        ͻ
                                                    Ŀ
              K E E P I N G   I N   T O U C H        
                      
            SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter      
              for registered SPITFIRE Sysops!        
                      January  1995                  
           Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE     
             Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496      
               38400/19200/9600/2400/1200 Bps        
                          2 Nodes                    
                                                     
        ͼ 
          
                    Edited by Jacque Shipley
       The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 57600 Bps
                Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede
      Roam This Fertile Land -  (515) 288-8755 - 14400 Bps
         Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz
                  Other Contributions As Noted

        Best wishes for a Happy New Year to all SPITFIRE Sysops!

ͻ
    Notes from the author of SPITFIRE!   Ŀ
ͼ 
  

͸
 SPITFIRE REGISTERED BBS STATISTICS 
;

   Listed below are the active registered SPITFIRE boards state by
state and country by country.  We are providing the number of SPITFIRE
boards per state/country which were active at the end of 1991, 1992,
1993 and 1994 for comparison purposes.  These statistics may not be
100% accurate but they are compiled using the most up to date
information that we have.  These statistics are arrived at by using
only those boards operating with SPITFIRE v3.4 and SPITFIRE v3.5. So
in other words, we assume any Sysop who has not upgraded to v3.4 or
v3.5 are no longer operating a board or is no longer operating
SPITFIRE.  Therefore those boards are not calculated in this data
even though we are aware of some SPITFIRE boards operating with older
versions.

                                              Year of 1994
__________________1991_1992_1993_1994 * Amount Increased
AE................   0    5    6    7                  1
AP................   0   11    8   12                  4
Alaska............  14   18   20   19                  Decreased
Alabama...........   7   11   13   22                  9
Arkansas..........  12   11   10   13                  3
Arizona...........  40   51   61   57                  Decreased
California........ 105  134  150  158                  8
Colorado..........   5    4    7   13                  5
Connecticut.......  15   19   24   21                  3
Delaware..........  17   31   28   27                  Decreased
Florida...........  46   70   80   96                  16
Georgia...........  18   25   34   38                  2
Hawaii............   0    3    4    5                  1
Iowa..............  38   49   66   79                  13
Idaho.............   8   12   14   17                  3
Illinois..........  50   80   84   86                  3
Indiana...........  19   27   43   57                  14
Kansas............  13   23   24   26                  2
Kentucky..........   5   22   26   34                  8
Louisiana.........  21   33   44   50                  16
Massachusetts.....  15   12   20   22                  2
Maryland..........  11   16   14   15                  1
Maine.............  18   34   33   27                  Decreased
Michigan..........  17   25   32   33                  1
Minnesota.........   4    9   15   16                  1
Missouri..........  14   21   28   38                  10
Mississippi.......   9   11   11   17                  6
Montana...........   2    4    4    9                  3
North Carolina....  19   26   34   52                  18
North Dakota......   1    2    1    0                  Decreased
Nebraska..........  24   26   31   39                  8
New Hampshire.....   1    2    9   14                  5
New Jersey......... 16   25   28   33                  5
New Mexico........   4    7    8   10                  2
Nevada............  34   43   35   31                  Decreased
New York..........  31   40   37   54                  17
Ohio..............  34   52   64   77                  13
Oklahoma..........  10   11   21   23                  2
Oregon............  10   23   31   38                  7
Pennsylvania......  30   45   64   62                  Decreased
Rhode Island......   5   11    8    7                  Decreased
South Carolina....  16   12   13   20                  7
South Dakota......   6    5    6    7                  1
Tennessee.........   9   11   19   29                  10
Texas.............  65  119  136  145                  9
Utah..............   5    5    4    6                  2
Virginia..........  15   23   29   29                  No Change
Washington........  18   33   27   30                  3
West Virginia.....   6    5    4    4                  No Change
Wisconsin.........  12   20   24   28                  4
Wyoming...........   0    2    6    8                  2
Argentina.........   0    0    1    0                  Decreased
Australia.........  11    7    7   13                  6
Belgium...........   0    0    1    1                  No Change
Brazil............   1    1    2    2                  No Change
Canada............  89  116  148  153                  5
Central America...   0    0    0    1                  1
England...........   7   13    9    8                  Decreased
France............   7   16   18   18                  No Change
Germany...........   0    0    2    2                  No Change
Greece............   0    0    1    1                  No Change
Guam..............   1    3   10    7                  Decreased
Iceland...........   0    0    1    1                  No Change
Israel............   1    1    1    1                  No Change
Italy.............   1    1    2    1                  Decreased
Liechtenstein.....   0    0    1    1                  No Change
Netherlands.......   9   13   12    9                  Decreased
New Zealand.......  14   17    8   10                  2
Portugal..........   2    7   12    8                  Decreased
Puerto Rico.......   5    4    7    6                  Decreased
Scotland..........   1    1    1    2                  1
Saudia Arabia.....   0    0    2    4                  2
Singapore.........   0    1    0    0                  No Change
South Korea.......   0    0    1    1                  No Change
Virgin Islands....   0    0    1    1                  No Change
Venezuela.........   0    0    0    1                  1
West Indies.......   0    1    0    1                  No Change

