What the badges mean
The small marks under a board's name on the board list. Some are sent by the board itself, and the rest are worked out here, from this directory's own record of that board. Point at one, or tap it, and it says what it is. The Filter button above the list shows only the boards carrying the badges you pick.
Under each name, the first line is what the board is: the software and its version, then the machine it runs on. The second line is the rest, in the same order on every board, so each badge sits in the same place as you scroll: PETSCII, guests, what is running and the SD card, what this directory worked out, then the causes and the interests, those two in alphabetical order.
Two of them are not a badge of their own under a name. SSH is on a board's address instead, as a second line with a padlock on it, because what it says is where to dial; a board that does not take an encrypted connection has the one plain line it always had, and nothing marks it down for that. Update available is a small arrow on the end of the software badge. Both are here, and both can be filtered on.
Each cause and interest has a short code of up to six letters and digits, such as MNTLH for mental health or APPLE2 for the Apple II. The code is what a board sends, and the search box finds a badge by its code as well as by its name.
Sent by the board
A board says these about itself in every heartbeat, so each one is as current as the board's last word. A board that stops sending one loses the badge. Nothing here checks them: they are the sysop's word, the same as the board's name and description.
| Badge | Name | Sent as | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camera blue | camera in features | This BBS can take pictures. A caller takes a snapshot from their terminal and downloads it a few seconds later. Running now. How a caller uses it. | |
| C | Chat blue | chat in features | A live chat room, running now. |
| D | Doors blue | doors in features | Games and programs to run, running now. |
| Fi | Files blue | files in features | File areas to download from, running now. |
| F | Forums blue | forums in features | Message boards, running now. |
| G | Guests welcome amber | guests set to true | You can look around without making an account. |
| Compaq 486 | Machine white | system its own words | What the board runs on, in its own words, up to 40 characters: the chip it runs on, or the Compaq 486 in the corner. |
| M | Mail blue | mail in features | Private mail between callers, running now. |
| P | PETSCII purple | petscii in terminals | A Commodore 64 or 128 gets colour and graphics here, not just text. |
| SD | SD card blue | sd its size in GB | An SD card is in use on the board. On a board's row the badge carries the card's size in GB, as printed on the card: SD32 is a 32 GB card. |
| µnleashed 1.0.0 | Software grey | software and version | What the board runs, and which version of it. |
| SSH blue | ssh_port the port to dial | This board also takes an encrypted connection. Its row has a second address line, with this padlock on it, for the port to dial with an SSH program. A board without one is listed exactly as it always was. |
Worked out by the directory
A board cannot set these. The directory works them out from what it has seen for itself: when the board was first listed, which of its heartbeats arrived, and, for a µnleashed board, whether the version it reports is older than the newest one on the install page.
| Badge | Name | Sent as | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1m6m1y2y5y10y | Listed lavender | none: worked out here | How long the board has been on this directory: a month, six months, then one, two, five and ten years. Only the highest reached is shown. |
| N | New orange | none: worked out here | Listed here for less than a week. |
| S | Steady cyan | none: worked out here | Answered more than 95% of the heartbeats it was due over the last seven days. How. |
| Update available dim cyan | none: worked out here | A µnleashed board running an older version than the newest one on the install page. The arrow on its software badge says which, and links to how to update it. |
Show your support
Add these to show what your board stands for. They come from a fixed list, chosen by the directory rather than typed in by a board, which is what stops anybody putting words of their own on the page. They are the causes shown most often as support badges, ribbons and flair on community sites, picked because they are widely recognised and belong to no political party, each drawn in the colour it is known by.
| Badge | Name | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addiction recovery | RCVRY | For people in recovery from addiction, and the families who stand by them. | |
| Animal welfare | ANIMAL | For animal rescue, adoption and welfare. | |
| Blood and organ donation | DONOR | For blood donors, organ donors and the people their gifts keep alive. | |
| Breast cancer awareness | BRST | The pink ribbon: for people living with breast cancer, the survivors and the research. | |
| Carers and caregivers | CARERS | For everybody looking after somebody, elder care included, family carers and paid ones alike. | |
| Children with cancer | CHLDC | The gold ribbon: for children and teenagers with cancer, and their families. | |
| Disabled people | DSBLD | For disabled people, visible and invisible disabilities alike, and for making things accessible. | |
| First responders | FRSTR | For the people who answer when somebody calls for help: paramedics, firefighters, police and dispatchers. | |
| Foster care and adoption | FOSTER | For children in foster care and adopted children, and the families who take them in. | |
| Heart health | HEART | For heart health, and for people living with heart disease. | |
| Hunger relief | HUNGER | For food banks, pantries and everybody making sure people get fed. | |
| LGBTQ+ people | LGBTQ | Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer callers are welcome here, and the sysop says so. | |
| Literacy | LTRCY | For reading and writing, for everybody: libraries, tutors and adult learners. | |
| Mental health | MNTLH | For looking after mental health, and for anybody living with a mental illness. | |
| Neurodiversity | NEURO | Autistic, ADHD and other neurodivergent minds are welcome as they are. | |
| People living with HIV | HIV | The red ribbon: solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS. | |
| People with cancer | CANCER | For people living with any cancer, the survivors, and the people who care for them. | |
| People with dementia | DMNTA | The forget-me-not: for people living with Alzheimer's and other dementias, and the people who look after them. | |
| People with diabetes | DBTS | The blue circle: for everybody living with diabetes, of any type. | |
| People without a home | HMLSS | For people without a safe place to live, and the shelters and workers who help. | |
| Suicide prevention | SCDPV | The semicolon: a sentence that could have ended and carried on. | |
| Survivors of domestic violence | DV | The purple ribbon: for ending domestic violence, and for the people who survive it. | |
| Transgender people | TRANS | Trans and non-binary callers are welcome here, by the names they use. | |
| Veterans | VETS | For people who have served in the armed forces, and their families. |
Interests
What the sysop is into, so a caller can find a board full of people who like the same things. Drawn in rose, a colour nothing else on the list uses. The same rules as support: a fixed list, a code each, and nothing typed in. Amateur radio, this hobby's oldest neighbour, is here with the radio and the sky; it was a support badge until September 2026, and HAM is still understood in either list.
