2503 lines
124 KiB
Plaintext
2503 lines
124 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 8, Number 16 22 April 1991
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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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| FidoNet (r) | | \ \\ |
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| International BBS Network | (*) | \ )) |
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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: Vince Perriello
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Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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Copyright 1991, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication
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and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only.
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For use in other circumstances, please contact Fido Software.
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FidoNews is published weekly by and for the Members of the
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FidoNet (r) International Amateur Electronic Mail System. It is
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a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors
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or authorized agents of the authors. The contribution of articles
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to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors.
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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 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous
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Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day.
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Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
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Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are
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used with permission.
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Opinions expressed in FidoNews articles are those of the authors
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and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Fido Software.
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Most articles are unsolicited. Our policy is to publish every
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responsible submission received.
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Table of Contents
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1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
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A Conversation with Pablo ................................ 1
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2. ARTICLES ................................................. 17
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Sell advertising in your User Group newsletter ........... 17
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FidoCon '91 Update ....................................... 19
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Online Perspectives ...................................... 26
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Non-Standard (SCRIPT) System Usage Proposal .............. 37
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Save up to 30% on long distance charges .................. 40
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3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 42
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Latest Software Versions ................................. 42
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4. NOTICES .................................................. 47
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And more!
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 1 22 Apr 1991
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=================================================================
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EDITORIAL
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=================================================================
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Subsequent to my editorial two weeks ago, Pablo Kleinman, the
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principal author of the current "Worldpol" proposal, and I
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exchanged some netmail in which we exchanged our views in an
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open and frank manner.
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By mutual agreement I publish the exchange here. I assume that
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you have read the editorial which started this exchange.
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From : Pablo Kleinman On: 4:900/101
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To : Vince Perriello On: 132/491
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Subject: A reply to the last Editorial
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Dated : 14 Apr 91 13:11:20
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Hola, Vince. How are you?
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I feel a great respect for you and that is the main reason why I
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reply to your editorial through netmail. I did write to you a
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net-mail once I was annoyed by some comment you made on FidoNews
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regarding the ex-Z2C, but never got an answer from you. This
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time, I hope you do get back to me. I value your opinion, that's
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on the other hand why I don't simply shut up and question it.
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> For the past two weeks I have been trying to figure out just
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> how to tell you what I think about the new Policy proposal. The
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> exact method that would best serve my need to get it all off my
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> chest, and your need to figure out whether my comments were
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> best ignored or heeded.
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The only thing I heard from you before was the idea of
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establishing different domains. IMHO, it is even more radical
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than establishing a basic umbrella policy. I don't necessarily
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disagree with your idea at all, it looks to me even more fair to
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those of us in other zones than Policy4.
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> Before I push you to the point of making that decision
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> regarding my words, please at least heed this advice: read the
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> proposed Policy carefully, read the Policy it replaces, and do
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> some "what if" scenarios. Consider some situations where
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> someone was kept from doing something by present Policy;
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> determine whether you feel that person should be able to do
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> that thing; see if the new Policy addresses it. Consider the
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> additional freedom of action offered by the new Policy. Good or
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> Bad? Look at what effect the changes will have on the day-by-
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> day operation of the net. Do they seem to be positive or
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> negative? Discuss it with others. Pass on your advice to your
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> NC. Be a part of this process.
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> OK. Thanks. Now I'll cut to the chase.
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 2 22 Apr 1991
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We fully agree on this.
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> Worldpol seems to me to be a well-intentioned effort to correct
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> a few perceived flaws in Policy 4. For some reason, the
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> resultant document seems to have basically started from a blank
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> sheet of paper, without considering the reason for any of those
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> sections of Policy 4 which demonstated those perceived flaws.
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Now, let's stop for a moment here.
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Policy4 was heavily opposed by Zones two and four (yes, we were
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and still are small, but we don't count?) and still was pursued
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by the Z1RCs and by David Dodell. In fact, there would have been
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no questionings if they would have made it a Zone-1 policy, like
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the Europeans did with Policy4e that is prior to the current,
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American Policy4.
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We not only can't live under Policy4, but we don't even want to!
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It does not represent what we desire for our zone; it goes
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against the principles we sustain as a group. We want our
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coordinators to result from legitimate elections, and sincerely
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the methods proposed by Policy4 are a tough blow to all of us
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since it is precisely what we hardly reject.
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And when I say "we", I'm not playing hypocrite. I had the
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opportunity to begin FidoNet operations in Latin America almost
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four years ago, and while I'm the zone coordinator, I must act
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according to what the sysops here want. I was elected by them
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and therefore, until I resign sometime in the coming weeks (or
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they for some reason resolve to fire me), I am their
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representative.
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> Without going completely Luddite on you, let me still point out
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> that Policy1-Policy4 seem to have been a fairly good set of
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> rules. After all, they got us here. I don't see why all of a
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> sudden the entire fabric needed to be torn out in favor of a
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> new one. Perhaps I'm just not farsighted enough. Hell, some
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> mornings I can't even remember the name of the kid who played
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> Pugsley.
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Vince: Policy4 is highly disregarded everywhere.
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And I don't need to refer to the typical cases in Germany or
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here. Even among those that oppose WorldPol there are
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Policy4-violators.
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Did you know that the Taiwanese have a Region policy
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conveniently written in Chinese that says that among other
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things, the sysop MUST PAY to be in FidoNet? And how the hell
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did I know? Somebody downloaded the document from Honlin Lue's
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board, and my NC, that speaks Chinese, translated it. Now: I'm
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not at all surprised when I see that there is an important drift
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from FidoNet to SigNet there.
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 3 22 Apr 1991
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So, is this the goal? To have a policy document to simply ignore
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it? We could have done that, since everyone here was d'accord in
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not accepting it. Instead, we went to try to change the world.
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How naive we were. If I knew that in 1991 I would still have
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been involved in this, I would have simply not started the whole
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thing.
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Imagine the effort that represented to get a MAJORITY of the
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world's RCs to agree on a document that would drastically cut
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their "power". Unfortunately, only 3 of the 20something votes
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came from zone 1 and two of the three were Canadian. It wasn't a
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vote to support WorldPol, it was just to setup a vote. But a
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large number not only doesn't trust the sysops, they don't even
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trust the NCs they appointed themselves.
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> Right up front, let me tell you what the biggest problem with
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> this document is. There are a lot of noises swirling around
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> these days with words like "liability" and "punitive damages"
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> in them. This document blows enough of the structure of FidoNet
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> away to make a number of lawyers very rich and send a few
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> coordinators to a new home in a cardboard box. The fact that it
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> was written by a person for whom English is a second language
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> (although his command of it is better than many Americans of my
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> acquaintance) really doesn't hold a single drop of water in a
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> court of law. To add to this problem, the disclaimer stating
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> that fact is in a section that will be deleted should the vote
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> be in favor of ratification. Sic transit NC's.
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Thank you for the personal compliment.
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I lived in the states for a while a few years back and yes I
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know about this American custom of suing anyone for anything.
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But maybe then a special statute of limitations should be added
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by the zone 1 sysops for that matter. Things aren't like that
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anywhere else in the world. I was told about some cases in the
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U.S. that involved going to court that for me or any other
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non-American sound simply like science fiction.
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And with many Americans reading WorldPol on FidoNews, nobody
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ever cared to propose such thing. What can I do? Even those from
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zone 1 that got involved never mentioned such thing.
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> Next problem: the concept of "areas" is diluted to the point of
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> being meaningless. This works great in combination with another
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> feature which I'll address in a minute. But for now, consider
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> this: there is nothing in Worldpol to keep someone from being
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> RC of every region in a Zone. All that person has to do is
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> maintain a node in every region, which is perfectly allowable
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> under the new Policy -- and that makes him/her part of the
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> "area" which she/he would be coordinating, and eligible for
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> election. Yeah, sure, that could never happen. And O-rings
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> never burn through and the Libyans are only manufacturing
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> pharmaceuticals.
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 4 22 Apr 1991
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There is one thing that will prevent this: SYSOPS CAN VOTE under
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WorldPol! That should satisfy you and perfectly ensures that the
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type of injustices you describe won't occur.
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> How about the local net policies? Did anyone notice that local
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> net policy is not subordinate to regional policy? But the RC
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> has to deal with policy disputes. Now that's fair, isn't it?
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When there is a dispute between members of two nets, there isn't
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a single net policy to judge upon, so RC doesn't have to deal
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with any of them. It is perfectly clear, Vince. You wrote
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BinkleyTerm, you are a smart guy. :-)
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> Harry has already mentioned a number of the things that bother
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> me most about this one. I'll bet anyone five dollars that there
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> will be at least one white-only net in North America by the end
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> of the year if this policy passes.
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That is your problem. Zone-1 policy must perfectly state this is
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not possible. Or better, do what we plan to do: restrict nets to
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geography on the Zone policy. That way, you simply eliminate
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"geography" from the agenda. Do you think that the majority here
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agree with the Germans or the Dutch on this point? No! We just
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respect their behaviour. This was the philosophy behind WorldPol
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and they made themselves be heard. The basic idea is "what is
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not enforceable all over the world should be left to the zone
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policies to deal with".
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> I'll bet anyone ten dollars that Zone 4 will have communists-
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> not-allowed nets and regions in less time than that.
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Oh oh. Now you are making an ugly comment here. Of course I
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accept the bet and double it.
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Vince: the Zone-4 sysops elected Pablo Kleinman (a Jew) their
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ZC, Charles Hirakawa de Miranda (a Japanese-Brazilian) RC80,
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Billy Coen Aleandri (Italian Jew) RC90, and Sunchie Yang (a
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Chinese immigrant) the zone's largest network's NC. Do you
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simply think we can now discriminate under basis of ideology?
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The new Editor of NotiFido is a socialist and gets along well
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with all the rest, some of them, hardline conservatives.
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Another local sysop, Tero Karkkainen, is the most popular among
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the crowd to hold a position that a group is promoting here,
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consisting on a form of an official Zone Public Database of
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FidoNet files. Of course, I cite the example because Tero is
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Finnish and has lived here only for two or three years.
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> Would the Z4C care to comment on whether Cubans should be
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> allowed in FidoNet? And how convenient it will be to have a
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> policy that lets you tell them where to stick their modems?
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 5 22 Apr 1991
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I got a request now from Nicaragua. We are doing our best to
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have them in FidoNet soon. Not meaning to prove anything, but
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the example might well suit you. If the Cubans want to join us,
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then great! I've been sending messages through packet-radio all
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over South and Central America for a long while promoting
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FidoNet. A lot of us instead of spending the money on personal
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entertainment have been contributing in different manners to
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spread the word across the continent.
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Please, don't make this kind of accusations to us that operate
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under the only fully democratic regime in the whole net.
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I know of at least one sysop here that was kicked out of the
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country some 18 years ago for being a "red". We couldn't
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possibly adopt such authoritarian attitudes we actively reject.
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Do you think he would support WorldPol (as he surely does) if
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there was such danger?
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> Has anyone heard from Russia recently, and will prospective
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> members of FidoNet have to show a prison tattoo or a burned-up
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> party card to join?
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:-)
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I remember once on the ZCC that Region 2:50 was referred to as
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"the excommunication-Region, Siberia". I can't reply to your
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question, Vince. The only thing I know is that inititally the RC
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there used a fake name on the nodelist because he was scared.
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> What is a Western-style democracy for the purposes of Worldpol?
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One person, one voice, one vote. WorldPol also proposes a form
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of federalism, which means that each zone and region and net is
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given certain autonomy.
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> The United States? Let's put that to the test. I'll send in a
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> voter registration form to Duluth, Minnesota. I'll say that
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> while I actually live and work in New Hampshire, I like
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> Minnesota best and I want to vote and pay taxes there. I bet
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> New Hampshire will go along with it, too.
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This is not how non-geographic nets are used, Vince. The example
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is right there in Zone-2. And no, you aren't forced to have that
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too. A simple Zone-1 policy will solve all that.
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> Here's another thing: There is a substantial body of legislation
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> and judicial action which helps to dampen the "tyranny of the
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> majority" in the United States. This takes the form of
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> representation in local governments by the minority party,
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> affirmative action quotas, and many other things which if just
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> left to a popular vote would probably fail resoundingly. Ask the
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> people of Boston or Yonkers if they favor busing. If the United
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> States worked like Worldpol, there would be no such thing.
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 6 22 Apr 1991
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FidoNet is not the United States! The U.S. is huge within FidoNet
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but we are an international network! Failing to understand this
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principle has made of Policy4 unacceptable to most of the rest.
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> If not the United States, then perhaps El Salvador? Haiti?
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> Cuba? (Forget I said Cuba, I just remembered that Communists
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> live there) This is an important point. You can't just say
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> "Western standards" and expect that to suffice.
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It is better than saying "democratic". That was the original idea
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but someone suggested the word "western" to make things clearer.
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I bet you would be complaining if it just said "democratic" and
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referring to things like the ex-GDR to sustain your claims.
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Please, Vince. Let's play fair.
