924 lines
47 KiB
Plaintext
924 lines
47 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 3, Number 35 15 September 1986
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+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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| _ |
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| / \ |
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| /|oo \ |
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| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
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| _`@/_ \ _ |
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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: Thom Henderson
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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FidoNews is the official newsletter of the International FidoNet
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Association, and is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1.
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You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file
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ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1/1.
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Copyright (C) 1986, by the International FidoNet Association.
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All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
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for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
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please contact IFNA.
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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.
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Table of Contents
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1. EDITORIAL
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The Day FidoNews Didn't Come Out
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2. ARTICLES
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IFNA no pay THENA no play ELSENA have a say!
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Portland needs help!
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IFNA Conference Attendee List
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FidoNet in the Small Towns
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3. WANTED
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REWARD FOR ENCRYPTION DATA!!!
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4. FOR SALE
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Public Domain Software Library Sale!!
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5. NOTICES
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The Interrupt Stack
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Fidonews Page 2 15 Sep 1986
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=================================================================
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EDITORIAL
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=================================================================
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This week's guest editorial is by Ian Shirado.
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THE DAY FIDONEWS DIDN'T COME OUT
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I'd woken up early that morning, as I always did on Mondays, and
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gone down to the computer. Flipping it on, I dialed Rob's board;
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commonly known as Illini Data. Rob's was the best DEC oriented
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board around, sure, but at the moment that wasn't why I was
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calling. Far from it. Today was Monday, and the latest FidoNews
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would be up today.
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I log on as quickly as possible with a brand new terminal program
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that uses macros. (I figure this thing will cut at least 10% off
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the time it takes to sign on and other mundane chores.) I flip to
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file area 9, text files, and Raw display for "FNEWS*.*". Wait a
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minute. Something screwy here. Wasn't 229 the last one?
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Something tells me today isn't going to be an ordinary day. I
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log off even quicker than I logged on, by dropping carrier.
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(Normally, I don't do that, but I'm getting a little anxious.
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Nervous people are entitled to do strange things.) I dial up a
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few other boards. When the newsletter is nowhere to be found, I
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start to panic. In a frenzy, I use the last resort -- I call
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SEAboard itself. Busy. I sweat out the next twenty-four hours
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by calling back every 5 minutes, it seems. Finally, Tuesday
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night, I connect! The bulletins sweep by and -- wait, what's
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this? "FidoNews did not come out this week due to a systems
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failure." Or something like that.
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I log off. I don't feel devestated, no. Rather, relieved,
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because at least now I know the reason. But it makes me stop and
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think.
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Am I abnormal? No. Just a junkie. I've talked to other users
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and sysops who say their palms itch and hair falls out if the
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newsletter doesn't arrive on time. But these symptoms can apply
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to just about anything.
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Stop and think a minute. What would YOU do if the newsletter
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didn't come? Some of you are lucky enough to have someone's
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voice number to call and find out what the deal is. But 60% of
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all sysops, and just about 99% of all users, don't have this
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reassurance. Let me take the example a little bit further. What
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would you do is you woke up, logged onto your board (assuming you
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are a sysop) and found that there was no new FidoMail. Zilch.
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NO NEW MESSAGES AT ALL. Maybe you get a slight queasy feeling.
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But you have faith, so you wait until the next morning to check
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again. STILL NO NEW MESSAGES. By now, your skin is chalk white
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and you feel like a victim of St. Vitus' Dance. Could it be the
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way you smell? Or maybe your modem blew a circuit? Yeah, that's
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gotta be it! But taking the example further still, what would
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you do if (God In Heaven Forbid) the NODELIST failed to arrive?
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Fidonews Page 3 15 Sep 1986
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The point I am trying to make here is that pretty much all
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members of the human race find it easy to fall into habits. And
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when you have FidoMail expected every night, FidoNews expected
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every Monday, and the nodelist every Friday, it's pretty darn
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easy to expect them to BE THERE, as a law of nature. It's just a
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subset of the old "Immersed-in-computers-so-deeply-you-can't-
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react-to-people-around-you" syndrome. I'm not saying any of us
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have this (even though it's quite likely), but next time there's
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an electronic delay (and there will be), keep this in mind.
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Inspired by (what else?) the failure of FidoNews for the week of
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August 4th.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 4 15 Sep 1986
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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Jim Kay
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109/612 (sysop)
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I wish to register a loud complaint. I realize that Fido
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is a volunteer organization and that means the operators
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have many other, more pressing things to do, like earn a
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living. However, when an article appears in Fidonews
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inviting sysops to join an Echomail conferance, I think
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the submitters should have the courtesy to respond to
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people who accept the offer.
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Fidonews 332 contains three such offers. The editorial
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indicates on page 3 that an echomail conferance is set up
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for IFNA business. I have sent two inquires to 103/501,
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asking to join. There has been no response at all.
