358 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
358 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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Volume 5, Number 37 12 September 1988
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| /|oo \ |
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| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
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| International | | \ \\ |
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| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
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| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
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| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
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| (jm) |
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+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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Editor in Chief Dale Lovell
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Editor Emeritus: Thom Henderson
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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Contributing Editors: Al Arango
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FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
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Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to
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submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission
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standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from
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node 1:1/1.
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Copyright 1988 by the International FidoNet Association. All
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rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for
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noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
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please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted
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at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141.
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Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
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Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and
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are used with permission.
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The contents of the articles contained here are not our
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responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them.
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Everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
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received.
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Table of Contents
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1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
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2. COLUMNS .................................................. 4
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Let's YACK about A User's Viewpoint ...................... 4
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3. NOTICES .................................................. 6
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The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 6
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New Fire Service Echo! ................................... 6
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Latest Software Versions ................................. 6
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 1 12 Sep 1988
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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[This is essentially the text of a message I left in the BCSNet]
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[conference. It's being submitted to FidoNews at the suggestion]
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[of one of the Arrogant Hackers and the IC. A couple of points]
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[of grammar have been changed, some things expanded on, and some]
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[local references have been changed.]
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[Bob Gorrill is the co-director of the BCSNet Telecomm group and]
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[operates a number of BBS's in the Boston area. Kenyon Karl]
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[operates the BCS TRS-80 board (80-Boston).]
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> I'm sure we could some psychology student looking for a thesis
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> into fidonet and see what makes it so self destructive.
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I believe you have missed the point. There are a couple of
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problems that lead to "self destructiveness" as a sympton. Most
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of them are related to echomail. One sysop used the words "hiding
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behind a policy complaint". A policy complaint is a clean
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mechanism for resolving disputes. It sure as hell beats the
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general means of dispute "resolution" in this day of echomail:
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he who shouts loudest wins. A policy complaint would result in
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resolution. All blathering in echomail accomplishes is leaving
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the IMPRESSION that one side or the other is right, depending on
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who you agree with, PROPAGATING the problem.
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The frustrating part of all this is just how many sysops have
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taken the time to read Policy3? How many who bitch about IFNA
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have really taken the time to read the documents that form the
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legal "paper chain" we are bound by? Is FidoNet collectively
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self destructive, or is it more an issue of people trying to
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operate a complex system without RTFM? It's certainly not fair
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to say that only the people in FidoNet don't RTFM.
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This is the basic problem. Layered on top of it is "sysop
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turnover". Fully 50% of the sysops who are here now were not
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here a year ago, and this will probably continue for a couple of
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years. I am continually amazed (unfairly) by questions like:
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Who is Tom Jennings? Which was written first, Opus or Fido?
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(Clear evidence that people don't RTFM.)
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Most of these new sysops have a fundamentally different
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experience in entering the net. In the "old days", things were
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really much more difficult than they are now at a technical
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level. At a social level, this unified the net - everyone who
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was here had gone through a relatively difficult, common "rite
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of passage" to get their node number. Now, there is a plethora
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of choices to get yourself up and running, and it's getting
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closer and closer to "plug and play". As Vince says, the network
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has changed from a common effort to a consumer support system.
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Since there was no echomail, disputes occurred far less often,
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and were usually quite local in scope. They were generally
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resolved that way. Nowadays, even AFTER a dispute has been
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 2 12 Sep 1988
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resolved according to Policy locally, it can still be carried
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on in echomail internationally.
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The formal social mechanisms of FidoNet have two major drawbacks:
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there is no clear means defined for alteration of the one
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document we agree we operate under (Policy3), and they were put
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in place before echomail was the force it is today. (When
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Policy3 was drafted, there were about 1000 nodes, and echomail
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was just beginning. Now there are 3500+, most of which are
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connected to one conference or another.)
