Hi everyone,

I'm hoping one of you may have an answer/solution that you can share with me. I've been trying for over 3 years (off and on) to resolve this issue.
Since I started my board in May 2022, I've been able to netmail routed via my hub. However, I've never been able to get a DIRECT netmail to go straight to the intended address. I'm currently using Mystic 1.12 A49. I started with 1.12 A48. I've used both windows 10/11 and currently Linux Mint 22.3. I'm wondering if anyone has figured out how to do this. If so, can you share your solution with me?

I have been all over the Mystic Wiki, searched the interweb and played with different settings. The only thing that I can figure is that it's related to the way I've got the EchoMail Node "Route Info" setup. It works for standard netmail but not for DIRECT netmail.

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions!

|11ogg
|11SYSOP, Altair IV BBS
|11altairiv.ddns.net:2323
|11SSBBSS-O-00003 Certified BBS SYSOP

... Next time you wave at me, use more than one finger!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (altairiv.ddns.net:2323) (1:106/1)

On 11 Mar 2026, ogg said the following...

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping one of you may have an answer/solution that you can share
with me. I've been trying for over 3 years (off and on) to resolve this issue. Since I started my board in May 2022, I've been able to netmail routed via my hub. However, I've never been able to get a DIRECT
netmail to go straight to the intended address. I'm currently using Mystic 1.12 A49. I started with 1.12 A48. I've used both windows 10/11 and currently Linux Mint 22.3. I'm wondering if anyone has figured out
how to do this. If so, can you share your solution with me?

I have been all over the Mystic Wiki, searched the interweb and played with different settings. The only thing that I can figure is that it's related to the way I've got the EchoMail Node "Route Info" setup. It works for standard netmail but not for DIRECT netmail.

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions!

ogg
SYSOP, Altair IV BBS
altairiv.ddns.net:2323
SSBBSS-O-00003 Certified BBS SYSOP

Answering here for others to see/comment, but I gave ogg this info in another network echomail base:

[snip]
So you would need to configure Mystic to know about the destination node in the same way you configure it to know about a hub you
would connect to for a network.

Then for example you would make routing for the network something like;

1:*!1:123/101

That means route everything for that network (1:*) to the hub, EXCEPT node 1:123/101

Then you create a new node record purely for 1:123/101 and you have a mini "network" of just the 2 nodes, yours and the
destination.

Info can be found here; https://wiki.mysticbbs.com/doku.php?id=config_echomail_nodes&s[]=route&s[]=info#:~:text=Route%20Info,-Routing

I hope this helps =)
[/snip]

... How is it possible to have a civil war?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (2:250/5)

On 11 Mar 2026, ogg said the following...

og> Thank you for the link. I actually do this exact thing in my setup. My
og> confusion came from the wiki talking about being able to also do direct
og> netmail. In real life, that's not technically correct (or is it
og> obsolete). I don't want to fiddle with the routing every time I want to
og> netmail someone, so I'll drop the search.

Technically Mystic can route using nodelist entries directly too, check out ./mis poll route 1:123/101 (example node address).

Mystic can route using a properly created and populated nodelist, but one thing I've noticed over the recent years, is that most
networks don't provide a properly compiled nodelist, if at all.

It would also depend on the receiving system being open to receive netmails directly and that is going to be very hit or miss as
most systems and sysops don't really go that far into their setup these days.

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw |10S|02SBBSS|08-|10M|08-|100|020001 |10C|02ertified |10B|02BS |10S|02YSOP

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... The only place I want data loss is on my credit card!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (2:250/5)

Hi Christian,

On 2026-03-12 16:37:42, you wrote to ogg:

It would also depend on the receiving system being open to receive netmails directly and that is going to be very hit or miss

That's a misconfiration, and should be fixed, or the node should atleast be marked Pvt in the nodelist.

as most systems and sysops don't really go that far into their setup
these days.

It should be the default for any software to accept crashmail! Because otherwise the system doesn't belong in the nodelist.

And it is my experience that most fidosystems do.


Bye, Wilfred.

--- FMail-lnx64 2.3.2.6-B20251227
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)

On 11 Mar 2026, ogg said the following...

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping one of you may have an answer/solution that you can share
with me. I've been trying for over 3 years (off and on) to resolve this issue. Since I started my board in May 2022, I've been able to netmail routed via my hub. However, I've never been able to get a DIRECT
netmail to go straight to the intended address. I'm currently using Mystic 1.12 A49. I started with 1.12 A48. I've used both windows 10/11 and currently Linux Mint 22.3. I'm wondering if anyone has figured out
how to do this. If so, can you share your solution with me?

I have been all over the Mystic Wiki, searched the interweb and played with different settings. The only thing that I can figure is that it's related to the way I've got the EchoMail Node "Route Info" setup. It works for standard netmail but not for DIRECT netmail.