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The notices section on pages 20 and 21 contains two more
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offers. One for C programmers (103/511 - 124/108) and
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one for Sci Fi (150/900). Similarly, there has been no
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response from either of them.
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Shame on all of you!
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I will partially withdraw my complaint against the C
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programmers conferance because they at least put in the
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name of the conferance. That makes it possible to just
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start sending messages. Unfortunately, they didn't tell
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exactly which node to send messages to. 0 for 3 stinks.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 5 15 Sep 1986
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Ken Shackelford
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133/0 in Atlanta
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IFNA You Don't Pay, THENA You Don't Play!
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I am sure that most of you, by this late date, have heard about
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the Colorado Conference of last month, and some of the most un-
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fortunate things that have come to pass since that time. Many of
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you, no doubt, have read my "review" of the conference doings in
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the NET 161 "Nooseletter" (NET161.A0A from 161/1). In short, I
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stated what were my unrefined views of what happened at the
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conference, FROM MY POINT OF VIEW. I have received numerous
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notes from many of you that have read the document, some from
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those of you that attended the conference as I did, that were
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with very little exception supportive of my review and of my
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feelings about IFNA at the time. Most of you shared my concerns
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about Fido and FidoNet, and were quick to tell me so. I thank
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all of you who replied either directly or indirectly, and I also
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thank the NET 161 Sysops for allowing me to use the Nooseletter
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as a forum for bringing into the open many of the issues that are
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now affecting us. The Nooseletter surely has not made me a
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favorite topic of discussion in St. Louis (grin), but it did
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serve to get their attention! They now know that we "exist" out
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here. Before that, we probably just seemed like names on some
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printout called NODELIST.A?? or something. What St. Louis NOW
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knows is that there are some very real human being out here, and
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that we're all very much concerned about what's going on. If I
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helped in some small way with my Nooseletter article to cause
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this, then I am very satisfied.
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OK, so I have stirred up the waters a bit, and gotten alot of
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good folks "concerned" over what the guys in St. Louis "appear"
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to be doing to us. This has, in turned, sparked quite a bit of
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controversy (most of it very healthy). At this stage, we have
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probably all formed some initial opinions about IFNA, and have
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reasons that we can support as to whether we even need IFNA.
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Much of what I have been reading in the various EchoMail confer-
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ences comes down to the following key gripes:
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(1) If you don't pay IFNA $25, then you won't get into the IFNA
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nodelist (no PAY no PLAY).
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(2) Only IFNA "members" can vote on FidoNet issues.
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(3) Only Fido Sysops that pay the $25 fee can "vote" on issues
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that affect ALL Fido Sysops.
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(4) IFNA is trying to make Fido/FidoNet a BUSINESS rather than a
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HOBBY.
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(5) The guys in St. Louis have gotten greedy, and see FidoNet as
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a way to make money for themselves.
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(6) The IFNA "in group" is doing things behind our backs and is
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making decisions without our input.
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Fidonews Page 6 15 Sep 1986
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(7) The conference was rigged to force us all to accept IFNA as
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our "god", and the St. Louis Sysops as our "lords".
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(8) Ken, Ben, Thom Henderson, and Tom Jennings are trying to get
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"rich" off of OUR efforts.
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(9) Who really OWNS the nodelist!
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(10) Various and sundry other "flames"....
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Do we NEED an IFNA? You'll hear all sorts of answers on THIS
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issue, but I'll give only my opinion here. And that is - YES.
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We need SOMETHING. If IFNA will do it for us, then by all means
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let's have it. But is HAS to be OUR organization. It can NEVER
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be something that's only for a select few. Otherwise, we don't
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need it, we won't have it, and we'll NOT support it. Fair
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enough???
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Are there any facts to support the above allegations, and a host
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of others that are not listed above? Well, to be honest, some of
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the statements listed above ARE with merit. For example, a BIG
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mistake was made by IFNA when it did not inform us before the
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conference that it had incorporated, and that it had plans to
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drastically change the way we deal with FidoNet and the guys up
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in St. Louis. This could have been handled ALOT better by simply
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publishing the agenda and a set of initial goals to get IFNA
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started. By the time the conference rolled around, much of the
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initial discussion could have already taken place, and we would
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have been ready to get at the work to be done. Of course, Ken
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Kaplan and Ben Baker REALIZE this mistake now. If they had it to
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do over again, I think it would have been done differently than
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it was. Hindsight, as they say, is most always 20-20.
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No pay, no play? That is, if you don't pay the $25 fee, then
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will you NOT get listed in the nodelist? Well, from what was
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ORIGINALLY said in Colorado, this was to have been the case! But
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since then, there has been so much controversy over this point
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that I -think- that the policy now is that everyone will be in
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the nodelist without charge for the time being. This is, of
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course, subject to change at some later date, but for now we can
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all breathe a little easier! I am against any fee that would
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restrict the growth of the network. I find the fee to get into
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the nodelist EXTREMELY nasty. But right now, it's a moot point.
