1365 lines
66 KiB
Plaintext
1365 lines
66 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 5, Number 48 28 November 1988
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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 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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COMPLAINTS--COMPLAINTS! .................................. 1
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BBX - A New Service For SysOps From Byte/BIX! ............ 6
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The Great Computer Room Explosion of '78 ................. 9
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A Reason For Gating ...................................... 11
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Sapphire: A Revolutionary New Kind of BBS ................ 12
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LAST SATURDAY ............................................ 14
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2. COLUMNS .................................................. 19
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Bodies Behind the BBS: Bob Rudolph ...................... 19
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Let's YACK about Burnout ................................. 21
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3. NOTICES .................................................. 22
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The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 22
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Latest Software Versions ................................. 22
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And more!
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FidoNews 5-48 Page 1 28 Nov 1988
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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Jake Hargrove
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Fido 301/1
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High Mesa Ranger's
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After reading last weeks Fido News, and continuinging to
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monitor all of the echo areas I participate in I guess it is time
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I do this article. I have been putting it off now for almost 6
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months. I have seen FLAME after FLAME towards the IC, RC, and
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even NC. I have watched as many a good SysOp has crumbled and
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gone their merry way to bigger and better things. An in some
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cases into Other Newly formed Net Works. I want all of you to
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know up front, I am not normally a conformist and am usually the
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first to disagree with everything and anything. This article is
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not a FLAME, but is a direct attack upon some of the principles
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we ALL are suppose to Operate within.
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How many of you know the document (Policy3) which we all are
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suppose to comply with is DATED: 24 Oct 1986? Two years OLD, it
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is the same policy which I came into the Net under. It starts
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off with a very simple statement which is true even today.
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QUOTE " FidoNet is an amateur Electronic mail system. As such,
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all of it participants and operators are non-paid volunteers."
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With just over 1000 Nodes. Well I looked when parselst compiled
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my nodelist this week and we have over 4000 nodes. Not only are
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most of us still volunteers many of us do this as a Hobby, or as
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I always say "For the Fun Of It". When it no longer is Fun I
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will do what most of the others have Done, and that is PULL THE
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PLUG. Not only the Phone, but the BBS. An right now it is close
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to no longer being FUN.
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One of the Easiest RULES which had to be complied with to be
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part of the FidoNet is still OUR main stay, though many of us can
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do it in ways different than when running a Fido System. We MUST
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all run what was called NMH (National Mail Hour), or what is now
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ZMH (Zone Mail Hour). This one hour time period is our BACKBONE.
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It is the time slot where NC, RC, ZC and yes even the even the IC
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can send NET mail to all of us. You know what is funny? For the
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past 2 years I have ran this Mail Hour and only on a couple of
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occassions have I received mail during this period. You may ask
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why. Well it is because of the invention of that thing called
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Crash Mail. Where you can Poll a system and pickup mail for your
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system anytime day or night. But would you believe me if I told
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you that Net Mail or even Echo Mail is not the ROOT of many of
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the problems this Network is presently experiencing? Well it is
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not.
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Ever read Chapter 3? Your Network Coordinator? Well you
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should. Because this Administrative Position within the Network
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structure is probalby the Most Important. With out this
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individual many of you would not have a Node Number. In fact, I
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would say about 90 percent of US would not have a number. The
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FidoNews 5-48 Page 2 28 Nov 1988
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remaining 10 percent are assigned by the Region Coordinators and
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in some cases referred to as Orphans or Independent Nodes. Well
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they are still part of this Net work and we should support them
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as if they were our own. In fact, if there is an Independent
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node within a region which is even close to an active net, then
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it should be the Region Coordinators and Net Coordinators primary
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purpose to ensure this independent node is accepted into a Net.
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An unlike some I feel the NC structure is a valuable part of our
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total network structure. This one position must ensure each node
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within the net is operating smoothly, not causing problems, and
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in general complying with OUR policy. It should also be the
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focal point for distribution of FidoNews, Nodediff changes,
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Nodelist if necessary, and assistance in establishing new nodes
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within the net. I can truly say if it were not for the Net
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Coordinator of my orginal Net I would not be here today. He did
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a lot of work to get me into the Net from the very start.
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Region Coordinators, probably have the easist position of
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all, as long as all of US NC under them do our administrative
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task properly and in a timely manner. The hardest thing I see a
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RC having to do is keeping the region in some simulance of order
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much like a small net work, which a region basicall is with each
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of the NC acting as representative for the Net's. Mind you I am
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not saying that RC do not have a tough JOB, but as long as I do
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mine right my RC has it easy.
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International Coordinator, Get a copy of policy3 and READ
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this section, Chapter 5. You people who have FLAMED THE IC in
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the past few weeks need to get a copy and read this section. An
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I have just a few words for you.
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1. If you do not like what is says. Then why has it not
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been changed.
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2. Until it is changed, then I suggest you either LIVE with
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it or Move on to something else.
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I for one would not VOLUNTEER to fill this position without
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some MAJOR changes in the present FidoNet Policy. His primary
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function of maintaining the node list, may very well be the most
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difficult administrative function of all of FidoNet. Without it
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all you complainers would have to find some other way of making
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contact with all the other complainers. One other charge of this
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position is the Smooth Operation of the Entire FidoNet work, not
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all these other networks but OUR net work. An right now he is
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having a very difficult time. An the main reason is because he
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is trying to make things better and still maintain the integrity
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of FIDONET.
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An for those of you who have not read the Policy, then I
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again strongly suggest you do. An make it a point to read para
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6.4, page 15. I am again going to quote this particular part for
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one simple reason. I WANT TO.
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QUOTE:
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FidoNews 5-48 Page 3 28 Nov 1988
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6.4 Problems with the International Coordinator
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If you are having problems with the International Coordinator,
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the you are out of luck. You can either live with it, drop out
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and forget it, or join with some friends and start another mail
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system of your own.
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UNQUOTE:
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We all sometimes get displeased with what is going on
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around us, but MUTINY is not the way. Whether or not we want to
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admit it, we are an orginazation, and starting to become a rather
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large one. With over 4000 nodes, and many more users than I want
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to try and count because it seems every one is getting into this
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Hobby of ours. So someone has to take the Reins, and make sure
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things are running smoothly. An if it were not David Dodell it
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would be someone else, and there is only one way I see for things
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to get streight and for those of you who do not like to be
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managed, manhandled, and confronted with policy and controls. I
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am very sorry to say, if you operate a BBS you have some kind of
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rules, which must be complied with and I for one think that many
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of your users do not like them either but they stay as users for
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one reason because they want to. They may not like your rules,
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but if they are interested in your operation they stay, if not
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then they go find some one elses board to play on.
