F I D O N E W S -- Volume 15, Number 15 13 April 1998 +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-209-251-7529 [1:1/23] | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Zorch Frezberg 1:205/1701 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> editor@fidonews.org | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ******* WE NOW HAVE AN IC! ****** Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 2. OFFICIAL NOTICES ......................................... 2 IC ELECTION NOTICE ....................................... 2 3. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 R10C Assumes New Duties .................................. 3 WELFARE for the AMIGA_LC! YES!! .......................... 4 4. COLUMNS .................................................. 6 The Planet of 300 Foot Pinocchios ........................ 6 5. COORDINATORS CORNER ...................................... 14 Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 100 ...... 14 6. NOTICES .................................................. 15 Future History ........................................... 15 7. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ...................................... 16 FidoNews PGP Public-Key Listing .......................... 16 8. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 17 9. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 19 FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 1 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= We have a new International Coordinator for FidoNet, it seems. This brings us to a point to sit back and reflect on a few things, not the least of which is the ongoing polarization of FidoNet between those who profess democracy versus those who claim that they are carrying it out. What good does it do to foment a _destructive_ anarchy, when a constructive and cooperative one works so much better? I note with irony that so many claim to be against the "political games" and "power trips"...and yet, so many of those complaining are using those same things that they complain about to obtain exactly what it is that they claim to be against. And, as with any other situation, it does help to be a bit more aware of the _facts_ than to listen to only one side and act. Perhaps we should all adhere more to the ideas that Tom Jennings put forth, and as quoted at the end of each issue of FidoNews. In the News... Apologies for the delay in releasing this issue, but RanD left me a heller of a formatting problem...another reason why it is important to follow the ARTSPEC.DOC format. RanD also submitted another article, but it was not complete, and has been sent to him for clarification. Rather that be accused of censorship once more, the article as received will be posted, with a correction hoped for next week. As a consequence, any article not submitted in accordance with ARTSPEC.DOC will most likely be delayed at least one week from time of submission, if extensive formatting is required. The usual diatribes, the ubiquitous "doomsday" clock from Ward, and a genuine article or two. -zf- ### 30 ### ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 2 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= OFFICIAL NOTICES ================================================================= IC ELECTION NOTICE It is with pleasure to inform all SysOp's, the ZC's have at long last managed to select a new International Coordinator. By a majority, current Zone 1 Coordinator Bob Satti, is the new IC. We congratulate him. It took many months to select a new IC and believe me, there was some heated discussions going on in the ZCC echo during this time. The ZCC can now continue with it's task ahead. Signed by: Bob Satti Z1C Ward Dosshe Z2C Alwyn Smith Z3C Luis Manterola Z4C Henk Wolsink Z5C Kazuyoshi Shinada Z6C [Submitted by Z5C, Henk Wolsink via E-Mail] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 3 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= R10C Assumes New Duties by Gerry Calhoun, 1:2004/200 gerry@petpride.org The R10C, Bob Kohl, seems to enjoy taking on new duties. If you recall he was just recently confirmed by Bob Satti in the past ZEC election. Soon after that, his REC, David Hallford, submitted his resignation as R10EC. David was kind enough to give three weeks notice to Kohl so that Kohl could arrange for a replacement for the R10EC position. Those three weeks have since passed and Region 10 has been without a REC in the NODELIST for three additional weeks. In his credit, in the past six weeks, Bob has told folks in the regional admin echo a couple times that he is talking to someone in Northern California about the position. Not whom he was talking to or anything else of substance, just that he was talking to someone. While he has been talking (for 6 weeks), he has decided to take on another responsibility, that of nodelist editor. He, as R10C, has decided to remove the NEC from Net 2004. This was not done due to her not fulfilling her duties as NEC, but rather because she is critical