___    ___   _   _  _   _  _____   ___   _____  _   ___   _   _   ____
  / _ \  / _ \ | \ | || \ | ||  ___| / _ \ |_   _|| | / _ \ | \ | | / ___|
 | | |_|| | | ||  \| ||  \| || |__  | | |_|  | |  | || | | ||  \| || |__
 | |  _ | | | ||     ||     ||  __| | |  _   | |  | || | | ||     | \__ \
 | |_| || |_| || |\  || |\  || |___ | |_| |  | |  | || |_| || |\  | ___| |
  \___/  \___/ |_| \_||_| \_||_____| \___/   |_|  |_| \___/ |_| \_||____/
                © 1999 Quest Technologies/Bedlam Enterprises

                          I N T R O D U C T I O N

Welcome to the Eighth Issue of CoNnEcTiOnS!!!  CoNnEcTiOnS is a Monthly UK
BBS Scene Magazine containing a comprehensive UK BBS Directory.

Many SysOps have tried their hands at generating up-to-date BBS Lists, but
most have found them too difficult to maintain and have abandoned updating
them, with the exception of the odd few, like Turbo D at Alpha Zone BBS
who has for the last 11 months supplied a list of BBS Numbers to the AMINET.

However, most BBS Lists contain BBS Numbers of BBSes that have long since
left the scene, and of all the Lists we have encountered, there hasn't been
one that has been accurately up-to-date.

At the time of going to press, ALL the BBSes listed in CoNnEcTiOnS have
been 100% verified as being online.  We have spent the last 9 months
ringing BBS Numbers to find out which BBSes are still online, and to find
out those that have left the scene.  We have still a lot of work to do, but
I'm sure you can appreciate the cost of dialling every BBS Number we have
found in the afore mentioned BBS Lists, and that is why we need YOUR help
in providing us with information of any BBSes you know that are still
online, that are not listed in this Issue of CoNnEcTiOnS.

Furthermore, we need YOUR help in keeping CoNnEcTiOnS up-to-date with BBS
Closures, New Numbers, Relaunches, Renames etc.  For more details on how to
contact us, access Submissions.

The BBS Scene is in bad need of positive publicity...and we at CoNnEcTiOnS
strongly believe that BBS Advertising is a damn good start.  CoNnEcTiOnS
aims to provide the AMIGA Community with a central resource of information
regarding the current status of the UK BBS Scene, with the added bonus of a
comprehensive UK BBS Directory every month.

When we first researched for CoNnEcTiOnS to find out just how many BBSes
were still up and running, we were pleasantly suprised by the number we
found were still online, and those 124 BBSes we found, were entered into
the First Issue of CoNnEcTiOnS.  That 124 BBSes has now grown to 198 BBSes
for the Eighth Issue of CoNnEcTiOnS, just proving that the UK BBS Scene is
far from dead, as was first thought. 

From our point of view, CoNnEcTiOnS has really made a difference to the
number of Calls and New Users at our respective BBSes, and many of our New
Users had never been on a BBS before in their lives, the Internet, yes, but
never a BBS, as they thought that BBSes were extinct.  Feedback from other
SysOps who advertised in CoNnEcTiOnS suggests that they have experienced the
same result, which proves a point, that SysOps should not just sit back and
accept the number of Users in their User-Base, but should advertise their
BBSes as much as possible, CoNnEcTiOnS giving them that very chance.

AMIGA FORMAT Magazine recently started a column for BBS Numbers in their
Readers Adverts section, and those that have advertised, including
ourselves, have found that advertising DOES work, and that there ARE
members of the AMIGA Community who want to call BBSes, but never knew
where to get in contact with them!  Therefore in respect of all you SysOps
that think that advertising is a waste of time...we rest our case!!!

The Internet has done much damage to the UK BBS Scene, especially when Free
ISPs were launched, but that damage is not irrepairable, as we have proven,
and ironically CoNnEcTiOnS has used the Internet to get to it's prospective
audience, to get Internet Users back to the UK BBS Scene, and it appears to
have worked, and worked well.

CoNnEcTiOnS has been well received from SysOps and BBS Users alike, and the
Correspondence we have received from Readers has been tremendous.  We
honestly didn't believe that CoNnEcTiOnS would be so popular, and its
thanks to your input and feedback that CoNnEcTiOnS has established itself
as the leading UK BBS Scene Magazine after only it's Seventh Issue!!!

Plans to take CoNnEcTiOnS' coverage beyond the United Kingdom are already
under consideration.  Work on GLOBAL CoNnEcTiOnS has already started, but
we foresee a problem that really needs to be addressed before we continue
any further with the project.  Basically, does the UK BBS Scene really want
an International BBS Directory?  If the answer to this questions is "Yes",
then how do we market it?  Do we release it seperately, to give YOU the
choice whether you want to Download it or not, or do we include it within
CoNnEcTiOnS, bearing in mind the Archive Size will probably double?

Please help us to make this decision, get in touch with us at CoNnEcTiOnS,
and let us know what YOU want.  If we get no response from YOU, as Readers
of CoNnEcTiOnS, then the GLOBAL CoNnEcTiOnS project will be scrapped!!!

Please keep the Correspondence coming, we would especially like to hear from
SysOps who have advertised their BBSes in CoNnEcTiOnS, and have benefitted
as a result.  Also, if any of you have any ideas on how we can improve the
content of CoNnEcTiOnS, or if you have anything at all to contribute to
CoNnEcTiOnS, then please get in touch, even if you only have a sentence or
two to say, ALL Correspondence will be read and replied to, and may even
get included in the Next Issue of CoNnEcTiOnS!

See you Next Issue...

Dunkie (SysOp Of Quest BBS)
Pete Laird (SysOp Of Bedlam BBS)

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