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Thus, until it BECOMES an issue, there really is nothing to take
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issue with.
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How many of you are aware that the $25 fee being charged at the
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conference was NOT authorized by IFNA? According to Ken Kaplan,
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there was never any agreement that a fee should be charged to get
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membership into IFNA started. Turns out that it was some of the
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COSUG (Colorado Springs PC User's Group) that initiated the fee
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and began taking up collections for it. Ken Kaplan and IFNA were
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NOT at fault for this ... HOWEVER, they were DEFINITELY at fault
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for not stopping it when they discovered what had happened and
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not returning everyone's money right then and there. Also, the
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Fidonews Page 7 15 Sep 1986
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business of "no pay, no vote" was NOT Ken Kaplan's statement but
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that of George Wing, the conference Coordinator. Now, I as much
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as ANYONE appreciates all of the hard work that the COSUG put
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into getting the conference off the ground. Without them, it
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would have never happened. But since George was NOT an IFNA
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board member, he really should NOT have made a statement that has
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come back time and again to "haunt" the IFNA officers. Yes, they
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screwed up again by NOT putting a stop to the collection of the
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fee, and for not "correcting" George on the voting thing. But
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from my information, they are not really guilty of plotting a
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conspiracy against us.
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Is IFNA trying to turn the FidoNet HOBBY into a BUSINESS? Well,
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you'll get mixed reactions on THAT issue. I think that they are
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and I am most sorry to see that happen. We have enjoyed running
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Fido boards and participating in FidoNet for several years now,
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and it has been a most rewarding and satisfying hobby, at least
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for me. I hate to think that now we have to all become a part of
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a BUSINESS. Ken Kaplan makes several good and valid cases as to
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why we must let FidoNet grow and become a non-profit entity.
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Some of his reasons are most compelling. But at least, in MY
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opinion, much of what I have heard in regard to some IFNA goals
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is just not needed. We do NOT yet have an "official" document to
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look at that will give us the actual goals and aspirations of
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IFNA. Until we get that (being worked on now, even as I speak),
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then we cannot properly address these questions. I'll hold my
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final judgment until I see the docs. Ken has very kindly asked
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me to be a part of the Bylaws Rules Committee, and I have given
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my acceptance. I hope to be able to make a very positive con-
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tribution to the process.
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I don't think that the guys in St. Louis have necessarily gotten
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"greedy". I am not sure that I completely agree with everything
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they have told me, but then that's not to be expected. We all
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have very different points of view on things, so it would be
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astonding if we all agreed! One of the things that both Ken and
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Ben have said that they want is an office, staffed perhaps by a
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part-time employee. This employee of the IFNA corporation would
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take care of answering correspondence, and other administrative
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functions. This could be a good thing in the long run, as it
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would free Ken and Ben up from such administration, so that they
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could work on maintaining FidoNet. I have no problem with this,
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AS LONG AS they provide to all of us, on demand, a complete and
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accurate accounting of how all monies are spent. Such a report
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MUST appear in FidoNews at least quarterly (yeah, some will no
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doubt argue that this is too often, but unless Ken and Ben are
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VERY forthcoming on THIS issue, there is bound to be ALOT of
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mistrust, and we don't need THAT). Income generated from our
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fees could be most "tempting", even to a Saint. It is therefore
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incumbent upon US, the People, to keep careful tabs on how our
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monies are spent, and on what. One of the things that I heard
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Ken mention today on the phone was that We (all nodes) would get
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ONE time to vote, as a group, on the Bylaws of the IFNA Corp. If
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the Bylaws were approved, then they would possibly stipulate that
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out of each Region (or other "unit") we would "elect" someone to
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represent our interests on our behalf to IFNA. Sort of like the
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Fidonews Page 8 15 Sep 1986
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U.S. Senate. We'd be able to tell our representatives what we
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want, and THEY'D take the message back to the IFNA board for
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appropriate action. We'd be dealing with ELECTED OFFICIALS of
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IFNA. This could be a good thing for us all. Now, this is just
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TALK, so don't hold either Ken Kaplan or myself to this. It's
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just ONE of the things being discussed at this time, and we'll
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see how it eventually evolves!
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Most everyone I have talked to seems to perceive that to be a
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part of IFNA, you have to be on good terms with the "in" group.
