1387 lines
42 KiB
Plaintext
1387 lines
42 KiB
Plaintext
FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:25:51 Page 1
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Volume 2, Number 30 9 September 1985
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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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| / \ |
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| - FidoNews - /|oo \ |
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| Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ |
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| Users Group | | \ \\ |
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| Newsletter | (*) | \ )) |
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| ______ |__U__| / \// |
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| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
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| (jm) |
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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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Publisher: Fido 107/7
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Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson
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Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/7. You
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are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the
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file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/7.
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Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:
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The contents of the articles contained here are not our
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responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them;
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everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
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received.
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How We Do This
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I've been getting questions lately about how Fidonews is
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created. I know I've explained this before, but perhaps I'd
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better go through it again for the benefit of our newer
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readers.
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Everything in Fidonews is written by you, our readers. I
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generally try to cobble up an editorial for each issue, but
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everything else is submitted by readers.
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You write an article (or a want ad, or a notice, or
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whatever) on your own system using your own text editor and
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netmail it to us at node 107/7. After mail hour each
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morning an external event moves the files from our input
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area to a special news area. Every Monday morning another
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external event assembles all the articles to make the latest
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issue, which is then mailed out by Robot to most of the
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major inbound hosts. The whole point of this somewhat
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roundabout process is to make sure that the news goes out
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every Monday morning without fail.
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There are a bunch of technical specs that an article has to
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:25:54 Page 2
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meet before it goes into the news. These are summed up in
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detail in the file FIDONEWS.DOC, which is available from
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node 107/7 (and probably many other places -- we've mailed
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it out many times). Most of these can be summed up in a few
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statements:
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1) Flush left margin (we do the indenting here).
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2) Right margin at column 60 or less. Less is tolerable,
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but more is not.
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3) No funny characters. Not everybody has a graphics
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character set. (Not everybody has an IBM.)
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You also have to name your file properly. Our system
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detects news items by the filename extensions, like so:
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.ART An article
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.SAL A "For Sale" ad
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.WAN A "Wanted" ad
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Most submissions are articles, which can get very long. Ads
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can't get very big, but they really shouldn't anyway. A few
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folks have sent us very long ads that were thinly disguised
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as articles, but feedback received to date indicates that
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that tends to backfire on the advertiser. Our readers seem
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to feel cheated when they work their way through some
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lengthy article just to find that it's really a pitch for a
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product. The U.S. Robotics ad for the Courier 2400 was
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probably the best ad anyone has ever sent us. It was cute,
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catchy, flashy, and short.
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One last point, and I'll let you get back to reading the
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news. Fidonews, like Fidonet itself, is growing by leaps and
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bounds. We now have an estimated 30,000 readers. Fidonews
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is YOUR way of reaching your fellow users, and they want to
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hear from you.
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:25:55 Page 3
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============================================================
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NEWS
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============================================================
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WARNING WARNING BURNOUT OCCURING!!!!
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Well thats just bout how I feel at the
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moment, I have seem to have burned out on
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the idea of bbs and telecomunications! I
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used to use my pc everyday now it seems to be
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every other day and latley once a weak! I'm
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not really sure what is going on either.
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After sitting infront of the pc for ten
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minutes I start to get sick and looking at it
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makes me feel, oh, depressed. (sigh) Maybe
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it has to do with the fact school starts for
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me on the 4th or maybe the fact that I'm
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heart broken? Who knows. It seems that
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nothing I do with the computer makes me feel
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good. I need a good challenge at the moment.
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Something that will be interesting but not to
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bland. I think I should stop using it for a
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week or two and see what happens. I had
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planned to put up a board at one time but
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couldn't because I lack the money for a phone
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line and my parents permission (sigh again)
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hmm one of these days I will get my own
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computer or, my parents will get another one
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(right) and I will finaly get to put up my
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own Fido!!
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Mike Ringer
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fido 437 net 117
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soon to be the sysop of
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Ollie's board?
