The F I D O N E W S Volume 19, Number 26 01 Jul 2002 +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | |The newsletter of the | | Fido, Fidonet and dog-with-diskette are | | | FidoNet community. | | US Registered Trademarks of Tom Jennings| | | | | San Francisco, California, USA | | | ____________| | | | | / __ | Crash netmail articles to: | | | / / \ | Editor @ 2:2/2 (+46-31-944907) | | | WOOF! ( /|oo \ | Routed netmail articles to: | | \_______\(_| /_) | Bjorn Felten @ 2:203/0 | | _ @/_ \ _ | Email attach to: | | | | \ \\ | bfelten@telia.com | | | (*) | \ ))| | | |__U__| / \// | Editor: Bj”rn Felten | | ______ _//|| _\ / | | | / Fido \ (_/(_|(____/ | Newspapers should have no friends. | | (________) (jm) | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ Copyright 2002 by Fidonews Editor for Fidonews Globally. Table of Contents 1. FOOD FOR THOUGHT ......................................... 1 2. INSIDE ................................................... 2 The Fidonews at a Glance ................................. 2 3. GENERAL ARTICLES ......................................... 3 The Loss of a Friend ..................................... 3 Confessions of an Ex-Sysop (7) ........................... 5 FRAMED IN CYBERSPACE BY THE FBI .......................... 7 Destruction of a network: The Elements of Control ........ 8 To Change Or Not To Change ............................... 11 Why I like Fidonet, part 3: The BBS ...................... 14 4. CATCALLS FROM THE CHEAP SEATS ............................ 16 Catcalls from the Cheap Seats ............................ 16 5. FIDONET'S INTERNATIONAL KITCHEN .......................... 20 Mahimahi Mexicali (Fish) ................................. 20 6. CLEAN HUMOUR & JOKES ..................................... 21 Beware the drunken stranger .............................. 21 7. TODD COCHRANE'S FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................. 22 Fidonet Software List .................................... 22 8. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 26 Fidonet-related Sites .................................... 26 9. SPECIAL INTEREST ......................................... 31 Nodelist Stats ........................................... 31 10. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .................................... 33 How to Submit an Article ................................. 33 Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability .................. 35 FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 1 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= FOOD FOR THOUGHT ================================================================= "Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." -- H.G. Wells ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 2 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= INSIDE ================================================================= The Fidonews at a Glance No less than six articles in this issue. First out is "The Loss of a Friend" about Common Sense. Matt McCarthy suggested this as a Jokes contribution, but I think it deserves better than that. Unfortunately we have yet another Author Unknown issue here, but I hope it will not lead to any future problems. Next there's number seven in the, now probably familiar, "Confessions of an Ex-Sysop" series by Steve Townsley. This week about the difficulties to find updated Fidonet information on the web. "Framed in cyberspace by the FBI" by Michiel van der Vlist is a story about an unfortunate Dutch young man and his experience of the US justice system. "Destruction of a network: The Elements of..." by Matt Bedynek presents yet another theory about why Fidonet is shrinking. Frank Vest writes about the ongoing efforts to change our policy, the so called P4, in "To Change Or Not To Change" and finally Petko Bossakov continues his series about why he likes Fidonet in "Why I like Fidonet, part 3: The BBS". Then we are delighted to welcome back Luke Kolin. This week he spends some lines on a rebuttal on Steve's article last week, the one about the Microsoft trial, remember? Except for some rantings about some sports events, that I don't want to hear about, his article has, as usual, lot's of other interesting thoughts, much about the future of Fidonet. All this in "Catcalls from the Cheap Seats". Another friend that has returned after some absence, is Carol, with a bunch of new recipes for our International Kitchen column. This week she cooks "Mahimahi Mexicali (Fish)". Finally we cannot do without a joke of the week, can we? "Beware the drunken stranger ..." from Warren will close up the contributions section this week. Enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 3 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= GENERAL ARTICLES ================================================================= The Loss of a Friend Matt Mc_Carthy, 396/45.17 Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, by the name of Common Sense. Common Sense lived a long life but died in the United States from heart failure on the beginning of the new millennium. No one really knows how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, factories, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness. For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it's okay to come in second A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including body piercing, whole language, and "new math." But his health declined when he became infected with the "If-it-only-helps-one-person- it's-worth-it" virus. In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of well intentioned, but overbearing regulations. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parents when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion. Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, Churches became businesses, criminals, received better treatment than their victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the Boy Scouts to professional sports. FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 4 1 Jul 2002 Finally, when a woman, failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, was awarded a huge settlement, Common Sense threw in the towel. As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic, but was kept informed of developments regarding questionable regulations, such as those for low flow toilets, rocking chairs, and stepladders. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. -Author Unknown- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 5 1 Jul 2002 Confessions of an Ex-Sysop (7) Steve Townsley stownsley@g7spn.org One of the great advantages of electronic communication is the instant method by which you can find out something or get the impression of something. I am a good example of this. I have been out of the FidoNet loop since January 1996 and in reality only half running a BBS for the 18 months before that. Back in 1993 I bought a copy of SEAMAIL from Systems Enhnacement Associates to upgrade my SEAdog FidoNet mail system. It was a great product and frankly writing these few articles has inspired me to run up the old software and see if I can get a an echomail feed from somewhere and interact with you guys a bit more directly. The disk read and even installed on my computer but pretty quickly I ran into some problems. Firstly it kinda assumed I was modem aware - not DSL ready. I couldn't really blame it for that one but it hung the computer a couple of times. I had this vague idea that if I could get the mail reading part of SEAMAIL up and running maybe I could use some kind of front end to communicate with a hub via FTP to get some packets. Just to test things out I created a dummy message and discovered at least one problem. The old DOS program was not Y2K compliant. Having avoided Y2K problems at work two years ago I was stunned to find my mail program telling me I was in year 102! So much for bullet-proof coding! OK it might be displaying the wrong date but it might be writing the correct date. What I needed was Randy Bush's old technical standards on packet formats because, if I recalled correctly, it used the SEAdog file format as an example of how different formats work. Next stop the Internet. I started first at www.fidonet.org. It seemed sensible to begin with the basics. After all a lot must have changed. So I read the basic docs on "What is FidoNet". It told me if (FidoNet) was 30,000 BBS' worldwide. Jeez how old was this text - there were 30,000 nodes back in '95 but now a cursory look at the nodelist is 30% of that number. Also the latest information at fidonet.org says that it is not possible to telnet or ftp to FidoNet BBS'. The policy document on fidonet.org dates back to 1989. Two out of the four listed FTP FidoNet feeds work and none of the gateway programs listed is in active development. It's a sad state of affairs that the fidonet.org domain website is littered with inaccurate information, dead links and nothing positive to say about today's network. Right now I am back at square one looking for a TCPIP client that will hook into FidoNet. As I trawl for this information in search engines most websites appear to be years out of date or written in a bizarre form of technobabble that assumes you have been running a BBS for years. I propose that we establish a version of SETI for FidoNet. SETI, for those who don't know, is the project looking for intelligent life in the universe. In my particular version I propose trying to find Fido FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 6 1 Jul 2002 related websites that have information on them that is not 5 years old and horrendously out of date. If you know of a really useful FidoNet website let me know and I will visit it! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 7 1 Jul 2002 FRAMED IN CYBERSPACE BY THE FBI By: Michiel van der Vlist, 2:280/5555 Two weeks ago 25 year old Dutch citizen Menno B. was convicted to two years imprisonment by an American court for intent to have sex with a minor. What happened? Menno B. had made contact via the InterNet with a 14 year old American girl. Or so he thought. Menno and his "girl" chatted via ICQ and exchanged e-mail. Sex was a subject that regularly came up in their conversations. At some point in the development of this relation Menno B. decided to fly to the US to meet his girl friend. Much to his surprise it was not a fourteen year old girl that came to meet him at the airport but a 50 year old FBI agent. He was arrested for "intent to have sex with a minor". Apparently the FBI agent had posed as a fourteen year old girl to lure potential perpetrators into a trap. Menno B. took the bait. Now what is so upsetting about this? For one, the fact that what Menno B. did is not a crime at all in his own country. He has to do his time in an American prison. He can not be extradited to do his time in The Netherlands. What he did could never have led to a conviction in the country where the alleged crime was committed. In the Netherlands "intent to have sex" isn't a crime. Over here one has to actually do something to get convicted. Moreover, even if he had the intent - which he claimed to have forgone - he could never have carried it out. The object of his desire only existed in cyberspace. That is upsetting. For two, the fact that the FBI - upholder of the law in what claims to be the country setting an example in ethics for the rest of the world - does not seem to have any problems with provoking what they perceive as a serious crime. This side of the pond that is considered totally unethical. That is upsetting. For three and most: One would expect the country who's citizen fell victim to this atrocity to be in turmoil. But no, just a few articles in the newspapers. The prime minister didn't summon the American ambassador, no questions asked in parliament, no trade agreements revoked, participation in the JSF project stands and NATO was not called upon to free the prisoner by force as the USAians have threatened to do when an American soldier is ever charged for crimes of war by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. That my fellow countryman are so apathic towards what I consider a scandalous breach of human rights by the most powerful country in the world, that my fellow Fidoians, is really upsetting. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 8 1 Jul 2002 Destruction of a network: The Elements of Control Written by Matt Bedynek at 1:106/1.1 I wonder how many reading this essay will remember the days when Fidonet was many times larger than it is today? As it shrinks it is required to pass through as many changes as it did when it grew. Unfortunately not all these changes are for the better and we must learn to live with them or abandon our hobby altogether. Fidonet is long past its prime and will continue to shrink. The depletion of the membership cannot be attributed specifically to the Internet because there are aspects of Fidonet that retain users. Likewise, there are factors that have driven them away never to return. The primary reason that it is shrinking is that it is no longer flexible. The definition of a "silent majority" The silent majority is that which remains silent in every debate. They are the Sysops who do not care about the battles the rest of us engage and waste our time with. In some cases their silence is linked to the fact that they are not even linked to the echoes where it all takes place. Their reason for being here is communication. In the early days they found the idea of bulletin boards linked with others in many parts of the world to be the most fascinating aspect of the online world. Ask them about the latest hot debate and they are completely oblivious to the drama which permeates these so-called Sysop echoes. They are usually the ones whose first and last post is, "What's the deal with all this fighting?" Immediately they are assaulted by various factions and never to post again. In some cases they may read an echo for months never getting involved because they want to be spared the grief of assault. I used to fall into the later category myself. Unfortunately, when it truly comes down to it the silent majority is what makes up most of Fidonet. Unfortunately, idle hands are the devil's playground. There have been and always will be those that will take advantage of their silence; claiming to speak on their behalf. The "silent majority" clause The silent majority clause has to be the oldest trick in the book! It is the oldest tactic that will emerge at the onslaught of every online battle. No matter who is loosing they will always claim that they have the unconditional support of the silent majority. If they do not speak then they must agree with me? Would you not agree? All in all, the only thing we can hold the silent majority at fault for is not getting involved. It is their Fidonet. Without them we would occupy a node list no longer than a few pages (at best). How it is that we sit by and claim to represent their rights as a Sysop when they are not there to speak? What gives us the self righteous motivation to believe that we as coordinators or mail movers know what is best for them? Does our intervention do more harm than good? I believe so. The symphony of collision Every debate begins with a cause. Some are genuine while others are manufactured to achieve a specific goal. Manufactured causes are those often obscured behind a shroud and designed for a purpose for other than that which appears on their cover. The most complex issues are usually sparked as a result of a single detail. FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 9 1 Jul 2002 Most of which are the result of people who take pleasure in turning an ant hill into a mountain. To get to the bottom of it all we have to tear it apart piece by piece. As a comparison, some debates are so complex that they rival even the most advanced mathematical formulas. There is simply not enough time in the day for one to analyze all the properties of a debate. By the time we are all though bickering, the original goal or desire is lost. Both parties part in disgust and carry a big chip on their shoulders that will influence behavior in the next battle; the war is far from over. Another aspect of an online battle is the breakdown of communication. With every debate sparks yet another. One participant will write something that another takes offense to and then all hell breaks loose. There are in fact cases where it is an honest mistake. There was no desire on the part of the original poster to upset the other; however, no attempts are made on part of the respondent to clarify the intentions of the poster, he or she simply and automatically responds with full force and intent to destroy the other. Are you biased? Admit it, you are biased, every one of us are. In every debate one participant will make a point to remind the other that he or she is biased. Every one of us will pick a side and promote our position via debate. If there were no bias then there would be no debate; bias equals disagreement. It is the key ingredient to every argument, debate, and disagreement. The next time you take it upon yourself to remind another that he or she is biased remember who you are and to ask them not to be biased is asking the impossible. Is Fidonet homogeneous? In short order, no. Coordinators take great comfort in reminding the average Sysop that Fidonet is not a