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I agree the IC, RC, and NC should not have any say in the
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operation of any BBS, but when the operation of that BBS
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interacts with the local net then the NC by all means has a say
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in how it is done, whether it be Echo Mail, Net Mail, or simple
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ensuring a node is operating in the proper manner, Like running
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mail hour, or even operating at all. An the NC should be able to
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act on what ever the problem may be. If a node cannot be
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contacted for 7 days by net mail. Then the NC is responsible for
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making the proper node diff changes. If this continues it is
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within his responsibility to place the node on hold, show it as
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down or delete it complete from the nodelist. An I know many do
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not like that but that is just the way it has to be.
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The same things applies to being annoying or excessively
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abusive. It is the NC, RC and board sysop's responsibilty to
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correct this type of problem and MAKE decisions. For the NetWork
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to survive, or rather for the NetWork to operate we must have a
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structure of some kind. An contrary to some belief, IFNA is not
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a governing body. It is simply and International Organization of
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Sysops. Some of which may or may not operate systems which are
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compatable with Fido BBS. I for one Operate a Binkley/Opus
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system, and have over the past few weeks been considering making
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it a Mail Only system. Because I for one do not care if I have
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Users on my BBS or not. I operate this BBS for Me. I read the
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mail and when I finnish I delete it. I do not have any users who
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call and read mail. An when they find I do not allow Uploads or
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only downloads of certain software, they do not call back.
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Now that I have most of that off my chest. I guess I can
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FidoNews 5-48 Page 4 28 Nov 1988
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get down to some serious Business. EchoMail, I have heard that
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this sysop or this moderator is pulling out of FidoNet and taking
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a Conference with Him/or her. An we in FidoNet will not longer
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have access to these echo areas. I say BUNK, just because a
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moderator takes a echoarea and moves on does not mean we cannot
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have it here to. One of the main ones I have heard about is
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about the HardDisk conference. OK, guys, rename it, and those
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that are still in FidoNet who want to participate Will
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participate. An with everything that is out there to strip
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seenbys, and origin lines, then some enterprizing sysop will
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figure out a way to get the messages from other nets into his
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area to read anyway. Or simply set up a link of your own and do
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not pass it along to anyone else in FidoNet. If you guys want
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something bad enough you will figure out a way to get it. Just
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do not involve the rest of the net.
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An on the subjects of BACKBONE operation. A backbone to me
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is the mainstay of the human body. You can cut off an arm, or
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leg. But you must have your HEAD, and something to hold it up.
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This is YOUR Backbone. You can operate without the backbone, but
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you should let the backbone do it's job, and that is to get
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information from one point to another the fastest, cheapest and
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quickest means. True if a single node in Maine, wants to send an
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echo or net message to California it is easier to send it direct.
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But if that same message has a destination of Florida, North
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Dakota, Washington, Louisiana, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New
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Mexico, California and Hawaii. The its being transmitted to a
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Central Distribution Point, who sends it on to the next central
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distribution point who sends it to the nodes as necessary, then
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the Backbone is a Very Necessary part of our net. An I for one
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feel we should do everything in our power to make this process as
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easy, cheap and quick as possible. An those of you who want to
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keep making it harder and harder I say to you get out of my Life.
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Go join one of the other nets or start your own. But if you want
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to make things easy on me, and cheap for me, then by all means do
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so but do not kill me in the process of doing it. We need some
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rules, and policy, and we need someone to enforce these rules and
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policy. Swiftly quickly and without question.
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This is not an advocation for David Dodell to stepdown, it
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is also not an advocation to allow IFNA to assume control of the
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NET. It is an advocation for US as SysOps to do our own things
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but remember there are others out there who are doing their thing
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like us. An anytime you get more than one person doing their
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thing, you have to have quidelines of operation between the two
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boards, Whether written, oral, or a combination of both. That
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is just way things are. I also know there are those out there
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who will not like what I have just said, and others who will and
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still others who do not care. So you can go by an old saying.
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"Lead, Follow, or get the Hell out of OUR way." If we cannot
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live in Harmony with the other Net, or they cannot live in
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Harmony with US then I say we do not live together. This is
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sometimes called a seperation, we do not have to get a Divorce
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but it might be one of our options.
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AS I mentioned earlier, this is NOT A FLAME, if you take it
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FidoNews 5-48 Page 5 28 Nov 1988
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that way so be it. But I have a strong feeling Fido Net will
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survive, it may not be as big as some folks would like for it to
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be but the smooth operation and continued operation of Nodes
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Under Fido Net must be with some type of standards. An these
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standards must be reviewed and updated as necessary to meet the
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changing of the NET.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FidoNews 5-48 Page 6 28 Nov 1988
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BBX - A New Service For SysOps From Byte/BIX!
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Pete White 1:322/360
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At a recent meeting of the SysOps here in the Eastern Region we
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were presented with a new service offered by BIX, the electronic
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publishing extension of Byte Magazine. While the original intent
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was to offer this service to the Boston area only we had the
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opportunity to talk with George Bond, the Executive Editor of BIX
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and he agreed to extend the Charter Membership offer to ALL
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FidoNet SysOps with an additional discount to IFNA members. I'm
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sure many of you will find it interesting, and if you don't know
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what BIX is the three month trial period for $50 is a fantastic
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and inexpensive way to find out.
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What is the BBX?
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The Bulletin Board Exchange is a new service to be offered this
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fall by BIX (R), the BYTE Information Exchange, to sysops of
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local BBSes. The BBX allows sysops to become publishers of
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information from the Microbytes Daily News Service. It also
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provides an efficient, low-cost way to exchange information
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between BBSes and to conduct BBS network business.
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What do you get?
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1. Daily news and features from BBX/Microbytes to publish on your
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BBS.
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BBX/Microbytes is a custom package of news and features
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designed specially for local BBSes. It will be available
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only to sysops.
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Every Monday through Friday you will get microbytes
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news stories about developments in microcomputing,
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telecommunications, and technology. In addition, each
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Friday you will get First Looks, a Microbytes Feature,
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and hardware and software new product items.
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All of this material is reported, written, and edited by
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BYTE and BIX staff members and correspondents throughout
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the United States and in Europe and Japan.
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Coverage includes reporting from industry trade shows,
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national and international special-interest group
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conferences as the events are going on, looks at
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important work at R&D labs and in college and university
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technical centers.
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2. The monthly Best of BIX to publish on your BBS.
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Each month, you will get the Best of BIX. BoB is just
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what its name implies -- a distillation of the choicest
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material from the conferences of the BYTE Information
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Exchange. Core areas cover IBM PCs and other MS DOS
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machines, Macintoshs, the Apple // family, Amigas, and
|
||
Atari STs. Other topics -- Unix, the NeXT computer,
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 7 28 Nov 1988
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object-oriented programming, etc. -- also are covered,
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although not necessarily on a monthly basis.