    Canada, bragging about 153 active SPITFIRE boards, nearly passed
the great state of California, bragging about 158 active SPITFIRE
boards.  Let's not forget 3rd place Texas, bragging about 145 active
SPITFIRE boards.
        
    We feel it is important to note that SPITFIRE has been
registered 3346 times and according to our information 2014 of
these boards are still active.  If my calculations are correct,
this means there is a 60.2% success rate among SPITFIRE Sysops.

͸
 >>>>>  SFNET REPORT <<<<< 
;

   SFNET Secretary is going to provide you with various facts and
figures regarding SFNET in the newsletter so I am not going to go
into that kind of detail.

   I will, however, take this opportunity to thank all SPITFIRE/SFNET
Sysops for the time, effort and expense which is put into SFNET on a
regular basis.  Without their efforts, SFNET would not be successful.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all SFNET
Conference Moderators for the job which they perform.  Moderating a
conference is not an easy job and I surely appreciate the job which
they perform.  A special thanks to moderator Dean Gill since his
duties go a bit beyond (smiling) the normal moderators duties.  I
would like to thank Tom Lehner for the job he has performed as our
SFNET Regional Coordinator.  Tom has performed his job well and has
withstood the test of time.  We would be remiss if we didn't extend a
special thank you to our SFNET Secretary (and my good friend) Jacque
Shipley.

   Last and surely not least, our callers who participate in SFNET
deserve a GREAT BIG thank you.  Jacque and I have both noticed an
increase in our callers participation in SFNET.  I think this is
wonderful.

   So thanks to everyone who has helped make SFNET a mail system
which most SPITFIRE Sysops (and their families) can be proud.  I
confident that we can work together during the year of 1995 and make 
SFNET even better ... Thank you.

                         Until next time, may God bless you...
                         Mike, Ann & family

                         ͻ
                           Jesus saith unto him, I am the   Ŀ
                           way, the truth and the life...    
                                               John 14:6     
                         ͼ 
                           

͸ 
 SFNET - A YEAR END REVIEW 
;

   It is difficult to look back on the accomplishments of 1994 without
reflecting on the amazing achievements of SFNET.

   The announcement in the June newsletter to start a SPITFIRE
'Exclusive' Mail System was made in direct response to interest
expressed by numerous SPITFIRE Sysops.  SFNET was organized at that
time with the intent of providing these Sysops and their callers a mail
system where they could share ideas, seek and/or offer assistance to
one another, and generally promote a POSITIVE exchange of messages
between SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems.  Another primary objective of
SFNET was to give the Sysops a voice in the direction of this new mail
system.

   Within just weeks of the announcement, SFNET witnessed its first
mail runs on June 15th.  It is important to remember that in addition
to starting a new mail system, SFNET was premiering Buffalo Creek
Software's QWK Mail software package, SHILOH.  Thus, exercising some
caution, SFNET began with only 10 conferences.  Nothing short of
amazing can describe the initial success of SFNET and SHILOH and,
within the first week, another 15 conferences were added.

