I posted this earlier to pro.comp.apple2.bbs...

[dcgreen@pro-harold.cts.com (David Green)]

Take out the BBS parts of the message I would like to repost here, and it
will apply to many of the flame wars that break out here in comp.sys.apple2
from time to time. We all own and love some of the greatest computers ever
made, so we all must be pretty damn fine people. Let's get along.

dcg :>


CS-ID: #168.modeming/a2.bbs@pro-harold, 5284 chars
Date: 22 Jan 93 21:22:08 PST
From: dcgreen@pro-harold.cts.com (David Green)
Subject: Common Sense II (by AOL's former Thom Paine ;>)...
Newsgroups: pro.comp.apple2.bbs
Message-ID: <1993Jan22.212208.167@pro-harold.cts.com>
In-Reply-To: Shane M Zatezalo <szatezal@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Organization: The Harold Network -- An Alliance For Creative Communication

:::soapbox on:::

Shane M Zatezalo <szatezal@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> writes:

>> (Lance Taylor-Warren has made the same threat several times, but
>> continues to stick around).  I find it interesting, though, that Morgan
>> Davis has never made any such statement (that I know of, anyway).

I've been around the ProLine Network since July of '91, and I live 20 minutes
from Morgan. I've never seen him threaten to leave, but there have been times
when it's been obvious that it must often be tough for him to continue.


>Amazing... for all the work that TC Wilson and Morgan Davis put into
>their products, people are always trying to put one or the other
>up on the other one. Please.... let it be. Jeese... they both put out
>two fine products, to two slightly different markets (in my view, anyway),
>and they both work on it like race horses. Enough said?

There's never going to be any one BBS system that will be perfect for every
user. Our tastes are too broad and varied for one be-all-do-all system. We
_need_ every Apple II BBS builder we can get, and instead of wasting our
energies trying to put down other systems, we should be doing everything we
can to encourage any and all of the people who are sticking with Apple II
BBSs. We need every one of them. They are Apple II communication's greatest
natural treasures, and all of them, no matter how grumpy they get sometimes,
should be treated as priceless gems.


>I've always wondered this myself... my system runs on an Apple IIgs
>that I picked up for $150. That's not a bad price for a cpu that does the
>same thing day in and day out.

I've been pushing the idea of a ProLine (substitute your favorite networkable
Apple II BBS there) in every home for over a year now -- the Personal ProLine
concept. There are gazillions of tank-like Apple IIs scattered over the
world, and I think the perfect way to keep them all serving useful, worthy
lives would be to set them up as home communications centers. If everyone had
a ProLine (insert system of your choice), they'd each be able to have the
Internet arriving right on their desk. Some would run their system as a
full-scale BBS, while others would only turn theirs on to poll their
connection sites and while dealing with newsgroups and mail. Then they
would turn off the Personal ProLine and go back to playing games or word
processing. Most of them wouldn't ever have incoming calls.

In other words, quit fighting within the family. We should be doing all that
we can to stand together as Apple II owners (however, all who fall out of
the club means one more Apple II that we true believers can get our hands on
cheap and turn into a BBS -- I have four now, and I'm toying with the concept
of trying to trade and sell them as communication stations, complete with BBS
software). No matter what your system is, work with the rest of us to better
Apple II BBSing. I don't hate the Metal people. I've never even seen a Metal
board. If they are great, I'm glad, because that will push Morgan to give me
new things for my ProLines (I also own Pro-Sancho, which is in the process of
moving to Sedro Woolley, Washington, where it is going to get one of my
ex-girlfriends hooked on sysoping ;>).

In short, pick the system you like best and do everything you can to help
make it better. I have zero programming abilities, so I concentrate on ease
of use. I spend hours upon hours tinkering with my menus, trying to make
Pro-Harold the most easy-to-fly ProLine there is. Every time I come up with
an idea that I think is pretty good, I post my plush.m file to the other
sysops, with the hope they will find merit in my ideas and will use some
of them on their own systems. I work hard to stretch the envelope (as old
flyers used to say), and I often succeed (he says humbly ;>), so ProLine
menus are getting smoother and smoother, and faster and faster. There's
nothing that pleases me more than to visit another ProLine for the first
time and find it looks a lot like mine. And generally everytime that happens,
I also find something that the sysop has done to take my ideas another step.
Then I come back to Pro-Harold and try to go yet another step farther.

Challenge each other, but do it as Apple II brothers and sisters. The more
good Apple II systems there are, the better it is for all of us. We've had so
many problems with even this little group of 40-50 Apple II users, because we
don't connect well enough yet. When we can set this up as one big newsgroup,
rather than part group, part mailing list, we'll no longer have the
bounce-backs we keep seeing. We'll be harmonious, and harmony can be
mighty pleasant stuff.

Most (or is it "all"?) of us are Apple II sysops. Let's make Apple II BBSs
the best damn personal communications systems there are.

:::soapbox off:::

David :>

(aka The Plushmeister -- whose latest plush.m kicks butt ;>)

===========================================
David Green      dcgreen@pro-harold.cts.com
-------------------------------------------
     System Operator of Pro-Harold BBS
   "Moral Support For Intelligent Sorts"
===========================================