BBS Protocol and Etiquette

This is a long text message but very informative.
We suggest you log/copy/save it to your disk for reading and reference.

INTRODUCTION
The following are a few pointers of general BBS etiquette.  If you wish to maintain your welcome on whatever system you happen to call, it would be to your advantage to observe these few rules.

ENTERING THE BBS WORLD
When you are on a BBS, you are a guest-sometimes literally in someone else's house.  Conduct yourself as such, and you should have no problems with the sysop or other users. Follow the rules. 
A person or club who sets up a BBS has invested considerable time and money, and has a right to expect others to conduct themselves properlyÑbesides which, you can be locked out of a system for being obnoxious; BBSs are not public utilities, and there's no law that says you have to be allowed access.  If you're obnoxious enough, word will get around and you'll find yourself locked out of most of the boards in your area!

SIGN OFF
Don't habitually hang up on a system. Every Sysop is aware that accidental disconnections happen once in a while but we do tend to get annoyed with people who hang up every single time they call because they are either too lazy to terminate properly or they labour under the mistaken assumption that the 10 seconds they save online is going to significantly alter their phone bill. Look for a command like "Goodbye", "Sign Off", or "Log Off".  Hanging up abruptly-except when there's trouble online-is a sign of laziness, and can so confuse some systems that they will be unable to answer the phone for several minutes. "Call Waiting" is not an acceptable excuse for long.  If you have it and intend to use the line to call BBS systems, you should either have it disconnected or find some other way to circumvent it.

DOWNLOADING vs UPLOADING
Users who do nothing but download are not regarded in a positive light by sysops.  BBSs are something of a community effort where the contents of databases are concerned, and each user is expected to contribute files on occasion (even on systems that have no download/upload ratio).  Besides which, most sysops feel that users who do nothing but download programs and sign off are taking advantage of them.  Keep an eye out for really new programs and when you download it, immediately sign on to another board and upload the file there (if someone hasn't beaten you to it-you should not upload files that are already online, even if the system will permit it). When you upload a program, make sure you provide the proper file name, and think out the description you're going to hang on beforehand.

MESSAGES
Don't leave messages designed to incite online riot.  A good debate is fine. Also, don't do dumb things like leave yourself a message that says "Just testing to see if this thing works". Where do you think all those other messages came from if it didn't work? Also, don't leave whiney messages that that say "Please leave me a message". If ever there was a person to ignore, it's the one who begs someone to leave him a message. 

If you want to get messages, start by reading the ones that are already online and getting involved in the conversations that exist.  It's better to leave an intelligent question about something you really want to know, or make a valid comment on a message thread.  Try to format your messages to be readable and take up as little space as possible (i.e. don't leave lots of blank lines). 

BBS's have finite storage space (typically, 10 to 100 megabytes, compared with gigabytes available to online services), and anything you can do to save storage space is to your benifit, in the long run.  Likewise with your private E-mail (if the BBS has such an option). Delete your old mail just as soon as it is no-longer needed.  Avoid foul language and insults. 

Most BBS's don't encourage four-letter words, because it is difficult to know when young people will be calling in.  An occasional "hell" or "damn" might be acceptable, but read a number of messages on a bulletin board to get an idea of the climate.  Disputes between users are likewise frowned upon by most sysops, so try not to insult others, and avoid starting or being drawn into online fudes.  Spirited debates are fine, but you should stop far short of attempting to insult or embarrass others.

PAGING AND CHATTING
Don't use the local equivalent of a chat command unless you really have some clear cut notion of what you want to say and why.  Don't bug a sysop with questions until you've had a good look at the system.  Most systems are self-explanatory (menu-driven), and you'll probably find an online manual if not an online help system. 

The sysop has more important things to do than give you a personalized tutorial on his/her system.  Almost any sysop is more than happy to answer questions or offer help concerning his/her system.  

Unfortunately, because about 85% of the people who call want to BS and about 99% of those people have absolutely nothing to say besides "How old are you?" or something equally irrelevant, fewer sysops even bother answering their pagers every day.

COMMENTS AND QUOTES
If you have a question or statement to make and expect the sysop to respond to it, it should always be made in a section where all the other messages are kept (i.e. Local Dicussion). This allows the sysop to help many people with the same problem with the least amount of effort on his/her part.

PSEUDONYMS
Before you log on with your favorite pseudonym, make sure that handles are allowed.  Please do not use handles on Highlander BBS.  There is not enough room for them, they get silly games of one-upmanship started, it is much nicer to deal with a person on a personal basis, and last but not least, everyone should be willing to take full responsibility for his/her actions or comments instead of slinging mud from behind a phony name.

