I'd like to propose a change to Nodespy to make it easier for people running multiple Mystic BBS for whatever reason. Right now I'm running two (one normal BBS, one Alpha 7 testing BBS) but have had as many as four on a screen at
once. Even with just two it gets very confusing which Nodespy is which on screen so I'd like an optional ID field of up to four characters added after the 'Node Spy' presently displayed. It would be added to the nodespy.ini as
an optional next line like :
id = Pi
Resulting in 'Node Spy Pi' showing in the present title area. Being optional ;id = 1234 might be added to the nodespy.ini to show users the idea as an
added
last line to the current nodespy.ini. I can see room in the present field for up to six characters added (visable or color codes), but I think it looks better with a space before and after the title so that's why the four characters vs six. Right now I've hacked it in to my screens with hexedit by deleting a color character and moving the space to give me two characters and using Pi and LX to identify the 'NodeSpy Pi' from 'NodeSpy LX' (for Linux),
but can see that 'Node Spy LX32' and 'Node Spy LX64'would be useful when testing the two side by side. On the Pi with wide screen HDMI monitor it's
easy to have four Nodespy displays up at once with some other room still on
the screen, I often have at least four screens up at once: two Nodespys and
two bash editing shells with a squeezed web browser to the right of them. Example at http://bcw142.zapto.org/2016-03-23-045247_1776x952_scrot.png
* WOW: connected via ssh with X forwarding scrot took the screen shot I was
* looking at and saved it to the machine I was forwarded to!
I had originally thought of using the BBS name field from mystic.dat which Nodespy reads but there isn't really room in the current display for that many characters to be added without changing the look of the screen a lot and I realized the nodespy.ini was the best place for defining added characters
and options like that as it already does with transfer_dir.
Thanks for considering changes and for the Mystic BBS software itself which
can run on a raspberry pi at about 3 watts and yet serve many people around
the world at the same time, amazing.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A4 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Cyberia BBS | Cyberia.Darktech.Org | Kingwood, TX

Re: Nodespy
By: bcw142 to g00r00 on Wed Mar 23 2016 06:06:00

I'd like to propose a change to Nodespy to make it easier for people running multiple Mystic BBS for whatever reason. Right now I'm running two

So how many SysOps watch me when I call their BBS? Hmmm..could this agrivate my paranoia? ;-)

Makes using SSH foolish don't it?

HusTler

... Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.

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þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Nodespy
By: HusTler to bcw142 on Wed Mar 23 2016 08:29 am

So how many SysOps watch me when I call their BBS? Hmmm..could this agrivate my paranoia? ;-)

I never watch any of my users, most I ever do is check to see if any nodes are active.
I see no point of watching what users do on my BBS.

---
þ Synchronet þ The Outwest BBS - outwestbbs.com - DOORS - Files -Dove-Net

Re: Nodespy
By: Roadhog to HusTler on Tue Apr 05 2016 11:32 am

I never watch any of my users, most I ever do is check to see if any nodes are active.
I see no point of watching what users do on my BBS.

sometimes i watch them and break into chat with them if they seem confused. i also watch users to see if they are just spam bots at the login.
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Nodespy
By: Roadhog to HusTler on Tue Apr 05 2016 11:32 am

So how many SysOps watch me when I call their BBS? Hmmm..could this
agrivate my paranoia? ;-)

The only time I'll nodespy is if I want to see if the user is there in case I want to pull him into chat - which I've probably done two or three times in the last year. :)

|01-|03nolageek

---
þ Synchronet þ Capitol Shrill BBS - Washington, DC - capitolshrill.com

On 04/08/16, nolageek said the following...

Re: Nodespy
By: Roadhog to HusTler on Tue Apr 05 2016 11:32 am

So how many SysOps watch me when I call their BBS? Hmmm..could this
agrivate my paranoia? ;-)

The only time I'll nodespy is if I want to see if the user is there in case I want to pull him into chat - which I've probably done two or
three times in the last year. :)

I think it would be kinda fun to have nodespy as a door. Where one user can spy on any other user on the system. Wouldn't it be fun if user One used nodespy to spy on user Two, and user Two used nodespy to spy on user One at
the same time. Would it break the universe?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A10 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Cyberia BBS | Cyberia.Darktech.Org | Kingwood, TX

nolageek wrote to Roadhog <=-

Re: Nodespy
By: Roadhog to HusTler on Tue Apr 05 2016 11:32 am

So how many SysOps watch me when I call their BBS? Hmmm..could this
agrivate my paranoia? ;-)

The only time I'll nodespy is if I want to see if the user is there in case I want to pull him into chat - which I've probably done two or
three times in the last year. :)

Things have changed. My original RA BBS on DOS, there was no choice but to watch the user, when the screen was on. That was handy back then, because I did personally know a number of my users, and would frequently get paged for a chat. Was interesting to see what users were up to, though I never paid attention or remembered what they were doing. More the fascination of watching someone else use my PC. :)

Today, the only way I can see what someone is up to is nodespy. And yes, pretty much the only time I would do it is when trying to interact with a user in real time.