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> Worldpol says that FidoNews is the official newsletter. It says
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> that members of an area (whatever that is) can vote not to
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> receive it. Did anyone mention that since FidoNews is the
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> official newsletter, the *C is liable in any case involving
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> prior notice, if FidoNews was not provided? If the person who
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> did not receive that prior notice (and because of the "official
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> newsletter" clause, FidoNews is the only place that has any
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> legal standing) in FidoNews wasn't in favor of dropping it, the
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> *C loses and some lawyer gets rich.
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I thought that important announcements (at least the official
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stuff) were published on the nodediff. I personally love
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FidoNews (check out my BBS' database) and read it always (see
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how fast it got here?). But it is not fair to IMPOSE such an
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expense (bringing it to, say, Greenland) on the sysops that
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can't afford it and/or don't want it.
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We've had tough times here, economically talking. And it is very
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difficult to sustain such a compromise during those times.
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> Why didn't the authors didn't put something in Worldpol saying
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> that I didn't have to accept FidoNews submissions from an area
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> that has voted not to receive it? After all, why should the
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> rest of the net have to pay to move, or to read, something
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> submitted by someone who never intends to read it her/himself?
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:-)
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> Most of my other objections have been voiced equally well or
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> better by others. I'm glad to be able to say that. I'm not a
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> lone voice in the wilderness. Perhaps I'm one of a few hundred
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> such voices, but I suspect the real numbers are very different.
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Could be. I don't deny it. But if FidoNet shall brake up, it
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will be because the other zones will not be able to continue,
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due to Zone 1-imposed rules like Policy4. Face it: Policy4 is
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"Made in USA" and world standards aren't just that, if such
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thing exists. The new proposal has at least input from all over
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the world, including but not limited to the United States.
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 7 22 Apr 1991
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> Hello, Jack? Jack Decker? I have an answer to your question
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> from last week. Why weren't people such as myself involved in
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> the effort to pull Worldpol from the ashes of Policy4? Perhaps
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> because unlike yourself, we saw no ashes.
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Vince: I've been complaining ever since I can remember seeing
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Policy4. Did you ever read ENET.SYSOP? If there was a
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possibility of reaching this point (a policy change vote)
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everybody should have collaborated to have a nice alternative.
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Many Z1RCs did not do it because they trusted they could have
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blocked any proposal from being voted, but Zone-2 grew in a way
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they hadn't expected.
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> There is some need for improvement in the document, but it
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> neither needs nor deserves to be discarded just because you and
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> a few dozen others don't understand why it is the way it is.
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It's a lot more than that. And it was rejected since before it
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was law. The mistake wasn't rejecting it (those like me who
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did), but it was made by those that didn't give a sh_t and
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IMPOSED it on the whole network.
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> Discussions leading to corrective surgery would have garnered a
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> great deal more interest from myself and others than what we
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> observed to be the case: the proposition that the basis of
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> FidoNet's "new world order" was the scrapping of previous
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> documents and a fresh start with fresh minds, unencumbered by
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> outmoded views. In other words, smart young turks at work, old
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> fogies stay out!
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I don't understand that.
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> So many of us did (BTW, Harry asks me to note that he sent
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> comments after each published revision to his NC, RC and ZC).
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Never got any of them. Probably the respective *C(s) didn't care
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to have a more acceptable (to them) WorldPol by sending in the
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remarks as everything received was seriously considered.
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> Since the net continued to work all the time you guys were
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> plugging away at this, we figured there was no need to fix
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> anything right away. I still feel that way. Almost. I think
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> that Worldpol needs a LOT of fixing before it should be adopted
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I agree that it will need to be brushed, but it is now far
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better than Policy4 already. On the other hand, it does not
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grant any type of bureaucracy (more specifically the RCs in this
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case) any control on what can or cannot be voted. It will be
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EXTREMELY difficult to replace Policy4 if this initiative fails.
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> Democracy in FidoNet is a great idea. But just like every great
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> thing, it's best in moderation. Worldpol proposes too much of
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> that good thing. We'll all get tummy aches if we have it.
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FidoNews 8-16 Page 8 22 Apr 1991
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||
I totally disagree with this. If it's a good thing it's not too
|
||
much of it, otherwise you probably really feel it's not such a
|
||
good thing.
|
||
|
||
Like Tom Jennings once mentioned, the RCs were not meant to be
|
||
what they became. But suppressing that bureaucracy would have
|
||
made WPOL simply impossible to be voted because they actually
|
||
have total control on what can or cannot be voted. Totally
|
||
unfair!!!
|
||
|
||
WorldPol, I think, is not the end. It contains radical elements
|
||
but it doesn't make all the necessary changes yet. Those will
|
||
come later with time, and I will probably not be directly
|
||
involved.
|
||
|
||
> Worldpol is not a keeper. Throw it back and let it mature a bit
|
||
|
||
Many of us are sick of Policy4. I think we passed a point of no
|
||
return. So if it shall fail now, it will not in the future. But
|
||
I guess things will never be the same again.
|
||
|
||
I just hope that FidoNet survives as a whole if WorldPol fails.
|
||
Especially if it wins on the other zones and looses just in Zone
|
||
1.
|
||
|
||
I just think that the systematic opposition shown by many in the
|
||
U.S. and Australia (certainly most of them with "important"
|
||
coordinator positions) is not what the sysops in those places
|
||
would prefer.
|
||
|
||
I've seen all types of excuses. From the ones saying that it
|
||
would be imposible to carry on a net-wide election (lies, look
|
||
at the IFNA election and tell me where were the problems) to the
|
||
others saying that WorldPol is unacceptable because it has
|
||
grammar errors.
|
||
|
||
Vince: things did not go as I would have liked. I just proposed
|
||
a new document and thought that everybody would agree to submit
|
||
it to referendum to decide. But I found a whole new face of
|
||
FidoNet. A dirty face. I found people that for some reason do
|
||
not respect the average FidoNet sysop and are not willing to let
|
||
him vote.
|
||
|
||
Zone coordinators that say "I would never win in a popularity
|
||
contest" but assume that the fact refers to the others that
|
||
don't know what they want, and not to himself that is not what
|
||
the others want.
|
||
|
||
Unfortunately, I have lead this process all too far to let
|
||
somebody else replace me right now (I guess nobody would take
|
||
it), but it would be exactly what I'd do if I could. I admit
|
||
I've become for many a "difficult" character to deal with here,
|
||
and no, it was never what I wanted. But how are you suppossed to
|
||
act when you happen to "discover" that the seemingly hobbyist,
|
||
pluralist FidoNet is not at all what it seems?
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 9 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
I hope that in some way I have now explained why all this
|
||
WorldPol, why the flames, why I'm so persistent. I think that
|
||
if you succesfully see the things from a more objective
|
||
position, you will see them different from what you wrote that I
|
||
quoted.
|
||
|
||
If you think that publishing this message on FidoNews can help
|
||
the sysops in the network understand better the motivation of
|
||
this vote, I would appreciate that you do it. My opinion is that
|
||
you, like me, want a better future for FidoNet.
|
||
|
||
I want to believe that Jack Decker's last article is really
|
||
pessimistic and not the harsh reality of our network.
|
||
|
||
Warmest regards from the far south,
|
||
|
||
-Pablo
|
||
|
||
From : Vince Perriello On: 132/491
|
||
To : Pablo Kleinman On: 4:900/101
|
||
Subject: Re: 02/A reply to the last Editorial
|
||
Dated : 14 Apr 91 22:46:13
|
||
|
||
I have read your mail and I am appalled to hear some of the
|
||
things which you have discovered. I am also amazed at your
|
||
statements regarding overall evasion or lack of enforcement of
|
||
Policy 4.
|
||
|
||
I'm glad that we have agreed to disagree. The interesting part is
|
||
that we have similiar motivation, but strongly divergent views.
|
||
|
||
I'll publish your note and this response in FidoNews next week,
|
||
if you wish.
|
||
|
||
> I just hope that FidoNet survives as a whole if WorldPol fails.
|
||
|
||
Has it occurred to you that Worldpol in its present form might
|
||
result in the demise of FidoNet?
|
||
|
||
> Especially if it wins on the other zones and looses just in
|
||
> Zone 1.
|
||
|
||
Especially if it loses in Zone 1 and wins sufficient support
|
||
elsewhere to be ratified.
|
||
|
||
> ... WorldPol is unacceptable because it has grammar errors.
|
||
|
||
I am one of those people. Even if I agreed with everything in the
|
||
document, I would want the grammatical errors fixed. Since the
|
||
document itself declares the official language of FidoNet to be
|
||
English, it is in English that precise meaning must be defined.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 10 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
> Vince: things did not go as I would have liked. I just proposed
|
||
> a new document and thought that everybody would agree to submit
|
||
> it to referendum to decide.
|
||
|
||
There were others also working on P4 replacements. In fact, at
|
||
least one of them was published before the first Worldpol. I
|
||
still don't know why you and the other gentleman wound up not
|
||
working together. I think that for some folk, the lingering
|
||
doubts about that one have worked against you.
|
||
|
||
> But I found a whole new face of FidoNet. A dirty face.
|
||
|
||
I see that in NET_DEV every day. Some people think I'm part of
|
||
the problem too. Join the club :-{
|
||
|
||
> I found people that for some reason do not respect the average
|
||
> FidoNet sysop and are not willing to let him vote.
|
||
|
||
I personally don't agree with that attitude. I don't believe in
|
||
direct elections above NC, however. The Electoral College
|
||
approach seems useful above NC, and for such things as Policy
|
||
ratification. This requires a local vote, and for NC's, RC's,
|
||
etc to vote according to the expressed wishes of their majority.
|
||
That helps to dampen the effect of one large net throwing its
|
||
weight around. Perhaps too far -- and tuning it to allow a net or
|
||
region to cast some arbitrary number of votes based on its size
|
||
might apply.
|
||
|
||
> Zone coordinators that say "I would never win in a popularity
|
||
> contest" but assume that the fact refers to the others that
|
||
> don't know what they want, and not to himself that is not what
|
||
> the others want.
|
||
|
||
I'm uncertain of exactly what you are trying to say here, but in
|
||
a system where NC's are elected by sysops, RC's by NC's and ZC's
|
||
by RC's, you have less of a popularity contest and more of a
|
||
technical merit contest.
|
||
|
||
Personally, I think that the ability of an average FidoNet sysop
|
||
to distinguish between technical merit and noisy rhetoric is at
|
||
best suspect. On that basis, I would rather separate the
|
||
technical management of the net and judicial action totally --
|
||
and elect technical management by indirect means (as mentioned
|
||
above), while judicial elections are more direct. Add to that
|
||
some kind of checks and balances so that neither side gets too
|
||
powerful, and you have all that a World Policy should have to
|
||
concern itself with.
|
||
|
||
> But how are you suppossed to act when you happen to "discover"
|
||
> that the seemingly hobbyist, pluralist FidoNet is not at all
|
||
> what it seems?
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 11 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
You can start with enforcing present Policy. I see no reason why
|
||
creating a Policy that lets a net do almost anything it wants
|
||
somehow makes things better than before (like in the case of the
|
||
Chinese pay-to-join net).
|
||
|
||
That's like suggesting that we deal with arsonists by legalizing
|
||
arson.
|
||
|
||
> I think that if you succesfully see the things from a more
|
||
> objective position, you will see them different from what you
|
||
> wrote that I quoted.
|
||
|
||
I see things exactly the same:
|
||
|
||
1) Regardless of what the current existing Policy happens to be,
|
||
we must enforce it.
|
||
|
||
2) We must replace Policy4
|
||
|
||
3) Worldpol needs work before we make it our governing Policy.
|
||
|
||
> I want to believe that Jack Decker's last article is really
|
||
> pessimistic and not the harsh reality of our network.
|
||
|
||
It's sort of redundant to call Jack a pessimist.
|
||
|
||
Can you see this?
|
||
|
||
Jack goes hunting with you. You shoot a duck. Your dog goes after
|
||
the duck. When it reaches the water, your dog walks on top of
|
||
the water, never even leaving a ripple. The dog gets the duck
|
||
and brings it back to you. Jack says nothing. This happens twice
|
||
more. You finally ask Jack if he has noticed anything unusual.
|
||
Jack says, "Yeah. Your dog can't swim."
|
||
|
||
> Warmest regards from the far south,
|
||
|
||
Far regards from the not-yet-warm-enough north,
|
||
Vince
|
||
|
||
From : Pablo Kleinman On: 4:900/101
|
||
To : Vince Perriello On: 132/491
|
||
Subject: Re: Re: 02/A reply to the last Editorial
|
||
Dated : 15 Apr 91 16:54:55
|
||
|
||
Hola, Vince.
|
||
Thank you for replying.
|
||
|
||
> I have read your mail and I am appalled to hear some of the
|
||
> things which you have discovered. I am also amazed at your
|
||
> statements regarding overall evasion or lack of enforcement of
|
||
> Policy 4.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 12 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Well, there was always an important reason to promote a policy
|
||
change. Most of this is news to you and most of FidoNet is not
|
||
yet aware, but isn't to the International Coordinator as well as
|
||
most of the FidoNet RCs.