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:25:58 Page 4
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FIDOGRAMS
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By
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Rives Mc Ginley, N1BIQ
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and
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Luck Hurder, KY1T
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Both on Node 105/Net 101(MassNet)
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CAPECOD_FIDO
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There is nothing that tickles our hearts better than to
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wake up in the morning, put on the coffee, and snuggle up
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to Fido to see what has come in via FidoMail from anywhere
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in the Country and the World.
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The only thing better, we shouldn't talk about, except
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it relates to the purpose of this article. We are talking
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about Amateur Radio. It seemed to us that with the flexibi-
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lity of Fido, and the vastness of the network, perhaps we
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can help Amateur Radio and FidoMail increase usage or
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traffic if you will.
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Amateur Radio has been sending "Traffic" or telegrams
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around the world since before 1920. The Traffic handlers,
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are dedicated, persistant in getting the message through,
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and at the moment feeling a little underworked.
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So why can't we of the Fido persuasion, gather some
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business so to speak for the Amateur Radio Traffic nets?
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The answer is that we can, and quite cheaply.
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All we need to do is to aquaint our Fido users about
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the Amateur Radio service, and they will slowly over time
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use it. You see the reason is that the service is free.
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YES ---- FREE
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The only "cost" is making the FidoMail call to Node
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#105 in Net 101(MassNet), and leaving a message for Luck
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Hurder, KY1T. He will then in his amazing morse code "fist"
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transmit the message to the radio traffic network, and the
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message will be delivered as soon as possible, by telephone
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to the addressee.
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Amateur Radio has been a wonder of modern electronics
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for all these years, why not have Fido, the new front-
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runner, add Amateur radio to the list of its services.
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After all Amateur Radio can do one thing Fido can't.....de
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liver a message to someone who does not have a computer,
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and do it for FREE.
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Ah ha you say, what is the long list of qualifications
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that will keep this idea from being useful? Well.....
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there is only one.
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Any message sent by FidoGram, must be only personal, no
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business use at all. If judged as business use, the Amateur
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:01 Page 5
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Radio operator passing the traffic will not handle the
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message. It will lanquish in the round file.
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So what do you think? Is this a reasonable addition to
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Fido?
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If so send FidoMail to Node #105/Net #101 and by
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return FidoMail as well as by FidoGram you will get details
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to you for posting on your Fido. We think this is a fun
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activity, we are prepared to alert the Amateur Radio
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Community and its Media about it, and we think it provides
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a free public service that Fido can benefit from.
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:01 Page 6
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From: Jim Lynn, Sysop 129/0,129/384
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Subject: Rewrite of FIDO Documentation
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We here in the Pitt-Net in Pittsburg are attempting the
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rewrite of the infamous FIDO Sysop and User Manuals. After
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a month of sorting out the original source files from TJ, we
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are starting on the rewrite process.
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This is a plea for information.... If you know something
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that is wrong about the manuals, even though you think that
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there must be thousands of other users or operators who are
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aware of the problem, send a FIDO-GRAM to me at 129/0!!!!
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If everyone thinks that everyone else will let us know about
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a bug, then it will be up to us to find and correct them
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all.
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If you have something that you think should be in the
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manuals, drop us a line also. One section that will be
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added is a hints and usage section where shortcuts and pit-
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falls will be documented.
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The finished manuals will be distributed as follows:
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USERMNAL.ARC The user's guide to happiness.
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SYSMANAL.ARC The light in the dark for sysops.
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Both ARC's will include a program which will take any
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released updates and automatically incorporate them into
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the manuals, adding the update number and date on the
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fly-leaf page. This will allow for downloading the
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manuals once and from that point on, only downloading
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update and correction files. If any one has any thoughts
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on this before the software gets too "firm", drop a
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line.
