Original Message Date: 18 Nov 91  23:16:38
From: Glen Johnson on 1:269/101
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Stuff
^AMSGID: 1:269/101@fidonet a116bfb4
[this is not intended for publication in Fidonews. Please don't publish it]

Tom,

I read your editorial in the latest Fidonews with great interest; the one
about Regions creating their own power.

All of what you say is true, but you give us no suggestions for getting out
of this repressive scheme. It is difficult to "revolt" against the level
above when the level above makes the rules for the level below, and hangs
your node number in the balance.

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Mike Miller, a reporter for the
Wall Street Journal about doing an article about Fidonet. I gave him a Ť
great
deal of information as I spoke with him for about 45 minutes. I gave him
your name, Bob Gleason's name, George Peace, etc. When the article was
published, I was happy to see he followed up on the leads I gave him. What
resulted was a very positive and wondrous article about Fidonet.

But between the time I talked to him, and the time the article appeared,
I wondered all the time if what I had done was a "good thing". Fidonet has
a very violent, dictatorial underbelly. A lot of the coordinators rule like
like their net or region or zone is an empire, a tangible thing, a domain,
a country, a SOMETHING. And the thing that amazes me, is that the sysops
of Fidonet, almost 11,000 of them, have absolutely NO say in how the
network is managed or what direction it takes. It is definitely controlled
by a handful of people that apparently will remain there forever.

I have been a net coordinator before, and I will be again in the next
nodelist as net 2605 is created in New Jersey. Three new nets, 2604,5 and
6 are really Fidonet 269 breaking into three small pieces. You have no
idea what we had to go through to get this accomplished. We practically
had to kiss the Region Coordinator's BUTT for approval. But the fact
that I have been an NC doesn't change my feeling that Fidonet should
be administered from the bottom UP, instead of the other way around.

I shudder to think how much money Fidonet sysops around the world
hand over to their respective telephone companies each and every month.
THESE are the people that are paying the bills, and THESE are the
people that should have the unlimited freedom to create and manage their
nets as they see fit, and put people in "positions of responsibility"
that serve their best interests.

The current "structure" is ridiculous.

Although I have only been involved in Fidonet since late 1988, I DO know
what its like to start at the very beginning with inter-BBS email. I was
one of the first people to install something called Color64Network into
my Color64 BBS that I ran on my Commodore 64 in 1986. In a short time,
HUNDREDS of Color64 systems were networking. No coordinators, no rules,
no nothing, just the "miracle" of messages being transmitted to other
BBS's at night. The author of the Color64Network module published a list
of who purchased the module and what their BBSs were. All you did was
contact the BBS you wanted to add to your very own personal nodelist,
and you were "linked" with another system. It was great.

Fidonet has come a long way since you started the ball rolling many
moons ago, and I'm afraid you've let it get away from you. The POWER
needs to be removed from the *C positions. Coordinators should ALL
be elected, and they should be BOUND by the will of those below. Every
single sysop in Fidonet should have a vote on who the next ZC is.
Every single sysop in Region 13 should have a vote on who the next RC
is. SYSOPS should be voting; NOT coordinators. If you take a region
with 8 nets, and the RC makes pals out of 6 of the NCs, then the RC
basically has Carte Blanche. Even though every single sysop in the
region may hate his guts.

It repulses me to think that the very PEOPLE that are responsible for
the very EXISTENCE of this "organization" have virtually no control
over its management. Did you know that only REGION COORDINATORS can
draft proposed policy documents? Only REGION COORDINATORS can adopt
a new policy for the network? Insane.

What it boils down to is this. YOU are the only person with the REAL
authority in this network. YOU are the only person that can take
the POWER out of the *C positions, and RETURN them to "positions
of responsibility" as you said in your editorial. Not Matt Whelan,
not George Peace, not Thom Henderson, YOU. You own the trademark, and
you own the nodelist. Fidonet coordinators have the power the do
because you allow them to. You could easily remove it.

A revolt from below is not feasible. Its very easy for 10 Region
Coordinators to unite. Its not that easy for 9,000 US Fidonet
sysops to unite.

After all these years, Fidonet is STILL your baby; don't forget that.
If you would come forward and install an election process; make
coordinators RESPONSIBLE to the people the serve, rather than RULE
them, everyone would be a lot better off. People in Fidonet would
feel like they MATTER, that they are PARTICIPATING, that they COUNT
in the grand scheme of things, instead of some grunt that can be ex-
communicated if he pisses off the NC or RC.

I'm not saying that the current almighty totalitarian structure is
your FAULT, just that you are the ONLY person in a position to change
it. I'm one that hopes for the day that you will.

Glen Johnson
1:269/101.