QWK
QMail and the QWK format was created in 1987 by Mark "Sparky" Herring. The idea was to gather up all of the new messages posted on a bulletin board system and "quickly" transmit them to the user. Then the user could disconnect from the BBS and read the messages at their leisure using a QWK mail reader. If the user entered any new messages they could call the BBS back and upload their replies to the system.
Messaging volume took off as soon as QWK was introduced to the public. Suddenly, users could read a much larger number of messages "offline" than they could "online". Users also found they could call bulletin board systems that were long distance and keep up with messages without spending a fortune. Sysops liked the QWK format because it allowed them to service more users per hour per node than without it.
Support was added to several other mail readers, including Silly Little Mail Reader (SLMR) and it's successor OLX, EZ-Reader, 1stReader, and WinQuick.
Specifications
- The Mysterious QWK-File Format - 1991, by Jeffery Foy
- QWK mail format information - 1991, by Mark May
- QWK Mail Packet File Layout - v1.6, 1992, by Patrick Y. Lee
- QWK Mail Packet File Layout - v1.3, 1992, by Patrick Y. Lee
- The Programmer's Guide to 1stReader - v2.0, 1995, by Mark Herring
- QWKE Specifications - v1.02, 1997, by Peter Rocca
- Synchronet QWK reference - covers QWK, QWKE, and Synchronet extensions to QWK
- Offline Formats
Software
- Off-Line Readers at National Federation of the Blind
- Simtel MS-DOS archive: E-mail and Usenet News programs
- Simtel for MSDOS (September 1997): E-mail and Usenet News programs
- Off-Line Mail Readers
- MultiMail Offline Reader (GitHub)
- Valence QWK Door for Searchlight BBS
Links
- Offline Mail - Slashing Phone Bills with Sparky Herring's QWK Mail Readers (Boardwatch Magazine, December 1992)
