F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No. 4 (23-Jan-1994) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | | | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: | | _ | | | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS | | /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: | | | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet addresses: | | | | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) | | editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies and other boring but important details, | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 1 2. Articles...................................................... 2 NEW Handyman Echo!.......................................... 3 What An Editor Is For....................................... 3 My baby is NOT ugly!........................................ 6 Nueva conferencia sobre politica: POLITICA.INT.............. 8 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 11 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== FidoNews 11-04 Page: 2 23 Jan 1994 I'm not in a great mood. Sorry. Everyone anywhere who wants to tell me what to do should go away. Anyone even trying to entertain themselves or get something else done, i can tolerate easily. Someone just told me what to do by adding some whine to some soup i was intensely concocting without even gesturing first that that was what they were going to do to MY soup, so i thought about the scene for five minutes then threw the soup pot away, hot into the sink (Editor's note: against the wall, actually), amidst spashes of reddish liquid enhanced with flowering fresh thyme. Rebellion has its place. When no-one wants to hear what you have to say, sometimes it makes sense to yell. That's why i'm not so completely shamed by much of the input we've been getting lately, about how we should censor the Snooze. Of sourse, i'll hear about how wrong i am. Maybe in the future some articles that are very boring will become lost in the bit bucket. But those articles which don't make sense to me, i want to print those. What if they do make sense? I did not at all understand that article about dark fibre from months ago, and now look what is happening with the telephone networks! Fringe statements tend to have some girth to them. They suggest more than they portend. i know there's lots of whining going on. What's the opposite of that? Everything in it's place and all buttons polished? Some people do have sensible bitches to make. Not everyone, but some people. One of the purposes of this newsletter, i believe, is to ensure that there exists some last ditch forum for whines. Hopefully everything is tickey-boo and whining will be minimal. What am i saying! Everything isn't fine. I interrupted a conversation in some echo, which involved a couple of pseudo-or-real women, and was about what it's like to log on a BBS as a woman compared to what it's like to log on to a BBS as a man. I asked them to write an article. I hope they respond. Someone has offered to write a monthly "Mac User's" column. i'm hoping to hear from you too. Another purpose of the Snooze is to air some very interesting technical stuff in a forum where there are people willing to try new things. TTYL ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== FidoNews 11-04 Page: 3 23 Jan 1994 NEW Handyman Echo! by Mike Griffin Handyman and Woodworkers Echo Looking for a Woodworking Echo? Want to talk about that new power tool you just bought? Wanna swap some ideas on woodworking projects and crafts? Wanna talk about that deck you have been meaning to build? Need some tips on electrical, plumbing or carpentry? I am proud to announce the HANDYMAN echo available now! The echo will consist of all topics including home repair, woodworking, remodeling, plumbing, electrical, project design and planning, general tips, powertools and anything related to the HANDYMAN. This is an excellent place to swap those plans you drew up on the computer with someone else who might have just what you're looking for. We will cover from the smallest scroll saw cuts to building your dream home. Get tips from people who work in these fields everyday. Share your knowledge with the weekend do-it-yourselfer's. If you would like to carry this echo please contact the following person for feed info via NETMAIL. Dust off those tools and let's get crankin'. Contact: Mike Griffin 1:106/5 The Unnecessary Habit BBS Echotag: HANDYMAN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- What An Editor Is For What An Editor Is For Dennis McClain-Furmanski 1:275/429 I've watched for years as various editors of the Snooze have implemented various editorial policies, and have frequently had to bite my tongue -- or more precisely fingers. I've also seen some pretty hefty hunks of diatribe tossed at us through this channel, each shovel load of self-interest followed closely by several more of adrenalin charged replies and accusations of or appeals for censorship. Recently, in FN 11 #3, Mike Bilow of 1:323/107 made as elegant an appeal for application of editing in the Snooze as any I've ever seen, or could muster myself for that matter. In apprehensive anticipation of some of the standard slams I expect him to get, I feel a need to offer some experience on just exactly what it is he's asking for. I still expect the diatribe and even some flack for facts such as the following. I just want to make sure that the emotional outbursts which will inevitably continue will do so with the knowledge that most of FidoNews 11-04 Page: 4 23 Jan 1994 the world uses as guidelines for publication. I have six years experience as the senior editor of one international publication and a year and a half as contributing editor