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As a last word, remember: this is your manual, you have to
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use them and your users have to use them to access your
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system and the new sysops in your area have to rely on them
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to get up and running. Please take an interest and help
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with a msg or bit of information.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:03 Page 7
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ANNOUNCING THE FIRST EVER
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FIDO
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BULLETIN BOARD
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THAT IS KIND TO ANIMALS!!
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The KYFHO WILDLIFE BBS is a public service board for
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collecting and disseminating information on rehabilitation
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of wildlife and the related concerns of habitat
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preservation and conservation.
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KYFHO WILDLIFE BBS is operated by Bob and PC Hanes of
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Austin, Texas under the auspices of Wildlife Rescue, Inc.,
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Austin. Basic care information is drawn from the Austin
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WRI Rehabilitation Course Manual and the separate works of
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its members. The objective of the Board is to provide a
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forum for the exchange of information with other groups
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and individuals regarding rehabilitation techniques, diets
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and problems that may arise from raising orphaned or
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injured wild birds and animals.
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PLEASE NOTE: The purpose of Wildlife Rescue, a
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non-profit, volunteer organization, and KYFHO is
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successful rehabilitation and RELEASE of wild creatures.
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In no way do we advocate the keeping of wild animals or
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birds as pets. This is harmful to the animal and can be
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dangerous to human beings.
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KYFHO WILDLIFE is a serious public service board. The
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sysops will not tolerate abusive or obscene language,
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jokes, sexually-oriented material or religious
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preachments. We have no public domain software, or hobby
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type use sections on this board. A listing of the
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information available will be sent upon request.
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If you have a question regarding care of a wild animal
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or bird, or would like to submit material to be added to
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our files for dissemination to other like-minded groups,
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we welcome your participation. We will attempt to answer
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all questions received over FIDONET on the next mail
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period after receipt. Emergency care information is
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available on the voice line as listed below.
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You can do us and the animals in your area a favor by
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providing this information to any group or organization in
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your area who would be interested. It might even generate
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some net traffic for your board.
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KYFHO WILDLIFE
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FIDO REGION 19 NODE 600
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operates 300/1200 24 hours a day at 512/836-6881.
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Voice line 512/836-0915, 6:00pm - 10:00pm Central Time.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:06 Page 8
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:07 Page 9
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Tom Jennings
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Fido 125/1
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12 Aug 85
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BULLETIN BOARD ETTIQUETTE
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FOR NEW USERS AND OLD TIMERS
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Bulletin board etiquette is really no big deal, and
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I hope you don't get the impression that I'm trying to make
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an issue out of nothing. This is nothing more than an
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introduction to the ins and outs of figuring out just how
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the hell you have fun on a bulletin board.
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Of course, you probably figured out most of it, or
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you wouldn't be reading this article.
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Last but not least, this is merely my opinion, of
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which I have more than my share.
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In the dark ages of modems (pre-1982 or so) there
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were so few bulletin boards and users that there basically
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wasn't a problem. You somehow managed to get a modem
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(usually a set of ear muffs for your telephone handset;
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autodialers? You must be kidding!) got a bulletin board
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number from a friend, and started dialing. You got nervous
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and made a mess of the message base, and if you were real
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unlucky, crashed the board. Everyone knew you were "new",
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and so were tolerant while you learned how to get around.
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Crashers and trashers weren't really a problem, since most
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modem users were more or less hardcore techie types, and
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that was the reason for the things in the first place.
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These days, Hayes is probably selling more modems
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per month than were sold total to us hobbiests in 1982.
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Many are "non business" use, ie. the little sucker you are
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using right now. Instead of a trickle of new users, it's a
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torrential downpour. New users outnumber old timers on many
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boards, and that fact probably won't change. Nor would it
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even be desireable! Modem users are getting more and more
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diversified in their interests, things like specialty boards
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can now get enough support to be viable. Enough tech boards
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already!
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With the good comes some small problems; the
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previous "hack at it 'till you get it right" attitude
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doesn't work on today's overloaded boards that might handle
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50 or more calls a day. For example, Fido 125/1 gets about
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200 new callers per week.
