What is the mission of Net267?
Net267 has been around since the beginnings of FidoNet and individual nets were first used. At one time Net 267 was a rather
large local group of individuals who participated in the oldest existing,
as well as first, non-commercial, non-governmental or institution based,
worldwide electronic messaging network in the world.
At one time FidoNet, around the globe, had over 30,000 participating FidoNet
BBS's each containing a userbase that could range anywhere from a group
of ten or twenty freinds, to over a hundred daily active users. When one
looks at these numbers, if the entire network were tallied, it can be seen
that since it was formed back in 1984, that a few million people have
graced the halls of Fido. These numbers are from not too long ago... it
was only until just a few short years ago that FidoNet was at it's peak.
Unfortunately, in the USA, FidoNet has been on a decline since the internet
really exploded, and the total number of systems worldwide have reduced in
half just because of the USA's decline... In Europe, FidoNet is thriving as
strong as it ever did, boasting over 15,000 systems there alone, and Russia
is on a rapid increase in system usage, meanwhile, there are only slightly
in excess of 1,500 surviving FidoNet systems in all of North America.
What does this have to do with our mission? Simple. Many have said that it is
the fault of the internet that FidoNet has declined. We at Net267 disagree.
We feel that it is a lack of knowledge on the part of the general public
here in the USA that such an electronic alternative even exists that has
caused the reduction in usage. It used to be that everyone knew what a BBS
was, and could discover FidoNet that way, however, since the great internet
explosion occured, a new generation has come of age, and all they have ever
known is the internet. Who's fault? FidoNet? No. FidoNet is a
non-commercial entity, and BBS's themsleves are run by hobbyists and provided
for free, so we can't compete with the mass media attention given to all
things web. Our services are provided for free, and we recieve no income
from any sort of advertising at all... when we say FREE, we mean FREE, with
no strings attached.
What our mission is, is to not only make available the services of FidoNet
within our assigned area, but to attempt to develop methods of letting
the people of the NY Capital and Andirondack regions know that we are here,
and how they can access us. With any success, we can use our area as an
example of how FidoNet and BBSing can be revived in other parts of North
America, and put us back in the game as large as Europe is now.
One way we hope to do this is by making FidoNet easier to join and recieve
than ever before. FidoNet is no longer restricted to Plain Old Telephone
Service (POTS) connections to circulate our distribution. We now use
internet based services such as automated FTP, and TransX encoded e-mail
attachments to deliver our packets... it has sped up distribution time
considerably, and made it unecessary for a person to have an additional
dedicated phone line to recieve FidoNet.
Traditionaly FidoNet was used to provide BBS content. This is no longer
one of those unwritten requirements. Many in FidoNet don't consider a
node a -true- node if they are not operating a BBS. We don't believe that
way. We will now allow full node status to anybody who wishes to have it.
even if they wish to recieve it only for their own personal consumption.
This can be done either by direct-dial polling, or by an internet
feed method, and the software, known as "point" software, is easy to set up
and use. We will be putting together a couple of distribution packages
for the different feed methods that will allow a person to be recieving
FidoNet very quickly indeed.
The most important part, aside from ease of access, is getting the word out.
We hope to gain the aid of some local computer clubs, local computer
publications, as well as local periodicals, in allowing us to run small ads
at little or no cost that will point people to this website, or provide a
voice contact number for information. We would also like to gain the
support of some public institutions such as local libraries and schools.
All we have right now, until this plan can be further developed, is people
like you, who have found this site and are interested, so go ahead and find
out all the information you need on joining us, and tell everyone you know
with a computer and modem to check us out as well.
We hope to see you in our nodelist soon!