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F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.51 (19-Dec-1994)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | Small animal psychology and |
| (_| /_) | Spiritual guidance Department: |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Rev. Richard Visage 1:163/409 |
| | | \ \\ | |
| | (*) | \ )) | Editor: |
| |__U__| / \// | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| _//|| _\ / | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| (_/(_|(____/ | Tim |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MORE addresses: |
| |
| Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Max -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Tim Pozar -- pozar@kumr.lns.com |
| David Deitch -- 1:133/411.411, deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org |
| submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================
1. Editorial..................................................... 2
2. Articles...................................................... 2
Censorship? Read a dictionary instead....................... 2
New Contest for all Fidonetters!............................ 3
Dear Reverend Visage,....................................... 4
CORELDRAW echo available.................................... 7
Subject: ECHO RAMMINGS AND PKTIM............................ 7
What the hell is the ZC's PROBLEM ANYHOW?!.................. 8
ECSTASY echo available...................................... 9
Just My Humble Opinion about Fidonews....................... 10
Vengeance is ours........................................... 11
RUNE'S RAG & RAH changing . . .............................. 13
He's back................................................... 13
Comment on FidoNews Vol.11 No.50: a letter to the editor.... 15
Reformatting FidoNews....................................... 15
Age Discrimination?......................................... 20
q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q................................... 22
Some Real Future Problems................................... 23
Echo area Advertisment...................................... 25
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 2 19 Dec 1994
A quick comment on commercial advertising................... 26
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 27
========================================================================
Editorial
========================================================================
We have a large issue this week ... in fact one of the
largest we have ever had. So. No editorial, just the snooze,
and a wish for a good Christmass from Max and I to those that
celebrate it (and the rest too ...) ;<)
========================================================================
Articles
========================================================================
Censorship? Read a dictionary instead.
By Rick Pali (1:163/328)
In Snooze 1148 Tom Rightmer, 1:385/0 wrote:
>I fail to understand why this is necessary in a
>publication of this type, especially when you
>consider that children will be reading this garbage.
When I read this, I thought Tom was going to go after
what I'd consider *really* offensive profanity. Then
I read this:
>What's next after "Dominatrix"? I can just hear
>junior now, "Daddy, what is a dominatrix?"
Dominatrix? Never had my mouth washed out for that one!
Yes, I know what it means but does it *really* mean
that? Could it be a word that has had it's meaning
corrupted? Let's see.
Pulling out my handy-dandy Shorter Oxford, dominatrix
is defined as "A female dominator or ruler."
Hmmm...nothing bad there. Perhaps 'dominator' is where
all the dirt is. The Oxford says about dominator:
"1. A person who or thing which dominates; a ruler,
a lord. 2. A planet or sign that dominates a
particular person or region."
Nope nothing bad there either. Perhaps if junior asks
what something means, he should be directed to the
dictionary. No need to conduct a book-burning because
the first thing *you* thing of is perhaps morally
reprehensible.
Rick.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 3 19 Dec 1994
New Contest for all Fidonetters!
By Michael Johnson
Hello again Fidonetters! Once again I am coming to you
through the void to make another tasteless offering of community
fun, Fido-style. Yes, I have a project that is both loads of fun
and cathartic at the same time.
I propose at this time that the annual FLAME Asshole of the
Year (AOY) be expanded beyond the usual boundaries of FLAME to
include the entire Fidonet population at large. For several
years now we have been hoarding our precious AOY contest all by
ourselves in a secluded, secretive manner that patently ignores
other non-FLAME participants and persons who avoid FLAME for
whatever reason. It has come to our attention that there are
several AOY-quality candidates out there who for one reason or
another have never been included into our little admiration
society...mostly because they do not participate in FLAME.
I have decided to change all of that as of this year, since
I am the duly appointed AOY election coordinator 1994. Oh, there
is another one-armed no-penis skinhead over there named Shithead
who has decided to hijack the AOY contest from it's rightful
owners, but we are just ignoring the dumb cow-milking bastard
and so should you. I am in control of this contest and anyone
who says different is running the risk of getting their
hard-drive smoked from a mysterious virus from....uhhhh
somewhere.
*How to nominate- To nominate a person for Fidonet Asshole
of the Year(TM), you simply have to post a quick letter to
Shelby Sherman at 1:123/67. Sheets is our official tallier of
AOY nominations. You will need to include your netmail address
and a quick synopsis of why you think your nominee should be
recognized as the Fidonet Asshole of the Year(TM). You
nomination should be dated no later than Dec. 21, 1994 and
should be received by Sheets Sherman no later than Dec. 25,
1994. PLEASE BE SPECIFIC as to the asshole-qualifications of
your nominee so that we can quickly categorize it along with the
hundreds of others submitted.
The decision of the judge(s) is/are final as long as they agree
with me.
That's the kind of asshole I really am.
*What we are looking for- We are plainly not interested in
the usual anal-retentives you might find annoying, troublesome
or idiotic. No, we are looking for the champions of the world.
Your NC probably will not qualify for the coveted FAOY award
because there are so many NC's and most are assholes 99% of the
time anyhow. No, these are people we _expect_ to be
assholes...they do not count. Your RC/REC's might find it tough
to fade the competetion available as well, so unless the FIDOnet
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 4 19 Dec 1994
officer (*C) you have in mind is one whale-of-an-asshole, forget
it. They are assholes because you elected them to be
assholes...no points. We are looking for the real
bottom-scrapings of the asshole pile here in Fido. Consider that
if your nomination is not below our minimum standards, we will
turn our vengance upon you, sending assholish replies in
triplicate...with spelling errors marked in red ANSI
thingamajiggers.
*Why we are doing this- Because Fido is getting really
boring and we need to raise the netwide blood pressure readings
for sysops in order to power our new satellite system uplink and
break the backs of the corporate power-mongering
censorship-prone dorks over at Planet Connect. Absolute uplink
power corrupts absolutely...and we are gonna try to run the
bastards out of business by running on a source of energy that
is replenishable and freely available....rising sysop
bloodpressures.
*Alternate reason why we are doing this- it needs to be
done. Fido needs a ranking system for the plethora of assholes
we now have available. Gone are the days when we can count the
number of true network assholes on one hand. We are now at the
point that we may have to consider categories instead of one
true singular award....ah well, we'll see how it goes next year
before we do anything _really_ drastic.