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I don't THINK this is true; I could be wrong, of course, but I
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would rather hope that Ken and Ben, both very respectable guys,
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would not try and "play favorites" in the net. It would surely
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come back to haunt them if they did, I can guarantee you of THAT
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fact! I personally have seen no evidence of favoritism going on
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within FidoNet. The people that are perceived as "favorites" are
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usually the ones that are doing all of the work. When was the
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last time YOU volunteered to do something for FidoNet? Heck when
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was the last time -I- volunteered, to be perfectly honest. Well,
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I HAVE done so in the past by becoming the first Region 18
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Coordinator, and later moving on to set up Network 133 in good
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old Atlanta. Up until my "famous" NET 161 Nooseletter article,
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most of you probably never even HEARD of me. And, as it just so
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happens, I volunteered to be on the Bylaws Rules Committee. Ken
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needed people to do it, so I jumped in. I may fall flat on my
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face, but at least I'm trying. How 'bout the rest of you? Come
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on and get involved ... you ALL have a stake in this thing, and
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if you DON'T speak out and participate, then you'll not have a
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right to COMPLAIN. I think that if you ask, there will be more
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than enough work of the FidoNet to go around such that you'll get
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your piece of it. From my perception, the "in" group is ALL of
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us that pitch in and help. This article for FidoNews is one way.
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Speak out and make your opinions KNOWN. That's the only true way
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to effect change, folks. How 'bout it?
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Do I think of the guys in St. Louis as "gods". Heck, no. They
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are flesh and blood mortals like the rest of us, and prone to
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make mistakes. Their handling of the conference only serves to
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re-enforce that fact. This was their first conference, and they
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screwed up. Should we nail them to a cross for that? Well,
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maybe, given the nature of some of the blunders. But lets not
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stone them until we know for sure that they're out to put the
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screws to us for the sake of doing it. I have seen no evidence
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as of yet that they are trying to "subjugate" us. Heck, if any
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of us don't like what IFNA is doing, then let's start our own
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nodelist. Nothing says we HAVE to use the IFNA nodelist, does
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it? You wanna different nodelist? Then somebody out there go
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start one. Maybe that's not such a bad idea, either. Whoever
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DOES start one, though, is going to find it a very difficult and
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tiring job. I am all in favor of helping Ken and Ben to recover
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some of their out of pocket expenses via contributions - they
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deserve at least that. I propose that we ALL give the IFNA guys
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the benefit of the doubt now, at least until the Bylaws come out
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and we can all study them. If, at that time, we don't like what
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we see, then we can tell IFNA to kiss off, and start our own net.
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How about that? But before we do anything like that, lets try
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Fidonews Page 9 15 Sep 1986
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and work with Ken and Ben, and see what they REALLY have in mind.
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After all, all we have so far is SPECULATION and RUMOR. Yes, the
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Colorado Calamity is over and done with, so let's put it behind
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us and move on. We may ALL be pleasantly surprised!!
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Who is going to get rich off of IFNA? Ken and Ben? I don't
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THINK so (I might be wrong, but I just don't see it). How about
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Thom Henderson? No, he's already got a business to worry about
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right now (one of the partners of System Enhancement Associates)
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so I can't see Thom making out like a bandit on this. Well, how
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about TJ? Poor ol' Tom Jennings. If anyone in the IFNA group
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DESERVES to make money out of this thing, it's TJ. Wasn't it Tom
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Jennings that GAVE us Fido to start with? Over the years, Tom
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has nursed the code along and enhanced it (almost to death). He
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has worked HARD to make Fido what it is today, and asked so
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little in return. And probably has GOTTEN so little. If anyone
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deserves to make money off of IFNA, it's TJ. I hope he'll get
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SOMETHING. Alot has been said about Fido distribution rights
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having been "sold" to IFNA, such that if any of us want to get
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Fido, we'll have to "buy" it from IFNA. I don't have any in-
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formation on this, so I can't state anything in that areas as a
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"fact". But would it be such a terrible thing if IFNA -did-sell
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it on Tom's behalf? Maybe for something like $25 to Fido Sysops
|
||
for a mojor release, with free updates? So that TJ would get
|
||
something out of all of this that we are trying to protect so
|
||
fiercely? As a professional programmer, TJ is entitled, in my
|
||
book, to reap some reward for all that he is done, and I'd be the
|
||
first in line to give him his due. Mind you, the cost that I
|
||
stated above is just MY idea, and NOT an IFNA policy. I do not
|
||
KNOW how IFNA will be distributing Fido software, if in fact they
|
||
really are or will be in the future.
|
||
|
||
Who "owns" the nodelist? Boy, have I heard THAT one tossed about
|
||
lately. As most of you know, IFNA has put a copyright notice on
|
||
the nodeist recently, which says that the nodelist is THEIRS.
|
||
From what facts I have, this was not done with the intent of
|
||
putting the screws to us. The reason this was done was because
|
||
some bozo in Austrailia was SELLING the nodelist! This was not
|
||
fair, since he did not compile the blasted thing, and therefore
|
||
had no right to sell it to anyone. But since it was not a
|
||
copyrighted work, there was no way to prevent him from
|
||
continuing. By placing the copyright notice on the nodelist,
|
||
IFNA did, if nothing else, make it clear that the work was not to
|
||
be sold by anyone without IFNA's explicit permission to do so.