democracy and that it never has been. How convenient for them. There is a hierarchy you see. According to them, we occupy its lowest levels, and deservedly so. I truly believe that some of them believe they have our best interest in mind. Unfortunately, many are willing to sink to any level needed to achieve their goal-no price to great. Why is the administration of Fidonet private? Behind closed doors? If it is truly our hobby then why does administration of it take place behind closed doors? For those of you in zone one I highly encourage you to contact your regional coordinator and respectfully request if you can have a connection to the super secret Z1REGCON echo. This echo has been around for years and it is where they discuss how they are going to deal with issues that they believe we should have no part in. Ironically, if you carefully survey, you will find that there are likely private echoes all though out Fidonet, each catering to its own private group. Honestly, I cannot understand the psychology behind making issues private while at the same time they call it a hobby and claiming that they are protecting the Sysop rights. If they truly care about the Sysops then such super secretive echoes would not exist. The only logical conclusion we can come to is that they are placing personal interests in the hobby above the rest of us. If for some reason these echoes are ever leaked then it would be nothing for them to create another to replace it and this time we might not ever hear of its existence. Therefore, I dare you to ask because you will get the run around and assaulted from the warriors FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 10 1 Jul 2002 lower in the food chain that support their meddling. The truth is, if you ever want to see what goes on in these echoes you will have to kiss ass. So start practicing! Control of the traffic Fidonet has not always been about echo mail. In fact it was created as a medium to send net mail only-much how Internet e-mail works today. For all intent and purposes, echo mail is essentially net mail with an area designator so that your software knows to treat it as such. Coincidentally, echo mail soon became the life blood of Fidonet. It is what most of us are likely here for. The problem stems from the fact that some have decided to exploit this because they know that to control echo mail means to control the whole network. Where do they come from? Those who claim that Fidonet was never a democracy and never will be are pulled out of the Sysop ranks that you and I occupy. There were those before them who held the power and they too craved for it. When Fidonet began to move on its downward spiral it allowed greater opportunity for those who were never elected to get their foot in the door. No longer were there long drawn out races for positions. Now all you have to do is get nominated in most cases and your chances of getting the job are guaranteed. Is there a solution? How can I help? Good question. Incidentally, some systems work best with the least amount of interference. The same can be said about evolution. There are those who believe that "playing god" by tampering with genes is wrong and I tend to agree. However, in the case of a network such as Fidonet, one where personalities and ideas have a tendency to diverge by a great degree, the best solution is indeed the least amount of intervention. For as long as there is bias there will also be the self righteous desire to impose a view on others. The users of Fidonet should get involved regardless of the consequences. After all, what is the worst a coordinator can do? Excommunicate you? Is that really so bad? If you do nothing you will eventually leave as the network dies. Is your silence worth their continued control of your hobby? I recommend you get connected to the FN_SYSOP echo now. It has been around for years. But beware, this is a treacherous environment; however, if you have the patience to muddle through all the rhetoric and innuendo there are indeed concerned folks to which you can have pleasant conversation. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 11 1 Jul 2002 To Change Or Not To Change (Is that a question?:) By Frank Vest 1:124/6308.1 As is NOT well known, there is an echo in Fidonet named "FIDOPOLS". The purpose of this echo is to discuss policy changes and work on new policies for Fidonet. It is also NOT well known that there is currently a purposed policy change being discussed in the above mentioned echo. Why is all this NOT well known? Probably several reasons. In no particular order: No one has bothered to publicize the echo or the discussion. Break down in message transfers. Language barriers. And, of course, apathy. So, now you know about the echo and the discussion. Ask your *C or feed to see about getting the FIDOPOLS echo and start getting in on this. It was announced in last week's Fidonews. Now that I've put in another plug for the above, I'll get on with the other part of this article. It has been asked, and discussed, as to why Fidonet needs a policy change. There was pro and con on both sides and I'll not debate those here. I'll just put forth my reason for believing that Fidonet needs a policy change. Why does Fidonet need a policy change? Technology is changing. Sometimes it changes daily. What quite literally couldn't be done yesterday, can be done today. At one point in time, Fidonet was on the "cutting edge" of technology. Now, we are following along as best we can with technology. Of course, now that Fidonet is more of a hobby than ever before, that's understandable. Still, part of what is, and will be holding Fidonet back is our Policy 4. It may not affect you now, but it will in the (not so distant) future. What part of Policy 4 will affect you? Read on. As I said, technology is moving ahead. Those that can't, or won't, stay up with it are left behind. That's the way it's always been and will continue to be. My reason for believing that a change is needed is simple. The Internet I'm not going to get into a "bash the Internet" discussion. Instead, I'm going to ask that you look at what is happening in the realm of communication. In particular, the means of connecting computers to each other for mail and information. FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 12 1 Jul 2002 In the day of Fidonet being on the cutting edge, there was the modem. It started as a slow, but amazing way to connect computers together via the public phone system. Modems increased in speed and in a few years, there was this new ISDN thing. The speed difference was amazing, but it was costly, as were other means of fast connects via phone lines. As time went on, DSL and cable modems came to be and costs went down. Today, the connections to the Internet via dial-up modem, at least in Z1, are almost gone. I ask you to consider this. How many computers are shipped, or sold today with modems installed? In Zone 1, very few, if any. So, what does this have to do with a need for a policy change? Think about what will happen a few years from now. It's coming faster than you think. There will be no dial-up BBS systems. All of Fidonet will be broadband connected or gone. I'm betting on gone. Why, you ask? Because P4 won't allow strictly broadband connections in Fidonet. It requires dial-up. The Nodelist is even based on dial-up. You might argue that this can and has been worked around, but that is simply a "band aid" to the problems. True, policy can be worked around, ignored, stretched, twisted and other things to make it work, but the base is still there. Further, these "work arounds" that are used can be reversed at any time. They are not Policy. You might argue that this isn't and won't be a problem in your Zone. You are wrong! As example, there was a recent post in the FIDOPOLS echo of an election policy for another Zone in Fidonet. Part of the election policy was that the NC of a net had to have dial-up abilities. What is going to happen when there is no one with dial-up abilities to be a NC? In Zone 1, that is already happening. There are several Nets that have no dial-up ability. Of course, the mentioned election policy can be changed, but that means writing a new policy and voting. That is what is being tried in the FIDOPOLS echo now. Ok, in closing, I'll sum up this way. Fidonet must move forward to survive. Yes we can survive. We have strong points, but we are also weak in many areas. One of them, I believe, is in our policy. We need to make our policy easier to change in order to keep up with technology. We might push through some change or modification that will fix the up coming problem with dial-up, but what will we do when broadband goes the way of dial-up? It will happen. Even