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A person who uses a modem for the first time
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generally has no idea of what a bulletin board is like; that
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is part of the fun! There are thousands of boards, on
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almost any subject, each run by an individual with their own
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personality and ideas.
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:09 Page 10
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Unfortunately, it frequently becomes a situation
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like a traveler to a foreign country who is totally
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unfamiliar with local customs. Visitors embarrass
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themselves by saying the wrong thing, or insult the locals
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with totally inappropriate reactions. Definitely not the
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way to get the locals to show you around and have a good
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time.
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The purpose of this thing is not to presumptuously
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teach you right from wrong, but to introduce you to one
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version of "etiquette", or how to get around bulletin boards
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minimizing damage. No attempt will be made to tell you how
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to run the bulletin board program or your telecom program.
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There are too many different ones anyways, and help is
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available for that.
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In face to face encounters with people that you
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don't know well, there are thousands of "unwritten rules"
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that just about everyone follows. Things like not
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interrupting a conversation, not asking questions that were
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just answered, minimizing rude noises, nose picking, not
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commenting on personal subjects not under discussion, etc.
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The more important ones seem to get even more obscure.
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A big problem with modeming is that you miss all
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non-verbal communication details; eye motion, facial
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expressions, and other cues that help convey otherwise
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difficult or embarrassing information. You have to make up
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for this in other ways. Since 99.99% of all BBS contents is
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text, read everything you can find.
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About the only hard and fast rule of BBSing is READ
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READ READ READ!!! You cannot read too much; read as many
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messages as you can, read the bulletins, read notices.
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Don't worry about memorizing the contents, just get familiar
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with what the system is like. After you do this on a half
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dozen systems you will have a better idea of what the "real
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world" (sic) looks like.
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Get an idea of what kind of people are typing
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things, and a feel for how "touchy" the crowd there is.
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People tend to congregate where the find similar sorts; you
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may end up on a board populated with grouches, because more
|
|
open people left long ago for a friendlier place. Or, you
|
|
may have run into that friendly place.
|
|
|
|
Bulletin boards are no different than a local bar or
|
|
whatever; a particular crowd develops, you just have to
|
|
choose where you hang out. You may be comfortable in a VFW
|
|
Hall, or maybe at the corner of Pine and Polk. Don't get
|
|
mad at the people who you do find, just find a more
|
|
compatible crowd.
|
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:11 Page 11
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|
If you find a message or two you want to reply to,
|
|
see if it has any replies already. This will save the
|
|
embarassment of entering a long tedious message answering a
|
|
question that was answered months ago. People are peculiar
|
|
animals; remember that you are a newcomer. This is no
|
|
different than joining a conversation at a party or cafe;
|
|
you just can't jump in and blaze away with your wit, unless
|
|
of course that's whats happening at the moment, otherwise
|
|
it's the "excuse-me-I-have-to-go-to-the-bathroom"-then-leave
|
|
situation. Not pleasant.
|
|
|
|
Keep in mind that some things that are wonderful
|
|
person to person can be absolute disasters in print.
|
|
Sarcasm for instance. A simple expression like "You jerk!"
|
|
is nothing but an insult when they can't see the smile on
|
|
your face. A reply to a question, such as "Who knows? Why
|
|
don't you look it up?" is also an insult when you can't see
|
|
the head scratching, foot tapping and other things that
|
|
would tell the person that you had thought for a few minutes
|
|
before replying.
|
|
|
|
Just keep in mind that bulletin board messages are
|
|
like someone speaking in a monotone, with no pauses between
|
|
words, behind a black curtain, recorded on video tape a week
|
|
ago, and played on an out of focus black and white TV set
|
|
with a dirty screen. From across the street.
|
|
|
|
The majority of boards remain technically oriented;
|
|
by sheer numbers CP/M and IBM PC dominate (I think, who
|
|
knows?), but TRS-80 and just about anything else you can
|
|
think of is out there. These are not the places to discuss
|
|
philosophy and tell dirty jokes.