of his actions and inaction as R10C. His removal of her was done quickly and efficiently. He simply removed the UNEC flag at the end of her 1:2004/201 entry in the nodelist. He did not inform either her or the NC before he took this action. Kohl's efforts just last February to remove her were opposed by the former R10EC when Kohl approached David Hallford on this matter. That was one of the reasons David stated that he could not function as the R10EC. This action by Hallford showed that he was able to put personal feelings aside when it came to work as he and the NEC in question (Ruth Argust) had some quite heated exchanges during the recent ZEC election campaign. As I understand it, Kohl, upon becoming the Z1EC, asked as one of his first questions to the RECC, how he could remove an NEC. I heard that the consensus of the RECC was that he could not. Kohl seems to think it is important to take care of editing a net's nodelist segment and that it is one of his duties. On the other hand, he ignores the fact that one of the nets in his region has a still nodelisted NC who sent him a message in December giving him thirty days notice that he was shutting down his BBS. He did so on December 31,1997. The nodes in that net now have no NC and Kohl should have either see to a replacement, merged them into another net or moved them regional. It appears that since Net 204 does not talk badly about Kohl they are not a problem, the fact that they do not talk at all is irrelevant. On the other side of the coin, we have a net with ONE node in it. Net 2003 for some time has had only one node in it. The system listed as 1:2003/2 has had a disconnected number for months. The other nodes for that net all refer to the same system. FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 4 13 Apr 1998 While on the topic of the nodelist, it should also be known that Kohl has taken on a new hat under an assumed name. In Bob's home Net 102 segment, there is an improper flag of NEC with no preceding U. This in and of itself is not a great cause for concern. However, the fact that the nodelisted NEC is not in reality the NEC having resigned sometime ago is a bit questionable. Even more questionable is the listing for 102/2 that has traditionally been the Net 102 mail machine. The listing for this node is as follows: ,2,SoCalNet_EC,Los_Angeles_CA,Echomail_Coordinator,1-310-553-6379... If we were to simply go by the listed system and sysop name, it would appear that this is the NEC for net 102 and that the NC had simply overlooked removing the NEC flag after the former NEC resigned. However, upon closer investigation calling 1:102/2 reports a sysop of Pat Paulsen, a known "hero" of Bob Kohl, a man whom Kohl admires. In fact, you may remember that Bob had even made an entry in the nodelist last year in the R10 regional section for Kohl's phone number with Paulsen listed as sysop. Further investigation has shown that Kohl is attempting to run the mail machine from his home, along with all of his other duties but for almost THREE MONTHS has not been able to get it functioning because he can not configure the software. Thus, the Net 102 CRP has no backbone echomail, no local echomail and it has been reported that their routed netmail is also non-functional. Almost THREE MONTHS to set up a mailer? I think if you locked twenty chimpanzees in a room with twenty computers loaded with the software for a week, one of them would have hit enough of the right keys to get a mail machine working. This, folks, is what our new Z1EC has been up to. One of the duties assigned to him as ZEC per the duty list he had a large hand in creating, is overseeing the formation of a Zone 1 Echomail Policy. If you have followed what has happened in FIDOECHOPOL, the echo created to assist in the formation of said policy, you have seen it degenerate into chaos because of the rules, published and unpublished there. The one question that has been repeatedly asked by the participants is why an echo policy is needed but this has been declared off topic. This, my friends, is some of what our R10C and new Z1EC has been up to and what he has not been up to. It appears he has plenty of time to work in the backroom without enough time to work in front of us, doing what he has been charged with for the various positions he holds. Lately he has been claiming that real life has not been giving him enough time to perform his FidoNet duties. Let's hope that before he gives us more of his attention that someone explains to him that the "C" in his titles stand for COORDINATOR, not CONTROLLER and that when he devotes more time to us, it is in the front room instead of the back. ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > WELFARE for the AMIGA_LC! YES!! < < < Two old-time echos who have been decaying away without any traffic are OUT OF TRACTION AND B-B-BACK-IN-ACTION! FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 5 13 Apr 1998 WELFARE: an all out argue-and-debate over the U.S. welfare system. Where it was, is, and will be. If its broken. How to fix it. AMIGA_LC: using C and C++ on the Amiga. Compliers, libraries, tips, tricks, and more. If you aren't areafixing these echoes, WHY NOT? If you aren't reading these echos, WHY NOT? Both available on the Z1 NAB. -- Ronnie Grant at 1:3603/140 or ronnie.grant@global.dyn.ml.org ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 6 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= The Planet of 300 Foot Pinocchios - by Doc Logger Dear Editorbeing, This article is submitted by Doc Logger (163/110) who was busy trying to decipher the extraterrestrial signals sent by Bill Whitehorse. As near as could be translated, the messages said: "Don't talk to plants when the moon is full" but that could be an error due to Sunspot interference with the transmissions. Roll da flic, Zorch..... Dear Reverend Visage, The week has passed with the usual amusements provided by the same cast of Fido elflords. It seems that all of Fidoland is soon to be ruled by Bob Satti who assembled enough votes to become IC. It is only a minor trifle that Satti didn't deign to ask his own zone who they would prefer and hasn't obtained a mandate to act as Z1C. Ward Dossche, Z2C, who possessed both an electoral mandate and a consensus of the Zone 2 sysops was brushed aside in the stampede to ensure that representative democracy is kept at bay for another year at least. Triples all round at the ZCC conference and may the farce be with them. What is more remarkable about the selection of Satti is that he was busily mischaracterizing Dossche's position in the Z1C echo, and then had a minor pouty fit when Dossche posted corrections to Satti's nosestretchers. Satti wasn't alone however, because our lil' buddy Dallas "Pinocchio" Hinton, R17C was trying to defend having stuffed $een-bys into echomail traffic. Poor Dallas was also caught telling fibs about the topic of discussions in the Z1REGCON echo but used the quite incredible explanation for his duplicity that the Z1REGCON echo wasn't open to the public anyway. Visage, you've had more experience with Nixon than I have, but is situational ethics endemic in all walks of political life? Jerry Swartz, R16C, tried to float the same outrageous dissemblings and we can only hope that his explanations are as entertaining as Hinton's. Not to be outdone, our very own Zorch chose to parse some of Dossche's messages a little differently than the rest of the universe and managed to discern hints that Dossche was trying to stifle free speech. The truly hilarious part of Zorch's rant is the fact that what he incorrectly accuses Dossche, Zorch appears to be doing with his warnings to Ruth FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 7 13 Apr 1998 Argust about flying an appropriate mailer flag on a shared system. I'm not sure that irony is in Zorch's vocabulary but it certainly abounds in the splendour of his messages and editorials. For this week's Chautauqua I'll lead off with a quote from Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" which is a sort of primer for the expedient and cynical forms of governance. "How laudable is it for a prince to keep his word and govern actions by integrity rather than trickery will be understood by all. Nonetheless we have in our times seen great things accomplished by many princes who have thought little of keeping their promises and have known the art of mystifying the minds of men. Such princes have won out over those whose actions were based on fidelity to their word." And one more quote from Dallas Hinton, R17C, writing about the qualifications for a ZC: "As far as *I'm* concerned, only a current RC is even remotely qualified for the job. The average NC could no more be a successful ZC than walk to the moon." In the selection of Satti as IC, I think we have seen this Machiavellian principle employed with predictable consequences. On the one hand, Satti was bleating that he couldn't entertain legitimate requests for representative democracy because he was "saddled with policy" and on the other hand explaining that the previous IC had been elected by an "extension" to policy. What was sauce for the goose apparently isn't sauce for the gander. We had the amazing spectacle of the Z5C whose Zone numbers 86 sysops, casting an equal vote to the Z2C whose zone numbers 14,000 sysops. The Z5C's vote was made even more amusing by the fact that he was telling the FN_SYSOP mob that he was a keen supporter of representative democracy. Clearly, he is clueless as to the meaning of the words. We also have the quote from Hinton, R17C, who demonstrates an utter disdain for the abilities of NCs, and one wonders what opinion he actually holds about sysops. Hinton was one of the Great Minds who ensured that Satti wouldn't need to suffer the *inconvenience* of a sysop vote. I think what was more tragic about the IC election is that it could have provided a mechanism to chart the course of Fidonet's future. The issue of the declining nodelist and the reasons for sysop disenchantment could have been