now, there are ISP connections being offered via cellular connections. No need for a DSL, Cable modem or physical connection via wire.... IOW "wireless". Will our policy allow this? We need to be sure. Yes, we can twist, ignore and work around failures or lackings in P4 "when the time comes", but why not be pro active instead of reactive. We can make this happen, but only we can do it. Regards, FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 13 1 Jul 2002 Frank Vest - Sysop, Collin County Station ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 14 1 Jul 2002 Why I like Fidonet, part 3: The BBS Petko Bossakov, 2:535/1 Hi there, it's me praising good ol' Fido again. Before seriously thinking about it, I was convinced that the only great point of Fidonet is that you can't beat the price. After I joined it, I gradually started to see the other things that make it what it is, which I already have described in my past two articles. While researching, trying to find out why people are still into the hobby, I found that it's often forgotten, or rather untold, that Fidonet was originally built, and is still functioning, to serve the BBS. The Bulletin Board System, that strange thing. Many of them constitute equally important parts of Fidonet, but at the same time they may be entirely different from one another, each one being an exciting -- but closed -- community. The information amount on a BBS may vary. Mine only has about 50 MB of files, and a carefully chosen variety of linked echos and gated newsgroups. Other systems have gigabytes of downloads ordered in a complex topical hierarchy, and access to hundreds of message areas. Yet, the information available on a BBS is in no way comparable to the vastness of the Internet. Files, articles, discussions, tools -- name anything, and you can bet that it's there. On the Internet you can get almost every single piece of information. That is, if you can find it. It's very easy to get lost. With experience, I have mastered searching on the web, and, naturally, have often been getting from there files which are unavailable on the local BBSes. However, especially for an inexperienced user, it is always advisable to check the BBSes first. I mean, wouldn't it be easier to call a BBS and try to find your thing in the file areas, which are well organized /unless the sysop is lazy :-)/, and if that fails, to try navigating through the vast ocean known as the WWW. Even if searching is so difficult, Internet certainly has a clear advantage over the BBS and Fido when it comes to information availability. However, I'd like to draw your attention to the community part of it. Yeah, you've heard about that a thousand of times, Fidonet is friendly and spamless. Some people believe it, some don't, but as it's been told many times, I don't find it necessary to write extensively about that. Rather, I'll focus on the reasons for that "friendliness". The first one is that Fidonet focuses on real people, with their real opinions and real problems. Unlike the web, Fidonet operates mostly with real names, and you provide plenty information about yourself, so that people are not talking to an anonymous entity with nothing more than a nickname, but to a real human being. FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 15 1 Jul 2002 Locality is a good thing, too. Access to a standard dial-up BBS is possible from a limited area only, and this isn't necessarily bad. When all the callers are from town, there is at least one thing you have in common, and you can even organise a meeting (believe me, a virtual community can be much better and friendlier if the people have seen each other face to face and have drunk a decent quantity of alcohol together. And if you want your closed community to have more access to the world, just get one of those international echos. Let's not forget order, too. There's always a sysop that can root out unpleasant elements and make their lives miserable (ever read the Avenger's Handbook?). If the sysop has some common sense, he'll know when someone has crossed the border in being offensive. If he's too strict and mad about order, or too forgiving and peaceful, the BBS will not be likely to attract people. The World Wide Web made communication easier than ever before. Thousands of people from all over the world can participate together in a vast online community, but the question is: is bigger really better? Many will say yes, and that's perfectly OK, but in my opinion the BBS must still stay as a "shelter" for all those who need a nice old-fashioned friendly interaction. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 16 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= CATCALLS FROM THE CHEAP SEATS ================================================================= Catcalls from the Cheap Seats By Luke Kolin I fear our Editor has had a poor year thus far - first the Swedish hockey team gets overwhelmed by that perennial hockey power Belorussia, and now the Swedish soccer side escapes the "Group of Death" only to fall victim to mighty Senegal. However, the Swedes are in good company - it seems like every major soccer power short of Brazil and Germany has been upset this year - and like the Olympic hockey tournament, I expect the finals will be either a titanic struggle between Germany and Brazil again, or the product of yet another upset. To see Brazil or Germany take on Turkey or (especially) South Korea would be yawn-inducing, a result ordained in advance. Of course, I imagine the Spaniards and the Italians thought so, too. I've been reading Steve Townsley's serial with considerable interest. Apart from his ability to pick up the slack from this commentator (who seemed to vanish into the ether once he got his own column), he's raised a number of good points during recent weeks that I believe deserve addressing. Most recently, it's interesting to see Steve's characterisation of Microsoft. Not being much of a Microsoft fan myself, the US government's scrutiny of their anti-competitive practices is a welcome intrusion into a somewhat anti-ethical business model. (Of course, if you really want to see sleaze, check out Oracle being investigated by the State of California. Larry Ellison makes Bill Gates look like a Boy Scout.) However, to claim that Microsoft's success is related to putting companies like Netscape out of business (and in fact that Netscape was put out of business by Microsoft) is incorrect. I recall setting up my first commercial web server in late 1995, using Netscape's Commerce Server. At that time, a singe copy sold for approximately $2,000. The browsers were $50 each to license. Microsoft did consumers a huge favour by allowing anyone to set up a reasonably robust, easy to configure (if insecure) web server by bundling it with pretty much every version of Windows since 1996. The market moved under Netscape, basic HTTP servers became a commodity and the real value started being the application server layers atop the HTTP stack (such as Java servlets and scripting (ASP/PHP)). It's interesting that Steve doesn't mention the fact that the most popular web server in the world is given away for free - and it's not IIS, it's Apache. If Microsoft hadn't been a convenient monopoly target, people would notice that the real demise of Netscape's business model was Apache. Microsoft has thrown around the "It's for consumers' benefit" line so long it's viewed universally with deep suspicion. However, it's hard to argue against the company here. Web servers used to be the province of corporations at $2k a shot - today every 15-year-old with a cable modem can set one up. Every computer made in the last 5 years has an OS on it that can connect to the Internet with ease, instead of paying extra for a Web browser and a modem dialer. The consumer truly has FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 17 1 Jul 2002 benefited from what Microsoft has done. Netscape employees and shareholders have done less well, but that's to be expected in a modern marketplace. These bright-eyed, bushy-tailed revolutionaries were convinced that they were creating a seismic shift in the marketplace that would put Microsoft out of business. Microsoft (being large but still somewhat agile) responded with a seismic shift of their own that Netscape couldn't handle. Essentially, Netscape was a one-dimensional tennis player with a booming serve , but who couldn't handle a return shot if the serve didn't score for an ace. As a professional web application developer, I don't have much sympathy for Netscape. Their browsers are quirkly, with a non-standard DOM and eccentric behavior between versions. The "rigid adherence to standards" that purists like so much are downright