of another local. I was asked to work for the second because of the job I've done on the first; I know my job. An editor is to edit his or her publication. They are to select those pieces which serve the needs of the audience. They should be selected for their ability to make decisions as to which serve those needs. It is their job to select from the submissions those pieces that they feel will make their publication good. This means rejecting those that do not serve to improve the quality. "Reject? But that's *gasp* CENSORSHIP!" Not just no, but HELL no, it's not. If it were censorship for an editor to reject those pieces which are not suitable *in their opinion*, then you'd be seeing pornography in Newsweek, Pat Robertson on CBS Evening News, and every twit with a nit to pick in every publication of every sort; everything submitted would have to be published. Life isn't like that, for those that haven't noticed. Censorship is when a governing body controls what a publication may publish. This is control from OUTSIDE the publication. Control exercised from INSIDE the publication is an editor doing his or her job. Hold your lunge for the Webster's (being a recognizable name associated with dictionaries, it is used as a marketing label by any publisher who wishes to; Webster's has no authoritative weight). If you're having the urge to look up 'censor' or some variation, hear this paraphrase from the recent movie Philadelphia, "We don't live in the dictionary, do we?" Live in the real world here. This is how things are, not how books say things are when they're taken as individual words, which is about as far out of any context as you can get. Somewhere around this point sputtering screeches of FREEDOM OF SPEECH resound. I have a hard nut to chew for those with a fixation on this phrase. The vast majority of you have no idea what this means, and therefore what your rights really are (as may be applied by your particular country of origin). Your right to free speech means you can say anything you want. And you can. Try it. See? Now go look at your national list of freedoms and see where it says that someone has to provide you with the means by which to say it. You won't find it. Nobody has to give you anything in the way of assistance in getting your point across. Want to talk? Fine. Want to publish? Go ahead. Want me to carry your words in the publication that I am responsible for producing? Bite the bugs off my windshield, bub, it ain't gonna happen, unless it fits what I as editor determine is appropriate material for that publication. You do not have the right to force your material into my publication. A right only exists when there also exists a corresponding duty on someone's part to provide you with the ability and/or means to do what the right allows. You may or may not have the right to speak your mind in public; check your local listings. There is no duty expressed or implied by any laws that I know of requiring the Snooze or any other FidoNews 11-04 Page: 5 23 Jan 1994 publication to print your opinion. Most every publication which does print your opinion either does so as a source of material -- it exists at least in part for that purpose -- or merely as a voluntary service. Has the Snooze an editorial policy? Mostly in the existential sense that most everything goes in because nobody rejects much of anything. Is that the desirable policy? If so, fine. If not, you as the audience need to let the editors know. You are after all their bosses. It's not even necessary to write an article about it. In fact, that's probably not even a good idea, as it'll just clog the thing with what amounts to a vote. A simple letter to the editor should suffice. If they choose to put it in, that's their karma. Everything and most kitchen sinks has been the policy so far, for the current and most past editors, making them more correctly collators, overseeing the technical process of manufacture more than selecting editorial content. Our current editors are no exception. But this is not to fault them for the job so far. They have done it the way it has been done, and have received little other direction. They've done fine with what they have to work with. But I feel that it's time that they review the editorial policy, by whatever means they find useful, and clarify for the readership what this policy is to be. Having done so, hopefully with the knowledge of what WE want in the Snooze, I charge them to do their job, regardless of the claims made by people who refuse to educate themselves on exactly what the rights they have are. Choosing to print everything is fine. Printing everything because everybody whines that you HAVE to is to succumb to ignorance and the pressure of the highly vocal minority which attacks every publication that they find they might be able to intimidate. Now, it seems to me that several people have complained about the content. ANY time this happens, an editor should take a look at what they're doing and reassess. This should be a constant process. And when many people complain the same way, an editor should listen hard. They should also try as best they can to determine if it's that vocal minority again. If any medium lends itself to investigation of opinions, it's this one. Ever hear of random sampling? Try sending out netmail to members at random and soliciting their opinion privately (offering to make it public if they wish). A driving concern for a product such as the Snooze should be is this the appropriate place for this? Consider; this medium provides enormous opportunity to express opinion. Let people express their opinions on topics of limited interest in their echomail areas of limited interest. Is it of network concern? Then maybe