506 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
506 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
F I D O N E W S Volume 17, Number 12 20 Mar 2000
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+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
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| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
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| FidoNet community | "FidoNews" |
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| _ | 1-717-732-6820 1:270/720 |
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| / \ | |
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| /|oo \ | |
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| (_| /_) | |
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| _`@/_ \ _ | |
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| | | \ \\ | Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720 |
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| | (*) | \ )) | DougM@paonline.com |
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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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Table of Contents
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1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
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Ask Not What FIDONET Does for You ........................ 1
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2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2
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Installing Love .......................................... 2
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3. COLUMNS .................................................. 4
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This Week's Web Page ..................................... 4
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ECHO TALK - Why Read This Echo? .......................... 5
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4. NET HUMOR ................................................ 7
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The Height of Science .................................... 7
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Roadside Check ........................................... 7
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5. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 8
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Cows Behind Bars ......................................... 8
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6. FIDONEWS INFO ............................................ 9
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Masthead ................................................. 9
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 1 20 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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EDITORIAL
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=================================================================
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Ask Not What FIDONET Does for You...
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Doug Myers
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The title, of course, paraphrases John F. Kennedy's famous statement
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"Ask not what your country can do for you... ask what you can do for
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your country." Now it's tough for me to iconize ol' Jack Kennedy -
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I still remember when he ran for President of the US, and I still
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remember how he botched the Bay of Pigs Invasion. But it occurred to
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me recently that the old boy may have been on to something there.
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After all, don't most religions and philosophies promote the virtue
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of giving?
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The column ECHOTALK for this week features my own and others
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responses to one asking for reasons to continue reading the echo.
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The responses all, in one way or another, emphasize that he must put
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something into the echo to enjoy it.
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Think back to your own echo experiences - do you enjoy echoes the
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most when you just read through them, or do you enjoy them most when
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you're posting?
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Perhaps this is the key to revitalizing Fido! What is it that Fido
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offers better than the Internet? Answer: Fidonet needs you to do
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for it more than the Internet ever will... The Internet has Bill
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Gates and all the DotCom entrepreneurs to fuel it - it doesn't need
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us amateurs to fuel it. Fido, on the other hand, falls apart
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quickly without amateurs to move the mail, make the echoes come
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alive, keep the nodelist in order, write the (mostly) free software
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which runs our systems, and serve as uplinks for other systems.
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As a personal note, I've got to say that I've enjoyed Fido most when
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I've been doing something for it. How may of those of you reading
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this share the same experience?
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Perhaps we'll attract folks to Fidonet not by telling them what Fido
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offers them, but by telling them why Fido needs them.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 2 20 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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A step by step guide to installing love on the human machine.
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Thanks to Lynn Gipson
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Customer: I can do that. I'm not very technical, but I think I am
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ready to install now. What do I do first?
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Tech Support: The first step is to open your HEART. Have you located
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your HEART ma'am?
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Customer: Yes I have, but there are several programs running right
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now. Is it okay to install while they are running?
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Tech Support: What programs are running ma'am?
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Customer: Let me see... I have PASTHURT.EXE, LOWESTEEM.EXE,
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GRUDGE.EXE, and RESENTMENT.COM running right now.
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Tech Support: No problem. LOVE will automatically erase PASTHURT.EXE
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from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent
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memory, but it will no longer disrupt other programs. LOVE will
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eventually overwrite LOWESTEEM.EXE with a module of its own called
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HIGHESTEEM.EXE However,you have to completely turn off GRUDGE.EXE
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and RESENTMENT.COM. Those programs prevent LOVE from being properly
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installed. Can you turn those off ma'am?
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Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
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Tech Support: My pleasure. Go to your Start menu and invoke
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FORGIVENESS.EXE. Do this as many times as necessary until GRUDGE.EXE
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and RESENTMENT.COM have been completely erased.
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Customer: Okay, I'm done. LOVE has started installing itself
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automatically. Is that normal?
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Tech Support: Yes it is. You should receive a message that says it
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will reinstall for the life of your HEART. Do you see that message?
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Customer: Yes I do. Is it completely installed?
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Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program.
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You need to begin connecting to other HEARTS in order to get the
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upgrades.
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Customer: Oops...I have an error message already. What should I do?
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Tech Support: What does the message say?
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Customer: It says "ERROR 412 - PROGRAM NOT RUN ON INTERNAL
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COMPONENTS". What does that mean?
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Tech Support: Don't worry ma'am, that's a common problem.It means
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 3 20 Mar 2000
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that the LOVE program is set up to run on external HEARTS but has
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not yet been run on your HEART. It is one of those complicated
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programming things, but in non-technical terms it means - "you have
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to 'LOVE' your own machine before it can "LOVE" others."
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Customer: So what should I do?
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Tech Support: Can you find the directory called "SELF-ACCEPTANCE"?
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Customer: Yes, I have it.
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Tech Support: Excellent, you are getting good at this.
