Notes from the Server



Author: Stephen Kayner, SMUGgler's Administrator

Date: March, 1994

Keywords: BBS

Text:
A Mac without a modem is like a fiddle without a bow.
     Due to a crash on February 11th, and the loss of one week's worth
of stats along with other materials, I've had to extrapolate some of
the numbers for this month. Thanks to member cooperation in restoring
much of what was lost, we were able to recover nicely from the crash.
     In spite of being in crash-mode for a day, SMUGgler's BBS has been
absolutely hopping with activity! We had a record 172 logons on
February 15th, and an average of over 150 logons per day for the month.
We used an average of 49 hours per day of online time over the last
month, for calls lasting close to 30 minutes each. Billions of bytes of
files have been uploaded and downloaded over the last eight months, but
who's still counting? And a big wet hairy kiss right on the modem goes
out to all of you who have contributed files to our growing online
library, but don't let that stop you from doing it again...
     SMUGgler's users have noticed that the increased usage means more
busy signals, and we have started a fund to add two more phone lines.
On February 24th and 25th, I received seven donations totaling $150
towards the fund. On March 1st an anonymous donor gave $100 in a
matching funds challenge. Two users quickly pledged $20 each.  Members
who would like to contribute should send funds to: 
               SMUG - New Lines 
               P.O. Box 4715
               Arcata, CA 95521
     Be sure to mark your donations with the words ''new lines'', so I
can keep them separate from the SMUG general fund. I think we can get
the lines installed before the end of April, but if we have not
approached the $1000 goal by June 1st, the funds will be returned,
unless I am directed to do otherwise by the donors.
     Educator participation on SMUGgler's is growing rapidly, and we
will have four schools online by the time you read this: Zane Jr. High,
Worthington, Lincoln, and Freshwater. Some of the teachers who are new
SMUG members include Steve Wartburg, Brad Albee, and Anne
Bown-Crawford. The student population also increased significantly,
with Paul Lanzi bringing us three of our six new K-12 members at the
February meeting. We added another half dozen college level students,
too.
     During the month of February, SMUG grew by 26 new members, and we
had one renewal. There are now 156 SMUG members, and the group is now
growing largely by word of mouth. We will be distributing more flyers
in March, so let us know if you can post them to locations where Mac
users are known to congregate.
     We have finally received our site license for the long awaited
Adobe Acrobat software for reading and printing out the electronic
version of our fine newsletter, Known Users. There are versions for the
Macintosh, for Windows, and for DOS; all online and available for
downloading by members only. Please read the license agreement and
minimum system requirements before downloading the Acrobat software.
     More than 90% of our members have established accounts on
SMUGgler's BBS, and we can cut our costs significantly if members
notify the newsletter editor that they will be using Acrobat to read or
print the newsletter from their own computer rather than receiving the
hardcopy by mail.
     If you're not using SMUGgler's BBS, you're not exercising the full
potential of your membership. We are still offering the
Telecommunications Outreach Program (TOP), so if you'd like to borrow
one of our modems to see what it's all about, call me (Steve) at
445-3454 for more information. See you online!
     

Copyright © march, 1994 by Stephen Kayner, SMUGgler's Administrator