|
||
|
||
> I'm glad that we have agreed to disagree. The interesting part
|
||
> is that we have similiar motivation, but strongly divergent
|
||
> views.
|
||
|
||
Yes, I thought that too and I am glad to see it now confirmed.
|
||
|
||
> I'll publish your note and this response in FidoNews next
|
||
> week, if you wish.
|
||
|
||
Sure, go ahead.
|
||
|
||
> > I just hope that FidoNet survives as a whole if WorldPol
|
||
> > fails.
|
||
>
|
||
> Has it occurred to you that Worldpol in its present form might
|
||
> result in the demise of FidoNet?
|
||
|
||
To be sincere, no. In fact, I think WorldPol is perfectly viable
|
||
everywhere in the world, while Policy4 is not and this is a
|
||
proven fact.
|
||
|
||
>> Especially if it wins on the other zones and looses just in
|
||
>> Zone 1.
|
||
>
|
||
> Especially if it loses in Zone 1 and wins sufficient support
|
||
> elsewhere to be ratified.
|
||
|
||
I don't agree with this. While Policy4 is a comprehensive
|
||
policy, it fails on its purpose because it does not consider the
|
||
fact that needs and customs around the world vary. It leaves a
|
||
great portion of the network in a situation where it daily
|
||
violates Policy4 just to survive.
|
||
|
||
WorldPol instead, proposes a simple worldwide enforceable policy
|
||
doc that should be accompanied in every zone with a zone-
|
||
formulated policy.
|
||
|
||
Zone-1 could perfectly recreate most of the current Policy4
|
||
conditions if she wished, with certain limitations like the
|
||
prohibition of recreating the current anti-democratic election
|
||
procedures.
|
||
|
||
>> ... WorldPol is unacceptable because it has grammar errors.
|
||
>
|
||
> I am one of those people. Even if I agreed with everything in
|
||
> the document, I would want the grammatical errors fixed. Since
|
||
> the document itself declares the official language of FidoNet
|
||
> to be English, it is in English that precise meaning must be
|
||
> defined.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 13 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
WorldPol was at one stage revised and corrected by a British
|
||
FidoNet sysop. He found some errors and modified the text to get
|
||
it right. I can't imagine him leaving many things wrong. I
|
||
would accept this position (rejecting the doc because of
|
||
grammar) if there was a risk of it being misinterpreted due to
|
||
those errors. But I believe that this is not the case.
|
||
|
||
>> Vince: things did not go as I would have liked. I just
|
||
>> proposed a new document and thought that everybody would
|
||
>> agree to submit it to referendum to decide.
|
||
>
|
||
> There were others also working on P4 replacements. In fact, at
|
||
> least one of them was published before the first Worldpol. I
|
||
> still don't know why you and the other gentleman wound up not
|
||
> working together. I think that for some folk, the lingering
|
||
> doubts about that one have worked against you.
|
||
|
||
Yes: Jason Steck in Colorado,USA and Ron Dwight in Helsinki,
|
||
Finland were promoting other two different docs. I got in touch
|
||
with both of them.
|
||
|
||
With Jason: we had several voice conversations and he agreed
|
||
that while WorldPol would be left as worldwide-policy proposal,
|
||
he would draft a Zone-1 policy proposal. I kept him informed
|
||
during the whole WorldPol evolution, but I think that other
|
||
things (he got married, I think he moved to another city, etc.)
|
||
got him too busy to take care of it.
|
||
|
||
With Ron Dwight, former Zone-2 Coordinator: he dropped his
|
||
policy proposal and was very active on WorldPol development. Not
|
||
only by himself, but thanks to his continuous feedback to his
|
||
zone's sysops, many of them got involved and that is why Europe
|
||
had the most important impact on the current document being
|
||
voted.
|
||
|
||
>> But I found a whole new face of FidoNet. A dirty face.
|
||
>
|
||
> I see that in NET_DEV every day. Some people think I'm part of
|
||
> the problem too. Join the club :-{
|
||
|
||
Well... I was talking about my personal experience. I never got
|
||
to see the conference you mention.
|
||
|
||
>> I found people that for some reason do not respect the
|
||
>> average FidoNet sysop and are not willing to let him vote.
|
||
>
|
||
> I personally don't agree with that attitude.
|
||
|
||
I not only don't agree, but I think it should be condemned by
|
||
us all.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 14 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
> I don't believe in direct elections above NC, however. The
|
||
> Electoral College approach seems useful above NC, and for
|
||
> such things as Policy ratification. This requires a local
|
||
> vote, and for NC's, RC's, etc to vote according to the
|
||
> expressed wishes of their majority. That helps to dampen the
|
||
> effect of one large net throwing its weight around. Perhaps
|
||
> too far -- and tuning it to allow a net or region to cast some
|
||
> arbitrary number of votes based on its size might apply.
|
||
|
||
What you say you like is exactly the default mechanism proposed
|
||
by WorldPol.
|
||
|
||
In fact (and this is an answer to those that say that WorldPol
|
||
is "Zone4pol"), what WorldPol proposes as "default" is not what
|
||
we actually use in Zone-4. Here all elections are direct. But
|
||
maybe that is because we are small enough to "afford" such
|
||
thing or consider it positive.
|
||
|
||
I agree that maybe in North America the WorldPol default is the
|
||
best. Though the Policy4 standards are for me unacceptable no
|
||
matter which zone we talk about.
|
||
|
||
>> Zone coordinators that say "I would never win in a
|
||
>> popularity contest" but assume that the fact refers to the
|
||
>> others that don't know what they want, and not to himself
|
||
>> that is not what the others want.
|
||
>
|
||
> I'm uncertain of exactly what you are trying to say here, but
|
||
> in a system where NC's are elected by sysops, RC's by NC's and
|
||
> ZC's by RC's, you have less of a popularity contest and more
|
||
> of a technical merit contest.
|
||
|
||
Well... I was referring to what the previous and the current
|
||
Australian ZCs said. I believe that the sysops in Australia and
|
||
New Zealand are not stupid and would know very well how to
|
||
choose a ZC. In fact, I speak because a couple of sysops in
|
||
Tasmania and South Australia I am in touch with, always complain
|
||
that they are completely ignored and not considered (among
|
||
several things).
|
||
|
||
> Personally, I think that the ability of an average FidoNet
|
||
> sysop to distinguish between technical merit and noisy
|
||
> rhetoric is at best suspect.
|
||
|
||
It is acceptable, though I do not agree. Experience here has
|
||
shown that not always the most "popular" wins the election and
|
||
that sysops know what they do and what they elect.
|
||
|
||
> On that basis, I would rather separate the technical
|
||
> management of the net and judicial action totally --
|
||
> and elect technical management by indirect means (as mentioned
|
||
> above), while judicial elections are more direct. Add to that
|
||
> some kind of checks and balances so that neither side gets too
|
||
> powerful, and you have all that a World Policy should have to
|
||
> concern itself with.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 15 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
That is clever. See? I told you that I think that no policy
|
||
document is final in such an organization like ours, in constant
|
||
development. But finding new things is no basis to say that what
|
||
is being proposed is not okay. Nobody is saying that after this,
|
||
Policy can't be modified again. In fact, WorldPol makes a policy
|
||
change more possible than Policy4.
|
||
|
||
>> But how are you suppossed to act when you happen to
|
||
>> "discover" that the seemingly hobbyist, pluralist FidoNet
|
||
>> is not at all what it seems?
|
||
>
|
||
> You can start with enforcing present Policy. I see no reason
|
||
> why creating a Policy that lets a net do almost anything it
|
||
> wants somehow makes things better than before (like in the
|
||
> case of the Chinese pay-to-join net).
|
||
|
||
It is the present policy that grants unfair privileges to
|
||
certain individuals and therefore allows all these injustices to
|
||
exist. If the sysops could replace a coordinator that does not
|
||
perform correctly, he would be much more careful.
|
||
|
||
On the other hand, I don't think that I can force the Chinese or
|
||
whoever to properly enforce Policy4 from far away. But if we
|
||
grant rights to the sysops there, they will probably take care
|
||
of getting the things straight. In fact, I don't dare to say
|
||
that "pay-to-join" is worst than "free-to-join" in the specific
|
||
Zone-6 case. I do confidently say that it is NOT the best for
|
||
Zone-4.
|
||
|
||
> That's like suggesting that we deal with arsonists by
|
||
> legalizing arson.
|
||
|
||
Not quite. I know what you mean, but what I mean to say is that
|
||
the U.S. Supreme Court cannot succeed in attempting to enforce
|
||
the law in, say Paris, France. We must allow the people in
|
||
France to do it, and they will. But Policy4 tells the people
|
||
that they are under a dictatorship with no voice or vote.
|
||
|
||
> I see things exactly the same:
|
||
>
|
||
> 1) Regardless of what the current existing Policy happens to
|
||
> be, we must enforce it.
|
||
|
||
I understand your point. But again, the mistake was to declare
|
||
worldwide Policy a document that in practice is not enforceable
|
||
worldwide.
|
||
|
||
> 2) We must replace Policy4
|
||
|
||
Oh, you know we totally agree on this.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 16 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
> 3) Worldpol needs work before we make it our governing Policy.
|
||
|
||
I think that WorldPol needs more work, but it is perfectly
|
||
viable as it is today. On the other hand, if WorldPol is not
|
||
passed, then again the RCs will have veto power on what can or
|
||
cannot be voted and next time the group we all know might be
|
||
succesful in blocking a policy vote.
|
||
|
||
> Far regards from the not-yet-warm-enough north,
|
||
|
||
Wow... :-) ... Saludos,
|
||
|
||
-Pablo
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 17 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
ARTICLES
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
Dave Appel
|
||
A user on 1:231/30
|
||
|
||
SELL ADVERTISING IN YOUR USER GROUP NEWSLETTER
|
||
|
||
I've been the advertising manager for our user group's
|
||
monthly magazine for about 4 months. The INDY PC NEWS is the
|
||
monthly magazine of the Indianapolis Computer Society.
|
||
Several months ago we switched from a "newsletter" format
|
||
to a "magazine" format and received many positive responses.
|
||
Our magazine goes to our 950 members plus libraries,
|
||
schools, and other user groups around the country. We print a
|
||
total of 1600 copies monthly.
|
||
I have a list of contacts, phone numbers, and fax numbers
|
||
for about 30 national computer related companies. Not all of
|
||
these advertise with us. These are mainly "user group
|
||
coordinators." I would be willing to share these with
|
||
newsletter editors of other user groups.
|
||
I am trying to get a good mix of local and national
|
||
advertising accounts.
|
||
I would also like to hear from other user group newsletter
|
||
editors who have been successful in supporting their newsletters
|
||
or magazines with advertising. I would be interested in how you
|
||
do prospecting, how you present your newsletter, how you go
|
||
about getting the big companies, and what your rates are.
|
||
I can be reached at:
|
||
Indianapolis Computer Society
|
||
P.O. Box 2532
|
||
Indianapolis, IN 46206 Phone: 317-297-8192
|
||
|
||
We charge $150 for a full page, $90 for 1/2 page, $65 for
|
||
1/3 page, $50 for 1/4 page, $25 for a business card size, $245
|
||
for the back cover, $195 for the page inside the front cover,
|
||
and $175 for the page inside the back cover. Those may seem
|
||
high, but those are in line for a magazine of our circulation.
|
||
We also give discounts for multiple months paid in *advance*.
|
||
10% for 2 months, 15% for 3 months, 20% for 4 months, 30% for 6
|
||
months, and 40% for 12 months. So, for $1080 a company gets a
|
||
full page for a year.
|
||
Some groups may not want to sell advertising in their
|
||
newsletter in order not to appear to be sponsored by anyone.
|
||
That is understandable. Our group had concerns along those
|
||
lines, but strict policies about not playing favorites with
|
||
advertisers can avoid problems.
|
||
One good rule is to always require cash payment for ads,
|
||
and not offer them in exchange for freebies, door prizes,
|
||
donated software and equipment, etc. Accurate records of ad
|
||
sales and payments are important. Issue an invoice for every ad
|
||
you sell, and issue a receipt for every payment you receive.
|
||
Donated items sometimes have a habit of ending up in someone's
|
||
personal possession instead of being used for user group
|
||
business. If you make a sweetheart deal with one business,
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 18 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
others will get wind of it and expect the same, and you just end
|
||
up tee-ing people off.
|
||
Advertisers are business people and need to be dealt with
|
||
in a business-like way. Unfortunately, volunteer-run user
|
||
groups sometimes have a problem with this. Suggestion: always
|
||
put everything in writing.
|
||
When a magazine or newsletter can be supported through
|
||
advertising it helps keep dues LOW. It also frees up membership
|
||
dues for things like renting a meeting location, partially
|
||
paying the expenses of an out-of-town speaker to make a
|
||
presentation, bulletin board equipment (yeah!), phone lines,
|
||
educational seminars, and even advertising your own group in
|
||
other publications.
|
||
You might even be able to afford renting office space for
|
||
your bulletin board instead of imposing on one full-time sysop
|
||
and risking sysop burn-out. (Yeah, we all know about sysop
|
||
burnout.) It's easier to change sysops that way, and it keeps
|
||
your bbs equipment from being held hostage by one person.
|
||
Office space serves as a neutral location for work parties,
|
||
storing your club's records and property, and as a semi-
|
||
permanent delivery location for shipments that can't be made to
|
||
your group's P.O. box. How many of you still have things being
|
||
sent to your EX-president's home address?
|
||
Back to advertising. There's nothing wrong with selling
|
||
advertising to the companies who make money selling software and
|
||
hardware to your members.
|
||
I'd like to hear from you, "let's do lunch."