|
|
|
|
There are more and more non-technical boards, which
|
|
is a good sign. They are still somewhat limited, but
|
|
growing extremely fast. In six months or a year there will
|
|
be no shortage. These are not the places to discuss
|
|
problems with your disk drive.
|
|
|
|
Again, bulletin boards are no different than any
|
|
other group of people, except the lack of fine detail and
|
|
the time difference.
|
|
|
|
As to messages, only one suggestion: keep it short.
|
|
Since long messages scroll off the screen, it's nearly
|
|
impossible to remember what the 17th question out of 30 was.
|
|
|
|
The poor person answering the message needs an eidetic
|
|
memory to keep track of it all, and you will usually get a
|
|
terse response and a "I don't remember the rest". Better to
|
|
enter two messages than one huge one.
|
|
|
|
Speaking of time differences, keep in mind that
|
|
people may call in every day, once a week or maybe never
|
|
again. Be patient when waiting for a reply. After a while,
|
|
you'll get an idea of who calls in how often, and when you
|
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:13 Page 12
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|
|
can expect a reply. Don't harrass the guy if you don't see
|
|
a reply when you'd like to. Occasionally, people have been
|
|
known to do things other than BBSing, as hard as it is to
|
|
believe, and it may take them awhile to get around to
|
|
checking in.
|
|
|
|
Though I won't go into downloading files here, if
|
|
you are very new you should get as many lists of other
|
|
bulletin board systems as you can. Most are just text, so
|
|
you should be able to download or "capture" them on whatever
|
|
you are using to call with. There are enough BBS's these
|
|
days that you should have many to choose from, within your
|
|
local calling area.
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
No, I haven't forgotten the sysop. The sysop is the
|
|
troll who happens to own the machine you are playing with.
|
|
Most sysops are very strange people. Who else would do
|
|
something like run a bulletin board?
|
|
|
|
Depending on the person running the board you're on,
|
|
the sysop may be involved on a daily basis or not at all.
|
|
He may be standoffish, or run a tight ship, breathing down
|
|
your neck. Be reasonable in making requests of the sysop.
|
|
Usually there is no problem, but remember that after a
|
|
while, running a BBS can get to be a drag (first hand
|
|
observation here) and the sysop may be "on vacation".
|
|
Getting angry at the sysop for not answering like you want
|
|
him to is not the thing to do. Most bulletin boards are run
|
|
as a hobby, and take a back seat to the sysop's real life.
|
|
|
|
Personally, my involvement on Fido #1 varies from
|
|
every day to once a month on and off. The more outside
|
|
things I have to do or want to do, the more I ignore Fido.
|
|
Also, if I know there are ten thousand questions awaiting
|
|
me, I tend to avoid checking in. Sometimes I just want to
|
|
do nothing at all, so that's exactly what I do.
|
|
|
|
Also, again, remember that there is a human out
|
|
there somewhere. Sysops are saints and assholes like
|
|
everyone else, and they have the responsibility of keeping
|
|
the system up and running. Getting angry at the sysop for
|
|
not answering a request as quickly or as thoroughly as you
|
|
want is definitely not the way to get in good graces on that
|
|
board.
|
|
|
|
Belaboring a point, (almost the end of the article
|
|
anyway, just hang on) the only thing that makes a board
|
|
interesting is the people who call it. I hope I didn't
|
|
discourage you from taking part in the madness on a board;
|
|
really, do just the opposite. Most people who peruse the
|
|
message bases are looking for interesting people to "type"
|
|
to, so if you have anything to say, even nothing, say it!
|
|
Most conversations start with "hello".