I might wind this up by saying that this is a REAL contest
and an award WILL BE given as well as an update announcement in
Fidonews. We are quite serious about our coveted award and I am
taking a lot of flak for going out netwide with what had been
previously an award reserved only to Flamers of tenure. If you
don't have someone who is a serious, total asshole...don't even
waste our time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Editor-Beings: Please indicate that the following
article is submitted by Charles Herriot (1:163/110) so that
poor Dallas doesn't get his knickers in a knot over
authorship. (Note to Dallas: Hon, couldja add a few more
lines of invective about Swamp Swine magazine... we're
bigtime upset that you didn't even mention that we smell
funny.)
Swamp Swine Magazine,
Caesar's Wife Was Easy Division,
Shuckmagosh, Ohio
Dear Reverend Visage,
It is no exaggeration to say that the shot has really hit
the faun. My house is being picketed by a bunch of
Bambi-loving fanatics, identifying themselves as "Deer
Nation." It seems that mentioning Bob "Bob" Satti and moose
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 5 19 Dec 1994
in the same sentence has been described as injurious to the
perfectly good reputations of meese. To moose everywhere, my
abject apologies. (And now, if the Deer Nation folks would
stop threatening to "out" me for the incident where I
partook of a small piece of WhiteTail, I'd be able to lash
this thing together and get it sent off to Snoozland.)
How much do you think Swamp Swine will pay Dallas "Nearer My
Bob To Me" Hinton for that ringing endorsement of their
esteemed rag? I mean, stirring words like "poor quality
innuendo and trash masquerading as political satire" are
just about the nicest things that anyone has ever said about
Swamp Swine. A tear came to my eye, which really had almost
nothing to do with the bouts of laughter that were
convulsing my poor hulk. Dallas "Cheerleader" Hinton went
onwards to get all of his appendages into his mouth when he
critiqued the Snooz.
Dallas took umbrage with the fact that the long, boring
screed about the various Stein vs. Kolin appeals were
unsigned, unattributed and represented something that he
identified as an "attempt to subvert due process." I think
I will pause a moment to reflect upon "due process." One
wonders if Dallas would rather that the *Cs be permitted to
render decisions under the cloak of darkness, unfettered by
public scrutiny. If such is the case, then perhaps Dallas
ought to be slapped upside the head with the parable
involving Caesar's wife. The paraphrase that fits this
context is that justice must not only be done, but be SEEN
to be done. If the Johnston and Satti render decisions which
are abjectly idiotic, then it is quite appropriate to raise
that opinion and support it by the documentary evidence upon
which these boneheads made their decision. I submitted the
long boring screed and wrote those parts which weren't
obviously quotes from the *C-beings who rendered the various
decisions. Poor Dallas leapt to one of his many incorrect
assumptions by attributing the article to Luke Kolin.
I noted that Satti didn't bother to respond, no doubt
feeling that by sending in the second string clown in the
form of Dallas would serve to defend the Divine Rights of
*C-beings. This probably has much to do with what should be
Satti's embarrassment for having issued a decision so devoid
of reason or concepts of justice. Poor Dallas just doesn't
get it. The Snooz is whatever the contributors choose to
make it. If Dallas wants it to become the sort of uplifting
journal that he would be proud to use for training his dogs,
then the onus is on him to write and submit articles. Since
the Snooz will print almost anything that comes in over the
transom, it can't be "unkaputtnix" by cloacally-impaired
weenies who whine about content. (P.S. to Dirk Ohme: Your
cheque's in the mail for royalties on the great new word.)
Special mention should go to Ryan "Follow Your Daughter
Home" Watson who summed up his WhineMail(tm) with the
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 6 19 Dec 1994
statement that while he can swear like a sailor he doesn't
want his daughter exposed to that sort of thing. Could some
kind soul please undertake to produce a "Ryan's Daughter"
version of the Snooz so that the poor hypocrite can continue
to believe that his daughter won't acquire a rich vocabulary
as well? As to limiting Fidonet access to 18 and overs, I
would think that he just hasn't gone far enough with this
idea... surely he would want the whole net composed of
mouthbreathing, tub-thumping, cretins so that he is
surrounded by his peers in the unlikely event that he lets
slip one of the seven words that used to be forbidden on
television. A nice warm hand job for Ryan, I say, and may
the farce be with him.
We should inveigle some Snooz slushfunds to send out to poor
Rick Moen who lives on the California fault lines. What has
engendered my solicitous feelings for Rick has to do with
the fact that, while having the nodediff segment read to me,
I noted that our lil' buddy Johnny "President of the
Commodore Computer Club" Hart has been lofted into an NC
position. Who says that the California Spam 'N Timmies can't
eventually achieve greatness, and to think that we knew
Johnny when he was just another ill-humoured troll who
helped garrote the Commode D'OR echo. When Rick Moen
realizes that we're gonna blame him for Johnny's election,
he may want to rethink the lamed waff offer. (Special note
to Ryan: Even though I am sure that you are a cunning
lingoist, you ought to know that "lamed waf" isn't a swear
word.)
Your absence has caused the natives to become restless. Even
the the editrix is arguing with herselves about your
disappearance. I suspect that you are glued to your
television, watching the Australian National Cricket team
throw hard red balls at the shins of opposing teams. This
sport where grown men spend whole days trying to knock three
little sticks down has to be your kind of entertainment. Do
drop Emilia a line, if for no other reason than to instruct
her on what she is supposed to do with the three truckloads
of Great Auk guano that you thoughtfully ordered.
I must go Visage, the Deer Nation folks have invaded my wine
cellars and have started to flail the velvet from the
wallpaper. There'll be heck to pay if they find out that
your flintlock was used to knock off Bambi's mother.
Regards,
Doc Logger,
Giant Clam School of Ballet & Surfing,
Yap Island, Micronesia
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 7 19 Dec 1994
CORELDRAW echo available
CORELDRAW echo available from 1:163/328
CorelDraw is the leading professional graphics package available for
PCs running MS Windows. With a program as complex as this one, there
are bound to be tips and tricks you're not aware of to help you work
faster and better. Tune in to the CORELDRAW echo to discuss the
software, and how you work with it.
If you're interested in a feed, or more information, please feel free
to drop me a netmail message.
Rick Pali
CORELDRAW Moderator
1:163/328
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: ECHO RAMMINGS AND PKTIM
From: Bill Dirks (1:250/603)
To: Editor (1:1/23)
This letter is to inform all concerned with the echo
rammings of a rather disturbing revelation.
The recent barrage of filth that has plummeted into Virus,
Virus_Info, and Dirty_Dozens was not the only problem we have
regarding rammings. The cretins have now attacked the Pascal
conference.