|
||
In effect, the INTENTION here was not to rob us, but rather to
|
||
PROTECT us. Now, this protection can be a double edged sword
|
||
that "cuts" both ways. On the one hand, IFNA has effectively
|
||
stopped the pirating of OUR nodelist. But on the OTHER hand,
|
||
IFNA has said that the nodelist belongs to THEM - NOT US. Now, I
|
||
understand and appreciate the good intentions, and see them as
|
||
exactly that. But in doing this, I personally feel that IFNA
|
||
over extended themselves into OUR domain. When I put together my
|
||
NET 133 nodelist, which will eventually become a PART of the
|
||
national nodelist, it is ME doing the "work"; not St. Louis. I
|
||
am the person who is creating the list, verifying the phone num-
|
||
bers, and sedning the list on up the ladder so that it can be
|
||
Fidonews Page 10 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
made available to the rest of you. Is it fair for Ken Kaplan and
|
||
Ben Baker to put THEIR copyright on my work? I don't think so,
|
||
to be honest. Again, I -understand- why they did it, but I think
|
||
in this instance it's a case of shooting off your big toe in
|
||
order to get rid of a corn! I have alot of very mixed feelings
|
||
on this issue, and would appreciate input from the rest of you
|
||
out there. Do I, as a Net Coordinator, have the right, even the
|
||
DUTY, to copyright MY part of the nodelist? IFNA certainly can
|
||
copyright the COLLECTION of parts, but each PART should be
|
||
separately copyrighted to protect the work all of the various
|
||
coordinators do to produce the nodelist as we know it. But then
|
||
this is MY opinion - you may certain differ with that.
|
||
|
||
There is one more perception that I'd like to address. That's
|
||
the belief that IFNA is doing things behind our backs, with no
|
||
regard for what WE think. Well, to a degree that HAS been true
|
||
in the past. I am not going to defend IFNA, neither for the sake
|
||
of just "defending them, nor for any past mistakes they have
|
||
made. But they do seem to be willing to change, and make their
|
||
inner workings more of a public forum. Recently, we have seen
|
||
the emergence of the IFNA EchoMail Conference. It is in this
|
||
conference that Ken and Ben are MOST accessible, and where they
|
||
reply to all serious non-flame messages. A cool, rational ex-
|
||
change of information. I applaud them for taking part in this,
|
||
and for making IFNA more accessible to the rest of us. I still
|
||
think that there is alot going on that we don't know about, but
|
||
at least this is a START. And we have to start SOMEPLACE. I
|
||
hope that as the true facts about IFNA come to be generally known
|
||
to all, we'll have even more avenues of discussion and
|
||
participation available to us.
|
||
|
||
Anyhow, these are just some of my views in the wake of the
|
||
Colorado Conference, and the Nooseletter. Most of the "shock"
|
||
has finally worn off now, and it seems that we're slowly but
|
||
surely beginning to come to terms with change. None of this is
|
||
anything that we expected, for sure. But it's here and now, and
|
||
we're going to have to deal with it. Some of the things that I
|
||
have heard are IFNA goals are indeed desirable; some are not.
|
||
And again, this is MY opinion, and may not necessarily be yours.
|
||
But since I am here to offer my opinion, let me summarize:
|
||
|
||
A - We let Ken and Ben get on with things, and go ahead and set
|
||
up IFNA as they have started to do.
|
||
|
||
B - We await the results of the Bylaws Rules Committee, and see
|
||
just what it is that IFNA is really supposed to be.
|
||
|
||
C - With the facts in hand as of 1/1/87, we decide whether or not
|
||
we want to be a part of IFNA. Many of us will elect to do
|
||
so; many of us will not. We can decide, based on something
|
||
called INFORMATION at that time.
|
||
|
||
D - We all remain calm, and not fly off the handle at others who
|
||
have differing opinions. Even I have been guilty as of late
|
||
of that.
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 11 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
E - We continue to enjoy our HOBBY.
|
||
|
||
|
||
We all have to remember that IFNA is what WE make of it. If we
|
||
don't like it, we don't have to join it. We can vote the board
|
||
out of office come election time, or just set up our own network
|
||
and forget about IFNA. It is WE that have the power; not Ken and
|
||
Ben. If they have any power at all, it is that which we give to
|
||
them. We should ALWAYS be mindful of that. It is my belief that
|
||
until Ken and Ben disappoint us, we should stand behind them now,
|
||
and see where we can take this thing called IFNA. Who knows? We
|
||
might end up even liking it!