annoying to a developer - and fundamentally, Netscape didn't change very much from when Netscape 4 came out in 1997 until Netscape 6. They just stopped innovating and changing, and surprised when the marketplace ate them for lunch. (Not to mention that Netscape 6 was a bloated, buggy piece of garbage.) Perhaps as one of those nefarious, heartless Anglo-Saxon capitalists, I don't see how the consumer is better off by allowing companies like Netscape to survive or prosper. It's not like the knowledge contained within that firm has been lost - the former employees have moved on to other firms, and what they've learned is being used in other areas. Steve, would you prefer that every user had to pay $50 to get a web browser on their system? I don't see how that improves things for the consumer one bit. The whole point of the suit against Microsoft is that their actions harm the consumer, not that they've put other companies out of business. Harming the consumer by forcing them to pay for an inferior browser is harming the consumer, period. I fear that some folks have gotten so far along on the anti-Microsoft bandwagon that we lose site of the most important person in the equation - the average user who now has an advanced, free web browser. On another note, by around 1994 the most common operating system used for FidoNet nodes was not DOS, but probably OS/2. This operating system had superb multi-tasking abilities and memory management. Disk I/O was an order of magnitude faster when flushing (much larger) buffers. And with Ray Gwinn's SIO comm drivers, it could handle the fastest modems and locked serial port data rates with ease. People switched to OS/2 not because it was "subversive" or not Microsoft, but because it was the best available product. Software developers wrote stuff for OS/2 for the same reason - it was simpler to do without having to worry about 32-bit DOS 'extenders' or XMS/EMS memory management (boy did that suck). Microsoft wrote a good, inexpensive piece of software with DOS, and IBM extended it in a good way with OS/2. Unfortunately, IBM could not (and still cannot) market fresh, steaming horse manure to flies. And in the interim, Microsoft went out and created a better product in Windows NT and 2000. The driver support is better, the available software is better and they're far less finnicky of non-standard hardware than OS/2 ever was. The proper response for IBM was to FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 18 1 Jul 2002 improve OS/2, but IBM doesn't understand innovation. They're stuck with slow moving, large corporate clients. When I was still running for *C jobs in FidoNet, I used to joke that the key to my success was my ability to properly choose my opponents. Despite my (considerable) flaws, the opposition usually was worse. I won't detract from the anti-competitive behavior that Microsoft has truly engaged in, but IBM and Netscape were the victims of their own downfall. Steve closes with an interesting observation - what would FidoNet be like if it was created today? I think he misses the point a little. FidoNet doesn't need to "program" a new infrastructure with new web servers and mail exchange; it's already out there. There are free web servers (like Apache) and free SMTP mail servers that are secure. DNS works reliably and scales - why invent your own system? I see this strategic error repeated again and again when people talk about FidoNet in the 21st Century, that it would involve rebuilding FidoNet's infrastructure. We built an infrastructure in 1985 because one didn't exist at that point in time. Today, we have DNS. Why bother with weekly nodelist updates when DNS can be distributed and allows constant updating? Why write your own HTTP server or application server when Apache and PHP or Tomcat can do whatever you want (on any platform). You can use Linux, if you feel "subversive". Or you can use Win2K if you don't feel like modifying complex startup scripts just to change your IP address. The infrastructure exists - FidoNet needs to become a layer atop the Internet, not replace it. To come full circle, that's the same error Netscape made. When HTTP servers and browsers became commodities, Netscape needed to move up the chain and support higher-value networking services. They didn't, and died. FidoNet is in the same place - they've been wiped off the planet infrastructure-wise, so they need to adopt the infrastructure and focus on content. Unfortunately, they've chosen not do so, which is why the network is stuck in a time warp. I'd be remiss as a columnist if I didn't take a few minutes to turn my guns onto the area of spam. I've read a lot of articles by individuals claiming that FidoNet is superior since it didn't (and still doesn't) have great volumes of spam. I don't necessarily see this as the case. Fundamentally, FidoNet was and is a closed system. People naturally restricted who they could talk to. If you weren't listed in the nodelist, no go. In other cases, people ran with session passwords for different nodes - which is a fundamentally flawed system since it doesn't depend on true authentication by a trusted third party. I can't begin to count the times you had a hub go down and mail stopped if the list of session passwords wasn't freely available. In the Internet model (and in networking in general) that's a poor design. The system is designed to be robust and allow people to communicate. Yes, that means a lot of spam gets through. However, the Internet is moving to deal with this. Realtime blackhole lists (one hosted by the longtime Snooze contributor Joe Jared) allow systems some intelligence when dealing with incoming mail, as does content filtering. That's a far cry better than the FidoNet default of securing one's system by locking things down all over the place. Two years from now, we're going to see much less spam, as slowly RBLs FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 19 1 Jul 2002 become more and more widespread. The system will react. (Keep in mind as well that FidoNet has avoided spam because it's so darn small to not be worth spamming.) Unfortunately, spam will be possible as long as you have a system that allows free expression and unfiltered postings. We're developing great technical solutions, but ultimately the final solution will be legal. If spammers can be sued, arrested or otherwise shut down legally, that will provide the best incentive not to do it. Going forward, the notions of "session" and "packet" level passwords espoused sound absolutely quaint. If one assumes up to 8 alphanumeric characters, we're looking at around 48-bit security when one could use an LDAP server as a public RSA key repository to provide exponentially better levels of encryption and authentication. However, this does nothing to eliminate the core problem - we do not know that someone is a spammer until after we accept them into the network. At this point, we've conclusively authenticated the individual and encrypted the data so it cannot be intercepted, yet we cannot protect against inappropriate content using technical means. It just cannot be done - all one can do is provide an effective deterrance through punitive actions. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 20 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= FIDONET'S INTERNATIONAL KITCHEN ================================================================= Mahimahi Mexicali (Fish) Yield: 6 Servings 1 1/2 lb MahiMahi fillets 1 tb Light oil (can use 1/2 tb) 1 ea Clove garlic, minced 1 sm Onion, chunked 2 sm Green peppers, seed/chunk 1 c Favorite salsa brand Cut fish to 1 1/2 inch cubes. Heat oil at medium high in a large skillet. By using a well cured cast iron skillet, or a good grade of 'stick free' pan, you can reduce the oil by 1/2 in this dish. Use a quality 'thin' oil such as lite sesame for best effect. Saute veggies, garlic and onion until soft. Add fish and stir fry until they look opaque (about 5 minutes). Add salsa and heat until all the way hot. Goes really well with hot garlic bread. For a full meal, add slices of fresh cucumber (or a cucumber salad), and a sliced up bosk pear with cinnimon sprinkled lightly atop the pear. From: xxcarol ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 21 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= CLEAN HUMOUR & JOKES ================================================================= Beware the drunken stranger ... By Warren Bonner A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger standing in a pouring down rain is asking for a push. "Not a chance" says the husband - "It's three o'clock in the morning!" He slams the door and returns to bed. "Who was it?" asks his wife. "Just a drunken stranger asking for a push" he answers. "Did you help him?" she asks. "No, I didn't - it's three in the morning and raining like hell out there!" "Well, you've got a short memory" says his wife. "Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down on the freeway and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him." The man does as he is told and gets dressed and goes out into the pounding rain and calls out into the dark. "Hello - are you still there?" "Yes," comes the answer. "Do you still want a push?" calls out the husband. "Yes, please!" comes the reply from the dark. "Where are you?" asks the husband. "Over here on this great swing" the drunk replies. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 22 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= TODD COCHRANE'S FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ================================================================= Fidonet Software List By Todd Cochrane Type: B=BBS D=Door M=Mailer T=Tosser C=Communication (terminal) U=Utility P=Point Software I=Internet (telnet, BinkP...) <+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+=-=+=-=-+-=-=+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+> ( Software Name ) |Type| ( Author/Contact ) <+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+=-=|=-=-|-=-=+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+> |BBBS Home Page |B | b@bbbs.net | | | | www.bbbs.net/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |ELEBBS The Elevator |B | elebbs@elebbs.com | |Software Production | | www.elebbs.com | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Hermes II Project |B | info@HermesII.org | | | | http://www.hermesii.org/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Maximus BBS Support |B | sales@lainus.com | |Page (Non Official) | | http://www.vector11.com/maximus/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |MBSE BBS |B | Michiel Broek | | | | mbroek@users.sourceforge.net | | | | http://mbse.sourceforge.net | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Mystic BBS |B | http://www.mysticbbs.com/mystic/ | | | | | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Nexus Bulletin |B | groberts@nexusbbs.net | |Board System | | http://www.nexusbbs.net/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Proboard, Searchlight, |BC | info@telegrafix.com | |Telegrafix | | http://www.telegrafix.com | |Communications | | 540-678-4050 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |RemoteAccess |B | Bruce Morse | |Central | | bfmorse@rapro.com | | | | http://www.rapro.com/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Spitfire BBS |B | MDWoltz@AOL.COM | |Buffalo Creek Software | |http://www.angelfire.com/ia/buffalo/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Synchronet BBS |BT | sysop@vert.synchro.net | | | | http://www.synchro.net | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Telegard BBS |B | support@telegard.net | | | | http://www.telegard.net/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Wildcat Interactive |BTMI| sales@santronics.com | |Net Server | | http://www.santronics.com | FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 23 1 Jul 2002 |Plantinum Express | |(305)248-3204 | | | | Santronics Inc. | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Bentstone Capabilities |D | info@stonebenders.com | |Group | | http://www.srupc.com/mall | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Jibben Software |D | scott@jibben.com | | | | http://www.jibbensoftware.com/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |JNS Software Door Games|D | Rusty Johnson | | | | rustyjohnson57@hotmail.com | | | | 304-733-0113 | | | | http://www.geocities.com/jnssoftware/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Legend Of The Red |D | | |Dragon Reborn | | | |(L.O.R.D.) | | http://www.lordlegacy.org/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |PC Pursuits |D |brucep@pop.kis.net | | | |(301)240-6653 | | | |http://www.pcpursuits.com/products.htm | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |S and T Software |D |Mark Bappe | | | |mark.bappe@bozax.iainc.net | | | |(770)788-6843 | | | |http://bozax.iainc.net/public/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Shinning Star BBS Doors|D |nannette@shiningstar.net | | | |http://www.shiningstar.net/bbsdoors/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Sunrise Door Software |D |Al Lawerence | | | |al@sunrisedoors.com | | | |(404)256-9518 | | | |http://www.sunrisedoors.com/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |The Brainex System |D |info@brainex.com | | | |http://www.brainex.com/brainex_system/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Trade Wars Door Game |D |jpritch@eisonline.com | | | |http://www.eisonline.com/tradewars/ | | | |1:299/110 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Vagabond Software |D |Bryan Turner | | | |vagabond@darktech.org | | | |http://vagabond.virtualave.net/ | | | |1:124/7013 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |FMail Support |T |wijnstra@fmail.nl.eu.org | | | |http://fmail.nl.eu.org/ | | | |2:280/1076 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Squish Tosser |T |http://www.lanius.com/squish.htm | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Argus RITLABS |M |argus@ritlabs.com | | | |373-2-246889 | | | |http://www.ritlabs.com/argus/ | FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 24 1 Jul 2002 | | |2:469/84 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |FrontDoor |MTPC|Definite Solutions | |FrontDoor APX | |sales@defsol.se | |Mailer/Point Software | |http://www.defsol.se/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |BeeMail Home Page |M |http://beemail.gexonline.net | | | |Stephen Proffit | | | |1:211/405 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |BinkleyTerm XE |M |http://btxe.sourceforge.net/ | |Frontend Mailer | | | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |BinkD |MI |maloff@corbina.net | | | |http://2f.ru/binkd/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Fidogate |UIT |Martin_Junius@m-j-s.net | | | |http://www.fidogate.org/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Fidonet to Internet |IM |Bo Bendtsen | |Mailer | |sales@terminate.com | | | |http://www.terminate.com/fido2int.htm | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |GiGo Software |UI |http://www.gigo.com/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Internet Rex |IM |cruden@cs.ualberta.ca | | | |http://plaza.v-wave.com/InternetRex/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Tmail |IM |http://www.tmail.spb.ru/index-19.htm | |(Russian /w English DL)| | | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |TransX Multiboard |M |support@multiboard.com | |Communications Inc. | |http://www.multiboard.com/software/ | | | |transx.html | | | |1:2401/305 | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |TransNet |I |transnet@ressl.com.ar | | | |http://www.ressl.com.ar/transnet/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Watergate |I |ramon@sbbs.se | | | |http://www2.sbbs.se/hp/ramon/ | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |JetSys-Home of JetMail |TU |http://www.jetsys.de/ | |JetStat and other Atari| | | |Fidonet utilities | | | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |APoint (Author) |P |http://www.apoint.websale.net/index.htm| | | |http://www.apoint-mail.de (Co-Autho) | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |CrossPoint |P |("Original" version) | | | |http://www.crosspoint.de | | | |http://www.apoint-mail.de | | | |(OpenXP Projekt) | | | |http://www.openxp.com (English) | | | |http://www.openxp.de (German) | | | |CrossPoint (XP2 Team) | FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 25 1 Jul 2002 | | |http://www.xp2.de | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |WinPoint95 |P |http://www.schenksmir.de/wp/english | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |The OpenXP CrossPoint |P |http://www.happyarts.de/xp | |Projekt | | | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |Terminate Terminal |P |http://www.terminate.com | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| |PPoint-FTS compatible |P |http://www.alcuf.ca/ppoint.htm | |E-Mail System | | | |-----------------------|----|---------------------------------------| \====================================================================/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 26 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= FIDONET BY INTERNET ================================================================= . -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- . | FIDONET-RELATED SITES | ` -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- ' 2002-06-24 Send