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New sysops come in with their own expectations of what FidoNet is
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or should be. These expectations may or may not be valid, but
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they are often contradictory with the stated goals of the
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mechanisms in place (the TJ contract, the IFNA Articles of
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Incorporation and Bylaws, and Policy3.) Since there is no clear
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means to change the mechanisms, people go shovel dung in
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echomail. Echomail is almost like interactive TV - it CAN be a
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tremendous force for good ... but it also tends to oversimplify
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issues and polarize audiences. Words can be distorted and taken
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out of context, and reacted to on that basis by people
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originally not involved in the discussion. More and more, people
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take positions AGAINST this or that as opposed to FOR something.
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Further compounding these problems is the fact that at this time,
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it is not clear whether a Policy complaint can be made and upheld
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on the basis of echomail. Those complaints that have been made
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and upheld upon appeal involved explicitly illegal behaviour.
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Some decisions have been made at lower levels involving
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"annoying behaviour", but to the best of my knowledge, none has
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been appealed all the way up the chain. Annoying is a real
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tough call. There are a lot of people in the net who annoy the
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hell out of me. But they also make me think. And I have a
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simple option with someone annoying me in echomail - stop reading
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it. But that leaves new sysops with a skewed perception of the
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net.
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One problem that an RC in particular faces is that we're
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generally encouraged not to file policy complaints against sysops
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in our regions. (NC's are similiary discouraged from filing
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complaints agains nodes in their own net.) A problem an EchoMail
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coordinator has is that in taking the position, he basically
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agrees to provide all kinds of riff raff with the soapbox to
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criticize the services he is generally paying for. The *EC
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structure is in an even more difficult position, because there
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is no written policy for it, and recent events have halted
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progress toward same.
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This reveals a problem anyone who has been here for a while has
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experienced. That is that one gets sick to death of reading
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messages from people asking questions for the Nth time, very
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often in a very adversarial manner. Eventually, they stop
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answering. It really gets frustrating when new sysops come in
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and EXPECT all this stuff, EXPECT that the *C structure is
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supposed to help them get set up (we're not), EXPECT they should
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be able to get echomail, EXPECT to get a new version of Opus for
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 3 12 Sep 1988
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free, etc. There are a lot of people in the net, and even a
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couple in this conference, who expect a lot for nothing. That's
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the question your psychology student should be looking into.
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TANSTAAFL.
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There's a lot of work to be done. It's not clearly defined, and
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no one is going to say "Here - go do this". Look at what Bob
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Gorrill and Kenyon Karl are doing - they find needs, and address
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them. Kenyon is a very good example of this: he spent a lot of
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time bitching about this or that - now he's just DOING THINGS TO
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SOLVE PROBLEMS. I did a lot of complaining when I first got
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involved with echomail (and indeed, with the net). Look where
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it got me. The primary question is always: Are you a part of the
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problem, or a part of the solution? We have enough problems. We
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need more solutions, and more people working toward them.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 4 12 Sep 1988
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=================================================================
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COLUMNS
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=================================================================
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YACK
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Yet Another Complicated Komment
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by Steven K. Hoskin
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( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 )
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Episode 9: A User's Viewpoint
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"So does the international mail area go through BBS to BBS or
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just to one person?"
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This was a user in (C)hat mode one night. I winced. It was like
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asking, "Well, what's this Network Mail thing, anyway?"-The heart
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of FidoNet, Network mail at NMH, and this user, who was experi-
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enced in the echos, was just getting around to actually seeing
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that netmail existed.
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Well, this is understandable. Today, in FidoNet, it's the echos
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that appeal to the users. A subject -- and LOTS of people to
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talk with about it! Wow! And you're in WHICH state? Hey! I
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visited there once! Well, I tried this... -- and so on.
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Okay, echomail has its appeal. I'd personally love to subscribe
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to well into dozens of conferences. But then I'd spend ALL my
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time at the BBS instead of only 90% of it. No, you can't get
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into everything. Not in my case. It'd be all too easy to forget
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the outside world. I know -- I've been there.