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions!

You mentioned the word EchoMail. I assume you have it set to 'Netmail' and not EchoMail. For HobbyNet, the routing is 954:* Is this the format you are using for the network?

I'm told that you can use one Netmail conference area to send for all networks, but I assign one for each.

Mike Dippel
Get Your Site Listed
https://bbs-list.net


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/64)
* Origin: Mystic Hobbies BBS, mystic-hobbies.com (3:712/1321.6)

...SNIP...

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions!

You mentioned the word EchoMail. I assume you have it set to 'Netmail' and not EchoMail. For HobbyNet, the routing is 954:* Is this the
format you are using for the network?

I'm told that you can use one Netmail conference area to send for all networks, but I assign one for each.

Mike Dippel

Thanks Mike. I did mean Netmail.

I do use only one conference for all netmail. In another thread where we discussed this, it appears that the only way to have Mystic send directly to, for instance 1:ab/cde, is to add this address into the routing table for that particular network. I've decided that I don't want to "fiddle" with adding individual addresses so I decided to give it up! I'll just accept that all netmail will be routed.

Scott

|11ogg
|11SYSOP, Altair IV BBS
|11altairiv.ddns.net:2323
|11SSBBSS-M-00003 Certified BBS SYSOP

... 640K ought to be enough for anybody. -Bill Gates, 1981.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (altairiv.ddns.net:2323) (1:106/1)

On 12 Mar 2026, Wilfred van Velzen said the following...

It should be the default for any software to accept crashmail! Because otherwise the system doesn't belong in the nodelist.

And it is my experience that most fidosystems do.

Yes most systems accept crashmail, but don't you need to configure a password at either end so that each system can authenticate and send/receive from each other? Just setting up a system and sending messages will result in auth errors until they've been "set up" fully, right?

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw |10S|02SBBSS|08-|10M|08-|100|020001 |10C|02ertified |10B|02BS |10S|02YSOP

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... "No comment" is a comment.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (2:250/5)

Hi Christian,

On 2026-03-12 19:53:12, you wrote to me:

It should be the default for any software to accept crashmail!
Because otherwise the system doesn't belong in the nodelist. And it
is my experience that most fidosystems do.

Yes most systems accept crashmail, but don't you need to configure a password
at either end so that each system can authenticate and send/receive from each
other?

No. When you have setup a secure link with another system it's not crashmail. Crashmail is when you send mail to a system you don't have a pre-configured secure link with.

Just setting up a system and sending messages will result in auth
errors until they've been "set up" fully, right?

Nope. On most systems the packet will just end up in the "none secure" inbound. What happens with packets in the none secure inbound is up to the sysop and how he configures his system, and the features his tosser has for this.

Bye, Wilfred.

--- FMail-lnx64 2.3.2.6-B20251227
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)

On 12 Mar 2026, Wilfred van Velzen said the following...

Hi Christian,

On 2026-03-12 19:53:12, you wrote to me:

It should be the default for any software to accept crashmail!
Because otherwise the system doesn't belong in the nodelist. And it
is my experience that most fidosystems do.

Yes most systems accept crashmail, but don't you need to configure a password
at either end so that each system can authenticate and send/receive fr
each
other?

No. When you have setup a secure link with another system it's not crashmail. Crashmail is when you send mail to a system you don't have a pre-configured secure link with.

Just setting up a system and sending messages will result in auth errors until they've been "set up" fully, right?

Nope. On most systems the packet will just end up in the "none secure" inbound. What happens with packets in the none secure inbound is up to
the sysop and how he configures his system, and the features his tosser has for this.

I had a scenario recently where a sysop was looking to get his fidonet
number. He used me as a hub to forward a netmail to my hub. He was a little annoying in trying to poll me so I ended up blocking him not knowing what he was up to. Turns out, he contacted me through another network we share. I was able to send him to read policy4. He actually, a couple of weeks later, showed up in the nodelist. I never saw his actual note to my hub as I don't accept unsecured mail. What you're saying above is I should have accepted his mail and then what? Read it and them decide what to do? That to me seems like leaving your front door open and letting anyone walk in unannounced/uninvited.

Bye, Wilfred.

--- FMail-lnx64 2.3.2.6-B20251227
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)

|10ogg
|10S|02YSOP, Altair IV BBS
|10altairiv.ddns.net:2323
|10S|02SBBSS|07-|10M|07-|100|020003 |10C|02ertified |10B|02BS |10S|02YSOP

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (altairiv.ddns.net:2323) (1:106/1)

On 12 Mar 2026, ogg said the following...