updates, corrections and suggestions to Shannon Talley, 1:275/311 or fbi@fidotel.com. Please ensure your website is operational before submitting. All websites will be checked at least once per month. If your website is down, or if it is a commerical website advertising products or services, it will be removed from the queue. FidoNet Email subscriptions: http://www.fidonews.org http://www.fidotel.com FidoNet Homepage: http://www.fidonet.org http://www.fidonet.ca FidoNews: http://www.fidonews.org [HTML] ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ http://www.fidotel.com/public/fidonews Echolist: http://www.tlchost.net/echolist/ ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/echolist/ SDS Files: http://download.r23.dk/ (Web Access to SDS) FTSC page: http://www.ftsc.org/ General: http://www.writebynight.com/fidonet.html http://www.fidotel.com Parody: http://www.fidonet.ro/ Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org Region 10: http://www.r10.org Net 102 http://home.earthlink.net/~kayshapero/net102.htm Net 103: http://www.webworldinc.com/club103/ Region 11: http://www.vector11.com/region11/ Region 12 Net 229: http://net229.darktech.org/ Region 13: http://www.ispaceonline.org/region13/ Net 261: http://www.baltimorepress.com/~net261/ Net 267: http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/net267/ Net 275: http://www.ispaceonline.org/net275/ Region 14: Net 282: http://www.rxn.com/~net282/ Region 15: http://www.bobsplc.com/public/reg15 Region 17: http://www.region17.net Net 140: http://www.nwstar.com/~net140 Region 19: http://www.biseonline.com/r19 Net 124: http://www.DallasInet.com/net124/ http://pages.sbcglobal.net/flv/ Net 393: http://www.chatter.com/~wb/ FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 27 1 Jul 2002 Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish) Region 23: http://www.fido.dk (in Danish) Region 24: http://www.was-ist-fido.de/ (German) Fido-IP: http://home.nrh.de/fido/ (English/German) Region 26: http://www.nemesis.ie Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (French) http://Welcome.to/skynetbbs/ Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (Spanish) REC34: http://www.fidospain.org Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (Greek/English) Region 50: http://www.fido7.com/ (Russian) Region 53: http://fido.bitsoft.ro/ Net 5010: http://fido.tu-chel.ac.ru/ (Russian) Net 5015: http://www.fido.nnov.ru/ (Russian) Net 5085: http://www.fidonet.uz/ (Russian) Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org Zone 4: Region 80: http://fidobrasil.8m.com (Portuguese) Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (Spanish) Zone 5: http://www.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/ Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org Region 65: http://www.cfido.com (Chinese) Fidonet Via Internet Hubs provided by FidoTel.com Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed,| Basic Rate | | |latency| -----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------ Zone 1 | | | | 10/3 | Brenda Donovan | FTP,UUE,BinkP | 384K,30| n/c 10/345 | Todd Cochrane | FTP,BinkP,VMOT | T1,! | n/c 18/500 | Ross Cassell | FTP, BinkP |128K+,!| n/c 103/5 | Mark Luetger | BinkP | CABLE | n/c 103/301 | Joe Jared | BinkP,FTP,NFS | 384k,!| n/c 103/401 | Warren Bonner | BinkP | aDSL,!| n/c 105/8 | Russ Johnson | FTP,BinkP,VMoT | 384k | n/c 105/72 | Larry James | FTP, BinkP | aDSL | $50/yr 106/1 | Steve Loupe | BinkP, FTP | 768k | FREE 106/2000 | Bob Juge | BinkP VMoT FTP TX| ??? | n/c 106/6018 | Lawrence Garvin | FTP, VMoT | aDSL,60| n/c 107/453 | Jeffrey Estevez| FTP,BinkP,VMoT,UUE| 56k,60| $10 mo. 134/11 | Michael Grant | FTP, BinkP, VMoT UUE, IFCICO,TransX aDSL, 60 | n/c 138/146 | Marc Blakely | BinkP,FTP | ??? | n/c 140/1 | Bob Seaborn | FTP,BinkP | T3,30 | $5/$16 FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 28 1 Jul 2002 142/906 | Chris Griffin | BinkP | ??? | n/c 150/220 | Dave Nemeth | UUE | ??? | n/c 153/7715 | Dallas Hinton | BinkD, FTP | CABLE | ??? 167/133 | Stephen Monteith | BinkP | 128k+ | n/c 167/166 | Jesse Dooling | POP? UUE TX FTP| ??? | n/c 218/109 | Matt Munson | BinkP,UUE,TX | 33.6k | n/c 220/10 | groberts|nexusbbs.net |BinkP,FTP,UUE|1.5M+ | n/c 229/1 | Phil Simpson | BinkP UUE FTP | ??? | n/c 229/2000 | Robert Couture |BinkP FTP UUE TX| ??? | 229/622 | Dave Hamilton | BinkP | ??? | n/c 250/98 | Darin McBride | BinkP FTP TX | ??? | n/c 250/99 | Brent McLaren | FTP BinkP | ??? | n/c 250/102 | Darin McBride | BinkP FTP | ??? | n/c 267/169 | Philip Lozier | FTP TX | ??? | n/c 261/1380 | Joe Davis | UUE TX | ??? | n/c 275/311 | Shannon Talley|FTP,BinkP,FTP,VMoT,QWK| T1 |n/c 280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo. 297/11 | Michael McCabe | TX | ??? | n/c 323/120 | Craig Healy | VMoT FTP | ??? | n/c 342/3 | Richard Dodsworth | BinkP,FTP | 128K+ | n/c 393/48 | Ben Ritchey | UUE:BFDS? | 33.6k | n/c 379/1 | Dale Ross | FTP, BinkP,UUE | 256K+,! n/c 379/1200 | Chris Cranford | BinkP FTP TX | ??? | n/c 396/45 | Marc Lewis |BinkP FTP UUE TX| ADSL | n/c 2215/300 | Dennis Haddox | UUE,TX | CABLE | n/c 2320/38 | Janis Kracht | BinkP FTP | ??? | n/c 2410/400 | Gary Gilmore | FTP BinkP | 384K,60| n/c 2410/213 | Kevin Bentz | FTP, BinkP, UUE| Cable | n/c 2604/104 | Jim Mclaughlin | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 33.6 | $1mo 2624/306 | David Calafrancesco | VMoT | 33.6 | n/c 3613/1275 | @ jyates@bsdi.ldl.net | UUE,FTP | 28.8 | n/c 3407/4 | Robert Todd |FTP,VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 57.6k | n/c 3632/84 | Robert Todd |FTP,VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 57.6k | n/c 3830/5 | Jeff Schrunk |BinkP FTP TX UUE| ??? | n/c 3830/9 | Steve Quarrella |BinkP FTP IFCICO VMoT UUE|?|? -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 2 | 20/11 | Henrik Lindhe | BinkP | ??? | n/c 22/222 | Kim Heino | BinkP | ??? | n/c 28/1 | Lody Caenen | BinkP FTP | ??? | n/c 31/1 | Gabriel Plutzar | BinkP | T1+ | n/c 37/37 | Gabor Z. Papp | BinkP | ??? | n/c 47/999 | Andrej Kirejev | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 53/558 |Vladimir Hrusca|POP,VMoT,UUE,BinkP,ifcico|2mbs|?? 201/329 | Mats Wallin | VMoT TX | ??? | n/c 201/505 | G”ran Eriksson | BinkP | ??? | n/c 201/600 | H†kan Andersson |BinkP,FTP |512kbps| n/c 203/600 | Mikael Karlsson |BinkP,FTP,TX,UUE| 512k | n/c 211/37 | Torbjorn Mohn | BinkP | 8/2mb | n/c 221/360 | Tommi Koivula | BinkP,UUE | ??? | n/c 236/205 | Michael Kaaber | BinkP | ??? | n/c 240/6298 | Steve Tell | BinkP UUE | ??? | n/c 246/2098 | Volker Imre | BinkP | ??? | n/c 252/110 | David Rance | UUE | ??? | n/c 255/90 | Simon Avery | UUE | ??? | n/c 263/950 | Sean Rima | TX UUE | ??? | n/c FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 29 1 Jul 2002 280/1027 | Lukas de Groen | BinkP FTP | ??? | n/c 280/1601 | Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c 280/4312 | Jos Huijnen | BinkP ifcico UUE TX| ??? | n/c 280/5003 | Kees van Eeten | BinkP ifcico | ??? | n/c 292/624 | Steven Leeman | UUE | 64k | n/c 292/854 | Ward Dossche | BinkP UUE TX | ??? | n/c 292/2003 | Eric Vaneberck | BinkP | 768k | n/c 301/1 | Peter Witschi | BinkP | 768k | n/c 332/807 | Roberto Mascolo | BinkP | ??? | n/c 333/0 | M Gianformaggio | BinkP | ??? | n/c 335/534 | Mario Mure | BinkP,VMot,UUE | 64k | n/c 335/610 | Gino Lucrezi | UUE | 33.6 | n/c 341/14 | Rafael Suarez | BinkP VMoT | ??? | n/c 341/51 | Jose.Maria Tejada | VMoT | | 341/66 | Angel Ripoll | VMoT | | 343/168 | Jose Casanova | VMoT | | 344/201 | Julio Garcia | BinkP | ??? | n/c 346/3 | Carlos Navarro | UUE | ??? | n/c 347/1 | Javi Polo | UUE | | 348/105 | Alejandro Estraviz| BinkP UUE | | 382/100 | Sinisa Burina | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 400/555 | Ofir Michaeli | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 400/557 | Marius Kaizerman | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 423/81 | Milos Bajer | BinkP | ??? | n/c 461/256 | Andrew Rutkas | BinkP | ??? | n/c 461/640 | Alex Semenyaka |BinkP ifcico UUE| ??? | n/c 465/204 | Va Milushnikov | BinkP | 33.6k | n/c 469/84 | Max Masyutin | VMoT | 256k | n/c 469/128 | Oleg Vasenyoff | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 480/112 | Adam Sarapata| FTP, VMoT, UUE,BinkP| 128k | n/c 550/4077 | Serguei Trouchelle| UUE | ----- | n/c 2410/201 | Karsten Ebeling | BinkP UUE | ??? | n/c 2411/413 | Dennis Dittrich | UUE,BinkP | 64k | n/c 2432/200 | Sven Dueker | BinkP TX UUE | ??? | n/c 2446/301 | Lothar Behet | BinkP,VMoT,UUE,FTP | 64K | n/c 2474/275 | Christian Emig | UUE | 64k | unkn 2487/3000 | Steffen Gross | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5002/5002 | Victor Belyakov | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5014/4 | Alex Bagmanov | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 5020/52 | Peter Didenko | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5020/54 | Serge Wizgounoff | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 5020/69 | B Chernivetsky | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5020/238 | Sergey Gubanov | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5030/115 | Andrey Podkolzin | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5030/1251 | K Stepanekov | UUE | ??? | n/c 5100/8 | Egons Bush | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5020/1159 | Gennady Kudryashoff | UUE | 33.6 | n/c 5049/12 | Amir Shabashvili | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5054/3 | Andrew Popov | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5080/80 | Eugene Zorin | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 5083/21 | Alexander Uskov | BinkP,ifcico | ??? | n/c 5090/2 | Andrew Titov | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5100/8 | Egons Bush | BinkP | ??? | n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 3 633/260 | Malcolm Miles | FTP,BinkP | 64K | n/c FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 30 1 Jul 2002 640/954 | Rick Van Ruth | FTP,VMot,UUE,BinkP| 56K| n/c 712/311 | Bob James | TX | ??? | n/c 774/605 | Barry Blackford|BinkP,VMoT:10023,ifcico,FTP |33.6| n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 4 801/161 | Renato Zambon | UUE | 33.6 |n/c 902/18 | Javier Tejedor | UUE | 33,6 | n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 6 65/3000 | Lawrence Fan | UUE | 33600 | free 653/1009 | Maorong Chen | UUE | ??? | free 654/0 | Bin Li | UUE,BinkP | 33600 | free 654/1501 | Lawrence Fan | UUE,BinkP | 28800 | free -- * FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol * VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various) * UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers * BinkP = front end mailer for TCPIP networks * TX = TransX * NFS = Linux Networking * ifcico = ifcico-compatible virtual mailer * QWK = Quick Packets/Offline mailer "networking" capable ---------------------------------------------- Fidonet oriented news servers news.fidotel.com (currently offline) news.osirusoft.com news.tardis.net nntp://fido.bitsoft.ro nntp://bbs.bitsoft.ro Fidonet oriented chat rooms. room #fidonet 5PM (PDT 11AM GMT) Sundays irc.osirusoft.com (Peers wanted) irc.sinoptix.ro : malay, chinesse, english, #fido, #fidonet, #wwb irc.bitsoft.ro : 6667 russian, english, hebrew, #fido, #wwb irc.tsua.net : 6668 russian, english #fido ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 31 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= SPECIAL INTEREST ================================================================= Nodelist Stats Input nodelist nodelist.179 size 1096.7kb date 2002-06-28 The nodelist has 9840 nodes in it and a total of 12724 non-comment entries including 6 zones 63 regions 466 hosts 675 hubs admin overhead 1210 ( 12.30 %) and 935 private nodes 346 nodes down 393 nodes on hold off line overhead 1674 ( 17.01 %) Speed summary: >9600 = 916 ( 9.31 %) 9600 = 8423 ( 85.60 %) (HST = 180 or 2.14 %) (CSP = 1 or 0.01 %) (PEP = 12 or 0.14 %) (MAX = 0 or 0.00 %) (HAY = 1 or 0.01 %) (V32 = 4712 or 55.94 %) (V32B = 498 or 5.91 %) (V34 = 5638 or 66.94 %) (V42 = 4643 or 55.12 %) (V42B = 518 or 6.15 %) 2400 = 106 ( 1.08 %) 1200 = 7 ( 0.07 %) 300 = 388 ( 3.94 %) ISDN = 1000 ( 10.16 %) ---------------------------------------------------------- File Req Flag Applicable software Number of systems ---------------------------------------------------------- XA Frontdoor <1.99b 3546 Frontdoor 2.02+ Dutchie 2.90c Binkleyterm >2.1 D'Bridge <1.3 TIMS Xenia -------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 32 1 Jul 2002 XB Binkleyterm 2.0 8 Dutchie 2.90b -------------------------------------- XC Opus 1.1 10 -------------------------------------- XP Seadog 6 -------------------------------------- XR Opus 1.03 60 -------------------------------------- XW Fido >12M 395 Tabby KittenMail -------------------------------------- XX D'Bridge 1.30 4383 Frontdoor 1.99b Intermail 2.01 T-Mail -------------------------------------- None QMM 1432 -------------------------------------- CrashMail capable = 3169 ( 32.21 %) MailOnly nodes = 5330 ( 54.17 %) Listed-only nodes = 771 ( 7.84 %) Other = 570 ( 5.79 %) [Report produced by NETSTATS - A PD pgm available from 1:106/100] [ Revised by B Felten, 2:203/208] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 33 1 Jul 2002 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= How to Submit an Article If you wish to submit an article for inclusion in the Fidonews, here are some guidelines, if you send it as an attached file; the preferred method if you want reasonable control over how the published article will appear in the Fidonews: a) Plain ASCII text. If you could type it on your keyboard, it's probably quite OK... b) Put a title to the article. Put the title in two times. The first time, on the first line, with an * before it. The second time, on the second line, without the * and centered. This will help in the format since the title with the * is removed and used in the index, the second line will become the headline. On the third line, put your name and FidoNet address, present or former. If former, you may want to add some other address where you can be reached for personal comments. c) Deadline for article submission is Sunday, 12:00 UTC. Help the Editor by following the above guides. Below are some subjects and the file extension for the article as set in the configuration file for the making of the Fidonews. Please help by putting the file extension of the correct subject on the file name if known.. Ideas for Subject areas: Subject File | Subject File ----------------------------------|---------------------------------- From the *C's *.css | Rebuttals to articles *.reb Fidonet Regional News *.reg | Fidonet Net News *.net Retractions *.rtx | General Fidonet Articles *.art Guest Editorial *.gue | Fidonet Current Events *.cur Fidonet Interviews *.inv | Fidonet Software Reviews *.rev Fidonet Web Page Reviews *.web | Fidonet Notices *.not Getting Fidonet Technical *.ftc | Question Of The Week *.que Humor in a Fido Vein *.hfv | Comix in ASCII *.cmx Fidonet's Int. Kitchen *.rec | Poet's Corner *.poe Clean Humor & Jokes *.jok | Other Stuff *.oth Fidonet Classified Ads *.ads | Corrections *.cor If you don't know or are not sure, send the article anyway. Put a .TXT on it and I'll try to figure out where it should be in the Fidonews. If you follow these simple guidelines, there should be little problem in getting your article published. If your submission is too far out of specs for the Fidonews, it will be returned to you and/or a message sent informing you of the problem. This DOES NOT mean that your article is not accepted. It means that there is something in it that I can not fix and I need your help on it. FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 34 1 Jul 2002 Send Articles via E-mail or Netmail, file attach or message to: Bj”rn Felten Fidonet 2:2/2 E-Mail bfelten@telia.com Please include a message, telling me that you have sent an article. That way I will know to look for it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 19-26 Page 35 1 Jul 2002 Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Editor: Bj”rn Felten, 2:2/2, editor@fidonews.org | | Crash mail attached: Editor@2:2/2 | | E-Mail attached: bfelten@telia.com | | Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, jb@fidonews.org | | Columnist: Warren Bonner - Ol'WDB's Corner | | Columnist: Frank Vest - (reserved for future use) | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince | | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, | | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, | | Doug Meyers, Warren D. Bonner, Frank L. Vest | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet. Fidonews is Copyright (C) 2002 by Bj”rn Felten, though authors retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinions expressed by the authors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to the Editor at one of the addresses above. The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from the following sources: + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | File request from 2:2/2: | | current issue FIDONEWS | | back issue, volume v, issue ii FNEWSvii.ZIP | | ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ | | http://www.fidonews.org | | email subscription: majordomo@fidonews.org | | (subject: help body: list) | | ftp mail: ftpmail@fidonews.org (subject: help) | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -----------------------------------------------------------------