495 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
495 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
F I D O N E W S -- Vol.13 No.23-27 (3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996)
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+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
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| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
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| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews Editor" |
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| _ | +1-407-383-1372 [1:1/23] |
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| / \ | |
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| /|oo \ | |
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| (_| /_) | |
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| _`@/_ \ _ | |
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| | | \ \\ | Editor: |
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| | (*) | \ )) | Christopher Baker 1:374/14 |
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| |__U__| / \// | |
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| _//|| _\ / | |
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| (_/(_|(____/ | |
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| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
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| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
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+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
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| Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23 |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| MORE addresses: |
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| |
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| submissions=> cbaker84@digital.net |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
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| obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ |
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| please refer to the end of this file. |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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========================================================================
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Table of Contents
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========================================================================
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1. Editorial..................................................... 1
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2. Articles...................................................... 2
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How to get published in FidoNews: ARTSPEC updated........... 2
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3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 3
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========================================================================
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Editorial
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========================================================================
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The last issue of FidoNews published by Donald Tees appeared on
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27 May 96 [Issue 1322]. Since then nothing has been heard from the
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former Editor. This issue is a manual composite comprising Issues 23
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through 27 for the sake of numbering continuity and historical
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reference. [see Header]
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FidoNews is now edited by yours truly from 1:374/14, Rights
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On!, in Titusville, FLorida, USA. The Nodelist adjustment to the
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FidoNews listing will appear in NODELIST.194 next Friday [12 Jul 96].
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In the meantime, you may wish to set a temporary override for 1:1/23
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to reflect the following telephone number: 407-383-1372. Flag override
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should be: CM,H14,V32B,XA as well.
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FidoNews submissions may be made to 1:1/23 as before or to my
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Internet address: cbaker84@digital.net. Submission standards are
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available in the file ARTSPEC.DOC from this system anytime except
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Zone 1 ZMH [0900-1000 UTC/GMT]. ARTSPEC.DOC has also been sent to
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every Zone Coordinator for distribution down the chain. Submissions
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made as Netmail or email require manual processing so allow more lead
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time for the issue in which you wish to have it appear.
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FidoNews Issue 28 will put the standard numbering and submission
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processing back on track for 1996 [Vol. 13].
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--------------------------------------------
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 2 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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========================================================================
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Articles
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========================================================================
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How to get published in FidoNews: ARTSPEC.DOC updated
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Christopher Baker
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1:1/23, FidoNews Editor
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FidoNews has had a long-standing policy of publishing nearly
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anything sent to it. The submission standards for the content of a
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FidoNews article do not exist although the Editors, traditionally, have
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maintained final control over articles that are repetitious or
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defamatory in nature. That tradition will continue. The submission
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standards for the physical parameters of the data structure of anything
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sent to the Editor are contained in the file called ARTSPEC.DOC.
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ARTSPEC [article specifications] has changed very little over the
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years but many people in FidoNet are not familiar with the physical
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requirements of a FidoNews article. Those new to FidoNet or FidoNews
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should obtain a copy of this file from 1:1/23 or their local FidoNet
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Coordinator.
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In the meantime, here is the entire ARTSPEC.DOC file for reference
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until you can get your own copy:
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-----
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FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines
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FidoNet address 1:1/23
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Updated 5 Jul 1996 by Christopher Baker
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Updated 29 May 1991 by Tom Jennings
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Based on the original work by Thom Henderson
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"Fido" and "FidoNet" are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings,
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Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with
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permission.
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--------
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SYNOPSIS:
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FidoNews is the newsletter of the FidoNet computer network, its
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Sysops and users. It is passed to its readers electronically via
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the FidoNet and other computer networks and to non-network
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readers as well.
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This document intends to tell you how to write and submit
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articles for publication in FidoNews. Much of it describes the
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technical specifications which an article must meet in order to
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be included in the newsletter, as well as broad (very) guidelines
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on content. (Of course you realize articles can be submitted only
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electronically.) Please read it carefully. The article you save
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might be your own.
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 3 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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------------
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INTRODUCTION:
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FidoNews was originally founded in early 1984 to include all
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parts of the lives of its member Sysops and users, which of
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course means not just technical matters. We do not have fixed
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goals of maximum distribution or maximum readership (i.e. lowest
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common denominator) but only to meet the needs of our individual
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network members. The success of this venture has always been
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contentious at best (ahem).
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In any case the grand experiment continues. Twelve years later
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(at this writing) and over 30,000 Nodes in the network, the
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editorial policy, or lack of one, of FidoNews has shown to
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best fit our ever-changing and unpredictable needs.