|
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|
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|
|
FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:15 Page 13
|
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|
|
|
|
A good point was brought up by Dean Gengle (sp?) of
|
|
Communitree in an article in Dr. Dobbs Journal (June 85 I
|
|
think). Bulletin boards are not necessarily the totally
|
|
anonymous things you may assume they are. Usually
|
|
everything you see on your screen is also displayed on the
|
|
bulletin board computer's screen; even messages you decided
|
|
not to save. This may not be important, but is something to
|
|
keep in mind.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:16 Page 14
|
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|
|
BBS Laws and the Moral Majority
|
|
By David Wollmann
|
|
|
|
I have been doing my best to keep up with the BBS
|
|
Law updates that are being circulated, and let me state
|
|
that I agree, we must do our best to state our case, that
|
|
Remote Bulletin Board Systems are a valid and important
|
|
facility in our society. Not only are they important
|
|
because they offer us the opportunity to expand our
|
|
computing skills and abilities, but also because they
|
|
enable us to express ourselves freely and at little
|
|
expense to such a large and widely diverse a group of
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
The news has recently featured reports of certain
|
|
groups of individuals using BBS's for their own unlawful,
|
|
and immoral purposes. The abuses have been highlighted,
|
|
rather that the benefits. This kind of
|
|
`mis-information' tends to cause the public to develop a
|
|
prejudiced sentiment towards the subject matter, since
|
|
most of us are forced to rely on the media for
|
|
information from which we unavoidably and inevitably draw
|
|
conclusions as to the morality, if you will, of a given
|
|
subject or situation.
|
|
|
|
The aspect of this situation that I would like to
|
|
concentrate on now is the involvment of the Conservative
|
|
element of our population, of which I am a member as I am
|
|
sure are many of yourselves.
|
|
|
|
The abuses of BBS's which have been reported most
|
|
frequently seem to be those involving a BBS that was for
|
|
the use of pedophiles (child molestors). This is a
|
|
subject that strikes close to the heart of all of us, and
|
|
is of great concern to the membership and supporters of the
|
|
Moral Majority. In a nutshell, rather than becoming
|
|
upset with the Moral Majority, let's do our best to educate
|
|
them along with the rest of our nation, as to the benefits
|
|
that BBS's carry with them. Why not point out to them how
|
|
much a Fido BBS could do for their communications? How
|
|
great an impact they might effect through a BBS in their
|
|
community, and in fact, the U.S. as a whole? If the Moral
|
|
Majority is interested in making changes for the better,
|
|
and I believe they are, surely they will be quick to `go to
|
|
bat for us' once they too see the potential for good in a
|
|
BBS. Why not suggest to them that they get involved and
|
|
help them set up a Fido System of their own?
|
|
|
|
If no great General has said it, he should have,
|
|
"Don't make an enemy out of someone if you can make him
|
|
your friend with a few kind words."
|
|
|
|
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|
|
FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:18 Page 15
|
|
|
|
I may be reached for comment or question at Fido
|
|
900/15 PCjrUserGroup (918) 496-2055. 2400 baud
|
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|
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------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:18 Page 16
|
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|
|
Harv's Hideout
|
|
Fido 125/77
|
|
|
|
|
|
PC Pursuit and Fido
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mention has been made in previous issues of Fidonews
|
|
about the flat-rate long distance service from GTE Telenet
|
|
called PC-Pursuit. It uses a ringback scheme, which makes
|
|
sense from GTE's point of view, but makes it pretty
|
|
unacceptable for Fidomail. It has a great potential as a
|
|
side method of transferring files, however, and could be very
|
|
valuable in getting things like the nodelist and Fidonews
|
|
distributed more widely and cheaply than at present.
|
|
Following is a message to Tom Jennings on Fido #1 discussing
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
--******--
|
|
|
|
The ringback and menu rigamarole can take from 1 to 4
|
|
minutes. Not too awfully bad for a connect, but a real waste
|
|
for a busy. Only reasonable way to use it is with a script
|
|
file to answer the prompts and do the waiting while you do
|
|
something else. I'm surprised they're not targeting
|
|
individuals & small businesses that presently send stuff via
|
|
MCI Mail, etc that could be done with Pursuit instead.
|
|
|
|
The 11 cities besides San Francisco are:
|
|
|
|
Atlanta Denver New York
|
|
Boston Detroit Philadelphia
|
|
Chicago Houston Wash D.C.
|
|
Dallas L. A.
