456 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
456 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No. 4 (23-Jan-1995)
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+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
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| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
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| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
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| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
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| / \ | |
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| /|oo \ | Small animal psychology and |
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| (_| /_) | Spiritual guidance Department: |
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| _`@/_ \ _ | Rev. Richard Visage 1:163/409 |
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| | | \ \\ | |
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| | (*) | \ )) | Editor: |
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| |__U__| / \// | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
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| _//|| _\ / | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
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| (_/(_|(____/ | Tim |
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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: editors 1:1/23 |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| MORE addresses: |
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| |
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| Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
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| Tim Pozar -- pozar@kumr.lns.com |
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| David Deitch -- 1:133/411.411, deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org |
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| submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
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| editor 1:1/23 |
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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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Helping FidoNet in Cuba - an update......................... 2
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Rottenness in the state of Fidonet?......................... 3
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Gardening in North America.................................. 5
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THEIST_WATCH Echo now on Backbone!.......................... 5
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INTERMAIL changing to IM_USER............................... 6
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3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 7
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========================================================================
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Editorial
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========================================================================
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 2 23 Jan 1995
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Election time approaches here in region 12 again, and the
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standard insults and carryings on are flowing full force. It
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astonishes me that we find anybody to do the work of fidonet
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with all the abuse that every volunteer seems to take. Is it
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like this throughout the net, or is it just here? Stupid
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question, I suppose. After all, we (the snooze editors, that
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is) get it too. It always seems, though, that the sysops with
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the biggest mouths do the least work.
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Pablo is getting the assistance to potential Cuban sysops
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program up and running, and Max and I have volunteered to act as
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a collection point for equipment. I wonder if I can get myself
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shipped to Cuba as a sysop? I hear that there is sun down there
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in January.
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On a more serious note, it has always been my personal
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belief that the only route to world peace and prosperity is
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through communications and knowledge. This is an area that
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Fidonet members can make a real contribution. So haul out some
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of that old equipment, dust it off, and send it along. Here is
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the snooze.
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========================================================================
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Articles
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========================================================================
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Helping FidoNet in Cuba - an update
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I am really happy for the response from many of you to my previous
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article asking for donations of equipment that some of you no
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longer need, to the guys trying to establish FidoNet in Cuba. It is
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evident that the often talked-about "FidoNet spirit" is alive and
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well. Those of you that haven't read the article on the previous
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issue of FidoNews are welcome to browse the prvious issue of the
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'Snooze' to get the whole scoop (that is, FidoNews #1202, a.k.a.
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FNEWSC02.LZH).
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We have advanced a little bit in organizing this effort, and have
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now set up a place to which people in Zone 1 can send the used
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computer equipment and modems that will help these guys get up and
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running to join our electronic community shortly.
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Since the most convenient place to ship the materials to Cuba is
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Toronto, Canada (as there is no mail or air transportation service
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between the U.S. and this Caribbean island), the editors of our
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network's newsletter have generously agreed to receive what you
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have to pitch in, to add to the package that they will later send
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via Cubana Airlines to Cuba.
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Therefore, the address to mail all donations from the U.S. and
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Canada is:
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Donald Tees or Sylvia Maxwell
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Re: Donation
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128 Church Street
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Kitchener, Ontario
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 3 23 Jan 1995
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Canada N2G 2S4
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Please write your name and node number on the package so that they
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know who's sending it.
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I will keep everyone posted on the evolution of the donation
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effort, through FidoNews. We haven't yet established an address to
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collect all donations originating in Zone 2 countries (although
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several sysops have expressed their wish to contribute with
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hardware), but I'm working on that and hope to be able to announce
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one soon, here as well.
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Again, my thanks and sincere expression of admiration to those of
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you who've decided to lend a hand.
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Pablo Kleinman
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** EDITORS NOTE: all donations will be receipted by netmail.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Rottenness in the state of Fidonet?
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By John Burden
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2:255/1
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Reading through the last few issues of Fidonews today made me ask
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myself yet again when, if ever, the shortcomings in Fidonet's policy
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and day-to-day operations will be addressed. I was left wondering
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whether there *is* any will to correct the defects or whether the
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"system" has a vested interest in things remaining as they are. Let's
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just look back through some of the article in the three issues of 1995
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for examples of what I mean.
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Issue 1201 has an article by Gary Wilkerson which alleges that a sysop
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is being subjected to pressure to relinquish his node number for no
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apparently valid reason.
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In Issue 1202, the Editor feels the need to justify the reinstatement
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of Steve Winter into the nodelist while accepting that Winter has been
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the source of much unpleasantness. The statement is made that
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inclusion in the nodelist should not be dependant upon social
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acceptability, a statement that I would generally endorse. The Editor
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then states "Dropping an echo is a simple thing. Maybe we should all
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remember just what this net is about" ... "I was thinking this week
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that I keep hearing the term "fidogods", used in the sense of "the
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people that run the net". Now anybody that has been around for a bit
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realizes that nobody runs the net". Forgive my cynical laugh!
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Further on in the same issue, Charlie Munhollon begs the non-existent
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net gods not to pull Gary Wilkerson's node number. Remember the
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article by Mr Wilkerson in issue 1201?