addressed and perhaps remedied. Unfortunately, we are now to be "led" by Satti whose imagination appears limited to the non-responsive, monosyllabic grunts which have become his means of communication in the Z1C echo. It was probably too much to hope for that the ZCs would at least spend some FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 8 13 Apr 1998 effort on the future of Fidonet rather than entrenching another elflord who will replace insight with an orison that he is bound by policy. Since humility was never one of my vices, I'd like to suggest that one of the most pressing problems confounding Fidonet is the quality of messages that are entered. How can we ever hope to compete with the eye-candy of Internet when we are creating vistas of sludge in our echos with their antfarm collections of quotes and emoticons sandwiched between words that rarely resemble full sentences or sentient thought. Does no one have any pride in what they write? Does no one possess the skills to write a cogent thought in a coherent fashion? Will someone please tell me that Forrest Gump hasn't been cloned and set loose on thousands of computers? At this juncture I would like to include the full text of two messages that I sent to Zorch Frezberg. As the Snoozlord, I'm sure that he will have the first and last word on the issue but I feel that the entirety of my messages should be reproduced. "To: Zorch Frezberg Subject: Zorched earth policy? If you read FIDOECHOPOL you might notice that after I raised my initial concerns, I stopped posting in that echo because I didn't have anything more to say. Incredibly, I agree that arguing over a "blank page" is futile other than advancing the first belief that the page should remain blank. I do have a genuine concern about Fidonet. I also realize that it is relatively easy for you to discount what I say by trivializing it as "rabble rousing" for the hell of it. I guess it depends on which side of the wall you happen to be on when the arrows start flying. I was as vociferous about the various OBO, NAB, BOFAQ "policy" initiatives as I am about the current infestation of policymongers. When the ZEC tried to take echomail out from *C control, I saved my wit and worked to establish alternative routing to do an end run around the bastards. I don't agree with removing the Tom Jennings trademarks but I see the issue as meaningless anyway. Tom is the only one who could assert claims to those trademarks and he has publicly declared that he doesn't intend to do so, other than speaking up to preclude someone else from claiming that right. You are wrong, by the way, about "violating international treaties and accords." Since my legal weasel was already inclined to rack up billable hours on my behalf, I had her research the issue. The Berne Convention FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 9 13 Apr 1998 applies *if* trademarks are registered in the applicable countries. The convention merely prevents someone else from registering his trademarks in Germany, but until Jennings *does* register them, they have no effect and - read closely here - falsely asserting a trademark in Germany (or Canada, or England, and perhaps others) is illegal. I am dismayed that Fidonet has been partially usurped by commercial entities, but since there are a number of them, monopoly control hasn't happened. In fact, with FTP connections, the limited *potential* for control has been diminished substantially. You mischaracterize my motives when you say that my actions indicate "an effort to cause destructive chaos." Anarchism doesn't mean chaos. Perhaps you and I disagree on our levels of optimism. You apparently subscribe to Burke's theory of governance where the "swinish mob" shouldn't be trusted with their own choices, whereas I subscribe to Paine's notion that choice is an inalienable right. (The Constitutions of your country and mine tend to enshrine the rights of which I speak.) I see the process of establishing accountability of *Cs as constructive. As far as I know, I'm only "acting in concert" with people because they share the same goals. My only *power* is one of suasion, whereas the *Cs who are balking at accountability are armed with their presumptive powers to control the nodelist. As a small footnote, I am occasionally more embarrassed by the people who agree with me, than those who oppose me...but anyone who accepts democracy or anarchism acknowledges the right of others to say what they please. On that same note, you might also have noticed that I have been very quick to chastise those cretins who would join a lynch mob to remove you as the Snoozlord. Your point is well taken that there may be a majority of sysops who are happy with the status quo. I don't presume to speak for them, but I do seek to *persuade* them. In almost all cases, I could blithely ignore the *Cs because their influence on my enjoyment of the hobby is minimal. My recent emergence from somnolence has *everything* to do with the fact that the ZC was musing about nuking