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, it's one area code per city, so New York
|
|
means 212, even though half the city is 718. Ditto for the
|
|
LA area. Even at that, all that's necessary is to ship new
|
|
stuff to one or two nodes in each area. Ideally, they would
|
|
be volunteers that would mail the files to all local nodes
|
|
and ideally they'd be different nodes than the already busy
|
|
hosts. What I'll do is send a copy of this msg to Fidonews
|
|
and see if there is any interest in doing it. Main thing is
|
|
to do it without putting any additional work on you or any of
|
|
the hosts.
|
|
|
|
-harv
|
|
|
|
--******--
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyone using PC-Pursuit, or anyone in one of the above
|
|
cities that is willing to receive files and pass them on to
|
|
local Fidos, please send a message to Harvey Nehgila on Fido
|
|
125/77. If your system doesn't recognize that node, you're
|
|
dealing with an outdated nodelist, and that's the very reason
|
|
for setting up a distribution net for updates! (Use node
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:20 Page 17
|
|
|
|
125/1 if 125/77 is not yet on your list). Volunteers need
|
|
not necessarily be running a Fido themselves, but an
|
|
autoanswer modem and a host program that will receive XMODEM
|
|
uploads are required.
|
|
|
|
With minimal time from a few volunteers, we can use
|
|
Pursuit to make the latest version of Fidofiles available to
|
|
all the nodes for little or no expense. The nodelist and the
|
|
newsletter are the two things that tie the net together.
|
|
It'd be very nice if as many nodes as possible were using the
|
|
latest versions. Timely distribution of updates of Fido and
|
|
associated utilities could also be accomplished with Pursuit.
|
|
Any takers?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harv's Hideout
|
|
Fido 125/77
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:21 Page 18
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
Bug in Newly Released RENUM Program
|
|
|
|
by
|
|
Bob Hartman
|
|
Sysop 101/101
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recently I sent the new program RENUM (in the file
|
|
RENUM.ARC) to all host nodes in the FidoNet. This program
|
|
was a replacement for Tom Jennings' original version of
|
|
RENUM which would not renumber the user list when it was
|
|
finished renumbering the messages. Unfortunately the
|
|
version of RENUM distributed has one minor bug in it. This
|
|
bug causes the user list renumbering to be off by (usually)
|
|
one message. Fortunately, it is off on the low side, and
|
|
the worst that happens is that a user reads a message twice.
|
|
This problem has been corrected in version 1.3 which is
|
|
available for download from my Fido. If you are using this
|
|
program and would like to update it, either call my board
|
|
and download it, or send me FidoNet mail, and I will send
|
|
you the latest version.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
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|
|
FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:22 Page 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Update on the Current State of Rover
|
|
by Bob Hartman
|
|
Sysop 101/101
|
|
The UN*X Gateway
|
|
and Home of Rover
|
|
|
|
|
|
First of all, the standard introduction to "what is Rover?"
|
|
Well, Rovermsg is a standalone Fido Message Base system.
|
|
It is usually run by the sysop of a Fido system from the
|
|
console (or remotely via the '0' command).
|
|
|
|
It is exactly like Fido with these exceptions:
|
|
|
|
1. The E)dit command from the Enter-Msg menu.
|
|
If for message editing, you wish to use a standard editor
|
|
that creates an ASCII text file (rather than a standard
|
|
word processor file that has special types of characters
|
|
in it), use the -e option for ROVERMSG.
|
|
2. The C)hange-Msg command from the Msg: or Edit-Msg menus.
|
|
This option allows a user to edit an already existing
|
|
message, thus avoiding the usual state where a message
|
|
has been saved, and is dead wrong.