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
That's it for me this week, and I invite your reply!
|
||
|
||
Ken Shackelford
|
||
NET 133 Coordinator
|
||
Atlanta
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 12 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Jason Patterson, 155/201, Fido Australia
|
||
|
||
Hi. I would like to ask a favor of you for my city. Our city is
|
||
facing a problem at the moment and so is the region we're located
|
||
in. The problem is this. Australia is going to celebrate its
|
||
bicentenary in 1988. There will be a tall ships race from
|
||
Adalaide to Melbourne in that year but they won't be wieghing
|
||
anchor at Portland Victoria. You see Portland was the FIRST
|
||
permanent settlement in Victoria and these ships will be sailing
|
||
right by us, they will be only 3 miles off shore. Melbourne will
|
||
be stealing history from us.
|
||
|
||
What I'd like you to do for me and my city is to write or call
|
||
any relevent authorities who are participating in this race to
|
||
allow at least ONE tall ship to dock here.
|
||
|
||
I beleive the NAVY and the COAST GAURD are participating in this.
|
||
So if you can help please send a message to me on this board. If
|
||
somthing won't be done the citizens of Prtland might cecede from
|
||
the rest of Australia. It might happen but then again its just a
|
||
possibility.
|
||
|
||
If the ships do past this city it would be like the U.S
|
||
celebrating two hundred years without the statue of liberty.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 13 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
From: Region 19 Coordinators
|
||
Subject: Attention all nodes in Region 19!
|
||
|
||
1) Region 19 EchoMail Conference
|
||
--------------------------------
|
||
We have a fairly large region here, with a lot of
|
||
boards. As coordinators for the region, Mark and I get to
|
||
hear a lot of complaints (and at least a few compliments!)
|
||
but that's about the extent of our communications with the
|
||
rest of the region. Many of you probably aren't aware of
|
||
what's going on in other areas of the region, either.
|
||
We'd like to propose a regional echo conference so that
|
||
we can start communicating with each other about topics of
|
||
mutual concern. The state of Fido is undergoing political
|
||
upheaval and re-organization. As coordinators, we have some
|
||
input into the process, and we'd like you to share with us
|
||
your comments and ideas.
|
||
But that's just part of it! Most of us are under the
|
||
dominion of South Western Bell, the phone company that HATES
|
||
modemmers. We in Oklahoma City haven't had any real problems
|
||
with them recently, but considering their attitudes towards
|
||
us, something is bound to break sometime. We need to band
|
||
together for our own protection.
|
||
Those are only two of the reasons for a regional echo;
|
||
I'll bet there are lots of you out there who can think of
|
||
many other issues concerning this region that should be
|
||
addressed.
|
||
Setting this thing up is going to be complicated. We
|
||
already have our hands full with moderating another echo,
|
||
and with the usual regional chores. I would like to hear
|
||
from some volunteers, preferably (but not necessarily)
|
||
sysops who already have some experience with EchoMail. We
|
||
will do everything we can to help you get it started.
|
||
|
||
2) A Regional Newsletter
|
||
------------------------
|
||
I've been wanting to start a regional newsletter for
|
||
awhile now, and we're starting to hear from others around
|
||
the region who are interested, too. If we can make a re-
|
||
gional echo fly, there may not be as much need for it, but
|
||
it's still a good idea. One of the problems with an echo is
|
||
that all the messages don't always reach all the boards, or
|
||
when they do, they aren't always in a coherent order. A
|
||
newsletter can summarize the most important topics and can
|
||
be more easily distributed.
|
||
It seems like the simplest way to spread it around
|
||
would be for us to attach it to the nodelist or the Fido
|
||
newsletter, which most of you poll us for already. Not all
|
||
of the hosts do, though; some get it from other sources.
|
||
Those would have to make alternate arrangements.
|
||
It is because of them that I'm making this announce-
|
||
ment in the national newsletter; I want to be sure that
|
||
everyone knows about it.
|
||
____________________________________________________________
|
||
David Drexler, co-coordinator of Region 19, 147/1
|
||
Data number: [405] 728-2463
|
||
Fidonews Page 14 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Voice numbers:
|
||
[405] 728-9836 - (Mark Grennan)
|
||
[405] 942-7852 - (me)
|
||
We can also be reached at:
|
||
{ihnp4,cbosgd}!occrsh!gorgo!ddrex
|
||
" " " " !mark
|
||
------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 15 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Listed below are the nodes that are currently carrying the
|
||
IFNA conference. The list was taken from the SEEN-BY lines
|
||
of the last 25 messages in the area here. Sorry if I've
|
||
missed any one. I'll try to update it regularly.
|
||
|
||
For a connection, I would suggest contacting in the
|
||
following order:
|
||
|
||
anyone from whom you are currently receiving echomail
|
||
your host
|
||
your regional coordinator
|
||
someone from the list
|
||
me when all else fails.
|
||
|
||
This is an unusual request for making a connection, but if
|
||
being done in hopes that every sysop can get involved as
|
||
quickly as possible.