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3. Use of the BIX computer for mail, message and file transfers.
|
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You will be able to use the BIX host computer, and the
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Tymnet telecommunications network, not only to collect
|
||
your BBX articles but also to exchange your own
|
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information with other sysops. BIX will tailor private
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||
conferences for your use. You may use our host to avoid
|
||
the busy signals that sometimes plague dialup nodes. You
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||
also can use private conferences to conduct inter-BBS
|
||
business.
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||
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Since most telephones in the United States are only a
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||
local call away from a Tymnet node, you should be able
|
||
to cut your BBS network telecommunications costs
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sharply.
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Incidentally, BIX -- and the BBX -- are available
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worldwide through the international packet-switching
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networks. It also is available through PC-Pursuit.
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||
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4. And all the rest of BIX for your personal use!
|
||
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||
You will be able browse through the more than 150 public
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conferences on BIX, participate in real-time chat
|
||
sessions, and use our many libraries of files for
|
||
downloading.
|
||
|
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What will this cost you?
|
||
|
||
Membership in the BBX will be by subscription only. The regular
|
||
annual membership fee for the BBX and BIX combined will be $199.
|
||
|
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Charter memberships will be available for $160, and special
|
||
3-month trial memberships will be available for $50, but only
|
||
through Dec. 31, 1988. All IFNA members will receive an
|
||
additional 10% discount.
|
||
|
||
Your telecommunications charges are not included in these prices.
|
||
If you live in the Boston area, your only other expense for the
|
||
BBX will be a local phone call (the BIX host computer is in
|
||
Lexington, Mass., and dialup ports are available). If you use
|
||
Tymnet, you will be charged $2 an hour evenings, weekends, and
|
||
and major holidays. Prime-time use is 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays
|
||
and is billed at $8 an hour. All times are your local time, and
|
||
all charges are calculated to the nearest minute.
|
||
|
||
How do you subscribe?
|
||
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It's easy. You can call BIX and register on-line.
|
||
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Using Tymnet:
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||
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After handshaking is done you will see a line of garbled
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 8 28 Nov 1988
|
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|
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characters (or a request for "terminal identifier). Respond with
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a lower-case "a". You should then get a "please log in" request.
|
||
Respond "bix" and a carraige return. The next display will be
|
||
the BIX welcome screen, ending with a prompt saying "Name?"
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Enter "ug.bbx" here and you will begin the registration script.
|
||
If you elect to pay with a credit card (AmEx, MC or Visa), you
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||
will be able to use BIX immediately upon completion of
|
||
registration. If you decide to prepay for time or to set up a
|
||
corporate account you will have to complete some paperwork before
|
||
you have access to BIX.
|
||
|
||
Direct dial:
|
||
|
||
If you dial directly to BIX (the direct line is 617-861-9767),
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respond "bix" to the login prompt and enter "ug.bix" at the
|
||
"Name?" prompt. Continue as with Tymnet from here.
|
||
|
||
If you are a member of the IFNA, please leave a mail message to
|
||
"bixbilling" with your membership number and a request for the
|
||
10% IFNA member discount.
|
||
|
||
When you register for a year at the cost of $160 and you use the
|
||
BBX capabilities for only 2 hours a week, or 104 hours a year,
|
||
the hourly cost will be approximately $3.538461538 per hour! And
|
||
this includes Tymnet charges!
|
||
|
||
Please direct any questions about BBX to either Mr. George Bond
|
||
at 1-800-227-2983 (voice) or to me at 1:322/360.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 9 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
P U N C H - C A R D C H U M
|
||
What to do with it
|
||
A suggestion by Fredric L. Rice
|
||
(103/503.3 Astro-Net)
|
||
|
||
|
||
One of the more asked question circulating among the high
|
||
schools and colleges around the Southern California area is
|
||
what possible uses exist for the chum generated by punch cards
|
||
and paper tape.
|
||
|
||
At the start of every morning, bright and early, before all of
|
||
the students classes begin, you go around to all the punch card
|
||
machines and collect the chum into a large plastic bag. After
|
||
you have ten pounds or so of the stuff, you pause at the trash
|
||
bin to consider saving it for it may come in handy someday.
|
||
After a moments reflection, you simply toss it away.
|
||
|
||
I have a suggestion.
|
||
|
||
Towards the end of the high school year, many years ago, my
|
||
brother brought to the computer room a large CO^2 cartridge.
|
||
Along with the cylinder he brought 2000 or so books of matches.
|
||
|
||
Now I know a lot of you have tried this and, in fact, it's an
|
||
illegal and highly dangerous, (not to mention stupid), thing to
|
||
do, but you must consider that high school kids with no
|
||
supervision but lots of time on hand will do illegal, dangerous,
|
||
and stupid things.
|
||
|
||
At first, match heads went into the cartridge, being packed
|
||
down as sulfur was added. Next came match heads mixed with the
|
||
paper tape and punch card chum. A variety of mixes were tested
|
||
to see which burned nicely without being too explosive when
|
||
packed down. It was hoped that a linear acceleration curve
|
||
could be acquired by regulating the rate at which material was
|
||
expelled. After some four pounds of chum was mixed in, we were
|
||
ready to play.
|
||
|
||
Normally a launch tube is required but since there was none at
|
||
hand, a teletype roll of paper was used. Also a slight
|
||
inclination is needed to acquire a nice, flat, trajectory. For
|
||
this, we used the computer rooms door jam. This door looked
|
||
out over a short playing field, (currently in use but soon to
|
||
be not in use), then over a road and on out into the Orange
|
||
County Fair Grounds.
|
||
|
||
After setting the cylinder inside the paper roll and propping
|
||
it up on both sides with magnetic DEC tapes so it wouldn't
|
||
roll, the rest of us took up our bunker positions. Me behind
|
||
one teletype, Robert behind the other; Allen, Bob, and at least
|
||
two others hidden behind a table tipped onto its side before
|
||
the window. A spot was reserved close to the door for my
|
||
brother, the winner of the lottery. It was hoped that he might
|
||
be able to jump far enough behind the book case to avoid any
|
||
problems which might occurs after igniting the thing.