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--------------
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SUBJECT MATTER:
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Articles on any subject of interest to FidoNet members and users
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are welcome and encouraged, not necessarily of a technical
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nature, though priority may be, but not necessarily, given to
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articles of importance to the FidoNet, its technology and its
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uses; other networks such as uucp and the Internet; social
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aspects of communications; ethical issues; other related matters.
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--------------
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ARTICLE LENGTH:
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Try to keep articles short. The longer it is, the less likely
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people are to read it. Consider splitting long articles (more
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than five pages) into smaller articles to be run serially.
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Exceptions will be made at the whim of the editors.
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For practical reasons, we will attempt to keep FidoNews to a
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"reasonable size", which is of course a highly subjective and
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variable thing. As of May 1991, the goal is under 100,000 bytes.
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Decisions regarding content may be made based upon this, though
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in general it shouldn't be an issue.
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 4 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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------------------
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WRITING GUIDELINES:
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We are not all professional writers, nor is that even a goal for
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the FidoNews -- we want real communication to and from real
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people; even at the expense of so-called "good writing", which is
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frequently a tool to exclude. There are a few minimum
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requirements though for any successful writing, even for the
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lowly FidoNews:
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* The subject discussed must be clear to people other than the
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author! Don't assume that people will pick up the context from
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your writing. Tell them explicitly.
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* Why are you writing this? It may seem obvious -- "Review of the
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new Acme 75-baud Modem" -- but it's not. Are you the
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manufacturer? An irate customer? Let us know your point of
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view.
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* Who are you? A good question! Anonymity is acceptable, though
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most people want to take credit for their work. Include full
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contact information including electronic mail addresses.
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* Articles will appear when space becomes available, not
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necessarily the "next" issue. If your article is of a time-
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critical nature, please say so when you submit it; the editor
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still has final say.
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* The editor reserves the right to request changes from an author
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to meet these "standards", which you have to admit are pretty
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loose. It is not the intent for this to be a mechanism to
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refuse articles the editor does not like, but simply to keep
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the contents intelligible.
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* If we have a backlog of articles, we may get fussier about
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things. Historically, this has not been a serious problem.
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---------------------
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SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE
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TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:
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If all that hasn't scared you away, the next step is to create a
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text file which contains the text of your article. The resulting
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file should be sent or uploaded to "FidoNews Editor", FidoNet
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address 1:1/23. The "physical" location (and phone number) of
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FidoNews varies, and hence must be found elsewhere, such as
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within a recent copy of FidoNews itself.
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 5 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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Filenames must follow the MSDOS standard:
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FILENAME.TYP
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a 1 to 8 character file name (A - Z, 0 - 9)
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a period,
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a 0 to 3 character file type (A - Z, 0 - 9)
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File types are used to distinguish types of submissions, as
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follows:
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.ART An article, commentary, open letter, or general news
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item.
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.AD "For Sale", "Wanted" or other advertisement.
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.NOT A notice for the back of the issue.
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If your file doesn't have one of the above extensions, then it
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will lay around taking up disk space until someone takes a look
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at it and realizes what it is. Maybe.
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The name of the file is up to you, though you should use a name
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which is not likely to be "stepped on" by someone else -- the
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system will not guarantee file names are unique. For example,
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FNEWS.ART is probably not a good name for an article.
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--------------
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CHARACTER SETS:
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The character by character contents of the file itself must meet
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the following standards or it cannot be published in FidoNews.
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The FidoNews staff WILL NOT be responsible for making file
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contents conform to these standards.
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* FLUSH LEFT MARGIN: Please do not put a "left margin" on your
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articles. Have the text start at the very first column.
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* RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 72 OR LESS: Less is tolerable, more is
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definitely not.
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* RAGGED-RIGHT TEXT: Word-Star style "justification" (inserting
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spaces into sentences so that a paragraph is perfectly rec-
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tangular) is extremely hard to read, and consumes needless space.
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Please don't use it!
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* NO FUNNY CHARACTERS: This includes formfeeds, returns without
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linefeeds, linefeeds without returns, tabs and other oddities.
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The only control codes (character codes 0 through 31 decimal)
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allowed are carriage return (CR) and linefeed (LF). The only
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exception is: Control-Z "end of file" terminator characters are
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tolerated. Not required.
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* NO GRAPHICS CHARACTERS: Believe it or not, not everyone in the
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world has an IBM PC. Please restrict yourself to printable
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ASCII characters in the range 20 hex to 7E hex (space to
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tilde).