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Then an article "FidoNet Hong Kong Goes To The Dogs!" which, amongst
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other things contains the following: "Attempts by local sysops to have
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the matter resolved by the upper echelons of FidoNet in the United
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 4 23 Jan 1995
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States have failed, too, which has had a totally detrimental effect on
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FidoNet... All this infighting has, however, made a mockery of the
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whole concept, and the fact that no one in any position of power
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appears to be taking the slightest bit of interest in fixing the
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situation is not helping either."
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But we haven't finished with issue 1202 yet. Further on, a point user
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feels obliged to apologise for the fact that he asked some echo
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participants to refrain from posting rude jokes. Despite stopping
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posting in the echo concerned, *he* is required by the ZC to be
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disconnected totally from Fidonet!
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In issue 1203, the Editor writes "about 99% of all the serious fights
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in Fidonet are the result of either CRP disputes or nodelist
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maintenance being used as a dispute settling mechanism. Maybe
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nodelist maintenance should be made a separate function from net
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chairman, and net treasurer a separate function from NEC."
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As if to show another way of solving disputes, we then get to the
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article "Dictatorship in Zone 4" which reports upon the alleged
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"excommunication of the RC80 without known reasons or previous
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communication".
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In isolation, any of these extracts could be dismissed as being a one-
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off. But the sad fact is that they are not exceptional, they are
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fairly typical of the sorts of abuses reported in Fidonet on a regular
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basis, never mind the ones we don't hear about. There is a widely
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held view amongst sysops that Fidonet policy is ineffective (to put it
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politely) and its implementation often flawed, if not corrupt. But
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there seems to be precious little interest on the part of the so-
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called Fidonet gods in changing it for the better. And in the
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meantime, the rest of the world is forced to put up with a policy
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approved only in zone 1 and steam-rollered through by means of their
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numeric majority.
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Policy refers to the concept of "excessively annoying behaviour".
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Let's look briefly at the examples above in that context.
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On the one hand, it is ordered that Mr. Winter must be given a
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nodelisting despite being "the source of much unpleasantness" (and
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that's a polite way of putting it). The Editor of Fidonews even
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suggests that if people don't like Mr. Winter's unpleasantness, they
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should disconnect from the echoes he frequents. Why? Let's forget
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Steve Winter for a moment and look at the wider issue. Why should
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everyone have to disconnect from each and every echo in which a
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participant chooses to abuse people? Why should it not be the case
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that the obnoxious handful be required to conform to certain minimum
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standards of behaviour?
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On the other hand, we have a case where no less that the *ZC* takes it
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on himself to order that a point is excluded from access to Fidonet
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simply because he (the point) took exception to "rude jokes"! And
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then there is the ZC in Latin America accused of the unjustified
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sacking of an RC while delaying an election for his own position. I
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think the only zone not mentioned in any of the 3 issues as being
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 5 23 Jan 1995
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rotten in some way was zone 2. (That's not because there aren't
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scandals and abuses in zone 2 region 25, by the way. It's simply that
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they haven't yet made the news in your columns.)
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So, let me use Fidonews to ask the IC, George Peace, and the various
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ZCs and RCs and NCs: - Don't you care that there is rottenness within
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the *C levels of Fidonet? Don't you care that the implementation of
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Policy is flawed and that these flaws are demonstrated almost week in,
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week out? Or that the very policy itself is flawed? If you do care,
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what is your contribution going to be towards making a better Fidonet
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with a better policy and a better implementation? Or will you leave
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it to the electronic mafia and the anarchists to continue tearing the
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heart out of it while policy is abused more and more?
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Gardening in North America
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Jesse Tharin
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Tucson Arizona USA
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1:300/7
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Spring is coming up here in North America all the way from the Canadian
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plains to the Mexican deserts, and it's time to get ready, so I want
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to take this chance to remind all of you with gardening talents and
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gardening problems to hook back into the resurrected HOME-N-GRDN echo,
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an area dedicated to the many aspects of keeping up the home but
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especially the highly therapeutic hobby of grubbing around in the dirt
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and feeding our families.
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Is it time yet in your zone to start your pepper seedlings? Can you
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ignore those larvae you're digging up? Did all your tomatoes wilt last
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year? Can't get your hostas to thrive? Tap back into a high-content
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low-noise echo.
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Do it soon; the season is now!
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Jesse
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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THEIST_WATCH Echo now on Backbone!
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Christopher Baker
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Rights On! 1:374/14
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THEIST_WATCH Echo Available
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Theists of all stripes do many wacky and colorful things in the name[s]
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of their various deities and other imaginary superfriends. Some of
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these activities are just amusing and some are dangerous to the liberty
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of anyone who doesn't subscribe to their particular brand of socially
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acceptable lunacy.
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Take the case of Salman Rushdie, for example. Here's a perfectly
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average writer who points out a few foibles and suddenly has an actual
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 6 23 Jan 1995
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death order out against him because he supposedly 'blasphemed' a
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mainstream monotheism's god. This might be funny if it weren't for the
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sobering fact that there are plenty of deranged individuals who would
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be happy to kill Mr. Rushdie for this victimless 'crime'. Can't happen
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here, I hear you cry? Wanna bet? It wouldn't be the first time.