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 10 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
My brother bent down over the cartridge and put a match to its
|
||
nozzle. After the briefest amount of smoke issued from the
|
||
nozzle, he was somehow behind the book case and down before any
|
||
of us could see him take his first step.
|
||
|
||
It's unsettling to note that while this was going on, classes
|
||
were being held to either side of us and students were walking
|
||
past the door looking in and wondering what we were up to... We
|
||
didn't mind killing a Freshmen or two and had at times dumped
|
||
them off the second floor walkaways into the bushes below.
|
||
|
||
It's also interesting to remember another occasion a year before
|
||
where a friend of mine, Mike, was trying to constrict the
|
||
nozzle of a much smaller CO^2 cylinder in a futile attempt to
|
||
gain more velocity. After stuffing it full of sulfur, he took a
|
||
soldering iron to it and tried to seal the end up with a match
|
||
head sticking out. A strong lad but somewhat lacking in brain.
|
||
|
||
He only lost two fingers and the use of a third but I imagine
|
||
it could have been worse. I mean, the guy was holding the thing
|
||
at the time. In his lap. I also imagine that he will some day
|
||
run for president.
|
||
|
||
Where was I? Oh, yes...
|
||
|
||
Libya uses Dynamite. Iran uses C4. I'd rather use match heads.
|
||
|
||
What happened after the thing was lit is unclear, even after
|
||
the investigation, but I can tell you that its explosion was
|
||
heard all over that campus, across the street, and all over
|
||
Orange Coast College.
|
||
|
||
Looking over the computer room filled with reeking smoke, I
|
||
could see the carpet on fire from one side of the room to the
|
||
other. Burning match heads and punch card chum was sprayed all
|
||
over the floor, teletypes, modems and CRT's. Parts of the
|
||
paper roll had been blown through the ceiling and much of it
|
||
was never found.
|
||
|
||
Stupid? Yes... But we used some of that useless chum.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 11 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
Pete White 1:322/360
|
||
|
||
A Reason For Gating
|
||
|
||
There's a considerable amount of controversy in several of our
|
||
echoconferences on the subject of using gates between the various
|
||
nets. While I see literally hundreds of messages giving various
|
||
political reasons for and against the implementation of gates,
|
||
there seem to be very few discussing the technical reasons. I'm
|
||
certainly not qualified to discuss the technical reasoning for
|
||
the necessity of using gates and would welcome seeing commentary
|
||
here in FidoNews explaining the positive as well as negative
|
||
aspects of using gates between networks. To me there's no reason
|
||
to continue to discuss the political aspects, especially after a
|
||
recent check showed that when the AlterNet, EggNet and FidoNet
|
||
nodelists were all added together there were only 92 nodes NOT
|
||
listed in the FidoNet nodelist. I would hope all would agree
|
||
that long political discussions on something that presently
|
||
appears to impact so few is ludicrous.
|
||
|
||
There is one positive side to gating that few seem to take into
|
||
consideration. Technology changes rapidly and a smaller net has
|
||
the capability of changing technology much more quickly and more
|
||
easily than a large net. A net the size of AlterNet, for
|
||
example, could change the software it uses for handling mail with
|
||
little or no difficulty. I shudder to think of what it would
|
||
take to make the same change within FidoNet, unless efforts were
|
||
made to continue backwards compatibility. And I've been told
|
||
that maintaining backwards compatibility while introducing
|
||
totally new concepts is what has driven many a programmer to
|
||
drink.
|
||
|
||
If we support the use of gates we support the growth of
|
||
technology within our hobby. Forcing everyone to use the same
|
||
technology inhibits the technical genius we have available, and
|
||
there's certainly a lot of it out there. If we continue to think
|
||
of the gate issue as a political one we might see someone winning
|
||
the political battle while we all lose the technological war.
|
||
|
||
Which do YOU feel is most important?
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 12 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
Timothy Campbell
|
||
Fido: 1:167/161
|
||
|
||
Sapphire: A Revolutionary New Kind of BBS
|
||
------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
MONTREAL -- Pinnacle Software, in association with Le Systeme
|
||
OnLine, is introducing a shareware BBS system known as Sapphire.
|
||
|
||
Pinnacle Software is best known for the Pyroto Mountain system,
|
||
which integrates a game with a BBS. Pyroto can be run
|
||
stand-alone, or as a door. An estimated 75,000 people dial into a
|
||
Pyroto system, every week.
|
||
|
||
Now Pinnacle Software is addressing the mainstream BBS world.
|
||
Sapphire offers messaging, events-processing, doors, file
|
||
transfer and full ANSI colour.
|
||
|
||
Sapphire does not use menus, or single-letter commands. Rather,
|
||
it uses word commands, such as READ or SEND. As a result, all
|
||
functions are available at a single level; there is no need to
|
||
"navigate" through the system to find the function you're looking
|
||
for.
|
||
|
||
Sapphire is both powerful and user-friendly. Especially powerful
|
||
are the TEXT and NAMES functions, which enable the user to filter
|
||
output according to imbedded text, or the name of the people (or
|
||
files) that they are interested in. Thus, with only a few
|
||
commands, the user can phrase a request such as: "Display every
|
||
message on any message base, sent in the last three days, that
|
||
was written by Tony or Mary, in which he or she mentioned the
|
||
word Computer or Fido or Modem".
|
||
|
||
Doors are installed directly, as commands. Because of this
|
||
approach, doors are integrated into the system more smoothly. Up
|
||
to 25 doors can be installed.
|
||
|
||
Up to 10 events can be defined. Installing an event is very
|
||
easy. You specify the time of the event and the name of the
|
||
batch file to be executed. The batch file doesn't require any
|
||
special modification to work with Sapphire. Thus, any batch file
|
||
you may have could be called as a Sapphire event. Return to the
|
||
BBS is automatic.
|
||
|
||
The main attraction of Sapphire, however, is that it is a
|
||
"Zero-Maintenance BBS". Once it is installed, the only task for
|
||
the sysop is validation. The message-base is self-maintaining.
|
||
The files function automatically keeps the 500 most popular
|
||
programs available. The user list is automatically maintained --
|
||
removing inactive users when necessary. Absolutely everything
|
||
about Sapphire is automatic. This makes it ideal for stores,
|
||
consultants, new sysops -- and experienced sysops who are tired
|
||
of their labour-intensive BBS software.
|
||
|
||
Sapphire is now undergoing beta-testing at two sites in Montreal,
|
||
with a scheduled release date of December 7th, 1988. A
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 13 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
stand-alone system runs at 300-1200 baud, at 514-331-6791.
|
||
Another system, running under Binkley, runs at 300-9600USR baud,
|
||
at 514-286-1703 (Fido 1:167/161).
|
||
|
||
For more information about Sapphire, you can contact Tim Campbell
|
||
at 514-331-6791, or James Ludwick at 514-844-1374. Or you can
|
||
pick up the PYROTO EchoMail conference, which now deals with all
|
||
of Pinnacle Software's telecommunications products (Pyroto,
|
||
Vortex, Sapphire, etc.).
