A111DS 4 3 (a 7

NATL INST OF STANDARDS & TECH RI.C.

All 102436079

Electronic Bulletin Boards

NBS

PUBLICATIONS

Ted Landberg

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

April 1986

QC

100

. U 5 6

86-3356

1986

C. 2

ARTMENT OF COMMERCE

BUREAU OF STANDARDS

NBS

WSEAfiCrt INTORMATIOH CENTE2

NBSIR 86-3356

ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS

u<

Ted Landberg

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

April 1986

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Director

FOREWORD

The purpose of this report is to provide guidance to those

interested in establishing an electronic bulletin board system.

The material in this report is drawn from experiences operating

one of these boards for the Institute for Computer Sciences and

Technology, at the National Bureau of Standards, and helping many

other organizations start new bulletin boards of their own. This

report discusses the planning and resources needed to establish a

successful bulletin board.

In March 1984, the Microcomputer Electronic Information Exchange

( MEIE ) was inaugurated using a software product called the

"Remote Bulletin Board System." This information exchange

system was to serve a growing federal and private sector constituency interested in receiving information about computer technology using their personal computers. By the end of its second

year of operation, MEIE had recorded over 30,000 callers.

The electronic bulletin board system mentioned in this report

was selected because the software is in the public domain and is

representative of similar products available commercially.

Because of the nature of this report, it was necessary to mention

vendors and commercial products. The presence or absence of a

particular trade name product does not imply criticism or

endorsement by the National Bureau of Standards, nor does it

imply that the products identified are necessarily the best

available

i
BLBCSRQNIC PPIJtgTIff BOARDS

Table of Contents

Foreword

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Definition of a Bulletin Board System 1

1.2 Bulletin Board Uses 1 1.3 Bulletin Board Facilities 2

Caller Sign-on 2

Peer to Peer Communications 3

File Transfer Facilities 3

2. Starting and Operating a Bulletin Board 5

2.1 Establishing a Bulletin Board 5

Hardware Requirements 6

Software Requirements 7

Selecting a System Operator 8

Establishing a Theme 8

Editorial Policies 9

Advertising 10

2.2 Daily Operations 10

Monitoring Messages 11

Refreshing Bulletins and Files 11

System Maintenance 13

Security Precautions 14

Traffic Analysis 14

Staffing 16

3. Conclusions 17

Reference and Related Readings 19

ii
Appendices

A. Functional Features of a Bulletin Board System A-l

B. Examples of Screen Displays

B.l - Session for a New Caller B-l

B . 2 - Bulletin Directory B-4

B . 3 - Directory of Sub-directories B-5

B . 4 - Caller Profile Facilities B-6

B.5 - Caller Activity File B-7

B.6 - Caller Identification File B-8

C. Explanation of XMODEM Procedures C-l

Table of Figures

1. System Operator Responsibilities 8

2. Minimum Set of Files to Start

a Bulletin Board 9

3. File Retention Periods 12

4. Optimum Location for Files 13

5. System Operator Functions 13

6. MEIE Caller Statistics 15

iii

1 . Introduction

Computers are used to create, store and distribute information.

Many managers are asking how can this computer based information

be distributed outside the organization. Reprinting published

materials is often not a satisfactory way of communicating

information that ages rapidly. A distribution method that

bypasses the time consuming and expensive processes to convert

that information into a printed format and physically distribute

it is needed. One solution has come from the community of

microcomputer hobbyists who have created a peer to peer communications capability called an electronic bulletin board system.

The purpose of this report is to provide guidance to those

interested in establishing an electronic bulletin board system.

This report will provide the reader with some of the ways a

bulletin board system may be used and the important management

issues that must be resolved before establishing and operating a

bulletin board.

1 . 1 Definition of a Bulletin Board

An electronic bulletin board system can be defined as a computer

service offering callers with microcomputers or terminals a

capability to post and read messages, and transfer files to and

from the service.

This new information distribution channel appeared when:

+ microcomputers and modems became inexpensive.

+ bulletin board software was placed into the public

domain making experimentation of this new form of

communication attractive.

These electronic information exchange (bulletin board) systems

are usually implemented on microcomputers connected to a public

telephone network. Most use one of the many versions of public

domain bulletin board software. Literally, hundreds of these

bulletin boards exist in the United States. Most are operated by

private individuals from their homes, but an increasing number of

corporations and federal agencies are sponsoring these systems to

disseminate information to the public.

1.2 Bulletin Board Uses

Electronic bulletin board systems can satisfy many low volume,

intermittent data communication applications by taking advantage

of the public telephone network; they also require no extensive

support by a data communication professional. These systems have

been useful where there is a geographically dispersed population

1
of computer users, and a requirement to exchange technical

material in an aocurate and timely way. Some applications which

are particularly well suited for bulletin board systems are:

+ L_Q_w__v_Q-liune data transf er from remote sites where

timeliness is critioal such as: orders, inventory

counts, branch office financial and operating summaries, transcripts, and proposals.

+ On-line product support of software changes and

documentation corrections including lists of frequently

asked questions, documented problems with solutions,

and product announcements.

+ One way information transfer - such as: press releases,

product catalogs, and publication abstracts.

+ Departmental messag ing systems.

1 . 3 Bulletin Board Facilities

Bulletin board software is a highly specialized application

designed to accomplish a rather limited set of functions. These

features include sending and receiving messages, transferring

files, and chatting with the system operator. However bulletin

board systems do not support searching a textual data base by

keyword, initiating other computer jobs or creating and editing

new data files. A detailed discussion of these features can be

found in the "Remote Bulletin Board System Documentation Manual"

[MACK86] . A summary of the features available to callers found

in a typical bulletin board are listed in Appendix A.

