BBS??? Weekly Chat??? Anybody up for it???

Hey, gang...


Well, the Avionics BBS over on Yahoo was a spectacular failure. We had five
posts in six months and we just let the board go away. There was a problem,
though, that even as the administrator I found getting TO the board to be a
royal pain in the tush.

However, I get 8-10 posts a week asking me to log onto one or another "type
club" BBS and answer an antenna question, an installation question, etc.. I
also notice about the same number of questions on this ng on these subjects.
The problem is that the same questions keep popping up on these type club boards
that could be answered ONCE if there were a central "avionics" board divvied up
into major and minor compartments. An antenna on an EZ works exactly the same
way that an antenna on a Velocity works, so why answer the same question ten
times when one would do?

How about it? Any interest in an avionics bbs sponsored by and on
www.rstengineering.com ? If I get ten "yep"s I'll go to the work of setting it
up and uploading the software.

BLATANT COMMERCIAL HUCKSTERISM FOLLOWS: (Donning my Jay Honeck suit of
asbestos) you understand that you will access the board through a click on a
commercial website that sells avionics if you do not bookmark a direct link to
the web board. You will not flame me for a regular suggestion that a question
in here might bear repeating on this web board, although I will post the direct
link to the board so you don't have to click through the RST home page. Them's
the rules, and if that isn't acceptable, then a "nope" is the correct answer to
the question. [undon]

And, we had a really neat Sunday morning kaffeklatch (sp?) chat when the
Cyberhangar was viable. An hour or so just spent chewing the fat. I'll be glad
to set up a regular weekly time/day chat room (open 24/7 for anybody) if you all
want it. If "yep" then indicate preferred time/day and prohibited time/day of
the week. I use the Starchat set of servers, and you can access them through a
straight java click, a java click from the Starchat.net website, or through any
normal IRC client (mIRC, pIRCh, etc.).

And, we are about to go DSL/broadband here, so the "chat room" may manifest
itself into a voice chat in a few months, if the typechat works out OK.

Jim



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Yelp! Sounds good Jim, but doesn't a chat (typing) require everybody
to sit down at the same time? I'm not sure I'm organized enough to do
that. Hope you also copy the transcripts to RAH for us slackers. :-)
MOO! (my opinion only.) Your idea of live voice sounds interesting.
I might be able to get to the screen on time for an avionics version
of "this old stack." Great name, huh?

How would you regulate it to keep out the trolls? Like a radio
talk-show hoast, just drop-off the lines from the nut-house?

BTW, the subtle advertizing from someone we know who constantly
contributes great advice to the group is not objectionable to me at
least. I maintain that usenet is still evolving and will change to
fit our needs/desires (but I may be in the minority here.)

Good Luck,

pac





Jim Weir wrote in message . ..
Hey, gang...


Well, the Avionics BBS over on Yahoo was a spectacular failure. We had five
posts in six months and we just let the board go away. There was a problem,
though, that even as the administrator I found getting TO the board to be a
royal pain in the tush.

However, I get 8-10 posts a week asking me to log onto one or another "type
club" BBS and answer an antenna question, an installation question, etc.. I
also notice about the same number of questions on this ng on these subjects.
The problem is that the same questions keep popping up on these type club boards
that could be answered ONCE if there were a central "avionics" board divvied up
into major and minor compartments. An antenna on an EZ works exactly the same
way that an antenna on a Velocity works, so why answer the same question ten
times when one would do?

How about it? Any interest in an avionics bbs sponsored by and on
www.rstengineering.com ? If I get ten "yep"s I'll go to the work of setting it
up and uploading the software.

BLATANT COMMERCIAL HUCKSTERISM FOLLOWS: (Donning my Jay Honeck suit of
asbestos) you understand that you will access the board through a click on a
commercial website that sells avionics if you do not bookmark a direct link to
the web board. You will not flame me for a regular suggestion that a question
in here might bear repeating on this web board, although I will post the direct
link to the board so you don't have to click through the RST home page. Them's
the rules, and if that isn't acceptable, then a "nope" is the correct answer to
the question. [undon]

And, we had a really neat Sunday morning kaffeklatch (sp?) chat when the
Cyberhangar was viable. An hour or so just spent chewing the fat. I'll be glad
to set up a regular weekly time/day chat room (open 24/7 for anybody) if you all
want it. If "yep" then indicate preferred time/day and prohibited time/day of
the week. I use the Starchat set of servers, and you can access them through a
straight java click, a java click from the Starchat.net website, or through any
normal IRC client (mIRC, pIRCh, etc.).

And, we are about to go DSL/broadband here, so the "chat room" may manifest
itself into a voice chat in a few months, if the typechat works out OK.

Jim



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

I'd be interested in the sunday chat if you want to start that up again.

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

In rec.aviation.owning Jim Weir wrote:
Hey, gang...
Well, the Avionics BBS over on Yahoo was a spectacular failure. We had five
posts in six months and we just let the board go away. There was a problem,
though, that even as the administrator I found getting TO the board to be a
royal pain in the tush.

