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