... Morality consists in suspecting other people of not being legally married. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS in Bendigo, Australia.

Gryphon wrote to nolageek <=-

I think it would be kinda fun to have nodespy as a door. Where one
user can spy on any other user on the system. Wouldn't it be fun if
user One used nodespy to spy on user Two, and user Two used nodespy to
spy on user One at the same time. Would it break the universe?

Sounds like a recipe for a feedback loop. :D


... Remember the immortal words of Socrates: "I drank what?"
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS in Bendigo, Australia.

Re: Re: Nodespy
By: Vk3jed to nolageek on Sat Apr 09 2016 08:27 am

Things have changed. My original RA BBS on DOS, there was no choice but to watch the user, when the screen was on. That was handy back then, because
I did personally know a number of my users, and would frequently get paged for a chat. Was interesting to see what users were up to, though I never paid attention or remembered what they were doing. More the fascination of watching someone else use my PC. :)

it's also good for tracking down issues. users wont usually report errors but if there's a doorgame or something bombing (and possibly crashing synchronet) and the logs arent showing anything, you can watch the user who keeps doing it and track down the problem.
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Mro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

it's also good for tracking down issues. users wont usually report
errors but if there's a doorgame or something bombing (and possibly crashing synchronet) and the logs arent showing anything, you can watch the user who keeps doing it and track down the problem.

Haven't had to use nodespy that way yet, but I can certainly see that being very helpful too. :)


... You're actually going to do something. Can I watch?
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS in Bendigo, Australia.

Hello Mro!

In a message to Roadhog <04/07/20> Mro wrote:

I never watch any of my users, most I ever do is check to see if any nodes >> are active.
I see no point of watching what users do on my BBS.

sometimes i watch them and break into chat with them if they
seem confused. i also watch users to see if they are just
spam bots at the login. ---

Which is basically what I do as well.

... Get into the Xpress lane...it's the only way to drive!
---
þ wcGATE 4.2 ÷ DoveNet | Neptune's Lair 2 | Memphis TN | r13.winserver.org

Re: Nodespy
By: Roadhog to HusTler on Tue Apr 05 2016 11:32 am

So how many SysOps watch me when I call their BBS? Hmmm..could this agrivate my paranoia? ;-)

I never watch any of my users, most I ever do is check to see if any nodes are active.
I see no point of watching what users do on my BBS.

That *was* a lot of fun back in the early 90s though. It was something a lot of sysops did.

Knight

---
þ Synchronet þ The Phunc BBS -- Back from the dead! -- telnet to bbs.phunc.com

Re: Nodespy
By: Knight to Roadhog on Fri Apr 22 2016 11:41 am

That *was* a lot of fun back in the early 90s though. It was something a
lot of sysops did.

sending them fake line noise when running renegade was fun too.
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Nodespy
By: Mro to Knight on Fri Apr 22 2016 06:04 pm

sending them fake line noise when running renegade was fun too.

That's the first thing I think I've actually agreed with you on :)

Other fun was to send fake zmodem initialization strings to force their terminal program to prompt for a file upload, or to force a fake file download. Some BBSes (and IRC which they might have connected out to via an IRC client proxied through the BBS) did not filter those unique handshake strings, so sending a realtime message or in chat could trigger it.

Knight

---
þ Synchronet þ The Phunc BBS -- Back from the dead! -- telnet to bbs.phunc.com

Re: Nodespy
By: Knight to Mro on Fri Apr 22 2016 04:55 pm

sending them fake line noise when running renegade was fun too.

That's the first thing I think I've actually agreed with you on :)

Other fun was to send fake zmodem initialization strings to force their terminal program to prompt for a file upload, or to force a fake file download. Some BBSes (and IRC which they might have connected out to via an IRC client proxied through the BBS) did not filter those unique handshake strings, so sending a realtime message or in chat could trigger it.

another thing i would do is send my friends a huge ansi music song and they'd have to reboot because it locked up their terminal
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Nodespy
By: Knight to Roadhog on Fri Apr 22 2016 11:41:54

That *was* a lot of fun back in the early 90s though. It was something a lot of sysops did.

There certainly did seem to be a much higher threshold for what was deemed morally unacceptable back then. I remember chatting with multiple sysops who had been watching what I was doing on the link, and at least one of them used messages in my 'private' mail on there and passed them on to somebody that didn't like me 'for the lulz'. Scared the bejezus out of me to have a hostile stalker that suddenly knew so very much about my daily activities.

-D/K

---
Borg Burgers: We do it our way; your way is irrelevant.
þ Synchronet þ Tinfoil Tetrahedron BBS telnet://tinfoil.synchro.net

That *was* a lot of fun back in the early 90s though. It was something
a lot of sysops did.

sending them fake line noise when running renegade was fun too.

I remember IceChat (sysop-user chat door) having a feature where the sysop could have it put random fake line noise on the screen..

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com