Posted by Alex on 02/03/06 21:33

Hi Dave,

I'm working on a more detailed paper on this to see if it's feasible,
and for the most part it'll parallel the Fidonet protocols but be
rewritten to handle so much other stuff. Here's my idea:

There's regions like Fidonet with each region behing divided into Nets
and each Net has its Nodes, which are the Websites (like BBSes in olden
days). The core item would be something like a Master Index (that's
what I'm calling it for now) and this Master Index will have Sub
Indexes, like Mail Index, File Index, News Index, Webmaster Notice
Index, User Index, etc. Each of these will carry specific information
that either partly or as a hole be incorporated into someone's website.
Oh, each Master Index is a specific topic, like Linux Security, Home
Repair, C++ Programming, OSX, etc. If someone wants to setup a
Mac-related website they could subscribe to all the Mac-related Master
Indexes and BOOM, they have content.

For example, for the OSX Master Index, the Message Index would hold
messages bouncing between websites like echos bouncing between BBSes.
A plugin could be written to incorporate these into PhpBB or other
popular BB apps. File Index would contain files that could be shared
on the website for any visitors. News Index is just that, news that
could be thrown up on the main page or on a subpage, Webmaster Notice
Index is messages to the Webmaster about the Index, maybe updates,
coming soon, etc. Stuff not for users but for the Webmaster. User
Index could be permissions to be built into the Message Index, so maybe
some message indexes are read only while others allow folks to post.

In addition to these, there'd be an Upload Index containing all the
info from the Website, whether files uploaded, new messages, etc.

Again, like Fidonet on the BBS each Region would have a Region
Coordinator and each Network have a Net Coordinator. At either the
region level or Net Level there could be a system offering the Nodes
their feed, so it's something that would need some pre-authorization to
get access too, and depending on what the Coordinators choose as rules
would dictate what happens. As for who is in control of each Master
Index, I'd say any node could setup their own Master Index on any topic
then send a note to their NC to throw it out to the other Coordinators
for approval. If approved it goes live and they manage the security.

With this there's certain checks and balances to prevent such a network
from turning into another Usenet, and also the community that BBses
once had would once again be back. You could have Master Indexes
specific to certain Nets or Regions to talk about local events.

Software wise there'd need to be some major work. There'd need to be
software for the server component to offer-up Master Index updates plus
clients to downloa the updates, sync to their website, and upload
content back. Also there'd need to be some security built into the mix
plus security to limit say file sizes and such. If someone only has
100 Megs of disk space for their website they might want to not
download huge files from the File Index.

I need to read through the Fidonet standards since it worked so well
and see how this could be transposed to the Internet. And what's cool
is something like this could be bridged to old-school BBSes which would
make all this great content available in so many ways. i know
Synchronet has some great software creating a web form from the
Synchronet message forums, but I'd be looking at it from the other way.
Keep everything in XML or some other standard format htats easily
portable and go from there.

Once such software is written it could be used for multiple networks,
but I invision something like Fidonet that's a standard for many
websites. In the BBS days having a Fidonet Node number was almost a
badge of coolness, so it'd be neat if this evolved into that too.

What's the advantage??? Well folks could setup a website related to a
specific topic and not only offer their own content but also content
from many others. Just like BBSes where you could call multiple BBSes
and get your mail, you could visit multiple websites to check your mail
too. If one website is butt move on to another. There'll be a reason
for folks to create kick ass sites again, and with the Net and Region
coordinators help to keep it moving in the right direction it won't
turn to ass like hte Newsgroups have. Also with some type of
validation you won't have fly by night sites popping up and dropping
off. Also for such things as podcasting, if someone has the bandwidth
they can host some files to distribute the podcast more easily.

Anyway, just an idea ... It seems like a win-win situation, but it'll
take work to get moving. Unfortunately I haven't programmed anything
other then basic web PHP in years, but this might be the project that
prompts me to jump back in.

Comments please ---

Sam

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