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* LINES TERMINATED: Each line in the article should be terminated
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with a 'newline' -- either the MSDOS standard (CR/LF) or the
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unix standard (LF only).
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 6 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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-----------------
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SUBMISSION FORMAT:
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Below is a sample article properly formatted. Features of it are
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discussed further below.
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--article file example begins below this line--
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* A Sample Article
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This is My Title
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by Joe Schmoe, [Netmail/email address]
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And here is my article. Note that it is flush left (zero indent).
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Also note that the right margin is at column seventy so that it
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won't overflow "most" text windows. Each line has a newline. Note
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the *'ed first line. My article will be listed in the table of
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contents exactly as it appears after the * above.
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Figure 1. Table 1.
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+-------+ ========
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| A Box | Alpha
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+-------+ Bravo
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Note that we am not using any funny-o characters. This ensures
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that the final article will look the same to every user, no
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matter what sort of hardware he has.
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This is the last sentence of our article.
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--article file example ends above this line--
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The first line of text is the Table of Contents line. It must
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begin with an asterisk * as shown above. If you do not, the
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article will not be listed in the table of contents.
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* Everything that follows the *'ed line will appear in the body
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of the newsletter.
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* Next should be the title or name of your article, your name,
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and contact information (network address(es), Postal Service
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address, etc) Try to keep it to one or two lines each.
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* Put a blank line between paragraphs. Paragraphs that all run
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together are very difficult to read, and may be rejected.
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* If you want to put in a table or a figure, go right ahead.
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We do not rearrange text, so your table or figure will
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remain exactly as you entered it. Try to limit them to ones
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that make the communication CLEARER.
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 7 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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* Don't put a lot of blank space at the top or bottom. The
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FidoNews-generator programs will visually separate articles
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automatically.
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* Please check for basic errors in spelling, grammar, and
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punctuation. We're not publishing a textbook, but you don't
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want it to embarrass yourself do you?
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* Don't use FidoNews to grind your personal axes against other
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FidoNet members. An article presenting a side of an internal
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dispute is one thing. An article defaming or perseverating over
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several issues is another. Articles that merely quote endlessly
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from other sources to no particular effect are also not a good
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idea.
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* Don't republish copyrighted material from other sources WITHOUT
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the permission of those sources. Include the permission in such
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articles.
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* Remember that FidoNews is no better or worse than the articles
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submitted to it. If you want FidoNews to be a useful newsletter,
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get involved and submit useful articles. It's up to YOU to make
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it work.
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-- END
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-30-
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Okay. Now, YOU have the information to make your own article
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submission to FidoNews. What are you waiting for? The NEXT issue
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could be yours. [grin]
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All FidoNet Coordinators are encouraged to forward articles from
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their respective Nodes in FidoNet Policy. Likewise, they should obtain
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and make available the ARTSPEC.DOC file for anyone who wants to
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load or file-request it.
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TTFN.
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Chris
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------------------------------------------
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 8 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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========================================================================
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Fidonews Information
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========================================================================
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------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
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Editor: Christopher Baker
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Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
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Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar,
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Tom Jennings, Sylvia Maxwell,
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Donald Tees
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"FidoNews Editor"
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FidoNet 1:1/23
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BBS +1-407-383-1372, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(ds)
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more addresses:
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Christopher Baker -- 1:374/14, cbaker84@digital.net
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cbak.rights@opus.global.org
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(Postal Service mailing address)
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FidoNews Editor
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P.O. Box 5921
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Titusville, FL 32783-5921
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U.S.A.
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voice: (407) 264-2994 [1400-2100 ET only, please] [1800-0100 UTC/GMT]
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---------------------------------
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FidoNews 13-23/24/25/26/27 Page: 9 3 Jun - 1 Jul 1996
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FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
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INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
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of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
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authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
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does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in
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these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
|
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FidoNews.
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Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
|
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Copyright 1996 Christopher Baker. All rights reserved. Duplication
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and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use
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in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the ed.
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OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
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form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or
|
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file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
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PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal
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address.
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INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
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in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews.
|
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|
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Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may
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file-request GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message
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to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is
|
||
necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated
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response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch
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should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the
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previously listed address.
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SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
|
||
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
|
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ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable
|
||
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.
|
||
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' ' disagreement is actually necessary,
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or we'd all have to get in fights
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or something to amuse ourselves,,
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and create the requisite chaos."
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-Tom Jennings
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-- END
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
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