   By July, in just two weeks time, there were 76 nodes actively
participating in SFNET.  From that point on, the growth of SFNET
continued on a scale that not even the most optimistic projections
could have forseen.

  This is not to say that SFNET, like any new venture, did not
experience some 'growing pains' in the early stages of its development.
However, it appears that these hurdles subsided as the intent and
direction of SFNET became firmly established.

  Perhaps the greatest tribute to attest to the maturing of SFNET is
the recent transition of stepping beyond merely being a Sysop mail
system.  SFNET has evolved into a mail system where the BBS callers are
becoming involved and actively participating in conference discussions
(the exception, of course, is conference topics limited to or targeted
specifically for Sysops).
  
  The number of Message Conferences topics available on the SFNET mail
system was expanded to 49 conferences.  And although, there are
suggestions for new conferences pending, the current focus of SFNET is
not to randomly add new conferences but rather to replace topics having
minimal participation.  For instance, the Photography conference was
just recently reassigned the topic of Current Events.

   As for messages, since its beginning, there have been 84,571 messages
which passed through SFNET's International Hub.  For the statistical minded,
the conference break down is as follows:

SPITFIRE Question & Answers  10,101   SPITFIRE 3rd Party Programs   3,329
SFNET Business                8,692   Sysops Helping Sysops        10,614
Cooking & Recipes             1,477   Legal Discussions               709
Genealogy                       426   Wanted/For Sale/Trade         3,498
BBS Ads                       1,202   Young Peoples Chat            8,439
Front End Programs              485   Pascal Programming              461
C Programming                   425   Arts, Crafts & Hobbies          731
Microsoft Windows               914   Ham Radio                     1,151
Gardening                       333   Graphics                        344
OS2                             484   Local Area Networks             249
General Religion (previously
Financial Management)           375   BBS Doors                     2,567
SHILOH Support                2,168   Offline Readers                 861
Christianity                  3,299   Military Personnel              838
Modems                        1,243   Photography                     237
BASIC Programming               591   DOS Discussions               1,155
Flight Simulator                479   Computer Virus                  313
CD-Rom                          986   Home Improvement                279
Senior Citizens                 419   Sound Cards                     288
Music                         2,300   Science Fiction               1,378
Sports                          775   Women Issues                    243
Men Issues                      532   Missing Children                259
Changing Work Environment        92   Common/General Chat           6,261
Physically Challenged           144   Education/Teachers              141
Family Matters                  330   Moderators                    1,407
Writers                         547

  Mike Woltz can be very proud of the accomplishments of SFNET!   Not
only is SFNET the mail system that SPITFIRE Sysops were seeking, but
SHILOH efficiently handles the daily mail transfers from node to node
without a hitch!  Thank you Mike, for a job well done!

  The opportunity is also taken at this time to extend a special thank
you to each of the conference host/moderators.  They volunteer their
time to monitor conference activity on a daily basis.  In addition,
they greet participants, stimulate discussion, and when necessary
ensure the guidelines are followed.  Your efforts are to be commended!

  But perhaps the true measure of SFNET's success is seen in the node
list.  The January Node List shows that there are now 347 SPITFIRE
systems which offer SFNET on their BBS.  And it is these nodes which
are SFNET's greatest asset.  It is the individual nodes, the individual
BBSes whose contribution is responsible for the success which SFNET has
achieved.  For indeed they are SFNET!  And without their participation
and support of SFNET none of this would be possible.  Thanks to each of
you and may you and SFNET continue to prosper in 1995.


͸ 
 ONE LESS STAR SHINES IN TEXAS 
;
 
  I first "met" Sonny Grisom when he called me for advice on SPITFIRE
and how easy it was to run.  Within two weeks Sonny had sent in his
registration and was picking my brain on how to set things up.  However
in a short time he was blowing my little BBS away.  The Old Poops World
became a top Dallas area bulletin board. Last year in a poll it was
named the most popular board in the area ... no mean feat in an area
(Dallas/Ft. Worth) which claims over 300 BBS's monthly!  However Sonny
even made that honor a joy.  He often gave claim for his board's
success to Hattie, the little pig that greeted you on his BBS.  Whether
it was having a rich file base or adding new message areas (he was the
the second SFNet node in the 214 area code!), Sonny wanted his users to
have fun.  Perhaps that is why his BBS was known for the online door
games.
 