| Badge | Name | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computing | |||
| BBS history | BBS | Bulletin boards as they were: the software, the scene and the stories. | |
| Linux | LINUX | Linux and the other free Unix-like systems. | |
| Open source | OSS | Free and open source software, and the people who make it. | |
| Programming | PRGRM | Writing code, in any language, for any machine. | |
| Retrocomputing | RETRO | Old computers kept running, restored and put back to work. | |
| Platforms | |||
| Amiga | AMIGA | The Commodore Amiga, from the 1000 to the 4000. | |
| Apple II | APPLE2 | The Apple II family, from the first one to the IIGS. | |
| Atari | ATARI | Atari's 8-bit computers, the ST and the consoles. | |
| Commodore 64 | C64 | The Commodore 64 and 128, and the rest of Commodore's 8-bit machines. | |
| DOS | DOS | MS-DOS, PC-DOS and the IBM PC compatibles that ran them. | |
| ZX Spectrum | ZX | Sinclair's ZX Spectrum, the ZX81 and their clones. | |
| Making | |||
| 3D printing | 3DPRT | Printing parts, cases and the things nobody sells. | |
| Electronics | ELCTR | Circuits, chips and the tools for poking at them. | |
| Robotics | ROBOT | Robots of every size, from line followers to arms. | |
| Soldering | SOLDER | Kits, repairs and anything else that wants a hot iron. | |
| Woodworking | WOOD | Making things out of wood, computer cases and desks included. | |
| Games | |||
| Arcade and pinball | ARCADE | Coin-op cabinets and pinball tables, played or restored. | |
| Board games | BRDGM | Games played round a table, from chess to the latest box. | |
| Gaming | GAMES | Video games of any age, on any machine. | |
| Retro gaming | RTRGM | Old games on the machines they were made for, or near enough. | |
| Tabletop RPGs | RPG | Dice, character sheets and somebody running the game. | |
| Music and art | |||
| ANSI art | ANSI | Pictures drawn in text: ANSI, ASCII and PETSCII art. | |
| Chiptune | CHPTN | Music made on old sound chips, or in their sound. | |
| Demoscene | DEMO | Demos, intros and the groups that make them. | |
| Drawing | DRAW | Drawing, painting and illustration, on paper or on a screen. | |
| Music | MUSIC | Making it, playing it or collecting it. | |
| Photography | PHOTO | Taking pictures, on film or not. | |
| Radio and sky | |||
| Amateur radio | HAM | Hams welcome: the other hobby of talking to strangers over home-made equipment. | |
| Astronomy | ASTRO | Looking up at night, with a telescope or without. | |
| Shortwave listening | SWL | Tuning in to broadcasts and stations from far away. | |
| Weather | WTHR | Watching it, measuring it and running a weather station. | |
| Outdoors and more | |||
| Aviation | AVTN | Flying, planes, and watching them go over. | |
| Cars | CARS | Driving them, fixing them and keeping old ones on the road. | |
| Cooking | COOK | Cooking, baking and feeding people. | |
| Cycling | BIKE | Riding bikes, fixing them, or both. | |
| Fishing | FISH | Rod, line and patience. | |
| Gardening | GARDEN | Growing things, indoors or out. | |
| Hiking | HIKE | Walking, hiking and getting up hills. | |
| Model trains | TRAINS | Model railways in any scale, and the layouts they run on. | |
| Reading and watching | |||
| Anime | ANIME | Japanese animation and manga. | |
| Books | BOOKS | Reading, and talking about what you read. | |
| Movies | MOVIES | Films, and watching them with other people. | |
| Science fiction | SCIFI | Science fiction in books, in films and on television. | |
How steady is worked out
Every heartbeat says how often the board will call in. Over seven days that adds up to a number of heartbeats due: a board that calls every ten minutes owes 1,008 a week. The directory counts the ones that actually arrive, hour by hour, and a board that answered more than 95% of what it owed gets the badge. An hour with extra heartbeats cannot make up for a silent one, because no hour counts for more than it was due.
The directory has to have watched a board for the whole week before it can earn it. A board that goes quiet for an afternoon loses it, and gets it back after a steady week.
Setting them
A board sends the codes in the Code column, in the support and interests lists of its heartbeat, described in the protocol. For a sysop that means typing them, separated by commas, into wherever their BBS software keeps its directory settings: MNTLH, LTRCY for mental health and literacy. Case does not matter, so mntlh is the same code. A board can send up to 16 of each, and a code this directory does not know is ignored.
The longer names these badges had before the codes, such as mental-health and electronics, still work, so nothing needs changing on a board that already sends them. So do the links and bookmarks made with them.
On a µnleashed board the causes and interests go on the announce page of CONFIG, from firmware 1.0.1. The board fills in the other fields itself, from what it is running at the time.