Three important facilities of a bulletin board system will be

discussed in this section. These include caller sign-on, peer to

peer communications and file transfer.

Caller Sign-on

When a caller makes a connection with a bulletin board, the

system determines what the caller communication parameters are

and adjusts its own communications. The caller is asked to

identify themselves by entering a first and last name, and a

caller validation process is initiated. If validation fails, the

caller is considered new, and a special routine is begun to

register that caller. An actual sign-on dialogue is shown in

Appendix B . 1

Some traffic statistics are displayed to the caller. The total

number of previous callers, number of active messages and the

last message read, provide indicators of the amount of traffic

since the caller's last session. For new users and novices a complete transaction menu is displayed. The caller's activities

2
are recorded in a special session log. Caller name, communication parameters, calling location and time of day, security

violations, and file transfers are entered into the log. See

Appendix B for sample listings of the caller profile facilities,

activity log and identification files.

Peer to Peer Communications

Messaging

The heart of the bulletin board system is the message section.

This is where callers can read the latest information other

callers have experienced with software problems and their

solutions, and can find the "burning" issues of the day. It is

the most dynamic area and one that requires daily attention. The

message section should be used for:

+ making announcements about meetings

+ highlighting new files in other sections

+ asking and responding to questions.

It allows callers to contribute information to the general

public. Consequently, there are some risks involved with

operating an open message section. Callers may leave messages

with which the sponsoring organization may not want to be

associated.

A caller has several messaging options. The caller may create

messages for the public or another registered caller, respond to

a message, delete personal messages or scan the message file by

message headers (authors and subject) or by full text.

Conferencing

Conferencing is the interchange of messages on a "topic or issue"

by a closed group of individuals. Conferencing on a bulletin

board has been adapted to confer a different level of access

privileges to the "conference" group. Usually a message file is

created for each conference which avoids the need for complex

logic to identify messages by conference.

File Transfer Facilities

From the earliest versions of these bulletin boards, file

transfer was considered an important feature. The ability to

transfer a data file between computers has two advantages:

1. Binary ( non-graphical character) files can be transferred

2. Files can be saved for reuse by receiver

3
The file section permits files to be moved between the callers

system and the bulletin board system.

Transferring a file to a host computer by the caller is termed

uploading , while receiving from a host computer is downloading . To transfer any file requires that a special dialogue be initiated on both computers. First the file must be found on the

transferring computer's file directory, an appropriate transfer

protocol invoked, and time allowed for the receiving computer to

initiate its own procedure.

There are two types of file transfers common to most bulletin

boards; ASCII 1 and binary data files. ASCII files contain the

more familiar alphabetic and numeric characters which are

readable on CRT screens which are a subset of the entire ASCII

code set. Binary data files use 8 bit characters whose meaning

must be interpreted by another computer program. Binary file

transfers require that the receiving computer ignore the meaning

of characters transmitted which may be control codes in communications sessions. Some special transmission procedures have been

adopted to handle binary files. Data is transmitted in groups of

128 characters with an additional four characters used for block

identification and error checking. An explanation of one such

error checking scheme is found in Appendix C.

Generally, data files are found by using the file section menu

which lists sub-directories. In general, bulletin boards do not

have keyword search capability. Therefore information must be

organized by using a series of menus or sub-directories to guide

the caller to the appropriate section.

1 ASCII - American (National) Standard Code Information

Interchange X 3.4 - 1968 is a 7 bit code consisting of 95

displayed characters and 32 non-displayed control characters.

4
2. Starting and Operating a Bulletin Board

The first part of this section will cover the planning and

selection of resources and policies necessary to ensure successful operation of a bulletin board. The second part of the

section will address day to day operations needed to maintain a

bulletin board system. Much of the material is drawn from actual

experience at the Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology

at the National Bureau of Standards in operating the Microcomputer Electronic Information Exchange (MEIE) bulletin board.

Examples based on the MEIE system have been used to describe many

of the activities involved in starting and operating a bulletin

board.

2 . 1 Establishing a Bulletin Board

The request to establish a bulletin board may be initiated by an

employee who wants to provide an information exchange for either

a group of their peers, or by an outside constituency interested

in accessing special material an organization has to offer.

Justification for establishing a board often is couched in terms

of promoting improved service to clients, more timely distribution of information, establishing links with a community of

personal computer users, or beginning to experiment with alternate forms of product delivery.

Usually, central computer alternatives either do not exist or

would be prohibitively expensive to implement; thus; the impetus

for using a microcomputer-based system is found. A microcomputer

based electronic bulletin board system has the following characteristics which make it an attractive solution for many organizations .

+ Initial investment in hardware, software and development is below $3,000.

+ No risk of unauthorized disclosure of central computer

data is present.

+ Installation does not require services of data processing professional.

+ Implementation does not require specialized communication network or hardware; in fact, components may

already be in place

+ Software is mature and well-tested with thousands of

hours of operation.

5
The establishment of a bulletin board requires the following:

supporting hardware and software requirements, selecting a system

operator, establishing theme, establishing editorial policies,

and advertising to ensure a constituency.

Hardware Requirements

Plan on dedicating a microcomputer to the bulletin board system.

Part time operation is usually not satisfactory and discourages

continued patronage by callers.

The following hardware list is for the Capital PC User Group's

"Remote Bulletin Board System" (RBBS). Other bulletin boards

designed to operate on other vendor microcomputers have similar

requirements

Microcomputer Specifications:

Intel 8088 or compatible microprocessor

256k of Random access memory

Asynchronous Communications adapter (RS-232)

80 col by 25 line Monitor

two 360 kilobytes floppy disk drives

or

one floppy disk drive and one hard disk (preferred)

Communications Specification:

300/1200 baud modem (direct connect-autoanswer)

with Hayes compatible command language; 2400 baud modem

should be procured where possible.