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 19 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
FidoCon '91
|
||
August 16th through 18th, 1991
|
||
1:1/91@Fidonet {or something like that}
|
||
|
||
FidoCon '91 Membership
|
||
P.O. Box 486
|
||
Louisville, CO 80027
|
||
Contact telephone (303) 426-1847
|
||
|
||
FidoCon '91 VIP Membership: $104 US* Rate Changes July 15th
|
||
Banquet 25 US
|
||
===
|
||
$129 US
|
||
|
||
* Membership After July 15, and at the door
|
||
* $169
|
||
* Banquet 25
|
||
* ====
|
||
* $194
|
||
|
||
*NEW*
|
||
A "No Frills", good from 9am to 6pm, for Seminar and
|
||
Dealers Rooms ONLY membership (no Convention Hospitality
|
||
Suite access or ticket for the SuperSystem Drawing) is
|
||
available for $45 US for the three days or $20 US per
|
||
day. Full credit can be applied to a VIP membership if
|
||
you elect to upgrade.
|
||
*NEW*
|
||
A "Supporting Membership" for those unable to attend, is
|
||
available for $25 US. Supporting members Will receive
|
||
the progress reports and program book.
|
||
|
||
Hotel: Sheraton Lakewood
|
||
690 Union Blvd
|
||
Lakewood, CO
|
||
(303) 987-2000
|
||
|
||
Rooms:
|
||
|
||
Single/Double $59 US per night
|
||
Adjoining Rooms (Pseudo-Suite) 118 US
|
||
Triple/Quad 78 US
|
||
Adjoining Rooms (Pseudo-Suite) 156 US
|
||
Suites from 450 US
|
||
|
||
Guests of Honor:
|
||
|
||
Tom Jennings -- FidoCon '91 Guest of Honor
|
||
Tim Pozar -- Gateway Guru
|
||
Ray Gwinn -- The Fossil master his self
|
||
Vince Perriello -- President of Bit Bucket Software &
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 20 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
publisher of FidoNews.
|
||
Alan Applegate -- VICE-President {president in charge of
|
||
vice?} of Bit Bucket, Writer of the
|
||
infamous
|
||
Binkley Docs & Technical Support for eSoft.
|
||
Bob Hartman -- Author of ConfMail, ReMapper. Co-Author of
|
||
Binkley and TIMS. Major asset of eSoft's
|
||
program development team.
|
||
Phil Becker -- CEO of eSoft .. publisher of TBBS/TDBS/TIMS
|
||
Steve Jackson -- CEO of Steve Jackson Games .. Publisher of
|
||
GURPS CYBERPUNK and center of Secret
|
||
Service attention for over 8 months.
|
||
John Perry Barlow -- Internet Guru and one of the founders of
|
||
the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
|
||
|
||
Guests of Dishonor:
|
||
|
||
Terry Travis -- Vince and Alan's prime target in the
|
||
SYSOP Mud pie Fight
|
||
|
||
Those indicating they will be attending:
|
||
|
||
Tom Tcimpids
|
||
Several notable writers of computer columns
|
||
Several popular Science fiction authors
|
||
Mitch Kapor Founder of the Electronic Frontier
|
||
Foundation.
|
||
|
||
Invited and not yet committed:
|
||
|
||
Steve Wozniak The WOZ, one of the founders of Apple
|
||
|
||
Convention Hospitality Suite by:
|
||
|
||
Kevin "DOC" McNeil and the FidoNet COOKING echo.
|
||
|
||
Featuring: Seadog Casserole, Zip-Tarts, Pak-Man Cookies,
|
||
Roast Opus
|
||
|
||
Paid Memberships:
|
||
|
||
Marshall Barry & Daniel L. Bonner &
|
||
Michelle Weisblat Linda L. Bonner
|
||
James H. Dunmyer & Michael Kanavy &
|
||
Janice L. Dunmyer Elizabeth Kanavy
|
||
Thomas Pat Nefos & George Peace &
|
||
Judy Nefos Christine Keefer
|
||
Terry N. Rune' & Steven G. See &
|
||
Wayne A. Rune' Pam See
|
||
Peter Stewart & William M. Van Glahn &
|
||
Michele Hamilton Janet Van Glahn
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 21 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Peter N. White & Rodney A. Aloia
|
||
Chris Anderson Alan Applegate
|
||
Brian P. Bartee Charlie Bass
|
||
Jeff P. Brothers George R. Cornell
|
||
Don Daniels Joe Dehn
|
||
Emmitt W. A. Dove Mike Eckles
|
||
Fabian R. Gordon Ray Gwinn
|
||
Norman B. Henke Stanley A. Hirschman
|
||
Steve Jackson Tom Jennings
|
||
Bruce H. Kirschner Mark K. Kreutzian
|
||
Don Marquart Andrew Milner
|
||
Tim Pozar Michael Pratt
|
||
Steve Raymond John P. Roberts Jr.
|
||
Sam Saulys Daniel D. Segard
|
||
John R. Souvestre Zhahai Stewart
|
||
Terry L Travis Girard Westerberg
|
||
Vincent E. Perriello Roy Timberman
|
||
Jack Winslade Steven Sherwick
|
||
Jim Burt & Ben Cunningham
|
||
Karen Burt Brenda Donovan
|
||
Scott Munhollon & Tony Goggin
|
||
Tammy Munhollon Bob Hartman
|
||
Mike Ratledge & Joaquim Homrighausen
|
||
Donna Ratledge John Johnson
|
||
Eric L. Smith & Thomas Lange
|
||
Diane B. Smith Ed Moore
|
||
Bob Whiston & Chris Rand
|
||
Cheryl Whiston Steven L. Rusboldt
|
||
Russell Anderson James F. Smith
|
||
Bill Bacon Jeff Tensly
|
||
Phil Becker Ken Zen
|
||
Brian Godette
|
||
|
||
Attending Banquet
|
||
|
||
Daniel L. Bonner & Rodney A. Aloia
|
||
Linda L. Bonner Russell Anderson
|
||
Jim Burt & Chris Anderson
|
||
Karen Burt Brian P. Bartee
|
||
James H. Dunmyer & Charlie Bass
|
||
Janice L. Dunmyer Phil Becker
|
||
Michael Kanavy & Jeff P. Brothers
|
||
Elizabeth Kanavy Ben Cunningham
|
||
Mike Ratledge & Don Daniels
|
||
Donna Ratledge Brenda Donovan
|
||
Steven G. See & Fabian R. Gordon
|
||
Pam See Ray Gwinn
|
||
William M. Van Glahn & Bob Hartman
|
||
Janet Van Glahn Norman B. Henke
|
||
Peter N. White & Joaquim Homrighausen
|
||
Cheryl Gordon Tom Jennings
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 22 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
John Johnson Daniel D. Segard
|
||
Mark K. Kreutzian James F. Smith
|
||
Don Marquart John R. Souvestre
|
||
Andrew Milner Terry Travis
|
||
Ed Moore Girard Westerberg
|
||
Tim Pozar Roy Timberman
|
||
John P. Roberts Jr. Brian Godette
|
||
Steven Sherwick
|
||
|
||
Seminars:
|
||
|
||
Surviving Government Scrutiny The Ultimate BBS/BBSing
|
||
in the future
|
||
|
||
TBBS\TDBS\TIMS Getting the most from
|
||
BinkleyTerm
|
||
|
||
AMAX made easy Gateways - the
|
||
internetwork connection
|
||
|
||
Dealing with SYSOP burnout BBSing in the 90's and
|
||
beyond
|
||
|
||
The Ethical Software Hacker For this I gave up my
|
||
Love Life?
|
||
|
||
How to moderate an Echo Copyrights demystified
|
||
|
||
Software Development Roundtable DOS 4/5, Windows
|
||
|
||
Developers Roundtable Modem Roundtable
|
||
|
||
File your own copyrights for $10 XRS/RAX/QMX/SeX/XOR/
|
||
OREO/MORE
|
||
|
||
Association of Shareware XRS (the Universal
|
||
Professionals Offline Reader Editor
|
||
|
||
BBS Role Playing Gaming Forum Promoting your BBS
|
||
|
||
BBS Business Sense MASS Storage/CD ROM's
|
||
|
||
BBS Users Groups Activities:
|
||
|
||
TBBS Users Group will be convening as FidoTUG '91 during the
|
||
convention.
|
||
AlterCon will be sharing the facilities.
|
||
AlterNet Costume Banquet Royal Court
|
||
Meeting of the Dukes
|
||
|
||
Fun Activities:
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 23 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Traditional Hard Diskus Throw Floppy Fling
|
||
The Big Three Brewery Bash National SYSOP Mud Pie
|
||
Fight
|
||
Air Force Academy Tour Garden of the Gods
|
||
Psychic and Physical Tours Golfing Tours of
|
||
of Colorful Colorado Colorado
|
||
|
||
We are scheduling additional seminars and social activities.
|
||
Fire off a message letting us know what you'd like to see and
|
||
do. If you would like to see someone special, let us know as
|
||
well.
|
||
|
||
*** FidoCon '91 Dealers Room will be open from 9:00 am to
|
||
*** 6:00 pm Friday and Saturday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Sunday
|
||
|
||
Manufacturers Invited:
|
||
|
||
AAC Telecomm Adaptec, Inc.
|
||
Alloy Computer Products, Inc. American MiTAC
|
||
Corporation
|
||
Anchor Automation Artisoft
|
||
AST Research, Inc. ATI Technologies Inc.
|
||
Bit Bucket Software BIX
|
||
Borland Chesterfield
|
||
Financial Corp.
|
||
Clark Development Company, Inc Coconut Computing,
|
||
Inc.
|
||
Compucom Connect Tech, Inc
|
||
DigiBoard Everex Systems, Inc.
|
||
Fujitsu Galacticomm, Inc.
|
||
Gates Distributing GVC Technologies Inc.
|
||
GW Associates Hayes Microcomputer
|
||
Products
|
||
Hitachi Microcom, Inc.
|
||
Microsoft Motorola Computer
|
||
Group
|
||
Multi-Tech Systems, Inc. Online Communications
|
||
Inc.
|
||
Practical Peripherals Prodigy Services
|
||
Quarterdeck Office Systems Searchlight Software
|
||
Supra Corporation Surf Computer Services
|
||
System Enhancement Associates Telebit Corporation
|
||
U.S. Robotics, Inc. VSI Telecommunications
|
||
Inc.
|
||
Western Digital Zoom Telephonics, Inc.
|
||
|
||
Confirmed dealers
|
||
|
||
Bit Bucket Software CDB Systems eSoft
|
||
Mustang Software, Inc.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 24 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Drawings & Prizes
|
||
|
||
Including:
|
||
|
||
16 Line TBBS/TDBS/TIMS Sysop Dream SYSTEM CPU with a 486 or
|
||
a 386 at least 3/4 Gig disk, 16 ports and several modems
|
||
.. depending on number of attendees. A portion of the
|
||
memberships go to purchasing this system.
|
||
|
||
Autographed copies of the books that made Steve Jackson a
|
||
household name, GURPS CYBERPUNK.
|
||
|
||
For the SYSOP that has everything
|
||
300 baud acoustic Sysop Nightmare System
|
||
|
||
All kinds of donated equipment and software, some even
|
||
working.
|
||
|
||
Hospitality Suites
|
||
|
||
eSoft Bit Bucket Software
|
||
|
||
More as it comes to being. Subscribe to the FIDOCON_91 Echo.
|
||
|
||
This will be THE BBSing Event of '91, BE THERE.
|
||
|
||
================== FidoCon '91 Registration Form ===============
|
||
|
||
Name: __________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
Street Address: ________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
City: ________________________ State/Province: _________________
|
||
|
||
Postal Code: ________________________ Country: _________________
|
||
|
||
Voice #: ___________ Work #: ____________ Net Address: _________
|
||
|
||
Domain (FidoNet/AlterNet/RIME) _________________________________
|
||
|
||
Membership types VIP $104 No Frills $45 Day $20 Supporting $25
|
||
|
||
Name: ___________________ Membership Type: ______ Amount: ______
|
||
|
||
Name: ___________________ Membership Type: ______ Amount: ______
|
||
|
||
No. of T-Shirts: ___ Sizes(S/M/L/XL): _____ @ $15/ea = ______
|
||
|
||
Complaints (Print Legibly): _ Banquet Tickets: _ @ $25/ea= _____
|
||
|
||
TOTAL $ _______
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 25 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Visa/Mastercard Number ____________________ Expire Date: _______
|
||
|
||
Signature: _______________________ Date: ________
|
||
|
||
Please make checks payable (in U.S.A. Dollars) to FIDOCON '91
|
||
and Mail To:
|
||
FidoCon '91
|
||
P.O. Box 486, Louisville,
|
||
CO 80027-0486
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 26 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Online Perspectives
|
||
by Michael A. Banks
|
||
|
||
I've often wondered what might be the best way to explain
|
||
what being online is all about. How you approach it depends in
|
||
part on to whom you're speaking. It also depends on your own
|
||
perspective. I find the cultural perspective the most
|
||
interesting. And perhaps the most neglected, save for a few
|
||
get-over theses written by people from outside the community, as
|
||
it were.