REGISTERING
Take the time to logon/register properly.  

RUDENESS
Don't go out of your way to make rude observations like "Gee, this system is slow".  Every BBS is a tradeoff of features.  You can generally assume that if someone is running a particular brand of software, that he/she is either happy with it or he'll/she'll decide to find another system he/she likes better.  It does nobody any good when you make comments about something that you perceive to be a flaw when it is running the way the sysop wants it to.  Constructive criticism is somewhat more welcome.  If you have an alternative method that seems to make good sense then run it up the flagpole.

PUBLIC vs PRIVATE MESSAGES
When leaving messages, stop and ask yourself whether it is necessary to make it private. Unless there is some particular reason that everyone shouldn't know what you're saying, don't make it private.  We don't call them PUBLIC bulletin boards for nothing, folks.  It's very irritating to other callers when there are huge blank spots between callers.

TIME LIMITS
If your favorite BBS has a time limit, observe it.  If it doesn't, set a limit for yourself and abide by it instead.  On systems that don't act on excessive daily usage automatically, the sysop will notice, and may limit or refuse you access.  Don't tie up a system until it finally kicks you off and then call back with another name.  This same rule applies to downloading or playing games. Currently, only three persons at a time can be logged on (via modem) to Highlander and it isn't fair to everyone else if you overstay your welcome. Remember, a BBS is best when it can be left wide open.  If you try and cheat the rules you just hurt everybody by forcing the sysop to adopt more stringent policies.

Highlander BBS uses Caller ID so we know who is calling and from what phone number.

PAYING ATTENTION
Have the common courtesy to pay attention to what passes in front of your face.  When a BBS displays your name and asks "Is this you?", don't say yes when you can see perfectly well that it is misspelled. Also, don't start asking questions about simple operation of a system until you have thoroughly read all of the instructions that are available to you.  I assure you that it isn't any fun to answer questions about the way a BBS does one particular thing or another for the thousandth time when the answer is prominently displayed in the instructions or bulletins, if a caller would only bother to look. 

On the other hand, if you have read the instructions, and  find them vague, take the time to leave the sysop a nice message telling him/her about your problem and explain how it might be changed to help others understand better.  (Note: In most cases, the sysop did not write the BBS program so he/she had to learn how to operate the system the same way as you do, by reading the information.)

ONLINE ERRORS
If by some chance you should encounter an error while you are online (Heaven forbid!), ALWAYS take the time to leave the sysop a message describing the circumstances.  Don't just say "There was an error".  What he/she needs to know is what you were doing before, during and after the error occurred so that he/ she can have some chance of finding and correcting it so it won't happen to you, or anyone else again.  If the error happened after you input something, tell him/her what it was. Remember that a BBS can't improve unless you're willing to help.

ABUSIVENESS
Don't be personally abusive.  It doesn't matter whether you like a sysop or think he's/she's a jerk.  The fact remains that he/she has a large investment in making his/her computer available, usually out of the goodness of his/her heart.  If you don't like a sysop or his/her system, just remember that you can change the channel any time you want.  Calling a sysop names or making uninformed comments about his/her lifestyle only reflects negatively on you.

IT'S NOT YOUR BUSINESS
Keep firmly in mind that you are a guest on any BBS you happen to call. Don't think of logging on as one of your basic human rights.  Every person that has ever put a computer system online for the use of other people has spent a lot of time and money to do so. 

While he/she doesn't expect nonstop pats on the back, it seems reasonable that he/she should at least be able to expect fair treatment from his/her callers.  This includes following any of the rules for system use he/she has laid out without grumping about it. 

Every sysop has his/her own idea of how he/she wants his/her system to be run.  It is really none of your business why he/she wants to run it the way he/she does.  Your business is to either abide by what he/she says, or call some other BBS where you feel that you can obey the rules.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
In case you think you can get away with abusing a system, remember this: BBS's maintain a log of the date, time, and user of every call.  Further, many can be (and are) set up to echo caller entries on a printer, which is reviewed by the sysop.  Abusers, rudeness, or obvious attempts at crashing or breaking into the system revealed on this record will be delt with appropriately.

Please always keep this article in mind no matter which BBS you may call.

Text portions compiled from:
The Modem Reference
Michael A. Banks
Brady Publishing
New York

Revision date 4/11/96