Hello Internautes,

Well it seems there was an issue with the QWK packet exchanger for
DOVE-Net, MicroNet, RetroNet, and GameNet. It seems the batch locked in
as active back in December.

It's been fixed now, but problematically, all networks but DOVE-Net were
able to be reimported. It seems that when it went in for DOVE-Net,
tried to upload the REP packet, the FTP connection crashed out resetting
all the pointers there.

So, I could reset the DOVE-Net account and redownload everything, or the
option I am likely to do, just lose out on just under a month of
messages.

Clearly, the easy option is the option I'm doing :D

If it's really important to any of you, let me know and I'll do the deed
to get caught back up;

-Kevin

Hello Internautes !

I previously hosted a mailcow instance on my network, which recently
just decided it wanted to die on it's own accord. This unfortunately
meant that inbound and outbound email to bbs.ec was cut.

Good news is that it queued on the local mail thrower and on the
external mail servers, one of the many reasons I don't do direct
delivery.

Anyways, having had a *really* bad time with Postfix today trying to get
it to not enforce a TLS policy on the board machine (when sending
internally from the thrower to this machine), I managed to get it to
accept, relay, and not TLS to the BBS machine after like 2 hours of
screaming and panic google.

What this means is everything works again, but since mailcow is the one
that did the DKIM signing for messages all emails are no longer DKIM
signed until I can figure out how to fix that.

I could use DuoCircle again, but I like how SpamHero strips headers to
external mail servers (plus I pay for it, so there is that).

If you notice any problems, let me know.

-Kevin

Hola Modemnautes !

I've been having some issues with the modem port being locked, I've had
some issues in the past but it doesn't seem to be moving on for some
reason.

So the modem line is temporarily down until I can figure out how to get
it to start answering the phone again.

-Kevin

Hola Internautes !

Just a little announcement from the board. I've been able to fix some
of the internal relay issues to make up for the fact the board itself
isn't able to receive email correctly with TLS.

The great part about this is that it gives a better way to seal off
ports to the board that let spam get through.

Now with a little magic, Mailcow, and SpamHero I'm able to kill off the
external SMTP port to the board and all mail is handled on network.

This also means all external email to the gateway is now encripted until
the point of delivery within the internal network. At that point it's
relayed unencrypted within the private network since there isn't much
choice.

There is also a new outbound relay that I'm using which is a bit better
than Duocircle, but you will notice a delay in some cases as emails can
be flagged for a deep filter which adds a good few hours on to delivery
(if it's a bit too SPAMMY).

If you hit any problems, please let me know via Kevin on the board.

-Kevin

Hola Internautes !

I've not made too many updates to the BBS system itself just yet, this
is a thing I should do, no lies.

There are some changes to the Gopher server, this thing needs to be
completely flashed eventually since the OS is out of production.

But I did cave in an add access to a web front for PyGopherd, so if
you're not near a gopher client you can access it directly at
https://www.gopher.is

-Kevin

Hello Internautes !

I've started some work on a web board sharing a local NNTP server that
is also linked in to my local network Leafnode server (complicated right
?) to start getting a nice public / text based thing going.

I previously used Mutant Penguin's Usenet server but with anything based
in an old protocol it died many years ago.

So that's where CommunityWare.ca comes in to the game, it's a FUDForum
hosted in the German webspace that can connect to the backend Usenet
service. On the board, you'll notice a few new mmn.* hierarchies
starting to come up.

The first reboot was gayyouth.ca, I'm ashamed to admit I let that one
slide over the years. It's a shame it never quite came back to what it
was back in the early 2000s, but here's to hoping it will.

As I go along adding new topics, some of the local feeds will be added
in there too.

Any questions by all means, ask away !

-Kevin

Greeting Internautes !

I'm writing this post from the new web facing board over at
board.mmn.on.ca, I know it's a bit Millenium but you know
what, yolo kids.

I've been working on a few things actually, to bring zen to
the board. First is that I now have a Leafnode server
running behind the firewall, this way I can add some new
message networks, pick up some other usenet feeds that my
one doesn't carry, but also run a public NNTP interface for
the web board.

There are a lot of people out there that don't quite get
BBSes, and it'd be nice to be able to make things more open,
and this is one of those ways.

But I'm no fool, I have indeed put a lot of moderation
settings in full force on the web board.

-Kevin

Hola Internautes !

It has been a strange old time here, and I've been a bit silent, mainly
because I'm back at work fulltime so this takes priority but also 2020
has been a little intense and I've really just noped out of the internet
for a while.