It is well known that most of the Virus_Nfo participants are
programmers in C. I have information to the fact that this
latest attack was again headed up by the moderator of one of the
virus conferences in an attempt to get the users of the Pascal
conference to abandon it, and join the C echos. This activity
CANNOT, and WILL NOT be tolerated! I am sure there are a lot of
programmers who are happy with Pascal, and do not wish to read
the C echos, not to mention learn yet another language.
I am also disturbed by the release of a program by Adrian
Walker called PKTIM. I have it on good information that Mr.
Walker is in cahoots with the rest of these cretins, and
deliberately released this program with the power to add phoney
kludge lines to bogus packets. Adrian Walker apparently has a
problem with the recent *C elections, and is disgruntled about
the outcome. This is his way of "getting even".
PKTIM will allow the insertion of bogus kludge lines into
packets very readily, and is a virtual nightmare in light of the
recent rammings. Adrian makes it very clear that "improper use
of PKTIM could be in violation of Fido Policy". Well, Walker
has just tripped himself up with the support and release of this
evil program, as he is now in the public spotlight, and the
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 8 19 Dec 1994
"jig" is up. He SAYS that PKTIM is basically designed to detect
grunged and bogus packets, but we already HAVE programs to do
that. Now I ask you, was the release of this package REALLY for
the good of Fido?
Where is the bright side to this whole thing? Again, I am
currently pursuing this further, and have enlisted some help of
my own. With the help of Alan Taylor of the U.S. Customs
Service, we will bring the justice to those involved in this
heinous conspiracy. He can be reached at 317-784-5725 between
11pm and 7:30am CDT with any pertinant information you might
have. We simply cannot allow ourselves to be held hostage by
these cretins, and must fight back. I will keep all posted on
the situation as it progresses. This is not to be taken lightly.
One last thing. Be sure to use session level passwords! I
cannot stress that enough. In my last articles I explained the
reason for this, and will not repeat it here, but can tell you
that you MUST use session level passwords to lock out these
cretins from your system.
I am seriously considering publically boycotting the
Virus_Nfo and Flame conferences publically, as well as the use
of PKTIM. Perhaps while we are bringing about justice, we can
slow the much-wanted traffic in these echos to a halt, legally,
and eliminate the use of PKTIM for diabolical reasons. Please
join me in this peacful protest. Let's take Fido back, and
again, make it the best in the world!
Bill Dirks
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What the hell is the ZC's PROBLEM ANYHOW?!
By Delbert Felton
Great goathair, you guys! What in the H E Double-Ell is
going on up there? It seems like everything in the world is
going wrong and it's all that darned ZC's fault! I mean the guys
who were complaining about Fidonews being impossible for blind
folks to read. What the hell is the ZC going to do about
THAT?....and another thing, why the heck can't he get those guys
over in zones 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7(those guys!) all together and
somehow achieve a group cyber-hug or something to get their
damned nerves down? NOOOOOOooooooo, they have to always be in a
snit, filing a bunch of policy complaints and being disruptive.
Why can't we all get along?
The ZC....it's that simple.
I have been reading the last few issues and I am starting to
come to the conclusion that the ZC (Bob Satti 1:1/0) is actually
the devil himself, evil incarnate. Yes, I know that is a rather
harsh pronouncement, but what else can one think when confronted
with as much evidence as presented in Fidonews 1149? We have to
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 9 19 Dec 1994
excise this evil among us and place a wooden stake against his
throbbing Canadian heart and then be brave enough to pound it
in...ending forever the Black Master's dominance of Fidonet and
returning it to it's rightful owners. This is what will be
required to end the Reign of Terror that he has begun in our
blessed precious network. The beast must die.
It is the only way to bring zones 2 and 7 into geographical
compliance, the only possible way to end the rammings by
mysterious persons who seem to favour crosslinking golden-shower
echos with HOME_HANDYMAN, the only way to end bad words in
Fidonews, the only way to stop abusive netmail and above all
else it is the only way you will ever get a anal-retentive
policy complaint taken seriously. I think the real smart sysops
out there know now what we must do. Yes, the ZC must be
sacrificed to the gods of telecommunications so that we can all
have normal boards in normal cities with only normal people
logging on writing normal messages in normal echos all about
being on-topic and politically correct.
That's the way we wanted it wasn't it?
Well, wasn't it?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ECSTASY echo available
ECSTASY echo available from 1:163/328
The echo is called ECSTACY. The topic is the music of
Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Jane Siberry and similar
non-commercial female artists. Any discussion, debate, news and
questions about these performers are welcome. If you've visited
the Usenet group rec.music.gaffa, you'll feel right at home in
ECSTASY.
The echo isn't backboned yet so distribution is private. Traffic
now is less than 50 messages a week but that will increase as
more systems link in.
If you're interested in a feed, or more information please feel
free to drop me a netmail message.
Rick Pali
ECSTASY Moderator
1:163/328
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 10 19 Dec 1994
Just My Humble Opinion about Fidonews
Chris Leung (6:700/703)
Before I share my humble opinion about Fidonews, let me say
some words of thanks to our Editor, Sylvia, Donald and Tim,
first:
"Thank you very much for your generous effort in compiling
this magazine for us! I am sure it is not easy to be the
editors of any magazine or journal, let alone Fidonews, the
cosmopolitan electronic magazine for fido friends spreading
over the Earth with different cultures and norms. :-) "
Umm... I appreciate the comment from Mr. Dallas Hinton
(1:153/715) about the contents of our Fidonews. Constructive
comment does help make improvement. However, I have to admit
that some things in life are out of our control...
In my humble opinion, we cannot expect too much from our
Editors for a good Fidonews. Yes, they can cut away some
"not-so-informative" articles. But may I ask: Who can set
the criteria for us...? If there is only a small number of
"informative" articles being submitted, what can the Editors
do...? Shall we force them to "produce" them...? I don't
think so. :-| This is not the way for doing news!
As Mr. Dallas Hinton pointed out, Fidonews should be
educational and entertaining... I agree at this.
Fidonews is a bridge. It connects us together. It gives
sysops coming from different zones a chance to meet and share
together. This is why FidoNet is popular. FidoNet should
be a transcendent family, embracing different sorts
of people and viewpoints.
Complaining about someone else in Fidonews is also a kind of
communication, in my humble opinion. The freedom of speech
in Fidonews allows sysops to voice out their grievances and
appreciations (hope this will be more). This is good!
This helps make Fidonews a device to monitor the development
of FidoNet.
However, Fidonews should be more than that!!! There should
be more positive elements here. Injecting them into
Fidonews is not the privilege of our Editors. We, each fido
memeber, do have the ability to contribute such positive
elements to this magazine. For example:
1. Writing a short account of your good experience with sysops.
2. Introducing good shareware you have been using.
3. Submitting a newspaper cutting of your local newspaper
relating to the development of BBS.