|
||
|
||
As convenient as it would be, remember no one can dictate
|
||
how to make the connections, we can only recommend.
|
||
|
||
Mikey 103/501
|
||
|
||
1/0 1/1 111
|
||
10/26
|
||
13/16
|
||
14/614
|
||
19/329
|
||
100/22 76
|
||
101/106
|
||
102/104 106 107 111 112 115 116 801 902 905 1301
|
||
103/0 201 301 401 501 508 510 514 515 517 521 522 602
|
||
107/7 8
|
||
114/15
|
||
120/0 17 20 38
|
||
122/6
|
||
124/0 101 102 104 108 109 111 200 204 206 207 210 212
|
||
125/77 406
|
||
130/0 1 2 3 4
|
||
132/0 101 107
|
||
136/601 1986
|
||
141/9 200 215 810
|
||
150/1
|
||
156/2
|
||
161/1 2 77 93 321 509 521 1103
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 16 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Doug Boone
|
||
Lazarus
|
||
119/0 119/5
|
||
|
||
What Does FidoNet Mean in a Small City?
|
||
|
||
|
||
I've been reading through the messages on the Echoes regarding
|
||
the Conference in Colorado and the possible futures for FidoNet
|
||
and the International Fido Net Association. I get the feeling
|
||
that to a lot of the people involved have a feeling of, "If I
|
||
don't get my way then I'll just get (RBBS, Collie, whatever, pick
|
||
one) and tell IFNA to take a flying leap! I certainly would un-
|
||
derstand their feelings a little more if there were any evidence
|
||
that there was anything that has actually happened that can't be
|
||
attributed simply to disorganization and ignorance. Before we get
|
||
in too big of a rush to break up FidoNet I'd like to express what
|
||
FidoNet and the enhancements we've seen in the last few months
|
||
mean to me and my users.
|
||
|
||
Chico is a small city of 35,000 for four months a year and then
|
||
the State University opens and the population jumps to something
|
||
like 52,000. That means that we are still too small to have ac-
|
||
cess to Sprint or MCI or any of the discount phone services. It
|
||
also means that we don't have TeleNet, so no PC Pursuit. For us
|
||
to keep up with the latest information on our hobby/fetish we
|
||
have been individually calling boards 100-2000 miles away to get
|
||
programs, read messages and so on. The straight Fido Software is
|
||
a very good board, for file transfers its probably the best-
|
||
that's around, (or it would be with YMODEM! hint, hint). The
|
||
person who ran the local Fido (#447) didn't keep up with the
|
||
NODELIST or FidoNews. When I uploaded FidoNews as a user he'd
|
||
promptly delete and tell me it was supposed to be just for SYS-
|
||
OPs.
|
||
|
||
Then a few months ago I became the SYSOP. Three of the first
|
||
things I did was to update the NODELIST, start posting FidoNews,
|
||
and place an advertisement in this electronic newsletter asking
|
||
who out there had access to files for Commodore, Apple, and Atari
|
||
computers and I got some good answers. It turned out that there
|
||
were some Fidos out there that had really impressive libraries
|
||
and SYSOPs who were willing to help. Local people who had never-
|
||
thought of sending messages to other Fidos saw the possibility
|
||
that by making arrangements to send disks back and forth through
|
||
the mail as well as using FidoNet's abilities and SERVER we could
|
||
remain current. FidoNet had POSSIBILITIES!
|
||
|
||
But the real change came when Randy Bush (122/6) forwarded a
|
||
message about starting a Commodore Echo group, did I want to
|
||
participate? I asked my users and the answer was yes. So I star-
|
||
ted in the Commodore Echo, and later with the help of Butch Wal-
|
||
ker (161/1) and Jim Ewald (161/8) I was also able to get into the
|
||
TECH and SYSOP Echoes. Suddenly the local aficionados sat up and
|
||
saw that Fido had arrived. Here was a local board that was giving
|
||
the user almost as good of service as the $8/hour people. Other
|
||
local users who had other interests looked it over and decided
|
||
Fidonews Page 17 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
that they'd like to get into some of the other Echo groups that I
|
||
just couldn't support and they started up their own Fido just to
|
||
become involved in their specialties.
|
||
|
||
I may not have made the point through all of this but FidoNet is
|
||
the *ONLY* way any of this could have happened for us. We're
|
||
years away from access to PC Pursuit or any of the services that
|
||
those of you that live in metropolitan areas can use. Its a great
|
||
equalizer, a few dedicated people can make it work to give the
|
||
same service that you take for granted.