our entire net from the nodelist over the childish antics of a few sysops. It occurred to me that if the *Cs were prepared to be that Draconian in their response, then perhaps it was time to disarm the *Cs so that their lack of wisdom wouldn't be inflicted on me. In truth I don't know if Dossche is a wolf in sheep's clothing because my only evidence is reading a few messages. What I *do* know is that you and a few others have consistently mischaracterized his position, and resort to vile insults, which leads me to conclude that he represents more promise than his detractors. You seem to FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 10 13 Apr 1998 see "control" devolving to Europe, as though the sysops there represent some sort of block. I see "control" devolving to sysops and it matters little to me where they live. One of the promises of Fidonet was that it would create a community of sysops who lived all over the planet. To: Zorch Frezberg Subject: brimstone and sulfur I think as a first premise in our discussion we should agree that neither of us represent a lumpen group for whose actions we're personally responsible. What the rest of net163 chooses to do is beyond my control, and also beyond my desire to control. Similarly, it wouldn't be appropriate to include Reg10 sysops as something for which you are responsible. As a matter of record, there are a great many things that net163 sysops do or have done that I don't agree with but I adamantly defend their right to do as they choose. On ECHPOLOL: You haven't answered a very simple question which is: what problems will be solved by the creation of more policy? Until you do that, common sense seems to indicate that you're riding a headless horse which *may* produce a happy result but the odds are against it. I've read your posts, including the one which appeared today, and you seem to begin with an a priori assumption that a document is required. I remain unconvinced, and as I said, I'm not posting in the echo because I have nothing substantive to say on that issue. You said "You *have* a wall to hide behind." Which wall would that be? You also said that don't have friends to hide behind. I agree with you there and I don't recall ever asserting otherwise. I'm not sure it would be illuminative to trade war stories about which people we've respectively *battled* over the history of Fidonet, but on the issue of the OBO/ NAB/ BOFAQ, you merely have to read back issues of the Snooz to obtain my opinions that were expressed at the time. (One in particular, titled "Who *are* those guys?" might help you.) If you could quote me the relevant section of the WIPO treaty I would be pleased to tell my lawyer that she has given me incorrect advice. My message did indicate that the trademark copyright problem occurs in Germany so perhaps they aren't yet signatories? John Souvestre *controls* echomail only to the extent that people choose to use his services for routing. For a good part of 1995 I was sending the whole Backbone direct to Montana so that they wouldn't have to contend with a local despot. I sent a good chunk of the backbone to Vienna on my FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 11 13 Apr 1998 dime in the early 90's for exactly the same reasons. If either you or I felt that any of the echomail relays were misbehaving, it would be a trivial exercise to pick up the entire backbone via Internet connections. I would guess that your private netmail from Dossche is more "threatening" than his public messages. Even the snippets that you posted in FIDONEWS don't support your assertion that he was filing a policy complaint. Just so's you know, the characterizations of Dossche as being some sort of fascist aren't born out by his public messages. You don't understand the meaning of the word if you believe that exercising his mandate from his Zone, with their specific approval on the IC issue, constitutes any sort of totalism. We can trade invective all day about whether my admiration for anarchy is "destructive" or "constructive." I think what we need are specifics in terms of what you think it will destroy and then perhaps I can respond by estimating whether the loss is a good or bad thing. To start off, I think that it will create cooperation out of necessity. I don't recall accusing someone of molesting animals or children or was your reference to those issues some sort of Straw Man that was meant to subdue my arguments? I admit that I am given to hyperbole and a belittling tone in a number of my messages. I don't suffer fools gladly and I'm not shy about telling people that. If you can give me an example of something that I have "mischaracterized" about you, then I'd be happy to correct it. I don't apologize for my education nor for using knowledge in my messages. I don't feel inclined to "dumb down" my discourse for a presumed lowest common denominator. Your "Whoopee do" paragraph was what? Faint praise? Jealousy? Gawd knows what it was. We both agree that Paine believed in choice as an inalienable