|
||
That in mind, I've put together some basics on what it's
|
||
like to be online, and the online culture. I'm trying for a
|
||
broadband perspective, for newcomers and old hands. Whether
|
||
you're online or not, I hope you'll find this a bit
|
||
horizon-expanding. I offer some new facts, new facts, and a bit
|
||
of speculation ... a different perspective.
|
||
#
|
||
So, I've finished writing this intro to the online world,
|
||
and I'm still asking myself, how can I introduce the topic?
|
||
Give you a reading list? A step-by- step walkthrough? Blast out
|
||
with descriptions spiked with provocative metaphors? Hm ...
|
||
nope, none of the above. Let's try this:
|
||
"There's a place ... in my mind ...." So go the lines of an
|
||
old Beatles' tune. It's a tune that many modem users (aka
|
||
computer "networkers") might sing as they sign on to their
|
||
favorite online services, because they are indeed going to a
|
||
place in their mind--albeit a place that exists in part because
|
||
of and in/on computers. A place that exists as a true multi-
|
||
human/multi-machine interface.
|
||
Right. The human-machine interface is here. Now. It's not
|
||
waiting for scalp connects and nerve or brainwave inductance
|
||
devices, nor is it waiting for drug-enhancement. And it's not
|
||
waiting for you. While many people are imagining the virtual
|
||
world that the uninformed think cyberpunk writers "created," a
|
||
million or so people are doing it, living it--living online lives
|
||
that mirror or are distortions of their real-world existences (or
|
||
lives that are what they would like to be). As you read this,
|
||
gigabytes of information are quietly moving at near-lightspeed
|
||
via telephone lines and satellite downlinks. With the movement
|
||
of that information, worlds and personas are created and die by
|
||
the nano-second.
|
||
And the virtual world is virtually nothing like the seers
|
||
and science fiction writers and cultural predictionists tried to
|
||
tell you it would be. While public- or self-appointed gurus in
|
||
the aforementioned categories were carefully laying out the
|
||
online world, the people they thought they were writing about
|
||
picked up the tools and parts lying about and created real online
|
||
worlds, linking themselves in a global network that transcends
|
||
whatever you thought cyberpunk was, along with most of science
|
||
fiction.
|
||
To be sure, the media with which those of us online deal
|
||
with on a day-to-day basis are far less exotic than those
|
||
marvelous mind-links brought to you in fiction. Screw all that
|
||
intense poking around in single-vision futures, anyway, for what
|
||
is fiction but polished reality, pre-shaped to fit the needs of
|
||
plot and character and theme?
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 27 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
I'm talking clacking keyboards and computers and modems and
|
||
online services like GEnie, CompuServe, DELPHI, BIX, etc., and
|
||
computer BBSs that reside in someone's unused basement or bedroom
|
||
or den. I'm talking reality.
|
||
Besides, the destination is the point, and is Nepal any
|
||
less exotic if you fly there aboard a DC-3 rather than a 747?
|
||
Think about it.
|
||
It's real. It's here. It's now. And it's what this
|
||
article is about.
|
||
|
||
What I'm Doing Here
|
||
I'm here to talk about the worlds online--worlds to which
|
||
some of your, or your friends, are denied access. Which is too
|
||
bad, because most of you would enjoy being online, where you can
|
||
be and do virtually anything you wish. You can cruise for
|
||
software and data of all sorts, meet old friends and make new
|
||
ones, and the proverbial "much, much more."
|
||
Why me, rather than some famous "name" cultural hero or
|
||
whatever? Because I am literally and in all modesty the only
|
||
person who can write about this subject from this perspective.
|
||
I'm the only fiction and non-fiction writer I know of who is uses
|
||
as many online services as I do (hell, I'm the only person I know
|
||
of who is online in as many places as I am). I like this stuff.
|
||
I write books and columns and articles about it, and those works
|
||
are published in the U.S., Japan, Argentina, and the U.K. (In
|
||
Japan, I'm a "famous American networker and SF author" to Yomiuri
|
||
Shimbun's 9 million readers, and to readers of various
|
||
magazines.) I include it in my fiction. And all else like that.
|
||
(If this indicates something of an ego, well, having an ego is a
|
||
pre-requisite for getting published. Not that you need an
|
||
overinflated, abrasive ego like some writers of my acquaintance.
|
||
But you gotta have an ego, to be able to present youself, and
|
||
this is the only one I have. What you see is what you get.)
|
||
Where is this going? In the direction of strangeness and
|
||
facts and oddities and whatever else comes to mind, ever-mindful
|
||
that you are reading this, so I'll work to avoid overindulging in
|
||
games of style and technique, hewing to my subject as much as I
|
||
can. Be warned, though: I'll drop in random blocks of commentary
|
||
and facts at times, because when I'm writing about this stuff my
|
||
viewpoint tends to change shape from moment to moment, just
|
||
because online worlds are that way. Which is no less than
|
||
appropriate, so pardon my skewed-ness.
|
||
Since this is the first time out, I'm going to try to give
|
||
you an introduction to and a "feel" for what's online and what's
|
||
done with it. First, for those of you who aren't online, or who
|
||
have limited online experience, here's a taste of the
|
||
strangeness:
|
||
#
|
||
My modem brings strange people and events into my home.
|
||
No, I mean really strange, like you could write a million
|
||
genre-fiction stories about it. Better than The Naked City
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 28 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
and The Twilight Zone and Vernor Vinge's True Names all
|
||
rolled into one. (Oh, add True Names to the reading list
|
||
I'm not giving you.) Far better, because my modem links me
|
||
to my choice of a bizarro group of worlds beyond the world
|
||
we physically inhabit--and the access is under my control.
|
||
I flick through them with almost the same ease as I flick
|
||
through cable-TV channels, running realtime and multi-level
|
||
interactive.
|
||
These worlds are created almost without limitations by
|
||
those who inhabit them. Created on computer bulletin boards
|
||
and online services (networks, to some of you).
|
||
Consider ... in a given week, I might communicate
|
||
online with pleasant Japanese editors and irate British
|
||
writers and journalists seeking quotes and avowed
|
||
transsexuals and rock singers and 60s TV sitcom stars and a
|
||
West German computer consultant who's willing to spend
|
||
twenty minutes of international telecom money figuring out
|
||
what a palindrome is, and a Japanese translator who's
|
||
equally willing, but never does figure it out (he did come
|
||
back to get the lowdown on puns); or horny people cruising
|
||
live-prose accompaniment for masturbation; or Dead-heads and
|
||
wigged-out role-playing gamers and microcosmic power-
|
||
trippers and general jerks; or jokers and hackers and voices
|
||
of reason and maybe even you.
|
||
Via electronic mail and realtime chatting, on sixteen
|
||
online services with twenty-odd IDs, I daily flow in and out
|
||
of virtual worlds created by people who have one thing in
|
||
common: they have access to something you don't. Endless
|
||
virtual worlds offering endless information resources. And
|
||
some of them have discovered that the power to create worlds
|
||
in metaphor and sometimes fact is real.
|
||
It's interesting, it's fun, it's entertaining, it's
|
||
absurd, and sometimes it's profitable--as is the case with
|
||
anything put together by people with almost no guidelines.
|
||
#
|
||
Some might be tempted to say being online is participating
|
||
in a work of art, but that would be bulls*** (and it will
|
||
continue to be bulls*** when being online is "discovered" by the
|
||
next Andy Warhol crowd); being online is grabbing and giving and
|
||
sharing hard information and idle chatter and gossip and intense
|
||
ideas.
|
||
There are similes and metaphors galore for "the online
|
||
experience," but I'll skip those for now, because the none of
|
||
them are right on. Skip all the flash-hip glitz cyberpunk that's
|
||
been zoomed at you, too, and all that silly Frankenstein stuff
|
||
from the old-line science fiction writers. None of that's going
|
||
to happen.
|
||
(A note for intense science fiction readers: most modem the
|
||
users don't read a lot of SF, so if you're an SF reader don't
|
||
look for people talking about "jacking in," and don't look for
|
||
them to recognize the reference if you sign on to a system and
|
||
tag the realtime conferences "anarchy parks," however appropriate
|
||
that may be.)
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 29 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Likewise, skip the "information utility" and "communications
|
||
medium" and "data resource" stuff laid out in the promo for
|
||
commercial online services. Despite the fact that someone else
|
||
owns the hardware and software that make online worlds possible,
|
||
and have laid out careful designs for those worlds, it is the
|
||
users who shape those worlds. Why and how? Because those worlds
|
||
exist in and depend on the interaction of the minds of thousands
|
||
of modem users. (No--don't hand me any "group mind" concepts;
|
||
put that stuff over in the corner, in the pile with channeling
|
||
and crystals. Or, get a modem and find someone who wants to play
|
||
the game.)
|
||
In sum, being online is a 48-hour day communications and
|
||
information freak out and pig out and party, depending on who you
|
||
are. And you're invited. (If you want to find out how to
|
||
R.S.V.P. that invitation and get online, see the accompanying
|
||
sidebar. And the time dimension really does include a 48-hour
|
||
day; consider Tokyo, 12 hours or more in your future ....)
|
||
|
||
What are They Doing There? (Or, Why are They Online?)
|
||
Beyond the strangeness I rolled out a few paragraphs back,
|
||
you may well wonder exactly what are people are doing online, or
|
||
why. Or maybe not. But I'll tell you anyway; anything that
|
||
people pay lots of money to do begs explaining. (But it's all
|
||
strange, depending on the context.)
|
||
Modem users find all sorts of applications for being online.
|
||
Friends separated by hundreds or thousands of physical miles can
|
||
communicate faster and at less cost than via conventional
|
||
communications media. Agorophobics can mingle and be vivacious.
|
||
Nervous investors can check and recheck and calculate and have
|
||
decisions made for them.
|
||
What else? You can play formal games, alone or with others.
|
||
You can play informal games (like adopting a persona and seeing
|
||
how many people you can fool with it, as a substitute for not
|
||
being the person you want to be in real life). You can stumble
|
||
into some of the most amazing conversations (14 gay males
|
||
comparing length, for instance, or half a dozen role-
|
||
players bellying up to a virtual bar in a neo-Medieval inn, or an
|
||
anonymous male teenager chatting about sex with a self-labeled
|
||
feminist female schoolteacher who invariably terminates such
|
||
chats by typing "Ohgodohgodohgod ..." until the screen is full.
|
||
You may imagine the reason for this.
|
||
So much for the sensationalistic. Modem users also use the
|
||
online services and BBSs to get software (pirated or not),
|
||
conduct business (buy, sell, or deliver products), get news and
|
||
do research. And, for some of us, being online constitutes a big
|
||
slice of our social life.
|
||
The networks provide a venue for experimentation, too. For
|
||
instance, I'm collecting a lot of interesting data with a
|
||
simulacrum I created. It signs on to an online service, finds a
|
||
realtime conference, and talks. And yes, it's interactive.
|
||
Artificial Intelligence? I don't know; perhaps it would be
|
||
better tagged as Intelligence Implementation. Chat with me
|
||
online some night, and see if you can tell whether it's me or the
|
||
simulacrum ....