Voice Grade telephone line with RJ-11 permissive jack

connection

RS-232 modem cable supporting at least the following

pins : 1 through 8 , 20 and 22

Optional Equipment:

Printer to log activity

Tape Backup system

For most applications, a computer with a hard disk is highly

desirable; it provides a better response time, improving caller

satisfaction and reducing the time they spend on the system.

A direct connect auto answer modem is required. Many bulletin

boards are offering 2400 baud service, but 1200 baud is the

predominant speed modem today. The additional cost of this

higher speed modem is about $200, but halves the file transfer

6
time. This decreased time for transfers is important for systems

offering large files for downloading.

A computer terminal must be available for the system operator to

monitor the bulletin board. Monitoring of the bulletin board

from remote locations is possible. Many system operators call in

from home during weekends and holidays to check on messages.

A voice grade private telephone line is also required. The line

must not be routed through the building switchboard nor have been

assigned the "call waiting" option because the signal will

disconnect the current caller. The local telephone company does

require that they be informed of the type of device connected to

the line including the Federal Communications Commission Registration number and the "ringer equivalent" value for that

instrument. This information is usually imprinted on the bottom

of the modem case. Because all calls are inbound, no call units

or long distance charges should be experienced.

Software Requirements

The software listed below is representative of what would be

required to operate a multi-line bulletin board system similar.

Bulletin Board System:

Software

Remote Bulletin Board System

SourceCapital PC Software Exchange

P.O. Box 6128

Silver Spring MD 20906

Price: $8 (Shipping and Handling charge)

Call Analvzer Software

Software

Professional Analyzer for RBBS-PC

SourceAlphaSoft Systems

2508 Constance St

Atlanta Georgia 30344

Multi-line Software:

For those wanting to operate 2 lines the following multiusers, multi-tasking software package will work:

Software: Multi-link Advanced (Version 3.02 or higher)

Source: The Software Link, Inc

8601 Dumwood Place

Suite 632

Atlanta, George 30338

7
Selecting a System Operator

Someone must become the system operator or SYSOP. The SYSOP will

be responsible for customizing the bulletin board, software,

creating sign-on screens, file directories, monitoring messages,

performing routine maintenance on file directories and ensuring a

smooth running bulletin board system. In short the system

manager. It is not a full time job, but does require regular

daily effort to ensure continuity. Figure 1 provides a list of

duties a SYSOP must perform.

Establishing a Theme

Every successful bulletin board system has a central theme or

specialty. Something of value that makes end users want to call

the bulletin board. The Department of Commerce has a bulletin

board that provides all the press releases issued by several

federal agencies and the Federal Reserve Board on economic data.

The National Weather Service sponsors two bulletin boards; one is

titled, "Climate Assessment Board" and the other "East Coast

Marine Users Board." Some private BBSs have public domain

software or specialized conferences on programming languages.

Without a theme, the SYSOP will have difficulty attracting new

materials for updating the offerings.

Figure 1

SYSTEM OPERATOR RESPONSIBILITIES

1 . Messages

Respond to inquiries for additional information

Delete old messages created by both the SYSOP and

others

Add new messages to highlight new files or upcoming

events

2. Files

Setup, update and delete file directories

Verify legitimacy of file contents

Monitor activity of files- deleting those with low

activity

3. System Maintenance

Perform system backups weekly

Install new updates to system software (approx every

3 months)

Delete old entries from caller profile files by

periodic packing.

Archive and reset comment and caller files.

Set up and monitor conferences.

8
A new bulletin board system must begin with some material. Once

the board's central theme has been set, then material relating to

that theme must be gathered and added to the board. Figure 2

describes a minimum set of articles and materials that should be

on every board. Establishing a reputation for well written and

technically high quality materials is important . Otherwise

callers will not return to the board after the first time.

Figure 2

Mini mm of Files to Start a Bulletin Board

File Name Description

Welcome

Bulletin

Directory

Bulletins

File

Directory

Sign-on message welcoming caller to system

List of bulletin files found on system

Small text files about general interest topics

List of topical sub-directories

File List of actual text and binary files available for

Sub-directory downloading.

Help A set of text files keyed to specific transactions

describing what must be done by caller.

Menu A list of transactions available to the Caller.

Message File containing messages. This file should have

initial messages announcing the new bulletin board

and establishing a theme for caller dialogue.

Editorial Policies

The type of callers attracted to the bulletin board is affected

by the quality of articles and files found. The SYSOP sets the

"editorial" tone by closely monitoring the message section.

Obscene or "junk" messages left on the system for more than a

single day or messages with radical opinions or statements tend

to attract the same kind. A system that conveys a "strictly

business" attitude will attract others to leave high quality

responses

9
Some areas in which policies needs to be set are:

+ advertisements left by vendors

+ announcements for looal professional societies, and

+ charitable organizations

SYSOPS in organizations with editorial review boards should work

with those boards to develop new policies concerning materials to

be placed on their bulletin boards. If no review board exists

the SYSOP must exercise judgement. Because of the dynamic nature

of the contents of electronic bulletin boards, much of the

editorial review will have to be done by the SYSOP. This is a

responsibility that should not be taken lightly.

One of the decisions to be made during the planning phase of a

new bulletin board is whether two way information interchange is

one of the objectives of the bulletin board. For many organizations, providing this service is not a high priority. One

alternative is to limit message creation authority to a special

group of callers. This group could be associates, other professionals or collaborators contributing materials to the bulletin

board. Closing the message section to the general public

minimizes the risk of inappropriate messages but also eliminates

the option for information interchange and dialogue between

callers

Advertising

Getting the word out about a new bulletin board can be accomplished in several ways. They include:

announcements at professional meetings,

articles in professional publications,

or leaving messages on other bulletin boards parti

cularly those that keep a national list of bulletin

boards

a brochure that can be mailed to those who inquire

about the bulletin board.