|
||
|
||
After December 7, 1988, you may file request "SAPPHIRE"
|
||
from 1:167/161.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 14 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Editor's Note <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
|
||
|
||
While this article does contain language that I would normally
|
||
refuse to print (almost a first for me). I do believe it contains
|
||
some information that should be brought out. I myself hadn't
|
||
looked at the article until Tom Jennings sent me some netmail
|
||
asking if it had been printed. The article itself really should
|
||
have gone out before the elections earlier this month.
|
||
Unfortunately, it didn't quite match specs and it sat around
|
||
until TJ brought my attention to it.
|
||
|
||
Once again, I repeat. THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND
|
||
CONTENT. IT IS BEING PRINTED AS A COURTESY TO TOM JENNINGS AND
|
||
BECAUSE I BELIEVE IT CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT MANY OF US ARE
|
||
UNAWARE OF THAT CONCERNS US.
|
||
|
||
-- Dale Lovell
|
||
Editor of FidoNews
|
||
|
||
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
|
||
|
||
FIDONEWS EDITOR:
|
||
|
||
This article was intended as self-therapy after the particular
|
||
night in question. (Read it, you'll see!) I wrote it intending to
|
||
publish it in two punk magazines, where the language used won't
|
||
stand out.
|
||
|
||
It will (ahem) stand out in FidoNews. I don't know what the
|
||
policy, if any, is these days on submissions. The language is
|
||
strong but so is the content. It's not fiction.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Here's the article:
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
* LAST SATURDAY
|
||
* Tom Jennings
|
||
|
||
Saturday, 22 Oct 88
|
||
|
||
There's some new NBC TV series, made in San Francisco, ``Midnight
|
||
Caller'', to be aired starting 25 Oct. I don't have a TV so I
|
||
know nothing about it. One particular episode is scripted to go
|
||
like this: there's a nasty bisexual man who knows he's infected
|
||
with the HIV virus, deliberately fucking and infecting his women
|
||
lovers. (I suppose if he was fucking guys no one would care, so
|
||
they made it women.)
|
||
|
||
The producer, John Perry, told the Sentinel (SF newspaper)
|
||
``Every episode will leave you with a thought provoking
|
||
process.'' I'm sure. (This is the same studio, Lorrimar, that
|
||
brought you gems like ``Cruising'', another gay-exploitation
|
||
movie.)
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 15 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
This is just too much. It's one too many outright assault. It's
|
||
plain and simple, saying ``oh those AIDS faggots, see? this is
|
||
what could happen, there are people like that out there!''. The
|
||
argument is that since potentially anyone could do that
|
||
(remember: we are all potential criminals at all times) we must
|
||
control them, its for our own good, see.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Saturday, 22 Oct 88
|
||
|
||
This morning someone pointed a gun at me. He called me a
|
||
``faggot''.
|
||
|
||
My car was getting a new muffler (all by itself). I walked down
|
||
to pick it up. I waited for the light; crossed Folsom St. Wait
|
||
for the light; cross 5th St. (There's lots of traffic, see; new
|
||
Nordstrum's opened, new consumer shrine only two blocks away.
|
||
Light changes, I walk, cars go. Late model clean bright red
|
||
fashionable ``sporty'' toyocar makes left turn, behind me. I
|
||
glance briefly at the car, absolutely ordinary event (safe
|
||
distances, etc)
|
||
|
||
The guy is looking at me. He says ``Fuck you faggot!'', so of
|
||
course social obligation, I flip him off. He pulls into the bus
|
||
stop, yelling ``come over here faggot!'', etc. I flip him off,
|
||
he's still yelling. I wave no-like, I shut up, keep walking,
|
||
don't look back for a minute or so. (ie. remove myself from this
|
||
nuts life.) What the hell is his problem? Gee, I must look like
|
||
some silly nelly queen to him: I'm 6 foot 4, black leather
|
||
jacket, 1/4" buzzed hair, dark round shades, grungy black jeans
|
||
rolled up, Doc-Martens boots, I haven't shaved or showered since
|
||
Thursday morning, in other words, I ain't pretty; plus, fer shits
|
||
sake, I just woke up!
|
||
|
||
I glance back, he's gone, driven off to wherever he's going.
|
||
Adrenalin time: but I keep walking, I only have to go one block
|
||
to get my car. Deep breaths, I start to cool out. I'm not stupid,
|
||
so I watch for the idiots car, it's all one way streets it's
|
||
easy. Zoom! There he is: pulls over, opens door, yells more
|
||
``faggot'' shit, then while sitting in the drivers seat (neatly
|
||
combed & cut black hair, dark aviator glasses, plain dark T-
|
||
shirt) waggles a gun at me, nice new long barrel medium caliber
|
||
autoloader, maybe target pistol. I'm standing beside a van,
|
||
wierd, but I get angry not scared; plus he obviously doesn't know
|
||
what he's doing with that gun, it's pointing all over but at me.
|
||
I say something stupid then bolt quick as shit to video store
|
||
doorway, then have the presence of mind to look for a license
|
||
plate, etc, but he was gone.
|
||
|
||
Now comes the real adrenalin. Stupid junk it is too; great I'm
|
||
sure for rolling in the mud gnashing teeth locked arm to arm with
|
||
a mortal enemy, but pretty useless in an urban environment when I
|
||
need my brain, I can make my body follow as I need thank you.
|
||
|
||
Great, I'm in the muffler shop waiting to pay for and drive away
|
||
my car. Here I am in the throes of full-blast adrenalin, panting
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 16 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
and shaking, microsecond reflexes, predator body motions, trying
|
||
to smile to the other customers, ``Oh hi, I'm just here to pick
|
||
up my car, ha ha.'' Yow!
|
||
|
||
|
||
Saturday, 22 Oct 88
|
||
|
||
So NBC wants to film this particular episode, the part where the
|
||
guy gets shot by one of his victims, in a gay neighborhood. The
|
||
script, leaked to ACT-UP (``AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power'' --
|
||
gay political activists who put their energy and asses on the
|
||
line for all of us -- gay or not -- and in SF here has lots of
|
||
homopunks and punk gays) leaked allegedly by an NBC employee with
|
||
decent ethical standards. (Thank you.)
|
||
|
||
Revenge killing at the end: the guy gets blown away, the Health
|
||
Dep't shows up in full body ``radiation'' type suits, seal the
|
||
body into a bag marked ``DANGER: BIOHAZARD''.
|
||
|
||
This is so sick, so horrible, so dangerous it's almost beyond
|
||
belief. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong, the implied ``facts'' are
|
||
just plain, wrong.