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 30 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
A Few Words Concerning Elitism
|
||
As you've probably figured out, being online can be as
|
||
useful as being able to read or drive a car, depending on your
|
||
lifestyle, profession, and interests. Until recently, the
|
||
majority of people who could benefit from being online were
|
||
barred from access, because online worlds were largely restricted
|
||
to the techno-elite. But now all you have to be is techno-aware;
|
||
hardware and software have become less user-belligerent, and
|
||
basically if you are aware that the resources are there, you can
|
||
use them. Still, the majority of the world cannot relate to
|
||
being online the way they can relate to, say, VCRs or pizzas.
|
||
Thus the techno-elite who used to make up most of the online
|
||
population have been diluted with an influx of what you might
|
||
call a sort of "plug-n-go" elite. You no longer have to know a
|
||
lot to access online worlds; just get the equipment, introduce
|
||
yourself to those aspects of the world you want to use, and
|
||
that's it.
|
||
(To borrow an overused simile, it's as if the explorers and
|
||
frontier-expanding types have finished marking the trails and
|
||
identifying and clearing out the dangers, and now the settlers,
|
||
who have intentions other than exploring--like shaping the land
|
||
and bending it to their will--have moved in.)
|
||
There's another group of elitists that separates the public
|
||
at large from those online, and is the main reason that computer
|
||
communication is not fully "legitimized" (like, say VCRs or
|
||
pizzas). That group consists of the economically elite--and let
|
||
me hasten to add that they are not an elite group by choice, in
|
||
case that's not obvious. Those who cannot afford the money for
|
||
the equipment to get online (anywhere from five hundred bucks for
|
||
used equipment, to three grand or more for an upscale computer
|
||
system and V.42/MNP error-checking 9600-bps modem with online
|
||
help, power steering, A/C, 21 jewels and all the other options),
|
||
and/or cannot afford the time to become aware of all this stuff
|
||
and learn about it, well, those people are cut out.
|
||
Thus, while the online worlds are no longer restricted to
|
||
the techno-elite, they are restricted to another kind of elite,
|
||
in terms of financial resources and/or personal background.
|
||
Note that, in aggregate, this is true only in the U.S. In
|
||
Japan and Europe and third-world countries, they're either living
|
||
in the past (like in Japan or the U.K., where it's still 1985
|
||
online) or clamping on to American culture (as is the case in
|
||
certain South American countries). So elsewhere, it costs even
|
||
more to be online, and there's a higher techno-awareness
|
||
required. In some cases, the techies still rule, and in others
|
||
being online is almost a covert operation (consider the Soviet
|
||
Union, or African nations).
|
||
|
||
Who's Out There?
|
||
Hopefully, I've not given you too distorted a picture of who
|
||
is online. After all not everyone online (nor even a majority)
|
||
assumes alternate personas. You'll find people like the woman up
|
||
the street from you, who you didn't even know owned a computer,
|
||
online. You'll find writers online, in need of an excuse not to
|
||
write or carrying on business with editors. Writers who don't
|
||
mind talking with their fans are online, too--like Tom Clancy,
|
||
who hangs out on GEnie, or Jerry Pournelle, or George Alec
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 31 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Effinger (who writes about this stuff anyway), or Douglas Adams.
|
||
Bored night-shift workers dialing out of factories, grocery
|
||
stores, and warehouses are not uncommon. (People who are flat-
|
||
out bored for any reason are not uncommon.)
|
||
Singers and performers and actors are online, too. Who?
|
||
Lots of names you'd recognize, but many traveling incognito.
|
||
Let's see ... B.J. Thomas, called realtime conferencing "the
|
||
interview wave of the future"; several soap opera stars, who log
|
||
on between rehearsals and takes; Martha Quinn of MTV fame (though
|
||
she's kinda busy now); someone who may or may not be Peter Falk;
|
||
maybe Carlos Santana or Patti Scialfia or Pete Townshend or John
|
||
Poindexter; maybe lots of other people you'd never expect to meet
|
||
anywhere outside of the world's "hip" cities.
|
||
Lots of computer techies, of course; they've made room for
|
||
the plug-n-go crowd, but they haven't given up their turf. Lots
|
||
of special-interest people, too--people who share hobby or
|
||
professional or personal interests.
|
||
All of which not only tells you a bit of who's online
|
||
(pretty much a cross-section of the American middle and upper
|
||
class), but also a bit more about why they're online. 'Nuff
|
||
said.
|
||
#
|
||
So much for the basic intro. Between the foregoing and the
|
||
sidebar, and what's coming up, you'll know your way around the
|
||
online world fairly well soon enough.
|
||
#
|
||
"And Now, the News"
|
||
|
||
What the Wall Street Journal Didn't Tell You About the
|
||
'Quake of 89
|
||
|
||
Perhaps I should have used this header: "How the News Media
|
||
Prevented Black Tuesday on Wall Street without Even Trying (or
|
||
Knowing)." Put it up there yourself if you like; either header
|
||
applies.
|
||
Anyway, if you're into conspiracies and paranoia, you'll
|
||
probably enjoy this. Picture this: It's October 19, 1989, and I
|
||
get a call from guy named Tom Curry at Time magazine; he'd been
|
||
online asking for info on the central California earthquake that
|
||
involved computer networks and I agreed to give him some info.
|
||
The same day, I get a call from the Associated Press to be
|
||
interviewed on the same subject. On October 20, I'm asked by a
|
||
writer friend to phone Mr. So-and-so at the Wall Street Journal
|
||
about the subject.
|
||
So I tell Time and the AP and the Wall Street Journal about
|
||
how the San Francisco area is data-relay central between the
|
||
Pacific Rim and the U.S. mainland and points between. I further
|
||
explain how RCA, the record carrier that moves data to and from
|
||
the Pacific Rim for major American packet-switching networks,
|
||
lost its satellite link, and how the domestic networks' equipment
|
||
went down anyway (thanks to equipment that was vulnerable because
|
||
of poor power-backup and lack of alternate link provisions). A
|
||
little more about how the technicians engineers at the packet-
|
||
switching networks had a particularly interesting priority: get
|
||
the financial data-links up first thing. I also tell them that
|
||
this meant money-heads throughout the U.S. (and elsewhere) were
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 32 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
trading their pieces of paper based on totally outdated
|
||
information.
|
||
So, what happened? Why didn't you hear about all this?
|
||
Well, the Time story was killed. The AP never called back to
|
||
complete their "interview," and the Wall Street Journal staffers
|
||
with whom I spoke carefully explained that I wasn't a writer (as
|
||
if I hadn't published three million words, and edited a few
|
||
hundred thousand more), and therefore couldn't provide them with
|
||
any useful information.
|
||
The sum total of information having to do with computer
|
||
communications and the San Francisco earthquake provided to the
|
||
public was:
|
||
* A front-page article in the Wall Street Journal concerning
|
||
mainly local emergency communications on a relatively tiny
|
||
multi-user system in the area hit by the 'quake (written
|
||
by a guy who was on retainer by WSJ).
|
||
* A few mentions of same in the computer press.
|
||
* A few bits here and there about the emergency
|
||
communications network that sprung up, controlled by the
|
||
people who could, for reasons involving which online
|
||
services' private packet-switching networks had reliable
|
||
power backups and immediate microwave links rather than
|
||
landlines. (Imagine that--for the first time, emergency
|
||
communications in a disaster area the hands of mostly
|
||
average people. Lots of amateur radio operators' stations
|
||
were "down," and voice telephone was all but impossible,
|
||
but those with telecom capability could get out--many
|
||
relying on battery-powered computers and modems.) Most of
|
||
these were the results of fast-acting network publicity
|
||
people.
|
||
That was almost it. There were a few stories about
|
||
automatic teller machines (ATMs) being turned off, since they
|
||
were updating with out-of-date information, and about a couple of
|
||
relatively brave banks turning theirs back on and trusting the
|
||
honesty of the people who needed to get cash from ATMs.
|
||
Having been involved in relaying messages and information
|
||
among several networks on behalf of the Science Fiction Writers
|
||
of America (and, less formally, for the SF community in general),
|
||
I was online quite a bit in the hours and days following the
|
||
earthquake, and I learned quite a bit, formally and informally,
|
||
publicly and privately, some of it being information of the "you
|
||
didn't hear it here" variety. So I wrote an article about the
|
||
combination telephone/computer communications emergency network
|
||
that got word into and out of the disaster area and about the
|
||
financial crash for Japan's largest telecom magazine Networking.
|
||
And I mentioned a bit of this (though not the part about the
|
||
financial network being down and out) in a column I do for a
|
||
magazine called Computer Shopper.
|
||
The Japanese recognized the importance of the story, of the
|
||
facts concerning the financial networks (of course, the Japanese
|
||
were acutely aware of the lack of data communications). Asahi
|
||
Shimbun, Japan's second-largest daily newspaper, picked up the
|
||
story, and I'm still getting fan letters.
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 33 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
On this side of the Pacific, though, the facts were
|
||
suppressed or ignored.
|
||
Why? Was there a conspiracy? Hm. Well, I have my own
|
||
ideas on that, which I'll get to presently. But first, some
|
||
background ...
|
||
You may well wonder why San Francisco is so important to
|
||
East-West finance. It's like this: you got your Bank of Hong
|
||
Kong and Bank of America and Bank of this and that there, and a
|
||
heavy concentration of Japanese and Japanese-Americans there (in
|
||
Tokyo alone, KDD phone company was going nuts trying to handle
|
||
60,000 attempted calls to San Francisco per hour, for hours after
|
||
the 'quake). But, rather than leave it to you to infer what's
|
||
what, here's a basic fact: San Francisco is the financial gateway
|
||
to the Pacific Rim, physically, on paper, literally, and, in the
|
||
computer sense of the word, virtually.
|
||
The bottom line: almost all commercial telecommunications
|
||
with the entire Pacific Rim were lost due to the knockout punch
|
||
the earthquake delivered to satellite ground stations, telephone
|
||
switching stations, power lines. (All of this information is
|
||
straight from those who were in the trenches; from the techs
|
||
working to get things up and running again, among others.)
|
||
So the money-heads went on trading and making and losing
|
||
ghost money, blissfully unaware that they were cut off from the
|
||
right now! information they needed. And <smirk>, the economic
|
||
advisors and analyst types were likewise cut off--and didn't know
|
||
it. (For the economic advisors and economists, being cut off
|
||
from information is not unusual; take look at how they justify
|
||
their predictions sometime. Too many of 'em are regarded as such
|
||
bona-fide seers that their predictions become self-fulfilling,
|
||
which more often than not screws up the economy royally. The
|
||
predictions are bulls**t: for the majority plying that trade, the
|
||
"bottom line" is making a name and money by making those self-
|
||
fulfilling predictions.
|
||
(But this is a topic for elsewhere. Still, it's worth
|
||
noting that we now have a little hard evidence about the economic
|
||
predictions; they come out the same with or without accurate
|
||
information. Bottom line--since we're talking money I'll over-
|
||
use that cliched phrase: these people don't know what they're
|
||
doing.
|
||
(There. I've taken my shots. Now, back to the main track.)
|
||
"So what?" you say. "So these business types didn't have
|
||
up-to-the minute info on Asian corporate activities, stock
|
||
prices, money values, and the like. So what?"
|
||
Okay, look at this: the money-heads were trading as if
|
||
nothing had happened but an earthquake with mainly regional
|
||
effects. But what if they had known that the info wasn't coming
|
||
in from the Pacific Rim? What if they had known that what they
|
||
were doing was based on the wrong information?
|
||
The answer's not obvious until you think about it: they
|
||
would have, as a Wall Street acquaintance put it, freaked. They
|
||
would have absolutely freaked out! And how many points would the
|
||
Dow-Jones Average have dropped? 100? 300? 500? It would have
|
||
been interesting to find out. But it didn't happen. Why?
|
||
Because the news of the data-link loss didn't get out.
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 34 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
And why didn't it get out? Well, it would be nice to
|
||
imagine that it was intentionally suppressed because someone "in
|
||
power" was aware of the damage that the fictions of stocks and
|
||
commodities and money markets do to our society. Conspiracy fans
|
||
will, of course, believe that the information was suppressed
|
||
because "behind the scenes" types wanted it suppressed, for
|
||
whatever reasons. But it wasn't suppressed as a part of some
|
||
power group's hidden agenda. (Blame it on the Illuminati or the
|
||
Rockefellers if you wish; I don't take stock in such
|
||
speculations.)
|
||
No, it was none of that. This potentially panic-generating
|
||
information was suppressed by simple air-headedness and ego-
|
||
tripping, because it came from the "wrong" sources, and because
|
||
the news types couldn't understand it. And I'll note that I
|
||
wasn't the only such "wrong" source.
|
||
In other words, the facts didn't get out because the people
|
||
who decide what's news didn't hear them via their legitimate
|
||
sources, and being unable to comprehend the facts, ignored them.
|
||
(Normally, each news decision-maker uses her or his own power
|
||
trip or personal political agenda or sensationalism rating to
|
||
determine what's news, but if they don't understand it, it takes
|
||
too long to figure it out, and there's no blood, it ain't news.
|
||
No conspiracies here, either; just a lot of small- and big-time
|
||
would-be conspiracies. End of shot.)
|
||
Side note: all of this says a lot and implies more about the
|
||
importance of data communications to the existence of our
|
||
society.
|
||
Final note: if you doubt the importance of the financial
|
||
information flow just cited, remember the fact that the number
|
||
one priority of the data carrier networks was to bring the
|
||
financial elements of the Pacific Rim data net back online.
|
||
Everything else was ignored until financial data communication
|
||
was back in place. Hell, the packet-switching networks didn't
|
||
even bother to bring Hawaii back up until 22 hours after the
|
||
'quake hit.
|
||
|
||
So What Else is New?
|
||
Speaking of significant items that didn't make "the news,"
|
||
the first-ever computer BBS in the Soviet Union went online at
|
||
the end of 1989. This is a landmark event, because BBSs were all
|
||
but unheard of in the Soviet Union until this BBS opened.
|
||
The board, called Eesti BBS #1, is in Tallinn, Estonia.
|
||
International links are via Helsinki. The multi-user system is
|
||
set up for messaging and file transfer, and is intended to
|
||
function as a open communications channel to Soviet and non-
|
||
Soviet countries.