right to the extent that your rights didn't intrude on mine. Can you point out where I've said otherwise? You should read the Snooz more often, but the quote from Paine speaks specifically to the issue of "governance" and where "governance" obtains its legitimacy. I suggest you read the whole book by Paine because he has a great deal to say about whether "governance" is grandfathered upon future generations simply because one generation formed a compact to be governed. No, your choice of two public posts does not prove that Dossche believes in the suppression of free speech. You also ought to read his message in the Z1C echo where he also took pains to explain that his concerns should be addressed but not be the cause for excommunication. I believe in free speech - specifically your right to use value-laden language likening Dossche to a Nazi regime. I FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 12 13 Apr 1998 also believe that your use of such terms is vile, just as I believe that using the "n" word to describe blacks or the "k" word to describe Jews; are vile. Your value system differs from mine, which is fine, and I would also defend your right to say those things while maintaining my right to tell you that the words are despicable. On the matter of my naivete about Dossche. When his posts started showing up they looked reasonable. I netmailed ten sysops (more or less randomly chosen) in his Zone and asked questions. I got 8 responses, all of which were positive. I netmailed Dossche directly and got answers to my questions. On that basis, I ascertained that his platform was worthy of support. What more could I do to educate myself? Now, contrast that with my experiences with Satti who rarely answers a question in a straightforward manner and has no substance to his platform and no mandate to advance what little he offers. I find it exceptionally difficult to believe that you would feel intimidated by anything let alone a presumed threat of a policy complaint. I don't know what its like on your end of the political spectrum but I count it as a slow week if my Snooz articles don't generate at least a couple of policy complaint threats and the odd threat of personal injury. Hell, socially maladroit people have been known to threaten policy complaints over the mailer where a message originated (cough). I don't claim to *represent* the "common man." I represent an idea which I hope will be appealing and I fully expect other sysops to act according to their beliefs. It bears repeating that the only tool in my arsenal is one of persuasion - I'm a key away from being powerless. The idea that I support is the one that founded Fidonet and worked very well for Fidonet until the first infestation of policymongers. I've often joked about the fact that you and I are similar in temperament but just happen to live on opposite poles of the political spectrum. My ideal version of Fidonet suggests that there is not only room for both of us, but that we both have the freedom to express our opinions. Where we essentially disagree is in the extent to which we are willing to give up freedom to either "policy" or *Cs. When I joined Fidonet, there was no requirement to give up freedoms to either of those "authorities" and I'd like to see Fidonet returned to that condition. I'll grant that the current crop of elflords are pissants compared to the totalist ambitions of Dodell or Kashuba in the past, but they still haven't seemed to grasp what role they ought to have in Fidonet. This whole discussion has centered around form in Fidonet as opposed to substance. I believe that the most significant FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 13 13 Apr 1998 issue to be faced by Fidonet is the content and style of messages. (Just so you don't get alarmed, I am adamantly opposed to any sort of compunction with respect to content or style.) The echomail that is moved, and the political landscape through which it flows are trivial compared to examining *what* is being moved. I don't know if it has occurred to you that you are a rarity in Fidoland. You write in whole sentences (most of the time,) you engage subjects with a certain amount of thought, and you obviously devote energy to what you write. Contrast your writings with much of what fills echomail conferences. The poor moderators who might have been educators have been reduced to kindergarten teachers adjudicating petty squabbles. Place any 100 messages from an echo in front of the average literate person and explain that it represents the best and the brightest of International discourse on the echomail topic... and then try to figure out why sysops are leaving in droves and why users avoid Fidonet like the plague. The answer will be self-evident in those 100 messages with their screenfuls of quotes, their trophalactic grunts, their emoticons, and their general level of utter gibberish. If I had to saddle up Pedro and tilt at a significant windmill, it would be on the issue of convincing sysops and users to raise