|
||
|
||
I'll leave the information-getting up to you but listen to this
|
||
doo-doos: you have to WORK HARD to get AIDS. Like, use a needle
|
||
that has the fresh blood from someone who has AIDS still in it;
|
||
getting screwed in the ass by a guy with AIDS who comes. That's
|
||
about it. Women getting it from men sexually is very uncommon.
|
||
Men getting it from women sexually is, I believe, unheard of.
|
||
|
||
Is that simple enough?
|
||
|
||
Most people are totally and completely ignorant of what the hell
|
||
is going on. Do you really know what AIDS is? Do you understand
|
||
how information is transmitted in this culture? Do you know how
|
||
your brain soaks up the crap you are immersed in?
|
||
|
||
|
||
Saturday, 22 Oct 88
|
||
|
||
In California, there is this state Proposition #96, which stated,
|
||
basically, if you are arrested for any reason (say at a protest
|
||
or whatever) and there is ``reason to believe'' you ``may'' have
|
||
transmitted ``bodily fluids'' to a police officer, (like if he
|
||
claims you spit at him) you can be detained for HIV antibody
|
||
testing. They detain you, they administer the test, they tell you
|
||
the results. Results are not confidential.
|
||
|
||
1. ``Reason to believe'' means their whim
|
||
2. ``may'' means at the cops whim
|
||
3. ``bodily fluids'' (see below)
|
||
4. you obviously do not have to be gay
|
||
|
||
[As an example of the very specific mis-information being spread,
|
||
``bodily fluids'' used to be a euphemism for, mainly, cum: semen
|
||
and the lubricating fluid produced by the male testes. Also,
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 17 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
blood and direct by-products, plasma, clotting-factor VIII used
|
||
for haemophiliacs, etc. So-called family newspapers (and nearly
|
||
everyone else) just plain doesn't like to say ``cum''. Somehow it
|
||
came to mean everything, including spit and sweat and tears.
|
||
Medically, in regarding HIV virus transmission, it does not mean
|
||
spit, tears, sweat, etc. Is that plain enough for you? See how
|
||
this works?]
|
||
|
||
OK, so when/if you go to a demonstration, (``Food Not Bombs'',
|
||
Greenpeace, Earth First!, Bush in town, whatever) there's always
|
||
a slight, maybe minimal, chance you'll be arrested. Some people
|
||
push their luck more than others. Normally getting arrested under
|
||
such circumstances is no big deal; you're out pretty quick, on
|
||
bail or personal recognizance. (I've never been arrested, and
|
||
hope to keep it that way.)
|
||
|
||
This adds a new dimension to political dissent, no? OK, so you,
|
||
reading this, you may not be gay, and you're probably HIV
|
||
negative (ie. uninfected). That does not matter. YOU CAN STILL BE
|
||
TESTED. Explain to your friends, when the paper says ``...those
|
||
arrested at today's demonstration were detained for testing for
|
||
the deadly AIDS virus...''. Try to explain that they test people
|
||
to terrorize, it doesn't mean they really didn't have any reason
|
||
to test you.
|
||
|
||
Oh I forgot: Though we'll still get to vote this Nov. 8 on Prop.
|
||
#96, it's already been implemented; it went through the state
|
||
legislature or something, I don't understand the process. This is
|
||
pretty much in effect now, in California.
|
||
|
||
I will only briefly mention Proposition #102, which says: there
|
||
will be no anonymous HIV testing in CA; all positives ie.
|
||
presumed infected) must be reported to public health authorities;
|
||
people testing positive required by law to compile lists of all
|
||
sexual contact for public health authorities. Testing allowed for
|
||
jobs or insurance. Why the list compiling? AIDS is not a casually
|
||
contagious disease.
|
||
|
||
This is to be voted upon Nov. 8. the last ``poll'' I recall
|
||
(don't you love those mysterious authoritative polls?) had it
|
||
posted at 72% in favor of Prop. #102, though previous ``polls''
|
||
on similar state propositions said similar things, but were
|
||
resoundly defeated anyways.
|
||
|
||
Now do you get what this is all about?
|
||
|
||
|
||
Saturday, 22 Oct 88
|
||
|
||
I'm walking with Duke down Haight St., we're going into Mendel's
|
||
so's I can buy paint pens to finish my HOMOCORE logo on my
|
||
jacket. New crop of skinheads talking amongst themselves as we go
|
||
by: ``...man, there's lotsa fags in this town...''
|
||
|
||
|
||
Saturday, 22 Oct 88
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 18 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
Look, right now it's 2:00AM, I can't fucking sleep. I am wired.
|
||
The only thing that keeps me cool headed at all is my wonderful
|
||
boyfriend Michael is coming down to visit me from WA state next
|
||
week (we met at the '88 Toronto Anarchist Gathering) that
|
||
homopunk makes me happy!
|
||
|
||
They really are planning on filming that ugly thing. This script
|
||
is no accident, it's pure exploitation of the worst kind, oh, its
|
||
just a bunch of faggots I guess, huh? ``...thought provoking
|
||
process.'' Yeah right. Oh, people say, but some people do do
|
||
that, so it's not like they're lying or anything. Right. Hey, a
|
||
black guy raped a white lady, well, they're like that, you know?
|
||
|
||
NBC got a restraining order against ACT-UP and specific ACT-UP
|
||
people; they are quite intent on filming this thing. (At Gilman
|
||
St. Project we couldn't get a restraining order against some
|
||
people who had been harrassing us at the club over a period of
|
||
months.) If they just show up they get arrested, no questions
|
||
asked. The mayor doesn't want to ``interfere with their First
|
||
Amendment rights''. First Amendment rights do not include the
|
||
right to yell ``fire!'' in a crowded room.
|
||
|
||
It's not gonna happen. People are not going to let it happen.
|
||
This ain't Politically-Correct demonstrations guys, this is my
|
||
life, and your lives, literally, there are assholes out there
|
||
looking for someone to hate, to vent their slimy thoughts on.
|
||
Faggots are real handy. Anyone who stands out will do. Think you
|
||
have to actually be gay? Who's next?
|
||
|
||
I mean, like what am I going to do, personally, about this
|
||
filming business? It can't happen. Yeah, sure they can just do it
|
||
somewhere else, in some other city, but this means we should
|
||
allow them to do it in our own neighborhoods? Well, maybe someone
|
||
there in that other city will give them a hard time too. ACT-UP
|
||
has so far done a really good job, on a few minutes notice they
|
||
show up and make noise and diversions that effectively stops the
|
||
filming. Hence the restraining order. This filming can't happen,
|
||
in gay neighborhoods no less; there's good ole boys driving
|
||
around looking for fags to beat up, all they need is an excuse
|
||
and a good TV shot of an actual street with homos on it to make
|
||
it easier.
|
||
|
||
There aren't ``gay'' issues vs. straight ones. Sexuality is part
|
||
of your personal human freedom, it's your damn business not mine.
|
||
The very fact that you might get uptight and upset thinking about
|
||
different kinds of sexuality means that {\it you were taught
|
||
well, you believe the lies, you will do their job for them},
|
||
we're put into smaller and smaller categories until no one will
|
||
defend their own neighbors and friends, and therefore themselves.
|
||
|
||
Do you, or I, have to get killed by some fag-basher to make a
|
||
point or what? Do you understand what this is all about yet?