  When I got the word Thursday that Sonny passed on from a heart attack,
I was shocked.  How could this man be taken from us?  However, I am
comforted by my faith that Sonny was merely called to run a really BIG
BBS for the ultimate sysop.  Sonny, if you're reading this, a man's
worth is truly measured by the people he touches; there is no figure
for the worth you left behind.
 
... Sh'ma Yisrael: Hashem elohenu, Hashem echad!
 
Article Contributed by Bobb Waller
FIAWOL/MSConnections * (214) 790-6472


͸
 SPITFIRE DOOR REVIEW - PYRAMID 
;

  It's OOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTT!!!!  Tim Ward has released his
Pyramid Door Game as a New Year's present to us all.  Pyramid is not a
revolutionary new concept in a door game.  It's the classic solitaire
pyramid card game done exceptionally well.  TPYRAMID*.* is the file of
the shareware version.  For once, Tim has slightly crippled a program
of his...and is apologizing all over the place!  The shareware version
doesn't allow all the options in the door, but is completely playable.
However, the game can be registered for only $10 and the same key will
register future doors as well.  What a bargain!!

  Now, let me give you a brief history of a Beta tester.  Tim Ward made
the mistake of giving me his voice phone number some time back.  We
were discussing Tim's first attempt at writing a door.  I whined that I
really missed a pyramid-style door game that I used to play on a
Wildcat board.  Unfortunately, it was buggy and the Sysop removed it
about the time I was completely hooked.  Lo and behold, this was
exactly what Tim had started!  I whined some more and was on the Beta
team!

  When I saw the config file, I really thought that I had over-matched
myself.  Don't let it scare you.  It just LOOKS complicated.  Much to
my surprise, I went breezing right through it and had the door up and
running in a matter of minutes.  The early versions did have a few
problems.  Tim hung right in there and fixed them just as fast as they
were reported.

  I had an entirely different problem.  I was totally addicted to the
game.  Other Beta testers have reported the same symptoms.  There
wasn't time to make new screens, answer messages or set up utilities.
I had to play Pyramid!!  I eventually set the game down to only allow
three games per day.  THEN I found myself logging on under fictitious
names to play some more!!  More than one user has been booted off my
system because I wanted to play Pyramid!!

  It wasn't long before my users were experiencing the same symptoms!
The door is gaining in popularity all the time.  It is already in my
top 5 doors and I never mentioned it to my general users.

  Tim Ward has earned a well-deserved reputation for writing excellent
utilities for SPITFIRE.  He's continuing this reputation with his
Pyramid door.  Tim gives superb support for his products and is
available on just about every mail network around including our very
own SFNet.

Article contributed by Della Moore
Moore Fun BBS - (417) 886-4051


͸
 SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH 
;

                                Tom Miller
                           The Swamp Thang BBS
                              (504) 347-8152

   I sat down at my keyboard today (just like I do every morning),
logged onto our BBS and downloaded a QWK Mail packet to read at the
office.  Upon looking at the messages there it was--a message from Mike
Woltz saying that our board, The Swamp Thang BBS, had been selected as
the SPITFIRE Board of the Month.  What a way to start the New Year!

   My wife, Miriam, and I started this great hobby about three years
ago.  It started one night when I found the Telix Host program.  I
installed and configured the program and it worked very well.  I had
friends which began calling to download shareware files which I had
downloaded from Delphi and other bulletin board systems.  We worked
with the author of this host program and took it a long way.  We had
about 200 users.

   One night a SPITFIRE Sysop, Danny Wilkerson, of Micro Sense BBS
called our BBS, helped us upgrade our system with a 14.4 modem and we
became friends.  I began calling Danny's BBS and found out that his
board ran very well.