Generally, it will take from 3 to 6 months for traffic to build

up on a new bulletin board system.

2 . 2 Daily Operations

After the system has been established certain routine tasks must

be performed on a regular schedule. They include: monitoring

messages, refreshing bulletins and files, systems maintenance,

security related precautions, traffic analysis and staffing.

10
Monitoring messages

The message section must be monitored everyday. The SYSOP can

view all messages left on the board and can delete those that are

old or unwanted. Callers rarely delete private messages,

consequently that task falls on the SYSOP. Callers may also

leave a private message for the SYSOP by using the Comments

command. These messages should be answered daily.

Two important ways that the SYSOP can communicate with all

callers besides leaving "public" messages is through special text

files located in the bulletin section and the initial screen

display sent during the sign-on sequence.

Bulletins

The bulletin section of the board provides a way for the SYSOP to

make general announcements. These announcements are too long for

the message section (over 30 lines) and need more visibility to

callers than found in the file transfer section. The original

concept was to have a few longer lived messages in a special

bulletin section, similar to the bulletin board in the local

super market. These messages don't get "pushed" down in the

message section and are the first files seen by the caller after

sign-on. This increase is attributed to the fact that files

assigned to the file section of the bulletin board had to be

"downloaded" to be viewed, a somewhat complicated procedure

compared with selecting a number from the bulletin section menu.

Sign-on Messages

The first indication a caller has that they have connected to a

bulletin board is a welcoming message appearing on their display

screen. This message is usually no more than 20 lines and is

displayed as part of the sign-on sequence. Its content includes

a title block announcing the sponsoring organization along with

some important lines directing callers to some particular section

of the board. A sample sign-on screen from the MEIE system is

shown in Appendix B.l.

Refreshing Bulletins and Files

An unattended system invites abuse and runs the risk of permitting by default illegal information such as credit card numbers.

Additionally, information ages quickly and loses value. Callers

will not return to a stale board. Regular review and deletion of

all files must be done by the SYSOP.

Figure 3 shows the recommended retention periods for files.

11
Figure 5

File Retention Periods

Section Type of Material

Name

Retention

Period

Welcome Caller Sign-on message

Messages Announcements

4 weeks

1 week after

meeting date

Comments Response to caller inquiries of SYSOP 4 days

Bulletins Shorter files with general information 3 months

Files Longer text files and software 3 months

System Help and menu screens Review and

revise each

new software

update

Typically, messages have the shortest retention period and

software the longest. Except for information describing the

purpose of the bulletin board or the sponsoring organization all

material should be refreshed every 3 months.

One of the mistakes many information contributors to electronic

bulletin boards make is to put too much information on a single

screen. Most callers become bored after the second successive

screen full of the same information file. Additionally, screens

that have more than 12-16 lines of information are too hard to

read

The use of graphic characters such as lines and boxes around

directories and system help information greatly improves the

readability. Fi gure 4 provides some guidelines on where to

locate different types of files.

Many MEIE callers had difficulty accessing and transferring files

found in the File Section. When popular, short text files were

relocated to the Bulletin Section, their visibility was improved.

Procedures for downloading files appear to be confusing and

require the caller to have a computer.

12
File Type

Figure 4

Optimum Location for files

Section

Software

(Binary files)

Announcement s (Expire in 1 Week)

Text

(Under 4,000 char)

Text

(over 4,000 char)

File

Message

Bulletin

File

System Maintenance

The system operator must perform certain routine housekeeping

functions to keep the system operating optimally. There are

three system files which increase in size from normal traffic;

they are the caller activity log, the caller identification file,

and the message file. These files must be purged of inactive

entries or in the case of the caller activity log, restarted.

Maintenance of the caller identification file or the message

files must be done with the bulletin board system off-line.

Generally callers who have not signed onto the board for periods

exceeding 1 or 2 months should be dropped to increase speed of

caller verification and to minimize the potential of a new caller

being denied access because they have the same first and last

name as some other caller. As an example, the MEIE system drops

about 50% of the callers from the identification file each time

its reorganized.

Figure 5 shows the maintenance functions available to the SYSOP.

Figure 5

System Operator Functions

SYSOP'S UTILITIES

1 List comments 2 List callers log 3 Recover a Msg

4 Erase comments 5 Users maintenance 6 Toggle page bell

7 Exit to DOS 2

13
These can be done from a remote location such as the SYSOPs home.

The caller comment and caller activity logs can only be viewed

from the SYSOP menu. Adding, changing, or deleting callers

from the caller identification file is also accomplished using

this menu.

Additional maintenance functions include system backup. All of

the files associated with the bulletin board system should be

archived as protection against hardware failures or malicious

destruction by computer “Hackers." Depending on the amount of

activity in the message section, the system should be archived at

least weekly and perhaps every 2-3 days. Remember, in one year,

a system running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, will be

operational nearly 8800 hours. A tape is recommended for

bulletin board systems using hard disks for data files.

Security Precautions

Some callers are intrigued with the possibility of gaining

control of system software and destroying it. Protection of

these files and the data on a bulletin board requires certain

precautions be taken. In general, certain transactions should be

limited to a few callers known to the SYSOP. These include

uploading of files, access to caller identification files, and

exits to operating system functions. Any file uploaded to a

bulletin board should be carefully checked on another computer.

Some callers will upload files and programs with instructions

that will destroy all files on disks drives on the computer

system.

Traffic Analysis

Bulletin board system software maintain activity logs on callers.