4. Disclose the source codes of any *small* program you created
you think useful to other sysops, just like the FNFILTER by
Mr. John Herro (1:374/38.2). I appreciate his effort
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 11 19 Dec 1994
very much. (Salute to him... :-> )
Well... as submission of articles may involve IDD for many
sysops, money $$$ counts too. In order to reduce the cost
and encourage more participations from sysops of different
zones, I have the following suggestion:
1. Establish a Fidonews Editorial Committee which consists
of fido members from all zones.
2. Each zone collects the articles and submits them via
Internet, if possible. This helps save cost for other
sysops.
3. Sysops may write articles in their mother-tongues.
The articles may then be translated into English and
submitted to the Zone Editor for publishing.
(Mechanism similar to the production of the nodelist.)
4. If some sysops are interested, they may become the
reporters of Fidonews and write feature articles regularly.
Come! Let us make FidoNet a better place to be...... :-)
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vengeance is ours
by Shawn McMahon
Fido: 1:19/34
Internet: smcmahon@cyberspace.net
The "Mike Bourff" letter.
Recently, everybody in Region 19 got sent the following message, via
routed mail:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mike Bourff, 1:363/3000
To: Shawn McMahon, 1:19/34
Subject: Now Take Checks Online!
Date: 11-11-94 22:54
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
Associated Financial Services
101 Wymore Rd. Suite 100
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714
407/682-5550(VOICE)
407/682-3234(FAX)
Dear Shawn,
Here is some WONDERFUL information you will probably be most happy to
learn about. Please take just a moment to read this information and give
us a call so we can you started today!
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 12 19 Dec 1994
Introducing CHECK BILLING ONLINE....
------------------------------------------------------------------
The end of the message listed 1:363/1000 as the origin, instead of 3000.
Neither address exists.
Now, this wasn't too much of a big deal for the nets, since the idiot
called NCs directly and thus people didn't pay long distance to import
the message. HOWEVER, he also sent it to the RC. This means that all
of us independants who picked up our mail before the RC deleted this
trash had to pay for it.
Of course, Mr. Bourff chose to use a bogus mailer setup so that nobody
in Fidonet could be held responsible.
After receiving this, I faxed a letter to the company asking them if Mr.
Bourff indeed works for them, and if he was indeed the source of the
bombing run. In it, I demanded an apology from the company if it was
indeed one of their employees.
I've received no reply. Therefore, I'm calling upon all Fidonet members
who received this message, or didn't receive it but don't like what the
company did, to take note of the fax number included, and send the
company a letter expressing your displeasure.
I'd also recommend that any of you considering purchasing this product,
or any other product from this company, instead boycott them and be sure
to let them know exactly why you're doing it.
There's nothing that can be done about this kind of net.crap by the *Cs,
but we can damn well make it a habit to punish those who condone it
every time. If we do that, fewer people will be willing to play.
Fax your letters to the number given above.
BTW, please don't include thousands of extra CRs at the end of your
letter. That would run all the paper off the company's fax machine,
costing them lots of money. It would be a very bad thing to do, and I
don't think anybody should do it.
In a similar vein, it would be a very bad thing if you were to list
their business number as a phone-sex line in Penthouse. Please refrain
from doing anything similar to this, as well.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 13 19 Dec 1994
RUNE'S RAG & RAH changing . . .
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Dave Bealer & Rick Arnold
1:261/129 1:2601/522
Please take note of the following changes to these e-magazines.
While dreaming is common to all of us, few of us forge ahead as
we should. For some time now two magazines have inhabited every
corner of cyberspace, making people laugh and, hopefully, think.
Random Access Humor (RAH) and RUNE'S RAG have made friends
worldwide and beyond, given recent satellite broadcasting.
Now the time has come to move on -- to grow.
On January 2, 1995 a new friend is coming to town. DREAM FORGE
will combine the best of your two old friends with added features
that will blow (or at least expand) your mind. Still offering the
formats you are familiar with, DREAM FORGE will be available in
plain ASCII text and Readroom editions.
Distributed through the same channels as its predecessors, Dream
Forge will be introduced through demo issues in January and
February 1995. Beginning in March 1995, DREAM FORGE will only be
available to subscribers. RAH and RUNE'S RAG will both cease
publication after their February 1995 issues.
DREAM FORGE will be a monthly collection of fiction, commentary,
satire, reviews and poetry blended to inform and entertain you.
New voices will join the familiar voices from RAH and RUNE'S RAG
to create a chorus of dreams.
Your old friends are in transition, and would like you to share in
forging this new dream. Make sure your sysop knows you want to see
DREAM FORGE every month.
Rick Arnold Dave Bealer
Editor, RUNE'S RAG Editor, Random Access Humor
Managing Editor, DREAM FORGE Humor Editor, DREAM FORGE
Fido: 1:2601/522 Fido: 1:261/1129
Internet: rarnold@dreamforge.com Internet: dbealer@dreamforge.com
Seasons Greetings from DREAM FORGE e-magazine to all those in Fido!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He's back
There is a infection in Fido starting to spread the Net like
the Plauge. Why well of course Steve Winters is back. How many
of us wish to be rid of that name. But it seems George Peace has
decided that ol Steve should be allowed back into Fido.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 14 19 Dec 1994
After his numerous threats to do Legal action I see he has the
Fido Hiearchy running scared. My story is like many others just
happened to get on Steve's bad side and have gotten harrased
for the past month. It all started when I forgot to Kill
Holly_Bible when it and him were originally banished. Since I
pull the feed off of Planet Connect it kept on coming. My
christian users kept on posting in the echo.
Then just before Thanksgiving I get the Standard Steve Winters
Cut a user spiel and I say hey yer not in fido Bugger off...
That's when things went downhill. After I recieved numerous
one sided screaming phone calls from Steve were he called me
the Devil the Anti Christ and false christian scum plus a lot
I cannot repeat here.. Now folks I'm a big boy an can take it.
But then he started in on my Wife when she answered the phone.
It got personal folks she actually cried after his outburst.
Well I complained and screamed at Planet Connect for the Next
3 weeks to cut his Feed as it was becoming apparent that this
guy was not gonna stop. Well Joe Overholt (Planet Connect) and
George Peace had a discusion of some sort then Joe and Boyd at
Planet Connect had a discussion of some sort then PC had a
change of Policy. Planet Connect decided to cut the illegal
re-feed of Holly Bible.. This I got through a conversation
with Johnny Green on the phone at Planet Connect on V day.