I had a scenario recently where a sysop was looking to get his fidonet number. He used me as a hub to forward a netmail to my hub. He was a little annoying in trying to poll me so I ended up blocking him not knowing what he was up to. Turns out, he contacted me through another

That was me, sorry about that! I confused the whole net/region/zone thing on my first read-thru of policy4. That document is a little... obtuse.

... What was the best thing before sliced bread?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/01/27 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: The Dark Side (1:19/44)

Hi ogg,

On 2026-03-12 16:46:33, you wrote to me:

Yes most systems accept crashmail, but don't you need to

configure a

password
at either end so that each system can authenticate and send/receive

fr

each
other?

No. When you have setup a secure link with another system it's not
crashmail. Crashmail is when you send mail to a system you don't have a
pre-configured secure link with.

Just setting up a system and sending messages will result in auth
errors until they've been "set up" fully, right?

Nope. On most systems the packet will just end up in the "none secure"
inbound. What happens with packets in the none secure inbound is up to
the sysop and how he configures his system, and the features his tosser
has for this.

I had a scenario recently where a sysop was looking to get his fidonet number. He used me as a hub to forward a netmail to my hub.

You don't have to do that. He has to crash his request himself at the Host of the net where he wants to become a node.

as I don't accept unsecured mail.

Then why are you in the nodelist? You should be a point, if other nodes can't send you crashmails, you don't need a public node number.

What you're saying above is I should have accepted his mail and then
what? Read it and them decide what to do? That to me seems like
leaving your front door open and letting anyone walk in unannounced/uninvited.

No it's like having a postbox infront of your house where anyone can put mail in, instead of a locked box where only the postman and you have a key.


Bye, Wilfred.

--- FMail-lnx64 2.3.2.6-B20251227
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)

On 12 Mar 2026, Wilfred van Velzen said the following...

Hi ogg,

On 2026-03-12 16:46:33, you wrote to me:

Yes most systems accept crashmail, but don't you need to

configure a

password
at either end so that each system can authenticate and send/rece

fr

each
other?

No. When you have setup a secure link with another system it's not
crashmail. Crashmail is when you send mail to a system you don't have
pre-configured secure link with.

Just setting up a system and sending messages will result in aut
errors until they've been "set up" fully, right?

Nope. On most systems the packet will just end up in the "none secure
inbound. What happens with packets in the none secure inbound is up t
the sysop and how he configures his system, and the features his toss
has for this.

I had a scenario recently where a sysop was looking to get his fidonet
number. He used me as a hub to forward a netmail to my hub.

You don't have to do that. He has to crash his request himself at the
Host of the net where he wants to become a node.

He didn't understand that. We got him the corret info eventually

as I don't accept unsecured mail.

Then why are you in the nodelist? You should be a point, if other nodes can't send you crashmails, you don't need a public node number.

By that logic, I could just open the door to your house and walk right in unannounced/uninvited.

What you're saying above is I should have accepted his mail and then what? Read it and them decide what to do? That to me seems like leaving your front door open and letting anyone walk in unannounced/uninvited.

No it's like having a postbox infront of your house where anyone can put mail in, instead of a locked box where only the postman and you have a key.

We apparently have a difference of opinion. I will respect your right to have your opinion if you reciprocate.

|10ogg
|10S|02YSOP, |10A|02ltair IV BBS
|10S|02SBBSS|07-|10M|07-|100|020003 |10C|02ertified |10B|02BS |10S|02YSOP

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (altairiv.ddns.net:2323) (1:106/1)

Hi ogg,

On 2026-03-12 18:57:08, you wrote to me:

You don't have to do that. He has to crash his request himself at the
Host of the net where he wants to become a node.

He didn't understand that. We got him the corret info eventually

Of course you can help people if they are doing it wrong. Nothing wrong with that. ;-)

Then why are you in the nodelist? You should be a point, if other
nodes can't send you crashmails, you don't need a public node number.

By that logic, I could just open the door to your house and walk right in unannounced/uninvited.

No it's having a mailbox in front of your house where everybody can drop mail into. You can keep your frontdoor locked.

No it's like having a postbox infront of your house where anyone can
put mail in, instead of a locked box where only the postman and you
have a key.

We apparently have a difference of opinion. I will respect your right to have
your opinion if you reciprocate.

It's not an opinion, it's decades of established practice how things are done in Fidonet technology networks.


Bye, Wilfred.

--- FMail-lnx64 2.3.2.6-B20251227
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)

ogg wrote to Wilfred van Velzen <=-

as I don't accept unsecured mail.

Then why are you in the nodelist? You should be a point, if other nodes can't send you crashmails, you don't need a public node number.

By that logic, I could just open the door to your house and walk right
in unannounced/uninvited.

No, not the same thing at all.

No it's like having a postbox infront of your house where anyone can put mail in, instead of a locked box where only the postman and you have a key.

