1. Background ------------- Synchronet BBS software supports the optional storage and display of character/block-graphic "avatars" for users of a BBS as well as the authors of messages imported from message networks.
Other BBS software packages have also adopted the Synchronet avatar specifications and distribution model. The technical details of Synchronet avatars, including their sharing and storage formats, are not within the scope of this document, but more information can be found by following the links in the References section.
1.1 The Problem --------------- The Synchronet user avatar data is not sent/stored with every posted message, but rather the avatar data is communicated out-of-band from networked discussion areas and the stored avatars include metadata to allow them to be correlated with the authors of subsequently locally-posted and received networked messages. This correlation is necessary in order to display the proper stored avatar corresponding with each message's author.
Since avatars may be shared among BBSes using one of a number of message networking technologies (e.g. QWK, NNTP, FidoNet), and a BBS may have multiple FidoNet addresses (AKAs), a single correlatable ID was saught to enable the identification of the proper avatar to be displayed with the author of a networked message, regardless of which FidoNet-technology-network address from which the message was posted.
For example, a BBS may store an avatar for "Rob Swindell" at 1:103/705 (the FidoNet address of Vertrauen BBS) but would want that same avatar to be displayed along with any messages received from "Digital Man" at 21:1/183 (the fsxNet address of Vertrauen BBS). Solving the correlation of user aliases and real names is not within the scope of this document.
1.2 The Solution ---------------- Since BBSes that support QWK packet technology must already have a globally unique ID (the so-called BBS-ID or "Board ID" from which their QWK packet files are named), it made logical sense to reuse this same ID as the method of correlating any message received via FidoNet with the avatar data stored for the message author.
2. Definition ------------- A control paragraph (AKA kludge line) that contains a FidoNet node's BBS-ID has the format.
BBSID: <bbs-id>
Where <bbs-id> is a string of between 2 and 8 monocased ASCII characters, begining with an alphabetic character (betweeen 'A' and 'Z' inclusive). Only MS-DOS compatible filename characters may be included in a BBS-ID.
The current common practice is for FidoNet message control paragraphs to be introduced with an ASCII 1 (SOH) character and terminated with an ASCII 13 (CR) character.
Although a BBS sysop would best serve their users by having a globally unique BBS-ID, there's no existing known method to insure that is the case. So some creativity and research on the part of the sysop is recommended when determining what their BBS-ID should be and it should not be changed once the system usership has been established.
3. Deployment ------------- Synchronet and its FidoNet echomail program, SBBSecho, added BBSID kludge line support in December of 2020 (w/SBBSecho v3.12). So it's likely that the nodes of various FidoNet technology networks around the world started importing and storing echomail messages with BBS-IDs around this same time. So this document (from late 2023) finally formally defines the intention and use of this new metadata.
Its possible that other uses for shared correlatable BBS-IDs within the metadata of FidoNet netmail and echomail messages may come to light in the future.
Sling Blade quote #11: Doyle Hargraves (to Karl): What in the hell you doin' with that hammer? Norco, CA WX: 64.1°F, 58.0% humidity, 0 mph E wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