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 19 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
COLUMNS
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
Steve Bonine
|
||
115/777
|
||
|
||
An Introduction of Bob Rudolph (261/628)
|
||
|
||
|
||
But first a word from our sponsor. Sponsor? We ain't got no
|
||
sponsor! Ah, but yes, you folks who read these articles are the
|
||
sponsor. Didn't know that? Now you do.
|
||
|
||
I've had pretty fair luck getting response from folks when I ask
|
||
'em to send me some information so that I can prepare a FidoNews
|
||
article, but I inhabit a pretty narrow circle in FidoNet. Soon
|
||
you readers will be tired of seeing *C types and IFNA types here.
|
||
So here's what I want you to do -- YOU send mail to those folks
|
||
who would fit well in this column. That's bound to work better
|
||
than my sending them mail. But send me mail, too, and if I can
|
||
find 'em in the nodelist I will prompt them with my little ques-
|
||
tionaire.
|
||
|
||
Now, down to business. This week our subject is Bob Rudolph, the
|
||
current president of IFNA. Next week we'll talk about Don
|
||
Daniels, last year's IFNA president.
|
||
|
||
I've heard of people doing things because they were hit up the
|
||
side of the head with a 2X4. . . Bob's involvement in BBS'ing
|
||
began when his wife managed to drop a 2X10 on her big toe. This
|
||
happy event turned him into a temporary house-husband and tele-
|
||
commuter with a PC at home. Not knowing much about PC's, Bob
|
||
invited one of the PC gurus from the office to help him set
|
||
things up, and of course was supplied with a list of local
|
||
bulletin board systems. Within a couple of months, Bob had
|
||
developed a telephone bill so large that the phone company gave
|
||
him the option of either paying it or taking on the debt of a
|
||
third-world country.
|
||
|
||
Bob's wife recovered, and he returned the PC to the office, but
|
||
he had been infected by the BBS bug. Influenced by John Madill's
|
||
Fido (#2, now 261/2), Bob started his own Fido system and joined
|
||
net 109 when FidoNet numbered less than 800. Initially his BBS
|
||
was a general file system (and consumed massive amounts of disk
|
||
space), but the appearance of echomail led Bob to convert his
|
||
system to a conversation place. His current system, Liberty
|
||
Hall, grew out of the old Reindeer Shed, becoming a support-for-
|
||
sysops and general conversation board with 70 echo areas and
|
||
TradeWars for the game freaks.
|
||
|
||
Bob has been NC for net 261 since net 109 got unweildy and
|
||
Baltimore fell off. He is also NC for AlterNet 521. After
|
||
joining IFNA in the beginning and ending up on the Board to
|
||
replace a resigned member, Bob was reelected, and selected at
|
||
FidoCon as IFNA's President.
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 20 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
One of the target audiences for Bob's system is mainframers,
|
||
since that is how he earns his living. Bob is a systems program-
|
||
mer and has worked in both large and small shops. His specialty
|
||
is CICS (which will mean little to most of you who think MS-DOS
|
||
is too complicated as an operting system), in VM, VSE, and MVS
|
||
environments.
|
||
|
||
Between the sysgens and the echomail, Bob retains his sanity with
|
||
other activities. He sings in the church choir (his wife is the
|
||
director), is a sometimes motorcyclist, and is an avid reader
|
||
with a paperback collection of around 2000. One of his comments
|
||
struck a special nerve with me -- "I have been involved with
|
||
photography and will doubtless be involved with it again one fine
|
||
day." Ah, for time to do everything we want. . .
|
||
|
||
As he puts it, Bob is a "retired fat guy", and co-founder of the
|
||
FAT_TABLE echo (with John Lamb on the west coast) for folks on
|
||
weight-loss programs. He likes to blay bridge, but not for
|
||
blood. And he's something of a jazz afficionado. At the next
|
||
FidoCon perhaps we can organize a friendly bridge game with low-
|
||
calorie snacks, and jazz in the background . . .
|
||
|
||
Bob's wife is a piano and voice teacher (good thing she didn't
|
||
drop that 2X10 on a wrist), and they have been married nearly 21
|
||
years. Just in case Bob doesn't have enough irons in the fire,
|
||
they have three children -- Jamie is 15, Jessica 11 (going on
|
||
17), and Elizabeth 6.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 21 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
YACK
|
||
Yet Another Complicated Komment
|
||
|
||
by Steven K. Hoskin
|
||
( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 )
|
||
|
||
Episode 18: Burnout
|
||
|
||
|
||
Ever get tired of the same old problems? The same stresses? The
|
||
same tireless rampage of life's idiosyncrasies? Welcome to a
|
||
condition commonly called "Burnout".
|
||
|
||
You'll see a lot of that here in FidoNet. Let's face it, most of
|
||
us SysOp types are just a wee bit strange. After all, who would
|
||
do this for the heck of it? I got looked at kinda funny when
|
||
somebody found out that, in this three bedroom house, my
|
||
housemate and I each took the smaller bedrooms and put our
|
||
computer equipment in the MASTER bedroom.
|
||
|
||
Hey, we knew where our priorities were.
|
||
|
||
So, people who get into FidoNet usually GET INTO FidoNet. And
|
||
for some reason, SysOps also tend to be a pretty short-tempered
|
||
bunch. Haven't figured that one out yet. We'll spend all
|
||
weekend or three working nights getting our hardware and software
|
||
to run right but won't give the guy at the other end of the
|
||
EchoMail conference 45 seconds before we slam on the REPLY key.
|
||
Guilty? You bet. I've done it as much as [almost] anybody has
|
||
out there. And I'm the long-winded type.
|
||
|
||
Anyway, with that many people constantly slamming each other's
|
||
views, it comes as no surprise that, out of the blue, somebody
|
||
will throw their hands up and say "Bye! I've had it!".
|
||
|
||
Well, my recent case of burnout wasn't in FidoNet, it was at
|
||
work. But I somehow failed to take a lesson to work with me that
|
||
I have been slowly learning (very slowly) here in this fabulous
|
||
network. Pull out FidoNews 5-24 sometime. James Zachary wrote a
|
||
story called "Indios". In it a member of an electronic mail
|
||
hobby network is losing his temper over flames and fights and is
|
||
about to start striking back when the Indian who maintains his
|
||
apartment complex intervenes. By the end of the debate, the
|
||
hobbyist is calmed down and willing to take Indios' advise:
|
||
"Take what is good with this and all else in life and leave
|
||
behind what is bad."(1)
|
||
|
||
I guess some of us are slow learners.