   As time went on we wanted to add CD ROM capability to our BBS with a
Pioneer 6-pack unit.  The little host program simply could not handle
this task.  We evaluated many BBS programs including SPITFIRE and
WildCat.  We set up WildCat first and discovered that it was very slow
working with the CD ROM changer.  Then we evaluated SPITFIRE and WOW it
was easy to install and configure!  We added Mike Robinson's SFROM
program to work the Pioneer changer and that was it--we were hooked on
SPITFIRE!  SPITFIRE ran like a clock.

   The BBS now runs on a 486-33 with 1.1 GigaBytes of hard drive space,
four Pioneer 6-pack CD ROM changers, and a US Robotics Dual Standard
28.8 v.34 modem.  With approximately 400 users the one node is doing
fine.  However, if the activity of the BBS continues to increase as it
has in the past, we will soon be adding another node!  Thanks to Mike
Woltz we are now the 504 HUB for SFNET, provide InterNET E-Mail, have
more than 200 InterNET UseNET Newsgroups and will soon be adding
approximately 100 RIME conferences.

   I would also like to thank my Remote Sysop Dean Gill, Mike Woltz and
all the great SPITFIRE SySops in the local area who have helped us to
advance this far.

Tom, Miriam and Dean.

͸
 SPITFIRE SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH 
;        

                            Peter Welch
                          Pete's Place BBS
                      SFNET Area Code 604 HUB
                            604-478-2635



   Wow, Can you imagine the surprise I got when I d/led my nightly
SFNET packet from the International Hub and found a message to me
saying that I had been chosen to be this months "SysOp of the Month"??
I felt honored and had kind of a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

   Well, let me tell you a bit about me, I'm 34 and live in Victoria,
B.C., Canada.  For those of you that don't know, Victoria is on a small
island off the West Coast of Canada.  I have a lovely wife Tami, and a
17 month old son Tyler.

   I really enjoy being a BBS SysOp, and have been for just over 5
years.  My older brother brought over some BBS software on CHRISTmas
day in 1989 and as the day was progressing and we had finished opening
our gifts and were awaiting the fabulous turkey dinner my wife cooks,
my brother asked me if I wanted to setup a BBS on my computer.  I had
called a few BBS's but had NEVER thought of running one.  I asked him
if it was hard work to run a BBS as I had just bought the computer and
was a novice at running it.  Well in about an hour we had the BBS up
and running with Spitfire version 2.7.  Wow for someone that was a
total novice at this, it was very easy to setup and have it running in
a very short time.  Back then we were running on a old 8088 Turbo XT
with a 32 meg hard drive and a 1200 baud modem, that was 5 years ago
and I've enjoyed it ever since.  Mind you there was a time last
February that I had felt that I had lost all interest in the BBS and
had decided to take the BBS down.  I deleted everything, even
reformatted the hard drive and didn't make a backup.  About a week
later, after being so miserable and bored, as if something was missing,
I found myself in front of my computer re-installing Spitfire 3.4 and
setting everything back up again.  I had changed the BBS name from it's
original Pete's Place to Tyler's Treehouse after my son.  I felt the
change was what I needed.  I think what I really needed was just the
BBS, as they say "Once a SysOp, always a SysOp".  Then in the early
fall, after having to explain to people hundreds of times, why the BBS
name was Tyler's Treehouse and my name was Peter, I changed back to the
original name of Pete's Place.  We now run on a 386DX/40 with 8 megs of
ram, 2 CD-ROMS, and a 14.4 USR modem.

   I like having a new caller log on and ask "What am I doing, I've
never called a BBS before??"  Helping people just starting out is just
one of the challenges I enjoy running a BBS and I also love it when I
can't get something to run and then BANG it works.

   With the addition of SFNET to my BBS it has completed what I wanted
in a BBS for myself to run.  I wanted door games, I have 13 registered
on-line, I wanted files, I have over 1.3 gigs on 2 CD-ROMS, and I
wanted to have e-mail and do carry a small network of mail called
BBCNet which is just echoed to various BBS's in British Columbia, but
SFNET was the icing on the cake for me.