These activity logs record basic statistics such as caller name,

time and place of call, communication protocols used and files

accessed. The statistics can be summarized by other public

domain software. Analysis of these operating statistics will

provide a profile of the caller population and identify files

that are popular. Fi gure 6 shows an example of the MEIE system

caller traffic profile. Note system utilization percentage,

distribution by communication baud rate, and most active file

section. These statistics are useful in maintaining continued

management support for the bulletin board.

14
Figure 6

MEIE Caller Statistics

Period: 01:44 AM 01-01-86 to 12:29 PM 01-27-86 - 27 DAYS

Communications Statistics

AVG: /DAY TOTAL %

Remote master SYSOP sessions 0.4 11

User calls at 2400 baud 2.9 77 7.7

1200 baud 18.5 499 50.3

300 baud 15.4 417 42.0

User calls at 8 data bits 30.3 819 82.5

7 data bits 6.4 174 17.5

Total user calls 36.3 982

All calls (inc SYSOP) 36.7 993

File Section Statistics: AVG: /CALL /DAY TOTAL

Different files downloaded 0.1 3.8 102

Files downloaded: Total 0.44 16.1 436

w/ XMODEM 0.36 13.2 357

w/ASCII 0.08 2.9 79

Files uploaded (from JrSYSOP) 0.0 0.0 1 System Control Stats: AVG: /Call: /Day Total

Security violations 7.8 211

Locked out user attempts 0.1 4

Logons denied 1.0 28

Refusals to register 1.1 30

Password attempt failures 1 .

30

Password changes 0.4 11

System Utilization (Wall Clock Hours)

System utilization (HHH : MM) 0:12.5 7 : 39 206:46

System up time (HHH: MM) 23:57 646:45

Percentage of utilization 32%

(time spent by callers on the system)

15
Staffing

In order to minimize the time constraints on the SYSOP to perform

all the functions discussed in this section, it is desirable to

off-load tasks to others. This recruiting of others to contribute

and assist in the ongoing operation of the bulletin board may be

one of the biggest challenges for a SYSOP. One way to share the

responsibility for refreshing files is to use junior SYSOPs.

They can be given additional access privileges allowing them to

upload files to the board and respond to inquiries. Most

bulletin board system can be maintained remotely, meaning that

all maintenance activities can be done from home or another

location. This is an important feature for SYSOPs that travel.

16
3

Conclusions

Bulletin boards are contributing to computer and telecommunications literacy which will be important in the future as we

achieve a critical mass of personal computers and a communications networks necessary to begin conducting more business

activities electronically. Countless thousands of computer

hobbyists and microcomputer users have contributed to the success

of these bulletin boards. Public access to certain kinds of

corporate information may well be the most important idea to come

out of bulletin board systems. Organizational data security,

high volume traffic, and transfer of multimedia documents must be

addressed before public access to organizational information can

become feasible.

This report has discussed issues relevant to establishing and

operating electronic bulletin boards. Before starting a bulletin

board, the following should be considered:

1. Free public domain software is available. This software can

be reliable when mature, and can be installed by end users who do

not know how to program computers.

2. Determine the "theme" or special purpose the electronic

bulletin board is to serve.

3. Be prepared to dedicate a microcomputer, a direct connect

modem, and telephone line full time to the bulletin board. This

investment is usually under $3,000.

4. Someone (called a SYSOP) must be assigned responsibility for

maintaining the bulletin board. About 2 days time is needed to

install the software, 15-20 minutes each day to respond to

inquiries and another 8 hours each month to perform regular

housekeeping duties.

5. A continuing source of high quality information is required.

It should be edited for viewing on computer terminals.

6. It takes about six months for a bulletin board to become

established. Advertise the existence of the board at professional meetings, in trade journals, and on other bulletin boards.

7. Be sure to use activity and caller traffic data collection

mechanisms provided by the bulletin board software. Take the

time to analyze these traffic patterns and make the summaries

available to the bulletin board sponsors. The statistics

collected from operating a bulletin board may provide clues to

new opportunities available to the organization for better

customer service.

17
For the future, it is expected that bulletin boards will play an

increasing role in enabling organizations to distribute information electronically and providing conferencing facilities to

internal groups inexpensively. New versions of the software are

incorporating options to establish bulletin boards on local area

networks and on multi-user computers.

Additionally, there is a growing organizational concern for the

ability to deliver products produced in-house to those outside

the organization in electronic form (electronic product delivery) . There are numerous questions raised by electronic

product delivery related to security, the system's capacity for

high volume caller traffic, and technology problems of mixing

text, graphics, and image data in one document and transferring

those files to a caller population with heterogeneous systems.

Based on experiences gained through running the MEIE system and

working with other agencies establishing and operating their own

bulletin boards, the Institute for Computer Sciences and Tech

nology has initiated a project to determine the feasibility of

electronic product delivery and to propose the best means of

introducing electronic product delivery to the federal govern

ment . Later reports will document findings in this area.