|
||
_______________
|
||
(1)Zachary, James."Indios - A Network Yarn", Fidonews 5-24, 1988.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 22 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
NOTICES
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
November 11, 1989
|
||
|
||
A new area code, 708, forms in Illinois, covering the suburban
|
||
Chicago area. Chicago itself will remain area code 312.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The Interrupt Stack
|
||
|
||
|
||
24 Aug 1989
|
||
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
|
||
|
||
5 Oct 1989
|
||
20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
|
||
|
||
If you have something which you would like to see on this
|
||
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Latest Software Versions
|
||
|
||
BBS Systems Node List Other
|
||
& Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version
|
||
|
||
Dutchie 2.90b EditNL 4.00 ARC 5.32*
|
||
Fido 12i MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 1.1
|
||
Opus 1.03b Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00
|
||
SEAdog 4.10 XlatList 2.86 EchoMail 1.31
|
||
TBBS 2.1* XlaxNode 2.22 MGM 1.1
|
||
BinkleyTerm 2.00 XlaxDiff 2.22 TPB Editor 1.21
|
||
QuickBBS 2.03 ParseList 1.20 TCOMMail 1.1
|
||
TPBoard 4.2 TMail 8810
|
||
TComm/TCommNet 3.2 UFGATE 1.0
|
||
Lynx 1.10 GROUP 2.0*
|
||
D'Bridge 1.10
|
||
FrontDoor 2.0
|
||
|
||
* Recently changed
|
||
|
||
Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
|
||
reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
|
||
all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 23 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
COMMITTEE REPORTS
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
IFNA Treasurer's Report
|
||
October, 1988
|
||
Steve Bonine 115/777
|
||
|
||
IFNA Treasurer's report for October, 1988
|
||
|
||
RECIEPTS & DEPOSITS
|
||
Membership fees 300.00
|
||
|
||
TOTAL RECEIPTS $300.00
|
||
|
||
DISBURSEMENTS
|
||
|
||
TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS 0
|
||
|
||
EXCESS RECEIPTS OVER DISBURSEMENTS 300.00
|
||
|
||
ADD BEGINNING BALANCE 5920.40
|
||
|
||
BALANCE IN ACCOUNT 6220.40
|
||
|
||
Full year-to-date IFNA financial data is available for file-
|
||
request from 1/11 using the name of IFNA$.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 24 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
|
||
|
||
Hal DuPrie 1:101/106 Chairman of the Board
|
||
Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President
|
||
Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
|
||
Ray Gwinn 1:109/639 Vice President - Technical Coordinator
|
||
David Garrett 1:103/501 Secretary
|
||
Steve Bonine 1:115/777 Treasurer
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
|
||
|
||
DIVISION AT-LARGE
|
||
|
||
10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732? Don Daniels 1:107/210
|
||
11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Hal DuPrie 1:101/106
|
||
12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1
|
||
13 Rick Siegel 1:107/27 Steve Bonine 1:115/777
|
||
14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5
|
||
15 Larry Kayser 1:104/739? Matt Whelan 3:3/1
|
||
16 Vince Perriello 1:141/491 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628
|
||
17 Rob Barker 1:138/34 Steve Jordan 1:102/2871
|
||
18 Christopher Baker 1:135/14 Bob Swift 1:140/24
|
||
19 David Drexler 1:19/1 Larry Wall 1:15/18
|
||
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 25 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
__
|
||
The World's First / \
|
||
BBS Network /|oo \
|
||
* FidoNet * (_| /_)
|
||
_`@/_ \ _
|
||
| | \ \\
|
||
| (*) | \ ))
|
||
______ |__U__| / \//
|
||
/ Fido \ _//|| _\ /
|
||
(________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm)
|
||
|
||
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
|
||
|
||
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
|
||
pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the
|
||
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
|
||
increase worldwide communications.
|
||
|
||
Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________
|
||
Address _________________________________________________________
|
||
City ____________________________________________________________
|
||
State ________________________________ Zip _____________________
|
||
Country _________________________________________________________
|
||
Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
|
||
Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
|
||
|
||
Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________
|
||
BBS Name ________________________________________________________
|
||
BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________
|
||
Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________
|
||
Board Restrictions ______________________________________________
|
||
|
||
Your Special Interests __________________________________________
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
_________________________________________________________________
|
||
Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in
|
||
US Funds to:
|
||
International FidoNet Association
|
||
PO Box 41143
|
||
St Louis, Missouri 63141
|
||
USA
|
||
|
||
Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
|
||
insure the future of FidoNet.
|
||
|
||
Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
|
||
and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
|
||
membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors
|
||
was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been
|
||
established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your
|
||
input to this Conference.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 5-48 Page 26 28 Nov 1988
|
||
|
||
|
||
INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
|
||
ORDER FORM
|
||
|
||
Publications
|
||
|
||
The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido
|
||
1:1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing
|
||
them directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee
|
||
Chairmen provide us with the latest versions of each
|
||
publication, but we can make no written guarantees.
|
||
|
||
Hardcopy prices as of October 1, 1986
|
||
|
||
IFNA Fido BBS listing $15.00 _____
|
||
IFNA Administrative Policy DOCs $10.00 _____
|
||
IFNA FidoNet Standards Committee DOCs $10.00 _____
|
||
|
||
SUBTOTAL _____
|
||
|
||
IFNA Member ONLY Special Offers
|
||
|
||
System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____
|
||
SEAdog price as of March 1, 1987
|
||
ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member
|
||
|
||
Fido Software's Fido/FidoNet $100.00 _____
|
||
Fido/FidoNet price as of November 1, 1987
|
||
ONLY 1 copy Fido/FidoNet per IFNA Member
|
||
|
||
International orders include $10.00 for
|
||
surface shipping or $20.00 for air shipping _____
|
||
|
||
SUBTOTAL _____
|
||
|
||
MO. Residents add 5.725% Sales Tax _____
|
||
|
||
TOTAL _____
|
||
|
||
SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER IN US FUNDS:
|
||
International FidoNet Association
|
||
PO Box 41143
|
||
St Louis, Mo. 63141
|
||
USA
|
||
|
||
Name________________________________
|
||
Zone:Net/Node____:____/____
|
||
Company_____________________________
|
||
Address_____________________________
|
||
City____________________ State____________ Zip_____
|
||
Voice Phone_________________________
|
||
|
||
|
||
Signature___________________________
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
|