the network as a whole needs to know it. Does the network as a whole need to know about a particular view on (to choose a recent example) homosexuality? How will this particular opinion benefit the network? Finally, with a feeling for what the readers want, coupled with the resolve to represent the aim of the publication even in the face of disagreement, the editor must look at the available material and choose to publish or reject. Mercilessly and without favor. Or else FidoNews 11-04 Page: 6 23 Jan 1994 step aside for someone who can. The reader also has a say in it. If they don't like the editorial policy of the publication, they can not read it. Hell, give them their subscription money back. They can also send complaints to the editors. If they expect every single opinion to be expressed publicly, then they're ignorant, or worse yet, spoiled by an editorial policy bound to waste a great deal of time and space on topics of little interest to most Please, editors: Decide, clarify and state. We need a consistent editorial policy. Once this is done, no matter what it is, someone won't like it. But at least we won't have to listen to the constant blather about what should and should not be in, because there should be no need to provide space for that. And once you decide, edit. That's your job. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ==================== My baby is NOT ugly! ==================== Don Dawson 1:141/730 In FidoNews Vol.11 No. 2 (09-Jan-1994), Randy DeVaux - 1:141/701, from The Brookfield Community Internet BBS submitted an article called: ======================================= The Nodelist - Quality is *NOT* job one ======================================= This is an open reply to RanD (as he's known to all, including the nodelist). You've recently mentioned to folks in our region, net, and local sysop echoes that you gave me my node #. Actually it was about April of 1987. If you would like me to return it, fine. When echomail distribution was a disaster 5-6 years ago some of us got together and decided to do something about it. Echomail distribution has been almost problem free ever since. You chose not to participate. Fine. When SDS and SDN were started some time ago, you chose not to participate, except to take files from my system. Fine. For years you've been telling me your system supports file requests. But each time I try, including a couple weeks ago, it fails. When I ask about the failure, you assure me file requests work however hours are limited. You neglect to mention the hours during which I could try again. Fine. FidoNews 11-04 Page: 7 23 Jan 1994 You always successfully file request files from my system. Fine. I often find unexpected files in my inbound area that have arrived for no apparent reason from your system. Fine. You often send new echoes to my system un-announced. Fine. Early this year you decided to help your daughter with a Girl Scout project and you applied for and received a Government Grant to connect Connecticut schools to the InterNet. You decided to no longer be a Hub Coordinator. Fine. You nominated Tom Ruddy as an RC candidate in the RC election this Spring. You chose not to be a candidate yourself. Fine. You were properly nominated for NC of our network in the election held this summer. At the 11th hour, you withdrew. Fine. When the MailNodes were formed for the purpose of expediting netmail with local phone calls around most of Connecticut, you chose not to participate. Fine. Since getting involved with your InterNet project you've written message after message about FIDONET.ORG. I (and others) have asked you what FIDONET.ORG is, time and time again. You haven't answered. Fine. In recent months, and again as recently as this week, you've suggested Connecticut needs another FidoNet network yet you can't (won't?) tell anyone why. Fine. If you sincerely believe Connecticut needs another net and it can meet FidoNet requirements (at least 3 nodes, geographically contiguous, etc). Fine. When you told everyone that Santa brought you a CDROM writer and were asked how much a blank CD cost, you avoided answering the question. Fine. You recently resigned as moderator of CT_USER. You then withdrew your resignation and remain moderator. Fine. A few days ago your system sent me some Windows files and *.TICs that your system sent here early in the month. Fine. In your FidoNews story, you've complained about 141/1001 as a private entry in the nodelist. You've known it's a machine I installed in a closet in Ridgefield that sends echo and net mail between Danbury and Wilton (a LD) phone call. Want the nodelist entry and the machine removed? Fine. With all of these fine things, why am I writing? Your FidoNews story has several errors. For example: FidoNews 11-04 Page: 8 23 Jan 1994 ----------------------------------------------- Morton Sterheim - Network Coordinator 1:321/0 ----------------------------------------------- 321 0 - No Nodes Private or Down! ------------------------------------------ If you re-check, you'll see that 321/163 was down in nodelist.007. -------------------------------------------- Larry Kolada - Network Coordinator 1:327/0 -------------------------------------------- 327/475 74 Down Down Down Down Down 327/485 89 Down Down Down Down Down 323/1000 75 Private Private Private Private Private -------------------------------------------- Node 323/1000 (above) is actually 327/1000. -------------------------------------------- Mark Goodwin - Network Coordinator 1:328/0 -------------------------------------------- 328/865 77 Down Down Down Down Down ------------------------------------------- Mike Girard - Network Coordinator 1:329/0 ------------------------------------------- 329 0 - No Nodes