When we're ignoring the shitshow that is our doomed planet because of
climate change that nobody but Greta seems to give a shit about, we have
things like Nazis, Facists, and good old fashioned Racists feeling
brazen enough to show their faces in public. Like we didn't have some
kind of debate about this on a global scale from 1939 to 1945.

Then there is the pandemic, brought to you by 5G and Bill Gates
appearently (I don't believe this shit, but since it's 2020 internet I
have to warn that, this is indeed, sarcasim).

So yeah, it's been a bit too much and I've spent a lot of time at home.
But now that the second wave of this 1918 level pandemic seems not to be
immediate, I can start going back outside again.

I think the BBS Newsletter for June will be totally late, mainly because
I've not even started thinking about content.

My apologies if this seems a bit angry writing, but this is where we as
humanity seem to be, blocked in some kind of dumbfuck timewarp.

-Kevin

Title: Did a thing to the website
Authors: kevin <sysop@...>
Date: 2020-05-24T09:18:18-00:00
ID: f31062f0-47fd-475e-8978-88d1f0318248

Hello Internautes !

It’s a me, Mario ! Well maybe not.

I’ve been really in my own little text based world for the past weeks, so I’ve tried a few
things for the lols like [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/) and [Logarion]
(https://logarion.orbitalfox.eu/) for a play.

I managed a good install on my local VM for Hugo, but since the VM’s version of Ubuntu
is off support I can’t get OCAML for Logarion, the had to outsource to a VPS with
DreamCompute.

Considering I’ve started to lose love of WordPress for a while now (there have been 20
updates in the last week) and need something a bit more lightweight, Logarion won for
the BBS site.

I also decided to rollback ec.je to a very simple version and tilde things with web user
accounts, which is why bbs.ec now redirects to ec.je/~bbs/. I’ve not yet decided if I’m
going to rollback uldl, but that’s a bit hard with my journal at lj.gl.

I’ve gone back and posted a lot of content on the bbs.ec site, there is a few updates to
do. You’ll notice that the About page is more detailed, timings questionable though.

That be all for now.

-Kevin

## Available Elsewhere

This document is also located at :
gopher://gopher.is:70/0/text/did-a-thing-to-the-website.md
https://bbs.ec/did-a-thing-to-the-website.html

### Original

https://ec.je/~bbs/did-a-thing-to-the-website.md

Hola todos !

Finally after years of neglect, the BBS newsletter has been finally
published.

You can find it by logging into the BBS and you'll be politely prodded
to read the new version. You can also download it on the interwebs :

https://bbs.ec/newsletter
gopher://gopher.is:70/1/newsletter

Would you like to submit something to June's Newsletter, just drop a
text (or ANSI) file here, it's End-to-End Encrypted for your pleasure :

https://web.tresorit.com/r#r4D1x2TTGCPNPAkFxu2HDQ

Hope you all enjoy it !

-Kevin

Hola todos !

Welcome to the BBS that is The Palace Network at thepalace.fr, if you
don't already know the main BBS is at dial.bbs.ec:23 (MMN) which you can
find out more about at www.bbs.ec.

Not fully sure how I'm going to populate this BBS, so it might take some
time to get up to speed. Also apologies about the odd port, since the
main BBS has the proper ports for everything.

I might put the SSH port directly here, but we shall see.

Any questions send them to me :)

-Kevin

Hello Internautes !

Not a lot is happening now days, still locked up, so I took the time to start putting some
photos up :

https://mmn.groups.io/g/main/album?id=244056 - Oslo March 2020

-Kevin

Hello Internautes !

I'm about to post something from my blog, since this whole being locked
up for an extended amount of time is driving me a bit nuts :D

This happened last night, told in the medium of text message.

[23:48, 24/03/2020] Kevin: I just had a hilarious moment

[23:49, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Getting out of bed for a pee, halfway down I
managed to knock over a pint glass, thing rolls on the floor and
smashes, I try not to step in the glass, which of course means I fall
into it repeatedly, screaming

[23:50, 24/03/2020] Kevin: While all this is kicking off, I’m spraying
an ungodly amount of blood from a small little cut all over my floor

[23:50, 24/03/2020] Kevin: I give up

[23:50, 24/03/2020] Kevin: I stand in the glass cos there ain’t
anything else to stand in at this point

[23:51, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Grab the brush, bleed everywhere, try and get
this shit sorted before Kaja comes flying into the kitchen, because she
will of course, and there will be more blood and screaming

[23:52, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Meanwhile, the reason I came down is because
I needed to pee, so here I am about to piss my self, covering the floor
in more blood