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I personally have a thing for netmail. Direct, cheap, reliable
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communications with other computer weenies I know? Can't beat
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it! I sent a 4-page letter to Ohio once; got my reply the next
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morning. The board charged me 18 cents and the phone call cost
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14. Amazing what an amateur network of BBSs can do. Like get
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4000 BBSs BSing all hours of the night. That's MY fascination.
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The average user today doesn't care much about netmail. In fact,
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around here, most probably don't even know what it is. It's not
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ADVERTISED much. Hey, look! A STAR TREK echo! -- and the
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netmail area never even gets looked at.
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Those that do inquire get turned off as soon as they find out
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it's going to cost them. But, if you don't have friends that use
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BBSs in other areas of the country, netmail doesn't hold much
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value for you. It's rather a limited conversation media.
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Of course, the majority of the users I see seem to think that a
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BBS is designed strictly around offering software for free. Oh,
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I carry some file areas, but I try to emphasize the message areas
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in the NEWUSER files. Every once in awhile it sparks a user to
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check out mail instead of files, and of course it's echomail they
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go after. But at least they're into E-Mail, and THAT's FidoNet.
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 5 12 Sep 1988
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 6 12 Sep 1988
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=================================================================
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NOTICES
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=================================================================
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The Interrupt Stack
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24 Aug 1989
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Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
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5 Oct 1989
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20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
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If you have something which you would like to see on this
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calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Christopher Baker
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MetroFire, 1:135/14
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Miami_FL_USA
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New Fire Service Related Echo - FireHouse Cooking
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I have started a new Echo for those of us who participate in
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FireNet. It is called FireHouse Cooking and the Echo label is
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FHCOOK. It is available from this system at 1:135/14 and I
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expect it will also be available from FireNet Leader at
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1:128/16 once they've heard about it in FireNet Echo.
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If you would like to participate in FH Cooking, send NetMail
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to me at 1:135/14. FH Cooking is all about the greatest
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improvisational cooks in the world - the ones who cook huge
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meals for hungry FireFighters and Paramedics! It is geared
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to the LARGE recipe and LARGE appetite. Anyone interested in
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cooking for more than ten people at a time or providing
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insight into same are welcome to attend.
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Thanks.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Latest Software Versions
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BBS Systems Node List Other
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& Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version
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Dutchie 2.90b* EditNL 4.00 ARC 5.22*
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Fido 12h MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 1.1
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Opus 1.03b Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00*
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SEAdog 4.10 XlatList 2.86 EchoMail 1.31
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TBBS 2.0M XlaxNode 2.10 MGM 1.1
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BinkleyTerm 2.00* XlaxDiff 2.10
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QuickBBS 2.01 ParseList 1.20*
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 7 12 Sep 1988
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* Recently changed
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Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
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reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
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all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FidoNews 5-37 Page 8 12 Sep 1988
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OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
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Hal DuPrie 101/106 Chairman of the Board
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Bob Rudolph 261/628 President
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Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
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Ray Gwinn 109/639 Vice President - Technical Coordinator
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David Garrett 103/501 Secretary
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Steve Bonine 115/777 Treasurer
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IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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DIVISION AT-LARGE
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10 Courtney Harris 102/732? Don Daniels 107/210
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11 Bill Allbritten 11/301 Hal DuPrie 101/106
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12 Bill Bolton 3:54/61 Mark Grennan 147/1
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13 Rick Siegel 107/27 Steve Bonine 115/777
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14 Ken Kaplan 100/22 Ted Polczyinski 154/5
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15 Larry Kayser 104/739? Matt Whelan 3:3/1
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16 Vince Perriello 141/491 Robert Rudolph 261/628
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17 Rob Barker 138/34 Steve Jordan 102/2871
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18 Christopher Baker 135/14 Bob Swift 140/24
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19 David Drexler 19/1 Larry Wall 15/18
|
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|
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2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 107/233
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