their levels of communication beyond the dreck which gets posted now. Perhaps, on this issue we might happily find ourselves on the same side of the fence?" / / / / I must go, Visage. The El Nino current has washed video-cassettes of Gerry Springer shows onto the beach. Your secretary has taken up fisticuffs and is pummeling the filing cabinet. I fear that if we don't distract her, the contents of the cabinet - which is some of the finest Scotch - may be disturbed in their slumber. As the good and decent people that we are, we should send her immediately to Moose Meadow, Saskatchewan. Regards, Doc Logger, Furlang Island, South Pacific ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 14 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= COORDINATORS CORNER ================================================================= Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 100 By Ward Dossche, 2:292/854 ZC/2 +--------+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--+ !Zone/Jul!Ndl-072!Nodel.-079!Nodel.-086!Nodel.-093!Nodel.-100!%%! +--------+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--+ ! 1/100 ! 5620 ! 5578 -42! 5512 -66! 5512 0! 5446 -66!25! ! 2/100 ! 14066 !14219 153!14215 -4!14130 -85!14085 -45!66! ! 3/093 ! 526 ! 523 -3! 520 -3! 517 -3! 507 -10! 2! ! 4/093 ! 402 ! 401 -1! 400 -1! 398 -2! 398 0! 2! ! 5/093 ! 87 ! 87 0! 87 0! 86 -1! 86 0! 0! ! 6/093 ! 934 ! 934 0! 934 0! 908 -26! 920 12! 4! +--------+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--+ ! 21635 !21742 107!21668 -74!21551 -117!21442 -109! +-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 15 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= Future History 30 Apr 1998 Queens Day, Holland. 17 May 1998 Independence Day, Norway. 22 May 1998 Expo '98 World Exposition in Lisbon (Portugal) opens. 14 Sep 1998 Start of International BBS Week [thru 20 Sep 98]. 22 Sep 1998 First anniversary of the FidoNews domain of www.fidonews.org. 1 Dec 1998 Fifteenth Anniversary of release of Fido version 1 by Tom Jennings. 24 Jul 1999 XIII Pan American Games [through 8 Aug 99]. 31 Dec 1999 Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed. 1 Jan 2000 The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec. 1 Jun 2000 EXPO 2000 World Exposition in Hannover (Germany) opens. 15 Sep 2000 Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens. 1 Jan 2001 This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E. -- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 16 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ================================================================= FidoNews PGP Public-Key Listing [this must be copied out to a file starting at column 1 or it won't process under PGP as a valid public-key] -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Democracy Requires A Free And Uncensored Press. mQENAzUDQfgAAAEH/2cZjrzKxinfyk1NRYy2D78JEU8jFx6fvGyisnN2SX+QwRrA AxBbsMuseM3x60SFhHV7r93CxKWJylPCBJKvDazmWwy+vgBr+ZJvl7Ypj/IB4pWS Apngg8cmDH1h5d0VeYNORsuJ2udHZYRezkZ0eeJlaOsJCj5Xu0QImSp++VU/0oB1 6XRoNPy548xq8Qles1pLC8Kw7HU7Vff1WeaU3mPPQeaGZqn2qSAu5t6Z0Bhm27Pq zNaJ+JWNHaLCHlwrRHV+p9bCdfl3u303OxKPne0cSpxfe+gQBTlVta7B14ssgnzQ mnBFhvKWgM7LT105YD3EcWW9IJE1ByNHwo25a3EABRG0D0ZpZG9OZXdzIEVkaXRv cokAlQMFEDUKMDDrSgiY3KJNQQEB16YD/2tYVRC+dxghA/OwIWNH20GvQXw1zgfv cB6r8gYHcczTCqGu5qbjDOTftoBXY9vI3/CZNsSbvp0ibQinpN6zSgyy2+4wwPbu db/VnjXwBByq7ygTpNwQBMsYjs+iyndwTnR90dH3FewsveBCzeqjmP0Y/PJliElw zEmGKxoFr1SM =G82W -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- File-request FNEWSKEY from 1:1/23 [1:205/1701] or download it from IKVHFoT! BBS at 1-209-251-7529 anytime Zone 1 ZMH at 300-9600+ V34. The FidoNews key is also available on the FidoNews homepage listed in the Masthead information. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 17 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= FIDONET BY INTERNET ================================================================= This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the Editor as of this appearance. NOTE: I am looking for a comprehensive list of Telnet, VMODEM, BinkP, Argus and other TCP/IP based nodes operating FidoNet on the InterNet, either by Zone or worldwide, to post here as well. - Ye Editor ============ FidoNet: Homepage http://www.fidonet.org FidoNews http://www.fidonews.org [HTML] http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html [ASCII] WWW sources http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/students/cs_yr94/lk/fido.html FTSC page http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/ftsc.htm Echomail http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/index.html WebRing http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fnetring.html [TFN] General Info http://owls.com/~jerrys/fidonet.html Read Echoes http://newn.com/messages.html ============ Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/ Region 13: http://www.smalltalkband.com/st01000.htm Region 14: [disappeared?] Region 15: [disappeared?] Region 16: http://www.tiac.net/users/satins/region16.htm