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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Hmm. No responses so far. So no one has any data supporting the use of bulletins?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Michael<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>N6MEF<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt'><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> Michael Fox - N6MEF [mailto:n6mef@mefox.org] <br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, March 13, 2017 7:25 AM<br><b>To:</b> TAPR xNOS Mailing List (nos-bbs@tapr.org) <nos-bbs@tapr.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Bulletins, really?<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Does anyone really read bulletins anymore? If yes, what is the proof?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The reason I ask: <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I just saw a bunch of 7+ bulletins come through, pumping up the bulletin mailbox size. BTW, I know this because of a bug in JNOS that causes the mailbox to explode in size (10s or 100s of MBs) when using “mbox fbb 2”. So I wrote a script to monitor mailbox sizes. I ended up going back to “mbox fbb 0” for stability, but the script is still running.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So, I wondered who even uses this stuff anymore. In fact, I wouldn’t even know what to do with a 7+ bulletin. (I know it’s some sort of compressed image, but I don’t know how to create one or read one.) So I checked the mailbox .usr files. Out of 225+ users in our user group, we have about 50 who are “regularly active”, which I define as connecting at least once a week. And in the .usr file for the bulletin mailboxes, I find only 1 user call sign. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And, for that one user, did he/she actually read anything? On a regular basis? Or did they just connect once, list the mailbox, maybe read one bulletin, and go away, never to return. There’s no way to know.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So it seems to me that a lot of effort and RF bandwidth (worldwide) is used to push around stuff that no one reads. (At least, no one around here). <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Does anyone have an real data supporting the regular use of bulletins?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Michael<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>N6MEF<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>