I thought that the avionics yahoo group was a great idea, but I think that
the nature of that type of group would be bursty. I'd think you'd get
bursts of posts, followed by long durations of inactivity. But that's no
big deal. In addition, I've learned that you can't predict what yahoo
group is gonna be popular. One group I'm in, for College Park Airport, is
fairly active and has been a great asset for dealing with all the ADIZ/FRZ
stuff around DC. Another one (that I setup) for Freeway airport (near DC)
was a complete flop. I "force" signed up abou 70 people (from another
list of e-mail addresses), and I still couldn't get them to start using it
to discuss issues at the airport.

What was the problem getting to the list? Once you have a yahoo ID, all
you do is save the URL to the group, and sign in once you get there.
It's no big deal. Or you can use it like a listserv. It's not rocket
science, and I'd expect more from a fellow engineer


How about it? Any interest in an avionics bbs sponsored by and on
www.rstengineering.com ? If I get ten "yep"s I'll go to the work of setting it
up and uploading the software.

All you'd have to do is put a link to the Yahoo group on your web page. In
addition, you could put a small paragraph, explaining how to get a yahoo
ID, or how to use it as an e-mail listserv.

--- Jay


--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino/ ! ! !

Checkout http://www.oc-adolfos.com/
for the best Italian food in Ocean City, MD and...
Checkout http://www.brolow.com/ for authentic Blues music on Delmarva

Jim Weir wrote:

Hey, gang...


Well, the Avionics BBS over on Yahoo was a spectacular failure. We had five
posts in six months and we just let the board go away. There was a problem,
though, that even as the administrator I found getting TO the board to be a
royal pain in the tush.

From a useability standpoint, web-based discussion groups are
inherently inferior to Usenet with good client software. Add to that
Yahoo's banner and "read me first" ads and you've got a place that
many people don't like to go, including me.

However, I get 8-10 posts a week asking me to log onto one or another "type
club" BBS and answer an antenna question, an installation question, etc.. I
also notice about the same number of questions on this ng on these subjects.
The problem is that the same questions keep popping up on these type club boards
that could be answered ONCE if there were a central "avionics" board divvied up
into major and minor compartments. An antenna on an EZ works exactly the same
way that an antenna on a Velocity works, so why answer the same question ten
times when one would do?

Judging by other implementations I've seen, I expect that your BBS
would be cumbersome to navigate, difficult to search, and a general
PITA to use. If you manage prove me wrong I would be delighted.

Perhaps a rec.aviation.avionics Usenet newsgroup is a better idea.
Establishing a newsgroup in the rec hierarchy requires a proposal and
voting process. I believe that the need, the justification, and the
necessary votes are there if someone would champion the cause and push
it through. An added benefit of having the group in Usenet is that
Google would archive it.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

"David O" wrote in message
...
Jim Weir wrote:

Hey, gang...


Well, the Avionics BBS over on Yahoo was a spectacular failure. We had
five
posts in six months and we just let the board go away. There was a
problem,
though, that even as the administrator I found getting TO the board to be
a
royal pain in the tush.

From a useability standpoint, web-based discussion groups are
inherently inferior to Usenet with good client software. Add to that
Yahoo's banner and "read me first" ads and you've got a place that
many people don't like to go, including me.

However, I get 8-10 posts a week asking me to log onto one or another
"type
club" BBS and answer an antenna question, an installation question, etc..
I
also notice about the same number of questions on this ng on these
subjects.
The problem is that the same questions keep popping up on these type club
boards
that could be answered ONCE if there were a central "avionics" board
divvied up
into major and minor compartments. An antenna on an EZ works exactly the
same
way that an antenna on a Velocity works, so why answer the same question
ten
times when one would do?

Judging by other implementations I've seen, I expect that your BBS
would be cumbersome to navigate, difficult to search, and a general
PITA to use. If you manage prove me wrong I would be delighted.

Perhaps a rec.aviation.avionics Usenet newsgroup is a better idea.
Establishing a newsgroup in the rec hierarchy requires a proposal and
voting process. I believe that the need, the justification, and the
necessary votes are there if someone would champion the cause and push
it through. An added benefit of having the group in Usenet is that
Google would archive it.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

It might be good to have it be a moderated group -- with Jim as one of the
moderators.
This would probably make it low traffic -- but he'd be more likely to see
the submissions.

Tim Ward

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 11:02:56 -0800, Jim Weir wrote:

Hey, gang...

big snip

Have you had a chance to check out an INFOPOP (Ultimate Bulletin Board
Version 5.47d as listed on the bottom of the one I'm looking at now)
BBS? Don't know how much it costs, or how hard it is to set up
(definitely have nothing to do with the company), but I've bopped in
and out of a couple and they work slicker than snot.

Archive search engine works well also, can search by
forum/date/poster.

Regards;

TC