18
References a-Ttfl Related Readings

[ CYSP78

[ FERR85

[ GENG84]

[ HILT84

[ J0RD83]

[MACK86]

[MYER83]

[T0WN84]

Cypser, R. J. ; "Communications Architecture for

Distributed Systems;" Addison-Wesley Publishing

Company, Reading PA; 1978

Ferrarini, Elizabeth; "Infomania- The guide to essential Electronic Services;" Houghton Mifflin Company,

Boston, 1985

Gengle, Dean; "The Netweaver ' s Source Book - A Guide to

Micro Networking and Communications;" Addison-Wesley,

Reading PA; 1984

Hiltz, Starr Roxanne, "Online Communities - A Case

Study of the Office of the Future;" Ablex Publishing

Corporation, Norwood NJ, 1984

Jordan, E. Larry and Churchill, Bruce; "Communications

and Networking;" Robert J. Brady Company, Bowie MD,

1983

Mack, Tom; "Remote Bulletin Board System Documentation; " Capital PC User Group, Washington DC, 1986

Myers, Lary L.; "How to Create your own Computer

Bulletin Board; " Tab Books Inc. , Blue Ridge Summit PA,

1983

Townsend, Carl; "Electronic Mail and Beyond;" Wadsworth Electronic Publishing Company, 1984

19
'

-'V

'
APPENDICES

Appendix A

Functional Features

of a

Bulletin Board System

Caller Sign-on Facilities

+ Sense incoming calls and initiate session ( auto-answer)

+ Adjust host communication protocols to Callers protocol

+ Display Bulletin board sign-on message and statistics

+ List unread personal mail messages numbers

+ Authenticate callers ID with password

+ Permit first time callers to self register

+ Record caller actions in an activity log

Peer to Peer Communications Facility

+ Send and receive private messages

+ Provide text editor for creating new messages

+ Quick scan of messages by subject

+ Select messages by number(s)

+ Read messages in descending order

+ Respond back to originator of personal messages

+ Join or view special conferences

File Transfer Facility

+ Download and upload ASCII (7-bit) or binary (8-bit) files

+ List files available for transfer

System Operator Communications

+ Leave messages to the SYSOP

+ Provide facility for posting text files in a bulletin

section

+ Display short messages in BBS title screen

Caller Profile Facilities

+ Remember caller's session preferences (i.e. menu display in

expert /novice mode, line & page lengths, caller's last

message read, and line feed preference.

A 1
:

' '
Appendix B

Examples of Screen Displays

Appendix B .

SESSION FOR HEW CAIJ.KR

CONNECT 2400 { Initial message on caller terminal }

WELCOME TO NBS MEIE NODE 2

What is your FIRST Name? Carl {Prompt for name of caller}

What is your LAST Name? Caller

Checking Users. . . {BBS searches for Caller ID in file}

{ ID not found so new caller routine started with

questions about callers profile, then a new caller

message displayed}

What type of system are you calling from (Press [ENTER] if IBMPC)?

What is your CITY and STATE? Gaithersburg MD

{ Hew Caller Message - Bulletin Board Code of

Ethics}

Welcome to the National Bureau of Standards - Microcomputer Electronic

Information Exchange. Before continuing you should understand your

responsibilities as a caller to this Federal Government sponsored

bulletin board. Specifically they are:

1. Actively encourage the free exchange of information, ideas and

opinions, except when the content would compromise the national

security of the United States; violate proprietary rights,

personal privacy, or applicable state/federal/local laws and

regulations affecting telecommunications; or constitute a crime or

libel.

2. Use your real name and fully disclose any personal, or commercial

interest when commenting on a specific product or service.

FURTHER - every user explicitly acknowledges that all information

obtained from MEIE is provided "as is" without warranty of any

kind, either expressed or implied, and that mention of vendors

and commercial products does not imply criticism of endorsement

by the National Bureau of Standards. *****

B 1
Appendix B .

CARL CALLER from GAITHERSBURG MD

{Registration of caller profile started}

<C>hange name / address , <D>isconnect (don't register), <R>egister? R

Enter PASSWORD you'll use to logon again? MYPASSWORD

Re-enter PASSWORD for verification (Dots will Echo)?

Please REMEMBER your password

CAN YOUR TERMINAL DISPLAY LOWER CASE (Y/N)? Y

UPPER CASE and lower

GRAPHICS wanted : < N > one , < A > scii , < C > olor< H > elp? N

GRAPHICS: None

FILE transfer default type <A)scii, <X>modem, <C>Xmodem/CRC, <Q>uit? C

PROTOCOL: CRC

Want nulls (Y/N)? N

Nulls Off

Logging CARL CALLER

{Start of regular Session}

RBBS-PC VERSION CPC13.1A NODE 2

OPERATING AT 2400 BAUD ,N, 8,1

* <Ctrl K > or <Ctrl X> aborts <Ctrl S> suspends *

i Welcome to the NBS/ICST i

i Microcomputer Electronic Information I

l Exchange (MEIE) I

Bulletin 33 has a complete list of all download files available

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY MULTIUSER! ! ! !

You can use 948-5717 or 948-5718

Mention of vendors or product names does not imply criticism or

endorsement by the National Bureau of Standards or by the SYSOP.

Ted Landberg

Voice (301) 921-3485

B - 2
Appendix B .

=================== FUNCTIONS SUPPORTED =====================

o Allow the use of menus with graphics characters in them

o Send and receive messages with password protection

o Download and upload 7-bit ASCII files

o Download and upload 8-bit binary files using XMODEM protocol

o List files available for download with directory number select

o Save caller's expert /novice , prompt & page length preference

o Save caller's last message read mark and line feed preference

o List personal mail message numbers or says no personal mail

o Quick scan and scan of messages with stacked number option

o Read messages with stacked number or from last message read

o Read SYSOP bulletins from bulletin menu

Would you like to skip the 50 bulletins? y

Checking messages..

RBBS-PC Version CPC13.1A Node 2

{Bulletin Board Statistics}

Caller # 28922 # active msgs: 9 Next msg # 29

56 minutes left

RBBS-PC MESSAGE SYSTEM

-- C 0 M M U N

PERSONAL

P) ersonal Mail

Q)

uick Scan

R) ead Msgsn

S) can Msgs

ties

ICATIONS —

SYSTEM

B)ulletins

Oomment

I)nitial Welcome

UTILITIES — - ELSEWHERE -

H)elp

L)ines per page F)iles

X)pert on/off G)oodbye

?)List Functions U)tiliFOR FEDERAL TRAINERS CONFERENCE ONLY

J)oin Conference V)eiw Conference

E)nter message for conference K)ill message

Main Functions <B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,0,P,Q,R,S,U,V,W,X,?>? select one

CONTINUE SESSION AT THIS POINT

Main Functions <B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,0,P,Q,R,S,U,V,W,X,?>? G

Now 10:30 AM Time on: 3 Min & 42 Sec

CARL, Thanks for calling and please call again!