It seems my name came up some because the secetary knew who I
was when I called she said I've heard yer name around here
today (UH OH)
Well anyway we won round 2. Winters, holly bible, out of
Fido. Then his Illegal gateway onto fido through Planet
Connect gone. I figure victory for Fidonet
WRONG George blew it and as of Dec 9 Steve has a node number
again. I have it direct from a RC's Netmail that Gearge made
the decsion and none of the RC's had a say. I'm not at all
ashamed to say I'm less than happy with George this is my
second dealings with George and sorry folks stature or not
I'm not impressed I'm pissed.
It will be the downfall of Fido mark my words. We are no
better than our prison systems Steve Gets Parole after
getting Life. Now Stevie has his node number back whats next
Pre rapture echo.. I urge every Fido Sysop that has the GUTS
to send a Netmail to George and the Zone Cordinator Council
to discuss your displeasure.
By the way never call Steve's 800# to leave him voice mail
he will sick the police on ya. He did me after I left 3 normal
non harrasing messages on his voice mail. Asking for a cease
fire. The Police officer actually asked me if Steve was a
fanatic this was after him only dealing with Steve once.
It's kinda funny though he tried to get me in trouble.
Actually playing like he was the Victim.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 15 19 Dec 1994
So we shall see how things work out. I would suggest all
Hubs and Sysops put Steve in the Twit file
Todd Cochrane
Sysop Hafa Adai Exchange
1:2612/114 & 115
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment on FidoNews Vol.11 No.50: a letter to the editor
by Randy Bush 1:105/42
just another bozo on the bus
In Snooze 11/50, Dallas Hinton objects to your printing an article
because it disagrees with him and objects to your printing the
Rev. Richard Visage's contributions.
IMIHO, if you can spend the inches on our local net.nazi's* defensive
rubbish, the rest is fine too. In fact, I find R Visage's stuff to be
some of the best ever published in the Snooze. But satire has never
been appreciated by those tottering at the top of some imaginary heap.
Beware of those who advocate censorship, hide process, hide in cliques.
They are the most insidious and dangerous form of autocracy.
* - ever notice that the ZC, the RC, the REC, ... are all in the same
net? can you say 'clique'?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reformatting FidoNews
Jesse Tharin
1:300/7
This brouhaha is silly. By writing two articles criticizing the way the
Snooze is formatted in an attempt to enlighten people to the fact that
not everyone in the world appreciates ASCII "art", I see my name
getting mentioned more often than Mr. Winter's. Before I try to drop
back into the obscurity I so richly want, let me give the idea one last
shot.
To combine and rephrase my original postulates, the FidoNews needs
to be reworked because it's line printer format is irrelevant for the
majority of it's readers, because excessive boilerplate and pagination
gives it an unnecessarily high noise-to-content ratio, and because its
visual bias needs to be recognized as the arrogant but passive bias
that it is.
Admit it: this is all noise, right? You want to be left alone; you
really don't give a damn one way or another about whether someone else
finds it difficult to easily read FidoNews, do you now? That's what
passive-arrogant bias is.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 16 19 Dec 1994
To correct a few off-the-wall assumptions, I do not speak for anyone
else when I give my opinions and I do *NOT* claim to speak for blind
people in general. I speak for one person, me, using a screen reader.
Whether I am blind, myopic, cross-eyed, eagle eyed, brown-eyed or six
feet tall is none of anyone's business and I don't need any bloody
liberal concern for poor little me, especially from people who don't
bother to read carefully.
I don't need a filter for blind guys; I can strip the junk just fine by
hand, thank you. It takes about two minutes with a sloppy macro. The
junk was added in deliberately when the FidoNews was compiled, and it
can be *NOT* added in just as well. I want and demand (admittedly a
threat-less and powerless demand) that the FidoNews be issued through
normal channels in a cleaner version. Keep the dog. Let those addicted
to pretty-print add in their own footers and page breaks. Let the
temporarily sharp sighted ones have the "filter."
One last complaint that has already been mentioned by another: the
editors need to better identify the beginning and the end of each
article. BEGIN ARTICLE <CRLF> <article name> would be a start.
I'm done. No more articles. I've said my piece several times and enough
is enough. There's no sense in responding to letters and articles
point-by-point since all that gets you is whining and sniper attacks. I
hope the editors do what I think is the right thing, but they'll pretty
much do their version of the right thing, so I expect nothing (cheap
shot). Submitted with this article is my version of a cleaned up and
updated ARTSPEC.DOC, correcting several factual and political errors.
I hope they adopt it and send it out.
Retiring from the field,
Jesse Tharin
Tucson by God Arizona
PROPOSED ARTSPEC.DOC
FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines
Revised 16 December 1994
Based on an original work by Thom Henderson as revised by Tom Jennings
Edited for the mid-90's by Jesse Tharin
"Fido" and "FidoNet" are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings,
Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with permission.
SYNOPSIS:
FidoNews is the newsletter of the FidoNet computer network, its sysops
and users. It is passed to its readers electronically via the FidoNet
and other computer networks and to non-network readers as well.
This document describes the technical specifications which an article
must meet in order to be included in the FidoNews, as well as very
broad guidelines on content. Please read it carefully. The article you
save might be your own.
INTRODUCTION:
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 17 19 Dec 1994
FidoNews was originally founded in early 1984 to include all parts of
the lives of its member sysops and users, which of course means not
just technical matters. We do not have fixed goals of maximum
distribution or maximum readership (i.e. lowest common denominator) but
only to meet the needs of our individual network members. The success
of this venture has always been contentious at best.
In any case the grand experiment continues. Twenty years later, the
editorial policy, or lack of one, of FidoNews has shown to best fit our
ever-changing and unpredictable needs.
SUBJECT MATTER:
The content of the FidoNews is entirely at the whim of the editor or
editors. There are no guarantees whatsoever as to content, accuracy,
timeliness, or any other consideration, nor are he/she/they required to
justify to anyone the inclusion or exclusion of any article, notice or
advertisement.
Articles on any subject of interest to FidoNet members and users are
welcome and encouraged, not necessarily of a technical nature, though
priority may be, but not necessarily, given to articles of importance
to the FidoNet, its technology and its uses, other networks such as
uucp and the Internet, social aspects of communications, ethical
issues, and other related matters.
ARTICLE LENGTH:
Try to keep articles short. The longer it is, the less likely people
are to read it. Long articles that measure more than 10k must be split
into smaller articles to be run serially. Exceptions, including the
splitting of articles or the joining of segments, will be made at the
whim of the editors.