Private or Down! ----------------------------------------- Node 328/865 above is really 329/865. Mark had "No Nodes Private and Down". Not so with Net 329, Mike Girard. There is no 328/865 node. I "know" all of the above NC's. I'm certain they're too gentlemanly to embarrass you publicly as you have embarrassed them. You complained in the region sysop echo that your hub was sending you echomail during ZMH but failed to tell your hub until much later. When you finally did mention it to your hub, he corrected the error in a New York minute. He had a typo in his event file. I've seen much of the mail you've sent to our NC in the last 5 months harassing him about trivial issues. There's only one word I can think of to describe it: disgusting. My baby isn't ugly. Fidonet is still going and going and going... If InterNet is now your fancy, please go for it! Remember though, you're spending real money: OUR tax dollars. Lighten up, this *is* just a hobby. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Nueva conferencia sobre politica: POLITICA.INT Nueva conferencia sobre politica: POLITICA.INT por Pablo Kleinman FidoNews 11-04 Page: 9 23 Jan 1994 Desde hace unas pocas semanas que ha comenzado a ser distribuida una nueva conferencia de echomail, llamada POLITICA.INT. La misma se distribuye actualmente en varios paises de las zonas 1, 2 y 4, y esperamos sea un foro interesante para la discusion de temas que hacen a la politica tanto interna como externa, de los paises hispanos, y del mundo. A continuacion de esta nota, copio el reglamento del area, donde tambien hay un resumen sobre la orientacion y temas de la conferencia. Esperando verlos a todos por alli, -Pablo Normas de la conferencia POLITICA.INT: -------------------------------------- ETIQUETA (TAG) POLITICA.INT TITULO Area internacional en espanyol sobre politica. MODERADORES ZONA 1: Pablo Kleinman (1:10/100) ZONA 2: Manuel Fuentes (2:348/201) ZONA 4: Pedro Aguilera (4:880/1) TEMATICA Esta conferencia se destina al intercambio de informacion y opiniones sobre temas de politica internacional. NORMAS El idioma oficial de esta conferencia es el espanyol. El ingles esta permitido como idioma oficial de Fidonet a nivel mundial. No obstante esto ultimo, se recomienda a todos los participantes en esta conferencia, el uso preferente del idioma espanyol. No se permitiran mensajes ni respuestas privadas. Los seudonimos no seran permitidos, pues una elemental norma de cortesia exige el uso de nombre y apellidos reales en las cabeceras o pies de los mensajes. Estan permitidos el uso de los caracteres ASCII de 8 bits necesarios para la correcta escritura de los idiomas oficiales de la conferencia que, ademas, se recomienda utilizar para tal fin. Por el contrario, se ruega no usar el resto de los caracteres ASCII de 8 bits que no sean imprescindibles para tal finalidad. INFORMACION GENERAL FidoNews 11-04 Page: 10 23 Jan 1994 Se ruega a los participantes predisposicion a una mentalidad abierta y espiritu tolerante, cortesia y educacion. No se admitiran ataques personales o insultos, actividades ilegales, mensajes difamatorios, ni informacion fraudulenta o conscientemente erronea. INCUMPLIMIENTO DE LAS NORMAS A los autores de los mensajes que no cumplan estas normas se les advertira de la siguiente forma: Primer aviso: El moderador pedira que cesen las anomalias que pudieran darse lugar. Este aviso sera hecho por Net-Mail. De cual quier forma, no debe responderse a estos mensajes en el Eco, ya que se generarian multiples e innecesarios mensajes. Segundo aviso: Si la anomalia continua, el moderador pedira al/los autores de estos mensajes que cesen en sus acciones en un corto mensaje puesto en la misma conferencia. Cualquier res- puesta a este mensaje, debera ser hecha por NetMail. Tercer aviso: Si la anomalia no cesa, el moderador indicara al NEC la desconexion de el/los sistemas implicados, por un tiempo que oscilara entre 3 y 6 meses. La reincidencia en la no observacion de estas normas, dara lugar a la excomunicacion indefinida y permanente de esta conferencia de los sistemas implicados. En cualquier caso, se tendra en cuenta que los Sysops son los responsables de las acciones que realizen sus usuarios. Todas las quejas deberan ser enviadas al moderador de la conferencia y solo despues de esta medida si es necesario directamente, en primer lugar al NEC, despues al REC y por ultimo al ZEC. DISPONIBILIDAD DE ESTAS REGLAS Estas reglas estaran disponibles bajo el nombre de POLITICA.RUL en los sistemas de los moderadores de la conferencia. Es recomendable que ademas, todos los Nodos que distribuyan esta conferencia la tuvieran, asimismo, a disposicion de sus usuarios. FECHA DE LA ULTIMA ACTUALIZACION DE ESTAS NORMAS 25 de Diciembre de 1.993 Manuel Fuentes (2:348/201) FidoNews 11-04 Page: 11 23 Jan 1994 ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tom Jennings IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been changed!!! Please make a note of this. "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) Internet addresses: Don & Sylvia (submission address) editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews (we're easy). OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere, mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.) INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding FidoNews 11-04 Page: 12 23 Jan 1994 FidoNet, please direct them to deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org, not the FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.) SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. Asked what he thought of Western civilization, M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea". -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------