|
|
3. The '!' command available at the NET/NODE prompt when
|
|
entering a RoverNet message.
|
|
This command allows searching for a given string in the
|
|
nodelist. It is a case-insensitive search, and it will
|
|
look at the node name, city, and phone number.
|
|
4. The special node names */0 and n/*.
|
|
The first will send a message to all hosts in all nets,
|
|
and the second will send a message to all nodes in net
|
|
#n.
|
|
5. When replying to messages the subject of the new message
|
|
is automatically formed as 'Re: old-subject'. The
|
|
subject can be changed with the subJ)ect command.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now for the real point of the article:
|
|
|
|
I know, I know - I have been really screwing you all up
|
|
with versions of Rovermsg coming out too fast. Well, I
|
|
tried to delay this one as long as possible, but several
|
|
events arose which made it impossible to delay it any
|
|
longer. First of all, Fido version 11 will soon be out,
|
|
and the old version of Rovermsg (2.0) will not be
|
|
compatible with it. Secondly, (for those of you that
|
|
experienced it) I really think that I tracked down the
|
|
'Goodbye' bug (it was obliging, and happened to hit me when
|
|
I was running a debugging version of Rovermsg). Thirdly,
|
|
I finally realized why Rovermsg would not run on certain
|
|
non-IBM compatibles. The reason was that Rovermsg tries
|
|
to change the timer interrupt. For non-IBM compatibles,
|
|
this was not the same interrupt number, so when it got
|
|
changed your machine would go south. If you are not using
|
|
an IBM compatible, please use the '-t 0' option to disable
|
|
the Rovermsg timer. Finally, the new version is 2.10 and
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:24 Page 20
|
|
|
|
it has the above mentioned problems fixed (the fix of using
|
|
'-t 0' on non-IBM's will not work in version 2.0, just 2.1).
|
|
If you call my board to download Rovermsg, you might also
|
|
want to download RENUM.ARC which is a command line driven
|
|
version of the Sysop only 2 and 8 commands. It is smarter
|
|
than the original RENUM written by Tom Jennings in that it
|
|
does in fact renumber the user list, and it can be used to
|
|
delete old or received messages. I run it as an external
|
|
event once a week to clear old messages from my board.
|
|
|
|
If you are a Fido Sysop that uses Rovermsg, please send me
|
|
a FidoNet message so that I can add you to my master Rover
|
|
mailing list. I know that there are at least 25-30 sysops
|
|
that user Rovermsg, and I only have about 115 in my master
|
|
list. Also, please download the latest version from my
|
|
board so that you don't get bitten by bugs that have been
|
|
fixed. I placed this article in the FidoNews just so that
|
|
all of you would see it and therefore not have the excuse
|
|
that you did not know that you were supposed to send my a
|
|
FidoNet message if you are a Rovermsg user.
|
|
|
|
- Bob Hartman -
|
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FIDONEWS -- 09 Sep 85 15:26:26 Page 21
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============================================================
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NOTICES
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============================================================
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An Exclusive Engagement!
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========================
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For a limited time only, this Fido sysop will be engaged -
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then onto bigger and better things! In only twelve short
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months, it will be the end of bachelorhood forever! Lets
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face it guys - Fido is nice but females are fabulous!
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Brian and Gilah Sietz
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Fido#107/17
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------------------------------------------------------------
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The Interrupt Stack
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28 Sep 1985
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SoCal Fido beach party.
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27 Nov 1985
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Halley's Comet passes closest to Earth before perihelion.
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24 Jan 1986
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Voyager 2 passes Uranus.
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9 Feb 1986
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Halley's Comet reaches perihelion.
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11 Apr 1986
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Halley's Comet reaches perigee.
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19 May 1986
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Steve Lemke's next birthday.
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24 Aug 1989
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Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
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If you have something which you would like to see on this
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calendar, please send a message to Fido 107/7.
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