, 1992 at 07:40, about
MULTIPLYING OUR CHANCES TO WIN THE LOTTERY (1238 characters and
62 notes).
"WHO SHOT KENNEDY" by MATT on Jan. 3, 1992 at 22:29, about THE
ASSASINATION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY; THOUGHTS, COMMENTS, QUESTIONS
AND THEORIES! (529 characters and 83 notes).
"THE ECONOMY" by LOU on Jan. 5, 1992 at 16:40, about THE ECONOMY,
AS IT AFFECTS US ALL. (167 characters and 49 notes).
"PUERTO RICO" by PACKER on Jan. 18, 1992 at 20:47, about PARA
DISCUTIR ASUNTOS PUERTORIQUENA (166 characters and 9 notes).
Systems using the bulletin board model rarely have conferences like "MEMORIES." In PARTI, one-note conferences are allowed to stay. In the bulletin board environment, they soon disappear. You can probably still join MEMORIES on the Point to add your own feelings or point-of-views. In larger PARTI conferences, the notes can be read like a book. Often, side discussions appear like 'branches' on a 'tree'. Join and read them, if you want to. Or just pass. The bulletin board systems (including CompuServe's forums) and PARTIcipate are at two extremes of the spectrum of conference systems. Toward the BBS model, there are systems like FidoNet Echo, RBBS-PC, and PortaCom. Toward the PARTI side, there are systems like Caucus.
Many companies set up bulletin board systems to provide technical support to customers. McAfee Associates, Inc. in California is one example. They offer technical information, help, upgrade software, list of agents, technical bulletins with lists of products, and new products through agents' support BBSes all over the world. For example, when in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago call the Opus Networx BBS at (819) 628-4023. Setting up a professional BBS is not very expensive. You can easily have 32 people online to the same conference simultaneously on a standard 80386-based PC, running Xenix and Caucus conferencing software. This is what the Washington Information Service Corp. in U.S.A. did. There's an abundance of software to choose from. Many companies rent private 'conference rooms' on commercial online services rather than doing it in-house. The advantage is easier access to an established multi-user system and user base. Microsoft, Toshiba, Quarterdeck, Digital Research, Tandy, Novell and hundreds of others rent public support forum space on CompuServe to keep in touch with customers all over the world. Others rent space on regional bulletin boards. Other corporate applications of such services include internal organizational development and communications, and coordination of projects. On Norwegian bulletin boards the main language is Norwegian. In France, expect French. Local systems usually depend on messages in the local language. Services catering to a larger geographical area often have a different policy. English is the most common language for international discussions. Spanish possibly number two. Example: TWICS in Japan is an English language system. Its Spanish language conference ESPANOL has participants from Japan, Mexico and Norway. On MetaNet (Arlington, U.S.A.) the conferences are divided into conference areas. One area was called The Salon. The welcome message said: 'All conferences and responses posted here may freely be ported to other conferencing systems'. MetaNet regularly 'ports' (exchanges) conference notes with systems in Europe, Asia and North America. Exchanging conferences have long traditions in the bulletin board world. To some, it is routine to call Thunderball Cave BBS in Oslo to discuss photography with people in California. New messages are exchanged daily across country boundaries. The global web of connections between computers enables us to discuss with people living in other parts of the world, as if they were living next door.
Things Take Time! ————————- How long does it take a message to get from Hyougo in Japan to Saltrod in Norway? Or to Dominique Christian in Paris? Sometimes, mail travels from mailbox service to mailbox service in seconds. That is usually the case with messages from my mailbox in Norway to KIDLINK's LISTSERV in North Dakota, U.S.A. Messages that must go through many gateways may take more time. How long it takes, depends on the degree of automation in the mail systems involved, and how these systems have been connected to the global matrix of networks. Speed is high if the computers are interconnected with fixed, high-capacity lines. This is not so for mail from Oslo to Dominique in Paris. His mail is routed through a system in London and is forwarded once per day through a dial-up connection. It usually takes at least one day to reach the destination.