MRC AND REAL-TIME SERVICES

Real-Time Communication on BBSes

BBSes have always supported real-time chat — SysOp chats with callers, local multi-user chat rooms, and split-screen conversation modes. What has historically been difficult is connecting users across different BBSes in real time.

FidoNet echomail, the dominant inter-BBS communication standard, is batch-oriented: messages are collected, packaged, transmitted, and processed on a schedule that might introduce hours of delay. For conversation, this is unusable. For community, it is frustrating. The BBS era produced several attempts at real-time inter-BBS communication; the modern era has a working answer: MRC.

MRC: Multi-Relay Chat

MRC (Multi-Relay Chat) is a modern real-time chat network connecting multiple BBS systems. It functions similarly to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) — but is designed specifically for integration with BBS software rather than for general internet use.

Synchronet, Mystic, and several other modern BBS platforms include built-in MRC client support. A user on one BBS can chat in real time with users on dozens of other connected BBSes. From the user's perspective, the experience is seamless: they enter a chat room and find it populated by users from systems they have never called.

MRC fills a gap that echomail cannot. It has become one of the more popular features distinguishing active modern BBSes from static ones.

IRC vs MRC

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a general-purpose protocol that BBSes can also access — some BBSes run IRC clients or gateway services, offering users access to the broader IRC network and its millions of channels. IRC has far more users than MRC and access to every mainstream topic imaginable.

MRC is purpose-built for BBS-to-BBS integration, with simpler configuration and a user community entirely composed of BBS users. The conversations in MRC rooms are among people who share a specific context: they all run or use BBSes.

Many SysOps run both. An MRC room for BBS-community conversation; an IRC gateway for the wider internet. The two serve different purposes and complement each other.

Modern Inter-BBS Network Services

Beyond real-time chat, modern BBSes participate in a range of inter-BBS services:

• FidoNet echomail and netmail — the established standard, now delivered over TCP/IP via Binkp rather than dial-up
• WWIVnet — WWIV's own message network, one of the oldest continuously operating BBS message networks
• DOVE-Net and fsxNet — high-traffic, active message networks popular among Synchronet and Mystic systems
• Usenet via NNTP — Synchronet's built-in NNTP server integrates directly with Usenet news feeds, offering access to tens of thousands of newsgroups

The modern BBS SysOp has more inter-BBS networking options available than their dial-up predecessors ever did. The global community is smaller, but it is genuine, active, and growing.