NO CARRIER

B 3
Appendix B .

BPIJ.KTTK DIRECTORY

BULLETIN MENU

INFORMATION ABOUT ICST & NBS

1 - MEIE Information (1/85)

18- Info on the Institute for Computer

Sciences S’ Technology (ICST) 9/85T)

19- ICST Newsletter -New (1/86)

33- Combined list of files in file

Directories available for download

(current thru 12/17)

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD BULLETIN FILES BY USING

D;BULLETnn where nn is bulletin #

INFORMATION RESOURCE MGT TOPICS

SPONSORED BY GSA

3 - GSA/OIRM IRM Clearinghouse (4/85)

20- IRM Institute Course Offering 9/85

21- Hands-on Microcomputer Courses 7/85

24- New IRM Handbooks (9/85)

26- GSA Correspond courses on Micro 9/85

28- Computer accommodations for users

with disabilities 12/85

Extracted from the MEIE Bulletin Board

B - 4
Appendix B .

DIRECTORY OF SUB-DIRECTORIES

DIRECTORY OF DIRECTORIES

TO LIST A DIRECTORY, TYPE IN THE NUMBER OF THE DESIRED

DIRECTORY (I.E. L;2 OR L;2;5;3)

DIRECTORY GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS

2 INFORMATION SOURCES /EXCHANGE

3 RBBS 13. 1A Software for downloading

4 MICROCOMPUTER TO MAINFRAME LINKS

5 LIST OF FEDERAL PUBLICATIONS

7 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

11 SECURITY ISSUES QUESTIONS AND ANSWER FORUM

12 SECURITY INFORMATION SOURCES

13 SECURITY PRODUCT INFORMATION

14 SECURITY RELATED CONFERENCE INFORMATION

20 GSA IRM CLGHS ARTICLES

21 GSA IRM CLGHS PILOT PROJECTS /STUDIES

22 GSA IRM CLGHS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

23 GSA IRM CLGHS HANDBOOKS /TECHNICAL MANUALS

24 GSA IRM CLGHS SPEAKERS/ INSTRUCTORS

25 GSA IRM CLGHS CALENDAR OF EVENTS

26 GSA IRM CLEARINGHOUSE CONTACTS AND IRM OFFICIALS

99 UPLOAD DIRECTORY (NOT OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC)

Extracted from the MEIE Bulletin Board

B 5
Appendix B.4

(1AIJJ7R PROWTTJg FACILITIES

Callers may use a wide variety of terminals. Many use microcomputers with standard displays, but some call in on lap-top

computers, communicating typewriters and "dumb" ASCII terminals.

A set of display formatting options and other operating parameters are available to change session dialogues. Essentially

these options allow the caller to adjust communication parameters, screen formats, or change passwords. A list of the

common commands found in the MEIE bulletin board is shown below.

Caller Profile Change Comma-ndR

COMMANDS

Case changes (upper/lower)

File transfer protocol

Graphics

Line feeds (on/off)

Lines per page

Message margin

Nulls (on/off)

Password changes

Review user ' s preferences

Expert (on/off)

Prompt bell (on/off)

SYSTEM

Baud rate (300 — >450)

Help

Password changes

System statistics

Time on System

* User Log (list entries)

* Who else is on system

The transactions with an * should be used with great care.

Callers who wish to "intrude" will often scan these facilities to

determine other callers signed-on currently. Many callers use

their first or last name for their password. This provides the

caller sufficient information to upload materials using someone

else ' s identification

The Message margin, Lines per page, Line feeds, Nulls, and Case

changes are provided to allow callers to use the bulletin board

with terminals having non-standard display screens. For example,

some lap top microcomputers have only 8 lines from top to bottom

and 40 character screen widths .

B - 6
Appendix B .

HATJ.KR ACTIVITY FILE

This is the caller activity log which records all of the activities the caller performs during a session

WARREN BATTY on at 02-07-86, 3:13 PM from SILVER SPRING, MD

1200 BAUD, N, 8,1

Logged off at 3:14 PM

HARRY RODRIGUEZ on at 02-07-86, 3:00 PM from WASHINGTON DC, 300

BAUD , N , 8 ,

Carrier dropped at 3:05 PM

MOLLY GOLDBERG on at 02-07-86, 2:44 PM from BETHESDA MD, 1200

BAUD , N , 8 ,

Logged off at 2:57 PM

Exited Conference at 2:57 PM

Read Bulletin # 2 at 2:33 PM

Read Bulletin # 15 at 2:32 PM

Read Bulletin # 26 at 2:31 PM

Read Bulletin # 21 at 2:31 PM

Read Bulletin # 33 at 2:29 PM

LORI SMITH on at 02-07-86, 1:24 PM from ROCKVILLE, MD , 300

BAUD , N , 8 ,

Logged off at 1:28 PM

KIN HOPE of FALLS CHURCH, VA refused to register

HENRY PELLE on at 02-07-86, 11:31 AM from GIBBSTOWN, NEW JERSEY,

2400 BAUD, N, 8,1

Logged off at 11:39 AM

NEWUSER at 11:34 AM

ROBB LINNEN on at 02-07-86, 10:44 AM from WESTLAKE, OHIO, 1200

BAUD , N , 8

Logged off at 11:30 AM

C: CONFIG. EQE Not enough time left!