For practical reasons we will try to keep FidoNews to a "reasonable"
size, which is of course a highly subjective and variable thing. The
goal is under 100,000 bytes. Decisions regarding content may be made
based upon this, though in general it shouldn't be an issue.
WRITING GUIDELINES:
We are not all professional writers, nor is that even a goal for the
FidoNews. We want real communication to and from real people even at
the expense of so-called "good writing", which is frequently a tool
used to exclude. However, there are a few requirements though for any
successful writing, even for the lowly FidoNews:
The subject discussed must clear to people other than the author! Don't
assume that people will pickup the context from your writing. Tell them
explicitly what you are talking about and then tell them again!
Why are you writing this? It may seem obvious to you with an article
titled something like "Review of the new Acme 75-baud Modem", but is
it? Are you the manufacturer? An irate customer? Tell us your point of
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 18 19 Dec 1994
view clearly.
Who are you? Anonymity is almost always unacceptable. Include full
contact information including electronic mail addresses.
Articles will appear when space becomes available, not necessarily the
next issue. If your article is of a time-critical nature, please say so
in your cover letter when you submit it; the editor still has final say.
The editor reserves the right to request changes from an author to meet
these standards. Most often, however, an article will simply be refused.
It is not the intent for this to be a mechanism to refuse articles the
editor does not like, but simply to keep the contents intelligible.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE
If all that hasn't scared you away, the next step is to create a text
file which contains the text of your article. The resulting file with
proper name extension should be sent with a cover letter to "FidoNews"
at FidoNet address 1:1/23 or fidonews@f23.n1.z1.fidonet.org
All submissions must be sent electronically. Filenames must follow the
MSDOS standard:
FILENAME.TYP
a 1 to 8 character file name (A - Z, 0 - 9)
a period,
a three character file type (A - Z, 0 - 9)
File types must be .ART, .AD, or .NOT. They are used to distinguish
types of submissions:
.ART An article, commentary, open letter, or general news item.
.AD "For Sale", "Wanted" or other advertisement.
.NOT A notice for the back of the issue.
If your file doesn't have one of the above extensions, then it will lay
around taking up disk space until someone takes a look at it and
realizes what it is. Maybe.
The name of the file is up to you, though you should use a name which
is not likely to be "stepped on" by someone else -- the system will not
guarantee file names are unique. For example, FNEWS.ART is probably not
a good name for an article.
CHARACTER SETS:
The character by character contents of the file itself must meet the
following standards or it will not be published in FidoNews. The
FidoNews staff will not be responsible for making file contents conform
to these standards.
FLUSH LEFT MARGIN: Please do not put a "left margin" like this on
your articles. Have the text start at the very first column.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 19 19 Dec 1994
RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 72 OR LESS: Less is tolerable, more is definitely
not. Each line in the article should be terminated with a newline, also
known as a hard carriage return.
JUSTIFICATION: "Full" justification, the insertion of spaces into
sentences so that a paragraph is perfectly rectangular like this, is
extremely hard to read and consumes needless space. Please don't use
it!
NO FUNNY CHARACTERS: This includes formfeeds, returns without linefeeds,
linefeeds without returns, tabs control-Z end-of-file characters, and
other oddities. The only control codes (character codes 0 through 31
decimal) allowed are carriage return (CR) and linefeed (LF).
BULLETS: An asterisk may not be used as a bullet anywhere other than in
the article title.
NO GRAPHICS CHARACTERS: Believe it or not, not everyone in the world has
an IBM PC. Please restrict yourself to printable ASCII characters in the
range 20 hex to 7E hex (space to tilde).
SUBMISSION FORMAT:
Below is a sample article properly formatted. Features of it are
discussed further below.
*A Sample Article
by Joe Schmoe
FidoNet 1:300/999
RBBSNet 8:99/9999
And here is my article. Note that it is flush left (zero indent).
Also note that the right margin is at column seventy-two so that it
won't overflow "most" text windows. Each line has a hard returns. Note
the asterisk in the first line to make sure that my article will be
listed in the table of contents.
Next I have a graphic box. Notice that it is made of normal characters
recognized by any computer and printable by any printer in Epson mode.
Figure 1. Table 1.
+-------+ ========
| A Box | Beta
+-------+ Bravo
Note that we am not using any funny-o characters and the table is
positioned with spaces, not with TABs. This ensures that the final
article will look the same to every user, no matter what sort of
hardware she has.
This is the last sentence of our article. Notice that the article just
ends without any special characters. If there is a CTRL-Z here we will
strip it out.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 20 19 Dec 1994
The first line of text is the Table of Contents line. It must begin
with an asterisk as shown above. If you do not, the article will not
be listed in the table of contents. This line is not removed; everything
except the asterisk will appear in the newsletter.
Next should be your name, and contact information (network address(es),
Postal Service address, etc) Try to keep it to one or two lines each.
Put a blank line between paragraphs. Paragraphs that all run together
are very difficult to read and may be rejected.
If you want to put in a table or a figure, go right ahead. We do not
rearrange text, so your table or figure will remain exactly as you
entered it. Limit them to ones that make the communication CLEARER.
Avoid ASCII "art". Cute little pictures made up of carefully chosen
printable characters are noisy to some readers using speech screen
readers and narrow "screens" such as found on TDDs. A simple example
would be a signature line of "\/\/illie", or the name Willie using
slashes and backslashes to form the four segments of the initial letter
"W". A screen reader would read this as "backslash slash backslash
slash illie". Purely visual parts of your article can detract from and
muddle your points.
Don't put blank space at the top or bottom. The FidoNews generator
program will visually separate articles automatically.
Please check for basic errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
We're not publishing a textbook, but you don't want it to embarrass
yourself do you?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Age Discrimination?
by Stuart Charlton 1:224/120
Lately, I've been reading the many articles about how FIDO
should have limitations on the age of sysops, or the readers of
the 'snooze. I completely disagree.
First, let me tell you where I am coming from. I'm an
"underage" sysop, and most recently, have become net coordinator
for 224. I was voted in over 2 other ADULT candidates. It
seemed however, that many of the net sysops did not agree with a
"teeny-bopper" running the nodelist, with several days of
bitching going on in our local sysop echo screaming "fraud!" and
one sysop going so far as to complain to the RC. Quite childish
actions, if you'd ask me.
My point is, when I first started using a modem, back in 1988,
when I was 10, NO ONE cared about age. If you acted mature
enough, you were accepted, and there were no questions asked.