|
||
The system is set up on a PC with 40 megs of storage and a
|
||
300/1200-bps modem that recognizes both international (CCITT) and
|
||
American (Bell) standards. If you want to give it a try, the
|
||
number is +7 0142 422 583 ("+7" is Finland's country code from
|
||
the U.S.). You may have to wait up to two minutes for a carrier,
|
||
depending on the phone routing from the U.S. to Finland. You may
|
||
also have to delay the dialing speed, to compensate for delays
|
||
caused by the number of phone exchanges through which the call is
|
||
routed. Evening hours are the best time to dial up the system--
|
||
try for a time slot when you're hitting evening/nighttime hours
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 35 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
in your corner of the world as well as in Estonia.
|
||
#
|
||
Michael A. Banks is the author of 21 published non-fiction
|
||
books and science fiction novels (including the definitive work
|
||
on personal computer communications, The Modem Reference,
|
||
published by Brady Books/Simon & Schuster). He's also published
|
||
more than 1,000 magazine articles and short stories, lively
|
||
technical documents, and "... a few catchy slogans."
|
||
He can be found online "almost anywhere," but if you want to
|
||
reach him fast, try E-mail to KZIN on DELPHI, to MIKE.BANKS on
|
||
GEnie, to BANKS2 on AOL, or to mike_banks on BIX.
|
||
#
|
||
BOOKS BY MICHAEL A. BANKS
|
||
"If a technical thing is troubling you, just wait a bit.
|
||
Michael Banks is probably writing a book that will make it
|
||
clear." --The Associated Press
|
||
|
||
Do you use DeskMate 3? Are you getting the most out of the
|
||
program? To find out, get a copy of GETTING THE MOST OUT OF
|
||
DESKMATE 3, by Michael A. Banks, published by
|
||
Brady Books/Simon & Schuster, and available in your local
|
||
Tandy/Radio Shack or Waldenbooks store now. Or, phone 800-624-
|
||
0023 to order direct. (The all-new 2nd edition is now
|
||
available!)
|
||
|
||
"GETTING THE MOST OUT OF DESKMATE 3 is more than a guide to
|
||
DeskMate; it's an enhancement..."--Waldenbooks Computer
|
||
NewsLink
|
||
|
||
Interested in modem communications? Check out THE MODEM
|
||
REFERENCE, also by Michael A. Banks and published by Brady
|
||
Books/Simon & Schuster. Recommended by Jerry Pournelle in Byte,
|
||
The New York times, The Smithsonian Magazine, various computer
|
||
magazines, etc. (Excerpts from this book accompany this file.)
|
||
THE MODEM REFERENCE is available at your local B. Dalton's,
|
||
Waldenbooks, or other bookstore, either in stock or by order.
|
||
Or, phone 800-624-0023 to order direct. (1st edition currently
|
||
available; all-new 2nd edition available in January, 1991!)
|
||
"I definitely recommend it." --Jerry Pournelle, BYTE Magazine
|
||
|
||
Want the lowdown on getting more out of your word processor?
|
||
Read the only book on word processing written by writers, for
|
||
writers: WORD PROCESSING SECRETS FOR WRITERS, by Michael A. Banks
|
||
& Ansen Dibel (Writer's Digest Books). WORD PROCESSING SECRETS
|
||
FOR WRITERS is available at your local B. Dalton's, Waldenbooks,
|
||
or other bookstore, either in stock or by order. Or, phone 800-
|
||
543-4644 (800-551-0884 in Ohio) to order direct.
|
||
|
||
Other books by Michael A. Banks
|
||
|
||
UNDERSTANDING FAX & E-MAIL (Howard W. Sams & Co.) THE ODYSSEUS
|
||
SOLUTION (w/Dean Lambe; SF novel; Baen Books) JOE MAUSER: MERCENARY
|
||
FROM TOMORROW (w/Mack Reynolds; SF novel; Baen Books) SWEET DREAMS,
|
||
SWEET PRICES (w/Mack Reynolds; SF novel; Baen Books) COUNTDOWN: THE
|
||
COMPLETE GUIDE TO MODEL ROCKETRY (TAB Books) THE ROCKET BOOK
|
||
(w/Robert Cannon; Prentice Hall Press) SECOND STAGE: ADVANCED MODEL
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 36 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
ROCKETRY (Kalmbach Books)
|
||
|
||
For more information, contact:
|
||
Michael A. Banks
|
||
P.O. Box 312
|
||
Milford, OH 45150
|
||
|
||
Submitted in entirety with permission from the author by
|
||
Dennis McClain-Furmanski, 1:275/42, UMOD, Apple, Writing
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 37 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
David C. Lee - at Virginia Tech (shameless plug)
|
||
FidoNet 1:264/715.0 (HUB ROUTE MAIL)
|
||
Telnet VTCBX.CC.VT.EDU (128.173.5.4), 'C 21873' at prompt
|
||
|
||
Non-Standard (SCRIPT) System Usage Proposal
|
||
|
||
We here at Virginia Tech run systems on a computerized data
|
||
exchange network (in essence a digital phone line) in which AT
|
||
commands do not work and connections must be established by
|
||
determining a 'character connect code' for each baud rate. This,
|
||
in itself, stops running FidoNet mailers since all (that I have
|
||
seen, at any rate) use the AT command set. Sure, you could
|
||
probably get away with a script (for outbound dialing through an
|
||
outbound modem pool), but you could not answer the 'phone', so
|
||
calls made to you (even by an on-campus system) won't get
|
||
through!
|
||
|
||
However, this has been now accomplished by two means. First, by
|
||
a TSR that runs on top of a FOSSIL and intercepts calls,
|
||
providing AT emulation and call answering. Secondly, by a
|
||
modification of the BinkleyTerm source code for direct use by the
|
||
points under me. The former source is available, providing that
|
||
you agree to a distribution and source non-disclosure agreement
|
||
(no fees, noncommercial use only), for use if you have a similar
|
||
situation. The BinkleyTerm source ('ported') is also available
|
||
for distribution.
|
||
|
||
That said, let me get to the primary reason why I am writing
|
||
this! On campus, we have been running a network (a Fidonet
|
||
Technology Network, of course) since the fall semester. We have
|
||
been in FidoNet for roughly three or more months, first few
|
||
months of its existence was for testing. Since we are 'non-
|
||
standard' nodes, not reachable by other systems except by script
|
||
files, the coordinator structure is loath to have a bunch of
|
||
private nodes and only assigned us one. I can agree with the
|
||
line of reasoning here. However, most of those under me (if not
|
||
all) would like to have full node status for reasons of software
|
||
development contact site, beta status, SysOp conferences, etc.
|
||
They are full systems providing services to the campus. This
|
||
situation may (have) develop in other areas as well!
|
||
|
||
So, what to do? I came up with a way that should not take any
|
||
major modification to current software. What I propose is to use
|
||
the phone number field in the nodelist to identify where to get a
|
||
script to dial in from -- the field would be filled with the
|
||
following ,SCRIPT_XXX, where XXX is the node(s) (in the network
|
||
that the node in question is listed in) that you should file
|
||
request 'SCRIPT.TXT' (magic filename 'SCRIPT') from -- it will
|
||
contain scripts for whatever software and a capture file of a
|
||
sample log-in for users to develop (with ample discussion on use,
|
||
of course ;). And, in the case of different script necessities
|
||
for different nodes, ALL the different script varieties would be
|
||
provided in one file. So, for example, my listing would go:
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 38 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Host,264 ...
|
||
Hub,700 ...
|
||
,715,The_DataLink,Blacksburg_VA,David_Lee,SCRIPT_700_0,2400,CM,XX
|
||
|
||
The listing above, with the usage of SCRIPT_700_0 means that
|
||
nodes 700 and 0 (in Net 264) would be the places to file request
|
||
SCRIPT from. The node (XXX) portion is really unnecessary since
|
||
it should be understood that mail should either be hub or host
|
||
routed and by default you should contact the host at least! So,
|
||
a plain 'SCRIPT' is all that should be necessary!
|
||
|
||
And, a nodelist processor should not need to be updated to handle
|
||
the proposed addition -- when the SysOp attempts to dial with
|
||
SCRIPT as the phone number, it cannot or will not! And, it is
|
||
fairly simple to figure out even if a node is not up to date on
|
||
FidoNet Technical Standards for the nodelist. And, to also
|
||
insure that the mailer will not dial, the system can be marked as
|
||
private. In other words, no complete over-haul of existing
|
||
standards need to occur and all current software should be able
|
||
to handle it.
|
||
|
||
This would circumstance the wrong idea that since we are non-
|
||
standard full service systems (in the way to get to us), we
|
||
should be points -- and (from the previous issues of FidoNews)
|
||
should know how points are treated!
|
||
|
||
I feel that it is a viable kludge that will serve FidoNet by
|
||
providing a basis for expansion into more new and exciting
|
||
technology, like the system we run on, which is also a Telnetable
|
||
address. It is an efficient use of existing standards that does
|
||
not require special software to use (unlike an 'user defined
|
||
flag').
|
||
|
||
Please comment and route mail through 264/700!
|
||
|
||
Or, Telnet to VTCBX.CC.VT.EDU, type 'CALL 21873' at the CALL,
|
||
DISPLAY OR MODIFY prompt and hit carriage return until FrontDoor
|
||
comes on-line. Directly reachable through the same method
|
||
through 703-232-9100 or 703-232-2020 (2400 Max), suggested with
|
||
MNP/ARQ off (due to possible flow control problems). For a
|
||
campus BBS listing, try 'C VTCOSY' (VTCOSY.CNS.VT.EDU
|
||
128.173.5.10) and use 'bbs' as the user id. You may also contact
|
||
me at that system, user id 'dlee' (YOU CANNOT MAIL (INTERNET) TO
|
||
ME AT THIS SITE).
|
||
|
||
However, since there is only two weeks left this term, I would
|
||
suggest routing mail through 264/700, since I have shifted to
|
||
mail only for finals :-(. However, scripts should be available
|
||
from 264/0 (BinkleyTerm) and 264/700 (FrontDoor), if need be. I
|
||
would note, though, there's a good chance that you will need to
|
||
ask for them!
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 39 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Thanks!
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 40 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Jack Decker
|
||
1:154/8 Fidonet
|
||
SAVE UP TO 30% ON LONG DISTANCE CHARGES
|
||
Disclaimer: I believe the information in the following article
|
||
is correct, but you should verify any information you read in
|
||
an article like this with the appropriate long distance company
|
||
before switching carriers!
|
||
In the past I have tried to let you know when new programs come
|
||
through that can lower your long distance bills, and here's
|
||
just a couple more that I've recently found out about that may
|
||
be useful to some of you.
|
||
First of all, if you are a member of Sam's Wholesale Club (also
|
||
known as The Wholesale Club or just Sam's Club), you can join
|
||
the SAM'S/MCI program, which gives you a discount on either
|
||
regular MCI Dial "1" Service (if you spend under $100 per month
|
||
in long distance) or MCI PRISM PLUS (primarily a business
|
||
service intended for those with over $100/month usage). The ad
|
||
says "Call 1-800-444-4486 and tell the operator you saw the
|
||
SAM'S/MCI ad in Buyline" (Buyline is a tabloid publication put
|
||
out by Sam's Club).
|
||
Sam's Club is a "members only" wholesale store, but virtually
|
||
anyone can become a member. If you are employed at certain
|
||
places, or are a member of certain groups or credit unions, or
|
||
are a Wal-Mart stockholder, you may be entitled to a free
|
||
membership; otherwise you can get a membership for $25 annually
|
||
(the $25 membership allows you to buy at lower prices anyway).
|
||
They have over 200 locations, mostly in the Eastern half of the
|
||
U.S. (but they do have locations in Texas, Colorado, and
|
||
Nevada). For the nearest location, you could call the
|
||
corporate offices at (501) 277-7041.
|
||
I was told that the SAM'S/MCI discount for Dial "1" Service is
|
||
10%, so that's a 10% savings right there.
|
||
The other program that may be useful to some of you is MCI's
|
||
new "Friends and Family". They've been heavily advertising
|
||
this one, and you can make it work for you if:
|
||
1) You are an MCI residential customer,
|
||
2) One or more of the people you call is an MCI residential
|
||
customer.
|
||
In other words, if your BBS is on a residential line and your
|
||
echomail feed is on a residential line and you are both MCI
|
||
customers, you can sign up for "friends and family", put your
|
||
echo feed on your list (presumably the sysop who gives you your
|
||
echomail is a friend!), and get an additional 20% savings OVER
|
||
AND ABOVE any other discounts you may be entitled to (e.g. the
|
||
SAM'S/MCI discount, or any volume discounts).
|
||
A couple other notes: If you're not currently an MCI customer,
|
||
your telephone company will charge you $5.00 to switch
|
||
carriers. MCI will reimburse you for this changeover charge,
|
||
BUT ONLY IF YOU REQUEST IT. So if you're not currently an MCI
|
||
customer and you sign up for one or both of these plans, be
|
||
sure to ask about a credit for the telephone company charge.