Region 17: http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/region17.htm REC17: http://www.westsound.com/ptmudge/ Region 18: http://techstop.pdn.net/fido/ Region 19: http://www.compconn.net ============ Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org ZEC2: http://www.proteus.demon.co.uk/zec.htm Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fbone.ch/z2_elist/ FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 18 13 Apr 1998 Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish) Region 23: http://www.fido.dk/ Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (in German) Region 25: http://www.trak-one.co.uk/net254 Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (in French) Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (in Swiss) Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (in Italian) Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (in Spanish) REC34: http://pobox.com/~chr Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/ Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (in Greek and English) Region 48: http://www.fidonet.org.pl ============ Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org ============ Zone 4: (not yet listed) Region 90: Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (in Spanish) ============ Zone 5: http://w3.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/index.htm ============ Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (China) ============ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 19 13 Apr 1998 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ------- Editor: Zorch Frezberg Editors Emeritii: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Christopher Baker "FidoNews Editor" FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS 1-209-251-7529, 300/1200/2400/9600/V.34/V.90 more addresses: Zorch Frezberg -- 1:205/1701, zorch@repairnet.com zorch@fidonews.org zorch@qnis.net zorch@eiv.com zorch@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews Editor P.O. Box 642 Fresno, CA 93709-0642 U.S.A. voice: 1-209-446-9038 [voice mail = 'blind' numbers not returned] ------------------------------------------------------ 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 1998 Zorch Frezberg. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the Editor. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 20 13 Apr 1998 back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSFnn.ZIP] for a particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the current year [8], i.e., FNWSJAN8.ZIP for all the Issues from Jan 98. Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number 1 - 15 for 1984 - 1998, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in size from 48K to 1.4M. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via: http://www.fidonews.org http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/ ftp://ftp.aminet.org/pub/aminet/comm/fido/ ftp://ftp.irvbbs.com/fidonews/ *=*=* You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to: jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the email distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist with no message to the same address above. * You may retrieve current and previous Issues of FidoNews via FTPMail by sending email to: ftpmail@fidonews.org with a Subject line of: help and FTPMail will immediately send a reply containing details and instructions. When you actually make a file request, FTPMail will respond in three stages. You find a link for this process on www.fidonews.org. *=*=* You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at: http://www.fidonews.org STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request - Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from: ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents FIDONEWS 15-15 Page 21 13 Apr 1998 for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 13 Megs. =*=*=*= The current week's FidoNews and the FidoNews public-key are now also available almost immediately after publication on the FidoNews Editor homepage on the World Wide Web at: http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an email link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= A PGP generated public-key is available for the FidoNews Editor from 1:1/23 [1:205/1701] by file-request for FNEWSKEY or by download from IKVHFoT! BBS at 1-209-251-7529 as FIDONEWS.ASC in File Area X. It is also posted twice a month into the PKEY_DROP Echo available on the Zone 1 Echomail Backbone. *=*=*=*=* 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 Editor, or file-requestable from 1:1/23 [1:205/1701] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators also have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141, and are used with permission. "Disagreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or something to amuse ourselves and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings ### -30- ### --------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------