C : RBBS-PC . EQE Downloaded at 11:29 AM using X

C : RBBS-PC . EQER Aborted at 10:47 AM using X

REAL MCCOY on at 02-07-86, 10:31 AM from ALEXANDRIA , VA , 1200

BAUD , N , 8 ,

Sleep Disconnect at 10:39 AM

SV ! -MMenu J

B 7
Appendix B.6

f!ATJ.~RR IDENTIFICATION FILE

This is a listing of the caller identification file which

contains the password, access level, last time on system, and

file transfer activity.

245: BEN MARTEL SECURITY 8 Password = SEASAME

02-10-86 12:30 WASHINGTON DC IBMPC

DOWNLOADS = 23 UPLOADS = 0 Times on = 19 TIME USED = 37 Min

305: DICK GREGORY SECURITY 3 Password = COMIC

01-27-86 01:01 NASHVILLE , TN IBMPC

DOWNLOADS = 2 UPLOADS = 0 Times on = 5 TIME USED = 33 Min

Notes: SECURITY is the access level caller has on the system.

DOWNLOADS S? UPLOADS is the number files transferred

TIME USED is the total time on system last session

B 8
Appendix C

XMODEM File Transfer Procedure

Data transmission errors may occur from electrical noise when

transferring files between computers. XMODEM is a file transfer

protocol for detecting data transmission errors and initiating

the retransmissions of data that contains errors. Asynchronous

communications does afford some error detection by checking for

parity errors, but retransmissions is not automatically done.

The error-checking with the parity method is 95% effective when

the receiving computer's software checks for parity errors.

XMODEM error-checking is 99.6% effective.

XMODEM does not begin the transfer of data until the receiving

computer signals the transmitting computer that it is ready to

receive data. The Negative Acknowledge (NAK) character is used

and is sent to the transmitting computer every 10 seconds until

the file transfer begins. The file transfer must begin within 9

NAK's or the transfer is terminated.

After a NAK is received, the transmitting computer uses a Start

of Header (SOH) character and two block numbers (a true block

number followed by a l's complement of the number) to signal the

start of a 128-byte block of data to be transferred then sends

the block followed by an error-checking checksum. The checksum

is calculated by adding the ASCII values of each character in the

128 character block; the sum is then divided by 255 and the

remainder is retained as the checksum.

After each block of data is transferred, the receiving computer

computes its own checksum and compares the result to the checksum

received from the transmitting computer. If the two values are

the same, the receiving computer sends an Acknowledge (ACK)

character to tell the receiver to send the next sequential block.

If the two values are not the same, the receiving computer sends

the transmitter an NAK to request a retransmissions of the last

block This retransmissions process is repeated until the block of

data is properly received or after 9 attempts the transfer is

terminated

XMODEM uses two block numbers at the start of each block to be

sure the same block is not transmitted twice. The receiving

computer checks the transmitted block to be sure that it is the

one requested and blocks that are retransmitted by mistake are

thrown away. An End of Transmission (EOT) character is transmitted to indicate the end of file [JORD83] . A sample XMODEM

protocol session is illustrated below.

C 1
Appendix C

TTMOTiRM File Transfer Session

Receiving Transmitting

Computer Computer

Ready to Ready to

Receive Transmit

i

i

i i

l \NAK\ > I

I I

I < / SOH/Blk #1/Blk #l/Good Data/CkSum/ I

l I

l \ACK\ > l

i l i< /SOH/Blk #2/Blk #2/Good Data/CkSum/ I

l I

I \ACK\ > I

I I l< /SOH/Blk #3/Blk #3/Garbled Data/CkSum/ l

I l

I \NAK\ > I

I I l< /SOH/Blk #3/Blk #3/Good Data/CkSum/ I

I I

i \ACK\ > l

I I

I < /EOT/ I

I I

, \ACK\ > l

I

I V V

File File

Receipt Transmit

Ends Ends

XMODEM session copied from Capital PC User Group Software

diskette # 41

C - 2
NBS-114A (REV. 2-8C) U.S. DEPT. OF COMM.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET (See instructions)

1. PUBLICATION OR

REPORT NO.

NBS I R-86/3356

2. Performing Organ. Report No 3. Publication Date

APRIL 1986

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Electronic Bulletin Boards

5. AUTHOR(S)

6. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION (If joint or other than NBS, see instructions)

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20234

7. Contract/Grant No.

8. Type of Report & Period Covered

9.

SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS (Street. City. State, ZIP)

National Bureau of Standards

10.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

2 Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

11.

ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a significant

bi bliography or literature survey, mention it here)

Many organizations have established electronic bulletin boards to distribute

information products electronically. For organizations that need to rapidly

distribute press releases, product information, provide customer support or. transfer data to a geographically dispersed constituency, electronic bulletin

boards are proving to be an inexpensive solution.

Bulletin board software is a highly specialized application designed to

accomplish a rather limited function of peer to peer communication. Each feature

of a bulletin board has been developed to accomplish a different aspect of peer

to peer communication. These features include sending and receiving messages,

transferring files, and chatting with the system operator. However, bulletin

board systems cannot search a textual data base by keyword, initiate other computer

jobs or create and edit new data files.

12.

KEY WORDS (Six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only proper names; and separate key words by semicolon s) electronic bulletin boards, electronic product delivery, peer to peer

communications, information exchanges

13. AVAILABILITY

|y—Unlimited

22 For Official Distribution. Do Not Release to NTIS

PH Order From Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

" 20402.

[Xj Order From National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA. 22161

14. NO. OF

PRINTED PAGES

36

15. Price

$9.95

USCOMM-OC 6043-P 80