|
||
|
||
And although I've been talking about small towns in a geographic
|
||
sense you should also realize that FidoNet does serve and can do
|
||
even more to serve the people who live in other kinds of small
|
||
worlds, the small world of a body that has more limitations than
|
||
most of us, the small world of predjudice and fear. The computer
|
||
doesn't judge anyone on their ability to walk or hear, it doesn't
|
||
care about the color of someone's skin or their sexual prefer-
|
||
ence, you aren't going to catch any diseases from reading mes-
|
||
sages from someone who's sick. How many of you who went to the
|
||
Conference were surprised at how little the people you had "met"
|
||
through FidoNet didn't look anything like the mental image you
|
||
had of that person?
|
||
|
||
I do want to continue to be a part of FidoNet, I'd be happy to
|
||
contribute as much as I can. I just hope that the dreamers' vi-
|
||
sions aren't so grandiose that there's no room left for the hob-
|
||
byist and beginners among us. I do appreciate ALL the people who
|
||
have make this system work and all the writers who've created the
|
||
system and the fabulous extensions.
|
||
|
||
Thank You
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 18 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
WANTED
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
|
||
Eric Ewanco, 130/3, The AmERICan BBS, Fort Worth TX
|
||
|
||
I would like to add public encryption and DES encryption in
|
||
my MSGCRYPT program, but do not have the descriptions of the
|
||
algorithms needed. I will pay $10 for up to a total of four good
|
||
submissions of either the DES algorithm or a relatively secure
|
||
public key encryption algorithm. Documents must be clear and
|
||
understandable to one without a college math education, but has
|
||
a good understanding of math and algorithms. The descriptions
|
||
must be clear and complete, covering complete encryption given
|
||
an ASCII key and a stream of data to an encrypted stream of
|
||
data, and corresponding decryption algorithm; and, if necessary,
|
||
the construction of a key for public key encryption. Source
|
||
code, preferably C or Pascal, would be appreciated, but not
|
||
required. Submissions may be from published material, or may be
|
||
written by yourself. I don't care about copyrights. I will
|
||
respect yours if you write something and declare it copyrighted,
|
||
though.
|
||
Payment will be made to those submissions that allow me to
|
||
implement the described algorithm in its entirety. If I must use
|
||
two submissions to complete my understanding of either
|
||
algorithm, each will be paid; in other words, up to four people
|
||
will be paid, two submitting DES, two public key. If one person
|
||
submits both, and both are accepted, s/he will be paid double.
|
||
Any questions, refer to 130/3. Submit via file attach or send
|
||
to:
|
||
Eric Ewanco
|
||
7633 Beckwood Drive
|
||
Fort Worth, TX 76112-6051
|
||
|
||
Thank you.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 19 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
FOR SALE
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
Now available from Micro Consulting Associates!!
|
||
|
||
Public Domain collection - 550+ "ARC" archives - 20+ megs of
|
||
software and other goodies, and that's "archived" size!
|
||
When unpacked, you get approximately 28 megabytes worth of
|
||
all kinds of software, from text editors to games to
|
||
unprotection schemes to communications programs, compilers,
|
||
interpreters, etc... Over 66 DS/DD diskettes!! This
|
||
collection is the result of more than 15 months of intensive
|
||
downloads from just about 150 or more BBS's and other
|
||
sources, all of which have been examined, indexed and
|
||
archived for your convenience. Starting a Bulletin Board
|
||
System? Want to add on to your software base without
|
||
spending thousands of dollars? This is the answer!!!
|
||
|
||
To order the library, send $100 (personal or company check,
|
||
postal money order or company purchase order) to:
|
||
|
||
Micro Consulting Associates, Fido 166/1
|
||
Post Office Box 4296
|
||
200-1/2 E. Balboa Boulevard
|
||
Balboa, Ca. 92661-4296
|
||
|
||
Please allow 3 weeks for delivery of your order.
|
||
|
||
Note: No profit is made from the sale of the Public Domain
|
||
software in this collection. The price is applied entirely
|
||
to the cost of downloading the software over the phone
|
||
lines, running a BBS to receive file submissions, and
|
||
inspecting, cataloguing, archiving and maintaining the
|
||
files. Obtaining this software yourself through the use of a
|
||
computer with a modem using commercial phone access would
|
||
cost you much more than what we charge for the service...
|
||
|
||
The following format choices are available:
|
||
|
||
- IBM PC-DOS Backup utility
|
||
- Zenith MS-DOS 2.11 Backup Utility
|
||
- DSBackup
|
||
- Fastback
|
||
- ACS INTRCPT 720k format (Requires a 1.2m floppy
|
||
drive and PC-DOS 3.2)
|
||
- Plain ol' files (add $50)
|
||
|
||
Add $30 if you want the library on 1.2 meg AT disks (more
|
||
expensive disks). There are no shipping or handling
|
||
charges. California residents add 6% tax.
|
||
|
||
For each sale, $10 will go to the FidoNet Administrators.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 20 15 Sep 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
NOTICES
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
The Interrupt Stack
|
||
|
||
|
||
24 Aug 1989
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Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
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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.
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