Now, it seems that being under 18 years of age has become a
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 21 19 Dec 1994
disease - to quote Ryan Watson from the fnews1150:
>another option which is to limit the age of FidoNet Sysops to atleast
>18 years of age. Personally I think this is one of the only ways in
>which to distribute all of the material that goes through FidoNet
>without the threat of litigation. My spelling may not be right on,
Funny, I can pick up a magazine anywhere, and I can guarantee
you it is quite easy to find the work "shit" or "fuck" in a
magazine. The FLAME echo, as well as many of the sysop echos
have more "naughty" language in it than I could find ANYWHERE.
Of course, the FLAME echo is easily available to all minors, and
have been for quite a while.
So much for litigation, eh boys?
> Sure, I have no problem with points being young, but I do have a
>problem with the many boards in existance that continually go out of
>existance because they are started by kids who are running it on
>their allowance. While I think that kids should have every right to
>run BBS's and also that I think it's a great gesture towards the
>community in which they live, I fail to see why this is necesary.
Interestingly enough, that's what some local sysops asked
me. "How can you afford the call a week to Ottawa - you must
mooch off your parents. I don't want an NC that can support the
position, blah, blah..."
Teenagers -CAN- have jobs, you know. :)
> I'm not a morally correct person always, I certainly talk like a
>sailor when I am in the mood, however being a parent I can tell you
>for certain that I don't want my daughter exposed to this sort of
>thing.
If she's over 10 years old, she probably knows the meaning
of more of those words than you do. :)
The electronic community, in my opinion, has always been
NON-prejudice. Not with age, sex, religion or race. Any person
who does so shouldn't be in this community. After some of the
messages I've seen from sysops throughout my region, there are
plenty of teenage users and sysops that are more mature than the
adult sysops out there, and even know MORE about how to run a
BBS than their "older" counterparts.
Age has never had any basis in FIDOnet. Let's keep it that way.
-Stuart Charlton @1:224/120
NC of net 224
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 22 19 Dec 1994
q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.
by Lisa Gronke, 1:105/6
lisa@psg.com
I monitor logs on 1:105/6, which is the home of the Zone 1 zonegates
[1:1/2, 1:1/3, 1:1/4, 1:1/5, 1:1/6] and also 1:105/0. Randy routinely
hostroutes zonegated mail to Zone 1 destinations. I knew connectivity
was deteriorating, but I didn't realize how badly until I returned
from a week in Chicago and found 35 nodes flagged undialable! Some
were local nodes, but a surprising number were Zone 1 NCs.
Many of the session logs "looked like" 1:105/6 was dropping thru the
mailer to the BBS on the target system.
BINKLEY.LOG from 1:105/6
----------------------
* 14 Nov 03:56:21 BINK Processing node 1:105/88@fidonet.org -- Hal'S
Haven
: 14 Nov 03:56:21 BINK Dialing 297-8528
# 14 Nov 03:56:48 BINK Connect 14400/Rel-Lapm-Comp
* 14 Nov 03:57:00 BINK Intro: Here comes:
14 Nov 03:58:05 BINK Received: 0/0 Sent: 0/0 Total: 0/0 CPS: 0
1:105/88@fidonet.org
----------------------
FD.LOG from 1:105/88 on a similar call.
---------- Wed 16 Nov 94, FD 2.12.SW
+ 21:11:32 Event 0-@
- 21:11:39 Preparing outbound mail
= 21:16:18 RING
= 21:16:29 CONNECT 14400/ARQ/V32/LAPM/V42BIS
+ 21:16:41 Incoming call at 14400 BPS
and the BBS log from that call
> 16-Nov 21:17:43 RA01 q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.q.on-line at
14400 BPS
> 16-Nov 21:17:43 RA01 Name not in user file
> 16-Nov 21:17:43 RA01 ! Did not enter a full name
> 16-Nov 21:17:43 RA01 Lost carrier
For those who do not recognize the symptoms, FrontDoor is timing out
and defaulting to the BBS before 1:105/6 and 1:105/88 have finished
negotiating the modem and session handshakes. q.q.q.q.q. is Binkley
trying very hard to say YOOHOO to RemoteAccess.
The sysop of 1:105/88, Hal Davis, had his timeout set at 11 seconds;
he increased it to 18 seconds, and there have been no further
problems.
When another respondent reported an 11 second timeout, I got
suspicious and started a discussion in the Net 105 sysop echo.
-- Is the "11 seconds" a default setting in {some, all} versions
of FrontDoor?
-- What parameter in what menu controls this setting?
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 23 19 Dec 1994
-- What is the recommended value?
There was unanimity on the second question:
FDSetup --> Mailer --> Miscellaneous --> Seconds before passing to
BBS:
Responses to the first question were less clear:
11 seconds is the *minimum* that FD 2.02 allows you to set.
Joho changed the minimum to 20 seconds in FD 2.11 and had to
change it back in 2.12 due to complaints. He still maintains
that setting it to less than 20 seconds is asking for trouble,
and recommends 30.
---Leonard Erickson, 1:105/51
BTW (Lisa), I said earlier that the setting of 11 had been
there as long as I've been running FD. Apparently, that's
not true. The current docs say that the default is 30. Of
course, anyone installing the current version over an older
one would never see that default; their previous setting
would simply occupy the field.
---Tim Spofford, 1:105/99
And the third question elicited:
I've seen several discussions on this in the FDECHO. I
gather from the last go-around, that 20 should be an
adequate value, though I've seen some say 30 should be
the value. I run mine (2.02 and 2.12) at 20 without any
problems whatsoever.
---Ben Grey, 1:105/66.1
Why has this become a problem for 1:105/6 only recently? Why do many
of the target systems insist they're not having problems with any
other callers?
1:105/6 uses an Intel 9600 EX upgraded to 14400 EX. The mailer is
Binkley 2.59b running in noEMSI mode.
This is a timing issue. The modem and session handshakes have to be
completed before the 11 second timer runs out. If the target system
has upgraded to a VFC or V34 modem, the modem handshake with a V32bis
modem can take a second or two longer. Most other callers are
negotiating EMSI sessions. Falling back to a WaZoo session takes a
little longer.
Please do not send replies suggesting that 1:105/6 change to EMSI or
route the netmail some other way. Randy's configuration is FTSC
compliant. He should be able to establish a session and transfer mail
with EVERY node in the FidoNet nodelist.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Some Real Future Problems
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 24 19 Dec 1994
by Carl Short SysOp The DeadBeatt Page BBS 1:115/111
What We Really Have to Worry About
Hey all,
I am writing this to talk to all of you about a problem I was
having with the makers of my current BBS software mediahouse
software, at the time of purchase hamilton telegraphics was
their name. With the changing of their name came this new
"product" mediahost. A windows based LAN communications package
that takes outside calls, called the mediahost client server.
