How about an extra server which you can connect to which isn't ingame, but actually on the internet. The server would have the same look and feel as when you connect to a server within the game but the content would be downloaded from the internet.

It could give news, reviews, hints and tips, fan fiction, everything you would expect from an Uplink fan site but with the beauty of not having to leave the game and firing up a browser.

Maybe in the future, a forum could be added to it... remind me of the old BBS days

I think that the IRC system is enough (even though it needs fixing... huge understatement).

For a start, who would host the server? It'd need lots of bandwidth and PHP + MySQL. Not cheap.
Secondly, there wouldn't be much news most of the time.

One thing I will suggest is that the IRC system is totally scrapped and re-written with proper multichannel support.
Then make it join #uplink and #onlink.

Like I said, the forum could be something for the future, perhaps. The main part of the site would only need to be HTML... or not even that depending how its coded. That kind of space you get from your ISP.

Or, there could be a way to type in genuine URLs to connect to. The game would connect to that site and check its OML (onlink markup language) and show the site. That way there need be no central server. Fans could create their own site with their ISP webspace and post the URLs on IRC or the forums. If they want to use PHP and MySQL, thats up to them.

I actually think this is a relatively good idea, but one that will take some time. Difficult... but doable

I don't own the developers version, but if I write a text-based version using C++ of what I have in mind, would that help?

yes.

I would rather you not post it here, however... email it to me instead

How about a true BBS, not HTML, PHP or any of that 'database' crap, but a telnet BBS. Only thing that you would need in the game is a telnet client (with ANSI of course).

You can even interface the BBS with the fourm, so posts on the BBS get posted here, and be able to read from the BBS. Games on the BBS (anyone remember BBS Crash?!) would allow a small bit of 'multiplayer'. I'd be willing to setup a BBS just for this, I used to be a SysOp back in the day anyway.

For an example of a BBS and how to interface it with a fourm check out:

http://www.unknownrealm.org/

But a BBS still requires a server. It also requires a database in which all users, posts and settings are stored.
It's expensive and hard to do.

I don't think it should be overly thought about until we have a fully working edition of Onlink with everything done that is supposed to be done.

*cough* *ecwhost* *cough* *cough*

Or the Carne's server...

Or mine...

Or one of the various free packages...