   I am also a member of a local computer club here in Victoria called
Big Blue and Cousins.  It's a GREAT club with over 1500 members.

   Well, I'm not really good at this kind of stuff so I hope I haven't
bored you too much, but hope to be around still being a sysop in
another 5 years.  Thanks to Mike Woltz for choosing me as SysOp of The
Month.  Thanks to my Wife who understands when I just have to get to
the computer because it has crashed or I want to change something and I
say, "I'll just be a minute dear", and 2 hours later, I'm still at it.
And Thanks to the SPITFIRE Family for just being there if you are
needed.


͸
  NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS 
;

   A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have
recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems:

32-Bit BBS...................................Unknown Phone...57600 BPS
Rob McGee, Sysop..................................Forest Grove, Oregon

Trilithic Trinet BBS..........................317-895-3612...14400 BPS
Trilithic Component Operations, Sysop............Indianapolis, Indiana

Gates of Hell.................................606-291-3453...57600 BPS
Brad Roether, Sysop...................................Wilder, Kentucky

The Farm......................................904-794-2344...57600 BPS
Fred J. Harris, Sysop...........................St. Augustine, Florida

Ace's Place...................................908-269-9394...14400 BPS
Wayne Hendrickson, Sysop..........................Bayville, New Jersey

The Data Sector...............................717-485-5914...14400 BPS
Eldon Martin, Sysop.......................McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania

Mike's Place..................................705-524-9757...14400 BPS
Michael King, Sysop...........................Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Poseidon's World..............................601-799-2294...14400 BPS
Paul Robbins, Sysop.............................Piccayune, Mississippi

Missouri Tele-Legal BBS.......................314-727-3869...14400 BPS
Carl Ward, Sysop.....................................Clayton, Missouri

(Unknown BBS Name)............................318-281-9259.Unknown BPS
Gerald Smith, Sysop................................Bastrop, Louisiania

Circle City BBS...............................919-542-0759...14400 BPS
Roger Phillips, Sysop........................Pittsboro, North Carolina

T.A.E. BBS....................................718-527-4079....2400 BPS
Susan Blocker, Sysop.................................Jamaica, New York

World Community Church........................713-342-6561...38400 BPS
The World Community Church, Sysop......................Richmond, Texas

The Computer Guru.............................904-581-2612...14400 BPS
Ben Wabnick, Sysop.............................Hurlburt Field, Florida

Josh's Place..................................515-792-1262...57600 BPS
Josh Brittenham, Sysop....................................Newton, Iowa

Comstar America...............................Unknown Phone..28800 BPS
Andrew Branstner, Sysop...............................Des Moines, Iowa

The Desert Island.............................307-635-8809....9600 BPS
Jim Milatzo, Sysop...................................Cheyenne, Wyoming

Electron Farm.................................318-397-2809...14400 BPS
Thomas Humble, Sysop................................Calhoun, Louisiana


     In addition, there was 2 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems
registered.  The private SPITFIRE BBS was registered to Sysops in
Cincinnati, Ohio; and Farmington, New Hampshire.

     There were 21 registrations for whom registration information
was incomplete.  These included BBS's in: Farmingdale, New York; Arabi,
Louisiana; Duncan, Oklahoma; Bucyrus, Ohio; Columbus Grove, Ohio;
Greenwood, South Carolina; Watertown, Connecticut; Houston, Texas;
Carlin, Nevada; Dumont, New Jersey; Holmdel, New Jersey; Dover, New
Hampshire; Bettendorf, Iowa; Dothan, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana;
Tamuning, Guam; Oak Creek, Wisconsin; Seoul, Korea; Bloomington, Indiana;
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Orange Park, Florida.

     The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is
largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's policy of accepting on-line
Mastercard and Visa credit card registrations.


     JUST A REMINDER...the newsletter is always looking for
contributions!  Please forward any articles in ASCII text to either
Buffalo Creek's BBS or The Mother Board BBS.