|
||
Now, suppose your echo feed is happily using some other carrier
|
||
and doesn't particularly want to switch carriers? Well, there
|
||
may be a way around that, too, if your feed is cooperative.
|
||
All he has to do is call up MCI and ask to have a
|
||
"Ten-Triple-X" account. This will make him an MCI customer,
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 41 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
but he will have to dial the 10222 access code (see Dave
|
||
Appel's article in Fidonews 8-15 for an explanation of the
|
||
"10XXX" access codes) to actually make any calls on MCI,
|
||
meaning that any calls made WITHOUT dialing the "10222" will go
|
||
by his usual carrier. Or, if he wants to also use "Friends and
|
||
Family" but gets a better rate on some calls through another
|
||
carrier, he can get his "dial 1" service switched to MCI but
|
||
use the proper "10XXX" code to access another carrier whenever
|
||
necessary.
|
||
Remember: Just because you get an account with a new long
|
||
distance carrier does NOT mean that your previous accounts are
|
||
automatically inactivated. For example, you could have AT&T's
|
||
"Reach Out World" program for international calls and an MCI or
|
||
Sprint plan for domestic calls, and use the appropriate
|
||
"Ten-Triple-X" code to access whichever of the two carriers
|
||
that's not your default carrier. That's just an example, I
|
||
don't know too many cases where you'd actually want to do this
|
||
because all major carriers offer discount international calling
|
||
plans, but you could do it.
|
||
So, for those lucky enough to be entitled to both the
|
||
"SAM'S/MCI" discount AND the "Friends and Family" discount,
|
||
you'd save approximately 30% on calls that fall under both
|
||
discounts (assuming the information I received from the MCI rep
|
||
was correct).
|
||
If you are signing up for MCI service, be sure to also ask
|
||
about MCI's PrimeTime and SuperSaver programs, since one of
|
||
these in combination with the "SAM'S/MCI" and/or "Friends and
|
||
Family" plans could cut your bill even further. However,
|
||
PrimeTime and SuperSaver both have a minimum usage requirement
|
||
(albeit a very small one) while the "SAM'S/MCI" and "Friends
|
||
and Family" plans have no minimum usage requirement. And yes,
|
||
you can combine plans for greater savings in some cases.
|
||
I've always had the best luck in getting correct MCI rate
|
||
information by calling their customer service department at
|
||
1-800-444-6240, rather than one of their sales offices. The
|
||
customer service people seem to be better informed.
|
||
One caveat: The long distance market is highly competitive and
|
||
when one carrier comes out with a new plan, the other carriers
|
||
sometimes copy it. So if you are reading this information six
|
||
months after the date of publication, you may wish to check
|
||
with the other carriers to see what new plans they've come up
|
||
with.
|
||
|
||
--- via AutoNews 0.1
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 42 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
LATEST VERSIONS
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
Latest Software Versions
|
||
|
||
MS-DOS Systems
|
||
--------------
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Software
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
DMG 2.93 Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5g
|
||
Fido 12s+ QuickBBS 2.66 TBBS 2.1
|
||
GSBBS 3.02 RBBS 17.3B TComm/TCommNet 3.4
|
||
Lynx 1.30 RBBSmail 17.3B Telegard 2.5
|
||
Kitten 2.16 RemoteAccess 1.00* TPBoard 6.1
|
||
Maximus 1.02 SLBBS 1.77A Wildcat! 2.55
|
||
Opus 1.14+ Socrates 1.10 WWIV 4.12
|
||
PCBoard 14.5 SuperBBS 1.10 XBBS 1.17
|
||
|
||
Network Node List Other
|
||
Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version
|
||
|
||
BinkleyTerm 2.40 EditNL 4.00 ARC 7.0
|
||
D'Bridge 1.30 MakeNL 2.31 ARCAsim 2.30
|
||
Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.07
|
||
FrontDoor 1.99c Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00
|
||
PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.14 Crossnet v1.5
|
||
SEAdog 4.60* XlatList 2.90 DOMAIN 1.42
|
||
TIMS 1.0(Mod8) XlaxDiff 2.35 EMM 2.02
|
||
XlaxNode 2.35 4Dog/4DMatrix 1.18
|
||
Gmail 2.05
|
||
GROUP 2.16
|
||
GUS 1.30
|
||
HeadEdit 1.18
|
||
IMAIL 1.10
|
||
InterPCB 1.31
|
||
LHARC 2.10
|
||
MSG 4.1
|
||
MSGED 2.06
|
||
MSGTOSS 1.3
|
||
Oliver 1.0a
|
||
PK[UN]ZIP 1.20
|
||
QM 1.0
|
||
QSORT 4.03
|
||
ScanToss 1.28
|
||
Sirius 1.0x
|
||
SLMAIL 1.36
|
||
StarLink 1.01
|
||
TagMail 2.41
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 43 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
TCOMMail 2.2
|
||
Telemail 1.27
|
||
TMail 1.15
|
||
TPBNetEd 3.2
|
||
TosScan 1.00
|
||
UFGATE 1.03
|
||
XRS 4.10*
|
||
XST 2.3e
|
||
ZmailH 1.14
|
||
|
||
|
||
OS/2 Systems
|
||
------------
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities
|
||
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
Maximus-CBCS 1.02 BinkleyTerm 2.40 Parselst 1.32
|
||
ConfMail 4.00
|
||
EchoStat 6.0
|
||
oMMM 1.52
|
||
Omail 3.1
|
||
MsgEd 2.06
|
||
MsgLink 1.0C
|
||
MsgNum 4.14
|
||
LH2 0.50
|
||
PK[UN]ZIP 1.02
|
||
ARC2 6.00
|
||
PolyXARC 2.00
|
||
Qsort 2.1
|
||
Raid 1.0
|
||
Remapper 1.2
|
||
Tick 2.0
|
||
VPurge 2.07
|
||
|
||
|
||
Xenix/Unix
|
||
----------
|
||
|
||
BBS Software Mailers Other Utilities
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
BinkleyTerm 2.30b Unzip 3.10
|
||
ARC 5.21
|
||
ParseLst 1.30b
|
||
ConfMail 3.31b
|
||
Ommm 1.40b
|
||
Msged 1.99b
|
||
Zoo 2.01
|
||
C-Lharc 1.00
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 44 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Omail 1.00b
|
||
|
||
|
||
Apple II
|
||
----------
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities
|
||
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
GBBS Pro 2.1 Fruity Dog 1.0 ShrinkIt 3.23*
|
||
DDBBS + 5.0 ShrinkIt GS 1.04
|
||
deARC2e 2.1
|
||
ProSel 8.66*
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Apple CP/M
|
||
----------
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities
|
||
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
Daisy v2j Daisy Mailer 0.38 Nodecomp 0.37
|
||
MsgUtil 2.5
|
||
PackUser v4
|
||
Filer v2-D
|
||
UNARC.COM 1.20
|
||
|
||
|
||
Macintosh
|
||
---------
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities
|
||
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
Red Ryder Host 2.1 Tabby 2.2 MacArc 0.04
|
||
Mansion 7.15 Copernicus 1.0 ArcMac 1.3
|
||
WWIV (Mac) 3.0 LHArc 0.41
|
||
Hermes 1.5 StuffIt Classic 1.6
|
||
FBBS 0.91 Compact Pro 1.30
|
||
Precision Systems 0.95b* TImport 1.92
|
||
TeleFinder Host 2.12T10 TExport 1.92
|
||
Timestamp 1.6
|
||
Tset 1.3
|
||
Import 3.2
|
||
Export 3.21
|
||
Point System Software Sundial 3.2
|
||
PreStamp 3.2
|
||
Name Version OriginatorII 2.0
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 45 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
AreaFix 1.6
|
||
Copernicus 1.0 Mantissa 3.21
|
||
CounterPoint 1.09 Zenith 1.5
|
||
Eventmeister 1.0
|
||
TSort 1.0
|
||
Mehitable 2.0
|
||
UNZIP 1.02c
|
||
Zip Extract 0.10
|
||
|
||
Amiga
|
||
-----
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities
|
||
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
Falcon CBBS 0.45 BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23
|
||
Paragon 2.082+ TrapDoor 1.50 AReceipt 1.5
|
||
TransAmiga 1.07 WelMat 0.44 booz 1.01
|
||
ConfMail 1.12
|
||
ChameleonEdit 0.10
|
||
ElectricHerald1.66
|
||
Lharc 1.30
|
||
Login 0.18
|
||
MessageFilter 1.52
|
||
oMMM 1.49b
|
||
ParseLst 1.64
|
||
PkAX 1.00
|
||
PolyxAmy 2.02
|
||
RMB 1.30
|
||
Roof 44.03
|
||
RoboWriter 1.02
|
||
Rsh 4.06
|
||
Skyparse 2.30
|
||
Tick 0.75
|
||
TrapList 1.12
|
||
UNZIP 1.31
|
||
Yuck! 1.61
|
||
Zippy (Unzip) 1.25
|
||
Zoo 2.01
|
||
|
||
Atari ST/TT
|
||
-----------
|
||
|
||
Bulletin Board Network Node List
|
||
Software Version Mailer Version Utilities Version
|
||
|
||
FIDOdoor/ST 2.2.3* BinkleyTerm 2.40l ParseList 1.30
|
||
QuickBBS/ST 1.02 The BOX 1.20 Xlist 1.12
|
||
Pandora BBS 2.41c EchoFix 1.20
|
||
GS Point 0.61 sTICK/Hatch 5.50*
|
||
LED ST 1.00
|
||
MSGED 1.96S
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 46 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
Archiver Msg Format Other
|
||
Utilities Version Converters Version Utilities Version
|
||
|
||
LHARC 0.60 TB2BINK 1.00 ConfMail 4.03
|
||
LHARC2 3.18* BINK2TB 1.00 ComScan 1.02
|
||
ARC 6.02 FiFo 2.1m* Import 1.14
|
||
PKUNZIP 1.10 OMMM 1.40
|
||
Pack 1.00
|
||
FastPack 1.20
|
||
FDrenum 2.2.7*
|
||
Trenum 0.10
|
||
|
||
|
||
Archimedes
|
||
----------
|
||
|
||
BBS Software Mailers Utilities
|
||
Name Version Name Version Name Version
|
||
|
||
ARCbbs 1.44 BinkleyTerm 2.03 Unzip 2.1TH
|
||
ARC 1.03
|
||
!Spark 2.00d
|
||
|
||
ParseLst 1.30
|
||
BatchPacker 1.00
|
||
|
||
|
||
+ Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software)
|
||
* 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 8-16 Page 47 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
NOTICES
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
The Interrupt Stack
|
||
|
||
|
||
12 May 1991
|
||
Fourth anniversary of FidoNet operations in Latin America and
|
||
second anniversary of the creation of Zone-4.
|
||
|
||
15 Aug 1991
|
||
5th annual Z1 Fido Convention - FidoCon '91 "A New Beginning"
|
||
Sheraton Denver West August 15 through August 18 1991.
|
||
|
||
8 Sep 1991
|
||
25th anniversary of first airing of Star Trek on NBC!
|
||
|
||
7 Oct 1991
|
||
Area code 415 fragments. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
|
||
will begin using area code 510. This includes Oakland,
|
||
Concord, Berkeley and Hayward. San Francisco, San Mateo,
|
||
Marin, parts of Santa Clara County, and the San Francisco Bay
|
||
Islands will retain area code 415.
|
||
|
||
1 Nov 1991
|
||
Area code 301 will split. Area code 410 will consist of the
|
||
northeastern part of Maryland, as well as the eastern shore.
|
||
This will include Baltimore and the surrounding area. Area 301
|
||
will include southern and western parts of the state,
|
||
including the areas around Washington DC. Area 410 phones will
|
||
answer to calls to area 301 until November, 1992.
|
||
|
||
1 Feb 1992
|
||
Area code 213 fragments. Western, coastal, southern and
|
||
eastern portions of Los Angeles County will begin using area
|
||
code 310. This includes Los Angeles International Airport,
|
||
West Los Angeles, San Pedro and Whittier. Downtown Los
|
||
Angeles and surrounding communities (such as Hollywood and
|
||
Montebello) will retain area code 213.
|
||
|
||
1 Dec 1993
|
||
Tenth anniversary of Fido Version 1 release.
|
||
|
||
5 Jun 1997
|
||
David Dodell's 40th Birthday
|
||
|
||
|
||
If you have something which you would like to see on this
|
||
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
|
||
|
||
FidoNews 8-16 Page 48 22 Apr 1991
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Greylock Software is currently beta testing a message editor
|
||
and is interested in your feedback. If you'd like a look at
|
||
it, it can be file requested from JonesNose, 321/202 under
|
||
the name EMEdt009.Lzh with the password FidoNews.
|
||
|
||
This editor is primarily designed for point utilization, in
|
||
conjunction with BinkleyTerm or Igor (which can also be
|
||
requested from JonesNose.)
|
||
|
||
Thank you for your time and interest.
|
||
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
|