We apparently have a difference of opinion. I will respect your right
to have your opinion if you reciprocate.

Except that he's right and it's *NOT* a matter of opinion. It's just
simple, factual knowledge of how an FTN works. Argue if you want to,
but you're wrong. <SHRUG>




... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52
--- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (1:135/115)

By that logic, I could just open the door to your house and walk right
in unannounced/uninvited.

No, not the same thing at all.

No it's like having a postbox infront of your house where anyone can p
mail in, instead of a locked box where only the postman and you have a
key.

We apparently have a difference of opinion. I will respect your right to have your opinion if you reciprocate.

Except that he's right and it's *NOT* a matter of opinion. It's just simple, factual knowledge of how an FTN works. Argue if you want to,
but you're wrong. <SHRUG>

So I should let someone at anytime send me a packet? What do I do with it then? I'm not a hub, I'm a node. I send my packets to my hub where we've agreed upon certain credentials. He then forwards them. I don't have the software (that I'm aware of) to do that. I could manually open the packet, read the destination, then forward it. How else is it done? I'm more than willing to learn. But then why have hubs?

Scott

|10ogg
|10S|02YSOP, |10A|02ltair IV BBS
|10S|02SBBSS|07-|10M|07-|100|020003 |10C|02ertified |10B|02BS |10S|02YSOP

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (altairiv.ddns.net:2323) (1:106/1)

On Mar 12, 2026 09:45pm, Ogg wrote to Dan
Clough:

We apparently have a difference of

opinion. I will respect your

right

to have your opinion if you

reciprocate.

Except that he's right and it's *NOT* a

matter of opinion. It's just

simple, factual knowledge of how an FTN

works. Argue if you want to,

but you're wrong. <SHRUG>

So I should let someone at anytime send

me a packet? What do I do with

it then? I'm not a hub, I'm a node. I

send my packets to my hub where

we've agreed upon certain credentials.

He then forwards them. I don't

have the software (that I'm aware of) to

do that. I could manually open

the packet, read the destination, then

Netmail and echo mail IMO are two different
colored feathers on the same bird.in my
opinion, any sytem that is connected to the
network as a full node should always be open
to receiving crashed netmail packets. Again,
just my opinion.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v10.0
* Origin: Over The Brink * Grand Island, NY USA *| brinkbbs.org (1:261/20)

Hi ogg,

On 2026-03-12 21:40:47, you wrote to Dan Clough:

By that logic, I could just open the door to your house and walk

right

in unannounced/uninvited.

No, not the same thing at all.

No it's like having a postbox infront of your house where anyone can

p

mail in, instead of a locked box where only the postman and you have

a

key.

We apparently have a difference of opinion. I will respect your

right

to have your opinion if you reciprocate.

Except that he's right and it's *NOT* a matter of opinion. It's just
simple, factual knowledge of how an FTN works. Argue if you want to,
but you're wrong. <SHRUG>

So I should let someone at anytime send me a packet?

Yes.

What do I do with it then?

What ever you want. ;-)

On my system I let uncompressed pkt files, received in my unsecure inbound, be processed automatically. Everything else I get a warning for, so I can inspect it before anything is done with it.

I'm not a hub, I'm a node. I send my packets to my hub where we've
agreed upon certain credentials. He then forwards them. I don't have
the software (that I'm aware of) to do that.

Mystic has a buildin tosser, afaik, you just have to configure it to do what you want. ;-)

I could manually open the packet, read the destination, then forward
it.

You don't have to forward mail in unsecure pkt files (if you are not a host). Crashmail is supposed to only contain mail for the receiving system. (So you or your points or users)

How else is it done? I'm more than willing to learn. But then why
have hubs?

For routed netmail.


Bye, Wilfred.

--- FMail-lnx64 2.3.2.6-B20251227
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)

On 12 Mar 2026, ogg said the following...

So I should let someone at anytime send me a packet? What do I do with
it then? I'm not a hub, I'm a node. I send my packets to my hub where we've agreed upon certain credentials. He then forwards them. I don't have the software (that I'm aware of) to do that.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)

With Mystic, if:

./mystic -cfg -> Servers -> Configure Servers -> BINKP -> Allow Unsecure

Is set to yes then it will accept packets from anyone that are not compressed and then toss them. If the packet contains a netmail message which is not addressed to your system it will follow your routing table and forward the message onward. If it is addressed to your system it's placed in your netmail base.

If the packet was compressed it would be renamed as bad. If the packet was not compressed but contained echomail messages, those messages would be marked as bad and either discarded or moved to your BAD base depending on how your system is configured.

I've received node applications here before that would have been tossed, but because the .PKT was compressed into an archive (e.g .FR0) it was renamed as .BAD.


Jay

... I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (1:229/664)