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American Atheists Online Services is now Hosting an Echo to call
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attention to the zany and disturbing activities of all kinds of
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theists without regard to mainstream or fringe affiliations. This Echo
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is called THEIST_WATCH and that's just what it does.
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THEIST_WATCH is a news reporting Echo. News items from around the world
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are posted here for reference, information, and further distribution.
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It is READ-ONLY except to non-theist persons wishing to post actual
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news items. It is NOT a religion debate Echo. [That's what HOLYSMOKE is
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for.] It is not a bashing Echo. It is a forum for the dissemination of
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information about the activities of theists in the public arena;
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particularly where those activities encroach upon the separation of
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state and church.
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It is now a Zone 1 Backbone Echo Hosted & Moderated from AAOS [American
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Atheist Online Services] at 1:382/1006 in Austin_TX, by Robin
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Murray-O'Hair. Anyone may Areafix it from their Backbone feed as of
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15 Jan 95.
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The THEIST_WATCH rules are available in the current issue of the ELIST
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[ELIST501.LZH at 1:1/201 or ELIST501.ZIP at 1:374/14] for complete
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instructions on the Echo's operation.
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Also available from AAOS is the AAOS Echo. This is a privately [at
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present] distributed Echo for members or prospective members of
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American Atheists, Inc. AAOS Echo may be obtained from the source at
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1:382/1006 or from the alternate feed at 1:374/14. Send Netmail with
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session and Areafix passwords to the feed of your choice for a link.
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AAOS Echo contains atheist news and information as well as providing a
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direct link to American Atheists.
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If you are interested in keeping up with the shennanigans of the theist
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community, Areafix THEIST_WATCH from your Backbone source today!
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TTFN.
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Chris
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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INTERMAIL changing to IM_USER
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Recently the INTERMAIL echo has been deluged by misdirected Internet
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E-Mail. And even though we've been attacking the problem fairly
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aggressively, it still persists. Since some of the problem seems to
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be caused by the conference tag (INTER _is_ always followed by NET
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isn't is?), many of the participants of the echo feel that this
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might be a good time to change the tag. Whether this tactic will
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actually help remains to be seen, but we're going to give it a try.
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 7 23 Jan 1995
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So starting January 28th at 12:01am the new tag for the INTERMAIL
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echo will be IM_USER. If at all possible I would like to request
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that mail hubs have the new tag in their control files by that date
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and maintain the old one until February 11th.
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So far the Z1EC, all the Z1 RECs, the Z1 Stars, and Boyd Goodin at
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Planet Connect have recieved direct netmail messages from me
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concerning the change. I still have some netmail to other zones
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that needs to be sent, and I'll be sending it as directly as funds
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will allow. If you have some doubts about whether your feed is
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aware of the change, please take a minute and drop them a quick
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netmail.
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The new tag will show up in the February version of the EList
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(Elist502). Here's the info:
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Following is the current database entry:
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Tagname: IM_USER Area Key: IMUSER
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Title: Discussion echo for InterMail, a Fidonet frontend mailer.
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Description: A general discussion echo about the InterMail frontend
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mailer and InterEcho echomail processor by Peter Stewart.
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The conference serves as a forum for users to discuss
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InterMail and InterEcho as well as exchange information,
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tips and ideas about other third-party utilities for
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InterMail. Restricted to present and prospective users of
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InterMail and authors of related third party utilities.
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Origin:
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Distribution: Z1-Backbone, InterNational, RBBS-Net
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Gateways: RBBS-Net, PROnet
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# Nodes: Volume: 250/Week Rule File:
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Flags:
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Moderators: Lee Lefler, 1:280/5@fidonet.org
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Seen by:
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Paths:
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Date added: 3-Jan-95
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Last changed: 3-Jan-95 Changed by: Lee Lefler, 1:280/5
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Lee Lefler
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InterMail Moderator
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FidoNet 1:280/5
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Internet infinity@tyrell.net
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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========================================================================
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Fidonews Information
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========================================================================
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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 8 23 Jan 1995
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------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
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Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell
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Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
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Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
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Tom Jennings
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"FidoNews" BBS
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FidoNet 1:1/23
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BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
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||
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||
more addresses:
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Rev. Richard Visage -- 1:163/409
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Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
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Sylvia 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
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Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com
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(Postal Service mailing address)
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FidoNews
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128 Church St.
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Kitchener, Ontario
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Canada
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N2H 2S4
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voice: (519) 570-3137
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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 1995 Donald Tees. 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 eds.
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Articles by Madam emilia may be retransmitted freely through
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cyber-space.
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||
OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
|
||
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
|
||
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
|
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PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail
|
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address, or trade for copy of your 'zine.
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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
|
||
freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message 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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FidoNews 12-04 Page: 9 23 Jan 1995
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previously listed address.
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SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
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ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
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from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
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"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
|
||
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.
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"the pulse of the cursor is the heartbeat of fidonet"...
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-- END
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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