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Customer: Thank you.
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Tech Support : You're welcome. Click on the following files and then
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copy them to the "MYHEART" directory: FORGIVESELF.DOC,
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SELFESTEEM.TXT, REALIZEWORTH.TXT, and GOODNESS.DOC. The system will
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overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching any faulty
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programming. Also, you need to delete SELFCRITIC.EXE from all
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directories, and then empty your recycle bin afterwards to make sure
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it is completely gone and never comes back.
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Customer: Got it. Hey! My HEART is filling up with really neat
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files. SMILE.MPG is playing on my monitor right now and it shows
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that WARMTH.COM, PEACE.EXE, and CONTENTMENT.COM are copying
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themselves all over my HEART!
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Tech Support: Then LOVE is installed and running. You should be able
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to handle it from here. One more thing before I go
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Customer: Yes?
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Tech Support: LOVE is freeware. Be sure to give it and its various
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modules to everybody you meet.They will in turn share it with other
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people and they will return some really neat modules back to you.
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Customer: I will. Thank you for your help
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Author Unknown
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 4 20 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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COLUMNS
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=================================================================
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This Weeks Web Page
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by Frank Vest
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1:124/6308(.1)
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Comment:
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In the fast paced world of computers, it is easy to look to the
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"latest and greatest" for our needs and desires... And... after the
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Y2K talk of how the old systems weren't Y2K and would die in the
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year 2000, it's easy to forget them. I'm reminded by a User on my
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system, that calls via an old Atari, that the old systems didn't all
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die. :)
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What: JetSys - Home of JetMail, JetStat and other Atari FidoNet
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utilities
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Where: http://www.jetsys.de/
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Going for it:
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This is one of those pages that explains itself well. Rather than
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boring you with an attempt on my part to describe the page, here it
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is;
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----
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JetMail is the best available FidoNet technology based mail
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processor for the Atari ST computer series. And it's the only one
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which is supported (there are other free mail processors, but with
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no support and no further developement). JetMail is now freeware and
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the sources are available under GPL for download from this site or
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by FidoNet file request from 2:2432/1101 with Magic JETSRC.
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Features included in JetMail:
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Full 5D capability
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Integrated Areafix with forwarding capability
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Integrated Filefix
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FileEcho maintenance functions
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Integrated messagetracker
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Handling of different netmail areas
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Echomail/Packet statistics
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Includes nearly all IOS/ACS features and much more
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Highly configurable
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Very fast
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There is a demo package available which includes JetMail (Version
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1.01) and JetStat (Version 1.01) and a preliminary documentation in
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ASCII format (sorry, the doc's are only availabe in english
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language) together with sample message files for the internal
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areafix and filefix. If you want to run the JetMail internal message
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tracker you need to download the BTNC nodelist compiler and the
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 5 20 Mar 2000
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Xvision browsing utility.
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JetMail is only a mail processor for FidoNet networks. You can't
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read or write net- or echomails with JetMail. I recommend LED for
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this purpose.
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Y2K fixed version 1.01 is now available. There is a problem with the
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PureC library function strftime which expands %y to 10 instead of
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00. This only effects the date in JetMail generated messages. For
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LED you had to pick up another update file.
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----
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If you're into the Atari computers, drop by this page.
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Regards,
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Frank, flv@texoma.net
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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. -- -- -- -- -- ECHO TALK -- -- -- -- -- .
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| Food for thought from Fido's echomail. |
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| Purloined without permission by D Myers |
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` -- -- -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- -- -- -- '
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Though the messages below were taken from the MODERATOR echo in
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response to Jim Hanoian, I thought they were applicable to all
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echoes and might be of interest to all FIDONEWS readers.
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---------- Echomail from Douglas Myers to Jim Hanoian ----------
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JH> I signed up for this echo since I am a Fido Moderator. I was
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JH> under the obviously mistaken impression that I was going to
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JH> actually find something here that would help me do my job
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JH> better.
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I dunno, Jim... maybe you were sold a bill of goods by someone...
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or maybe you talked with someone who genuinely believed that the
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echo did them a lot of good, and you took it as a warranty. My
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guess, though, is that you read the tag name "MODERATOR" from the
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echolist and thought it might be nice to interact with folks of the
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same interest. Am I correct in assuming that no one actually
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promised you anything to induce you to join the echo, and that the
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dissapointment is based on your own expectations?
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JH> Can you give me any good reason to keep reading this echo?
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I can't, and I don't know if anyone should be expected to. Don't
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get my wrong... you're welcome here. Well, I'm not the moderator
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or anyone official, but I think I can say that as one of the folks
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who speaks up in the echo from time to time. You see, this is just
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a gathering place of moderators - the moderators aren't required to
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 6 20 Mar 2000
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show up and they're not required to offer anything inspirational.