Okay they have this new thing that they want to get into but
they can't deal with it and roboboard/fx the software made
before the name change.
But the thing is they have made alot of promisses. They said
there would be a ver 2.0 of Robo/fx, currently v1.04. There are
bugs that still need to be fixed and if you really look at robo'
you'd see that outside beyond being graphical it doesn't have
much going for it. What it did have however was alot of people
who wanted to be robo' SysOps.
I had hoped to startup one the best game boards in the midwest.
With not just areas for the latest of the best games but
fullblown 256 colour preview areas. Well anyway, let me just cut
to the chase.
It's how they handled all of us who were making inquires about
robo'. Oh no no no. The real bashing you my have heard about
didn't come until the run around started. First they didn't
remeber making the promiss of a version 2.0 and said this was
just rumor. Then the robo' support mail network was said by them
to be something that robo' SysOps had started so anything said
in there was wrong. And now whole sub networks were being
removed to quiet SysOps who wanted to talk about robo' and knock
mediahost, I being one of them. If you would like to see some of
my offensive comments I still have them.
Allright then you'd give them a call since your out of things.
Starting back in August the line was that there would be a new
version of robo' coming soon then a little more info came out as
the months went on. It would a version 1.05 or 1.06 (decimal
number version change how thrilling) then. It would have some
enhancements and some bug fixes but they couldn't tell you what
they would be there at mediahouse. It seems there was this
development team that was supposed to be working on it but, the
people you talked to at mediahouse could nt get in touch with
them. They only could be reached by the beta testers which the
people at mediahouse were not in touch with either.
Now still not willing to admit they abandoned robo'. There new
line is, that they have not abandoned it becuase they will
continue to sell it. But no work will be done on fixing any of
the bugs and adding much needed enhancements because now it
seems, they say, mediahost is so popular that development on
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 25 19 Dec 1994
robo' had to stop. And they are down right hostile to robo'
inquires 1(819)682-9737, 682-6670 canadian.
The thing is is that they came into this world of computing.
They even had an area in FidoNet, ROBO. But once everybody
started talking about their feelings of betrayal, that echo was
closed. Think about all the big corp's embracing the Internet.
Lets take Microsoft for example what would happen if they
decided they wanted to get more involved with all the places
that their software got discussed and didn't like all the talk
about say windows being a memory hog and all the application
errors and generarl protection fualts. Would they take all the
honest reviews of their software lightly. No, what they'd do is
simply put out a word of caution about these bad areas of bad
advice every chance they'd get. Everyone is talking about their
fear of having the government come and knock down their doors
and grab their bbs and toss them in a whole, but people still it
seems voted for the ones who'd love to do stuff like that, rep's
the freind of the middle calss, yeah right.
All it would really take is having one of these corp's and
everyone who thinks that the amount of money in their bank
accounts and the fact that they are everywhere means that are
the ones who know it all, attacking these ares and the people in
them. And since they won't be able to convince us that IBM
invented microcomputing and Apple the point and click interface.
They would have to start trying on a legal level of some kind.
They don't like it at all when you go right passed their
advertising talk and there allways seems to people who don't
even work for them who get equally upset. It also always seems
that you are never making an honest comment but are ofensivly
attacting them. And who would believe you over all their
advertising that they're the ones that created all of what your
using.
Then comes the attacinking of the little pictures that you like
to look at. And the things that your not having to talk face to
face about you like to say. Fear the day when people claim that
NetLife is harmful and it should have someone watching over it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Echo area Advertisment
by Carl Short 1:115/111
New Area For Graphic BBSing
Hi all,
I run a little board called The DeadBeatt Page. My current bbs software
is the late and infamous robofx. I my have been bitten by this
particular software but I plan to stay graphical
This just a little announcement to all you who run graphical boards that
there is a new area on the Echolist called GUI_BBS.
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 26 19 Dec 1994
Its for the discussion of RIP and the fullblown graphic bbsware. You can
chat about tips or try and make converts to software that you have come
to love.
The rules are simple in this echo. Don't be a butt' to much.
------
Also there is a new roboboard/fx echo called ROBOFX. Its for talking how
about the makers of the this software handled abandoding it, bash 'em.
And for those are still using it. You can share your tricks on getting
around the bugs.
Rules no swearing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A quick comment on commercial advertising
From: Fernando Bertuccelli,(4:901/148)
Que tal Donald, todo bien?
I would like to say 'keep up the great work of you & your team
is doing by making fidonews', but...
QUOTE:
A quick comment on commercial advertising. while Fidonews
does not carry comercial advertizing, that is not to say we
never carry comercial advertisments. If we receive what is a
blatant ad, and nothing but an ad, we *might* put it in if we
have an empty snooze. If it carries a good deal of information
that we think is useful to a group of fido sysops, we will
probably put it in.
UNQUOTE:
Fidonews is routed through all fidonet host systems as written
in the Policy 4, so... routing commercial stuff will be a
violation of it, or at least all the routing parts must agree in
routing commercial literature (as written...) (I don't know how
all the ZC/RC/NCs of FidoNet will ever be reached, but, I think
it is very unfair to route commercial stuff through the official
publication of the biggest worldwide AMATEUR network (and I
didn't mention the word 'censorship')). My point is simple, keep
Fidonews as an AMATEUR thing, just like it is, 1000's of people
spend 1000's of hours working for fidonet for nothing, don't let
others take advantage of that doing 'free sponsorships', and
don't ever put someone in the role of deciding who's adds are
in, and who's not... An NC can't refusse to have fidonews
available to his/her downlinks, but he can refusse to route
commercial traffic, and this is more like... who was first, the
egg or the chicken... so, it is in your hands to take this
problem out from its roots, I think that all the AMATEUR
community prefers to read a fidonews with 2 articles rather than
the electronic version of the yellow pages.
Saludos!
damian@free.org
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 27 19 Dec 1994
========================================================================
Fidonews Information
========================================================================
------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
Tom Jennings
"FidoNews" BBS
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
more addresses:
Rev. Richard Visage -- 1:163/409
Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com
(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews
128 Church St.
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
N2H 2S4
voice: (519) 570-3137
Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in
these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
FidoNews.
Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use
in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds.
Articles by Madam emilia may be retransmitted freely through
cyber-space.
OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail
address, or trade for copy of your 'zine.
INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews.
Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may
freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to
FidoNews 11-51 Page: 28 19 Dec 1994
fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is
necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated
response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch
should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the
previously listed address.
SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.
"the pulse of the cursor is the heartbeat of fidonet"...
-- END
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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