[23:52, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Sweeping up

[23:53, 24/03/2020] Kevin: And my nose is running too, so blood
everywhere, going to burst a seal at any moment, nose dripping in

[23:53, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Sweeping while of course stepping on more
glass, bleeding more, making this problem a fucking horror show

[23:54, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Finally get all the pieces I can find, check
my foot, and in the process nick myself on a ninja splinter in my food,
now bleeding from my hand, considering to just piss myself and call it a
night

[23:55, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Eventually, it’s all swept up, now I’m
using wet wipes to clear a murder scene, still wishing I took the
opportunity to wet myself, when I waddle to the toilet, do my business,
figure OK we done now

[23:56, 24/03/2020] Kevin: To find Kaja blast through the windows cos
now she’s having an argument with a fucking leaf and is rilled up by
the fact she can smell blood, metaphorically and figuratively

[23:57, 24/03/2020] Kevin: I was à good 3 minutes away from being very
asleep before all of this

[23:58, 24/03/2020] Kevin: Now, now I am going to stare at the ceiling
while the angry one tries to kill whatever she thinks just exploded in
the flat

Hello Internautes !

In an effort to make inbound email more secure, I setup a relay between
the external server (mx5 in Virginia, US) and the internal servers (the
BBS & wm based in Paris, France).

At the moment, the inbound side is not getting the desired effect (TLS
errors everywhere, thanks Postfix) but a side effect is that outbound is
much more encrypted than before.

The biggest problem to work with is that the Wildcat! server does not
handle SSL very well, so to set up outbound mail relay, I had to create
a server at DreamCompute to receive mail via a VPN and toss it off in to
the wild via Mailhop.org (now DuoCirlce) while also authenticating.

Until a few minutes ago, the BBS would connect to the machine in the US
unencrypted over the VPN then send it off to DuoCircle encrypted.

Obviously, no matter what, one can not trust the Americans. Now the
setup is that the server locally wm.ec.je now accepts mail unencrypted
from the BBS (they're less than a metre appart), wm then relays off to
the front facing server using TLS, which does the same to DuoCircle.

The idea is that I also make it work in reverse using the MX GuardDog
setup, but that's still a work in progress.

The end goal is that I move some of the front machines activites back
over to a local machine and cut the cord between the external and
internal services, closing off the bridge between the machines.

But since Postfix does not really want to play the game today, that
might be a bit later on in the day.

-Kevin

Hello Internautes !

I've been trying to fit the BBS domain in a bit better, it's taken a while but I found it !

The mail domain is now bbs.ec (like bbs.ec.je but without the extra text at the end).

This means that all your mails + USENET postings now come from yourname@... !

Enjoy !

-Kevin

Hello Internautes !

Our beloved Linux server on the shelf died, like the last one. So the website went down,
mail got backlogged, you know all the fun things in life.

What I've done to fix it, was a hair pulling level of insanity, the frontend is now a
DreamCompute instance using OpenVPN to connect back in to the local network to pass
email and also for Apache to frontend proxy the website.

It wasn't easy, and I'm still trying to work out how I get it to auto connect to avoid
everything dropping off again if there is a connection issue.

There you go :)

-Kevin

Hola Internautes !

It's been a while, so I figured I might as well post some updates.

First one is that the BBS has changed it's domain (again) for emails, I
decided to use a more appropriate one in the repatoire : mrman.ca

All the old names work too, so no worries on that.

I also for some reason registered freeshell.dk (and freeshell.be) just
because.

And the file lock is fixed, mainly because I had to return my Freebox
and the external drive doesn't work in the Freebox Delta model.
Therefore messages have been securely stored on a drive I can't (for
now) access.

All good times.

-Kevin

I'm getting fairly pissed off with the number of shady ass terrible
script kiddie action happening on the old telnet ports.

So I'm starting to create accounts with what they're trying to login
with, I'm starting with default, followed by root and database.

Default is the true test, I've given it a security profile that quite
frankly you can't do a single thing with, then I've locked the account,
followed by overriding the login hours (spoiler : the account can't
login at any day or hour).

That should at least stop waisting time and crashing out wcControl but
also should fuck with their little scripts making them hang.

At the time of writing I have 6 nodes dealing with bullshit logins.

-Kevin

Hey Internautes,

There are some issues with the server that require a reboot.

Should only be a few minutes.

-Kevin

Hey Internautes,

I'm having a bit of an issue with some file locks on some of more
important files the BBS needs. One of which happens to be users.dat.

Hopefully it will clear up on it's own and doesn't seem to be affecting
logins, but of course it could cause issues with new accounts.

I'm keeping an eye on it and I'll sort it if it's impacting.

-Kevin