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So what you get out of it is going to depend on what you put into
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it. If you're looking for good, strong arguements... pick a fight
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and see who will accomodate you. Heck, you can probably join one
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of the ongoing ones with no trouble :)
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If you're looking for inspiration, try saying something
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inspirational and see who joins you. If you're looking for tips
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and techniques, try offering your own or asking specifics. Try
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nudging the conversation along the lines you want to hear -
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otherwise there's no reason to keep reading :)
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---------- Echomail from Thom LaCosta to Jim Hanoian ----------
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JH> Can you give me any good reason to keep reading this echo?
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JH> hehe... I've learned to (a) resubmit before expired and (b) do it
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JH> yourself or you've only got yourself to blame.
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See ... just those things alone can outweigh all the other things (g).
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Reading some Fido echoes is very similar to copying morse code
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signals when the bands are filled with interference(QRM) and
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static(QRN). It's amazing, but if you really concentrate of the
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signal you want to hear, the other stuff doesn't seem nearly as
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loud.
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Thom LaCosta
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baltimoremd@baltimoremd.com
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http://www.baltimoremd.com/
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-!-
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! Origin: Home of The Other Robot (1:1/21)
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---------- Echomail from Kay Shapero to Jim Hanoian ----------
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JH> Can you give me any good reason to keep reading this echo?
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When I joined in it was exactly what you describe in the first
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paragraph... and frequently it still is. The trick is to ask for
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advice on something moderation related and watch helpful people
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come out of the woodwork to assist.
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The folks doing most of the arguing do it everwhere, not just
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here, so it's not enough to leave one echo I'm afraid. I wonder
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if perhaps somewhere in the description of this echo the words
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"Warning - this is NOT the Supreme Court of FIDOnet." should
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appear.
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! Origin: StormGate Aerie: FILK, BABYLON5 & SFFAN (1:102/524)
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 7 20 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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NET HUMOR
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=================================================================
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The Height of Science
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Thanks to Roy Reed
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A group of scientists wanted to know the height of a flagpole, so
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they went out to the pole with ladders and tape measures, and after
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numerous falls and failures they gave up in exhaustion.
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About this time along comes an engineer, however, who sees what
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they're trying to do, walks over to the pole, pulls it out of the
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ground, lays it down flat, measures it from end to end, gives the
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measurement to one of the scientists, puts the pole back up and
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walks away.
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After the engineer has gone, one of the scientists turns to another
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and laughs. "Isn't that just like an engineer? We're looking for the
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height and he gives us the length."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Roadside Check
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Thanks to Roy Reed
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This man at the side of the road was fixing his flat tire. A police
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car stops behind his and the officer strolls to him to offer help.
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The man says he's doing OK and doesn't need help.
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The officer takes a walk around the car to make sure everything is
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OK. He spots a large knife with a fancy handle on the passenger
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seat. When he enquires about the knife, the man says it's his and
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he uses it as a juggler at the local circus.
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The officer then asks him to demonstrate his act to be sure the man
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is telling the truth, and the man goes through his routine.
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Meanwhile a car with two recovering alcoholics drives by. The
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driver says to his passenger, "Man ... I am glad I stopped drinking
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when I did. It's amazing what they make them do these days at those
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roadside sobriety checks."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 8 20 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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COMIX IN ASCII
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=================================================================
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+=============================+
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| F R E D ' S S A L O O N |
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(__)| +-----+ |
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(xx)| | ___ | |(__)
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\/ | |/=|=\| |(oo)
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| |==|==| | \/
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| |==|==| |
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------------------------------------
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Cows behind bars
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 9 20 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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FIDONEWS INFO
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=================================================================
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Masthead
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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| |
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| Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, DougM@paonline.com |
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| Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, jb@fidonews.org |
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| Columnist: Joe Jared, 1:103/0, jarhead@osirusoft.com |
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| (Fido Via Internet Hubs column) |
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| Columnist: Warren D. Bonner, 1:103/401, wdbonner@pacbell.net |
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| (Warren uses the pen name "Ol'WDB") |
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| Humor: Roy Reed, rcreedv@juno.com |
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| Features: Frank Vest, 1:124/6308.1 |
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| |
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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| |
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| Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince |
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| Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, |
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| Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink |
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| |
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
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trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA
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94141, and are used with permission.
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Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet.
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Fidonews is Copyright (C) 2000 by Douglas Myers, though authors
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retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinion expressed by
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the authors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and
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distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged
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to send their articles in ASCII text to Douglas Myers at one of his
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addresses above.
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The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area
|
||
FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These
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||
sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator.
|
||
The current and past issues are also available from the following
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||
sources:
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||
|
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- +
|
||
| |
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||
| Freq FIDONEWS @ 1:270/720, 1:140/1, or 1:396/1 |
|
||
| ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ |
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||
| ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ |
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| http://www.fidonews.org |
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| email subscription: majordomo@fidonews.org |
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| (subject: help body: list) |
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| ftp mail: ftpmail@fidonews.org (subject: help) |
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| |
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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FIDONEWS 17-12 Page 10 20 Mar 2000
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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