fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:08 Page 1 Volume 1, Number 1 1 Dec 84 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Editor: Tom Jennings Publisher: Fido #1 HOT NEWS THE FIRST FIDONET NEWSLETTER Well, it finally got done ... FidoNews, the FidoNet Users Group newsletter is real. It will be published once a week, possibly once every two weeks if it gets busy. There will be at least three regular "features": the node list, Fido list, and the route list. Hopefully there will be more interesting things later. Now you have a reason to get FidoNews. I, Tom Jennings, am apparently the editor. I do NOT wish to be editor; the last thing I need is something else to do. See the HELP WANTED section. (Not kidding) We (ahem) are also looking for a publisher; I will do that for a while at least. A freebie outgoing host would be nice. Not a short term problem, though, like finding an Editor in Chief is. *All* articles, etc are user submitted; anything and everything, as per usual Fidonet protocols (Which isn't saying much ..) Ideas, problems, questions, tips, programs, hardware, etc etc are all welcome. See the ARTICLE article. (sic) Distribution is still up in the air; it will be mailed to at least six hosts across the country. For now, it is available on #1 and #51. Possibly elsewhere in this thing you'll find an article on distribution. fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:15 Page 2 THE FIDONET USERS GROUP Oh yeah, I did mention that ... I hereby declare all Fido users and sysops members of the FidoNet Users Group. Sounds pretty stupid, huh? Well ... If there are 100 Fido systems around the country, and each has at least 100 users, thats 10,000 people. Any group that large has advantages, if nothing other than letters to the editor of your favorite magazine. This is just a brainstorm at this point, but is something to keep in mind. To make this fake club at least appear real, I am trying to decide whether or not to have bumber stickers made. This will be 3 3/4" X 8 1/2" white vinyl, with black artwork, will have the requisite doggie, the words "FidoNet Bulletin Board Network" and "Fido Node #" on it, and a place for a phone number, and blank space. These will cost $165.00 for 500 stickers, or about $230.00 for 1000. I'll pay part of it ($40.00?) but no more; if I get promises to buy say $125.00's worth, I'll have them made, and sell them at cost. (They cost about 34 cents each; plus 20 cents postage, plus envelopes, etc, call it a buck a piece.) The real reason for this is so I can have one, but I don't want to spend $165 for it! EDITOR'S SOAP BOX ARTICLE SUBMISSION The format of this thing is totally ad hoc; please make recomendations as to formats, sections needed, liked, or hated, columns you'd like to see, or see removed, anything at all. If you want to submit something regularly, we can start a column for you. You are ENCOURAGED to send things in for the newsletter. ANYTHING is fit for the newsletter, such as a description of your board, problems found, questions, jokes, fixes, horror stories about wrong FidoNet numbers, things for sale, etc etc etc. SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE An article should have your name, node number (if applicable), followed by the text. Text can be any ASCII derivative; WordStar, soft paragraphs, 8th bit set, etc are all OK. Articles can be uploaded at either Fido #1 or #51, into the NEWS File Area, or by sending it by FidoNet. There is a convention for naming the files, so that the newsletter can be published automatically. ARTICLE FILENAMES file.ART For article type things fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:21 Page 3 file.SAL Things for sale file.NOT Notices file.MSC Miscelaneous things file.EDT an Editorial file.NEW News items file.WNT Wanted items Make sure the name is unique, especially if you send it by FidoNet, so you dont overwrite another article. fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:22 Page 4 NEWS HOW THIS IS PUBLISHED This is a totally electronic newsletter; articles are written of course by users and sysops, but all other parts and proceedures are machine generated. For each newsletter, the Editor (thats me folks) does the date and volume of the title page (tough job), and whatever editorial there may be. Articles are checked out for being readable (ie. more or less English language), and bum copies (bad uploads, etc) are deleted. The lists generated by FidoNet Admin (St. Louis) such as the node list, Fido list, and the route list, come in via FidoNet during the week. On the day the newsletter is to be published, Fido #1 runs the text formatter (as a schedule) to produce the newsletter, using all the articles, the node and Fido lists. The completed newsletter is then copied into the NEWS file area. All of the article submissions are saved as last week's news, and deleted to make room for next weeks. Some canned messages are copied into Fido 1's mail area, which file attaches the newsletter to the distribution points. This completes the FidoNews Newsletter publication. FIDO SECURITY - Tom Jennings Fido is pretty secure, but there have been a few instances where callers gave them selves SYSOP priveleges, and ran amok ... the cure is quite simple. NEVER NEVER NEVER have your "main" Fido directory available as a download or upload area. Always make sure there is no path that can reach your .BBS files. It is OK to have it as a SYSOP only area, never let it be accessed by NORMAL users. If it is available, all someone has to do is get a copy of SYSOP.EXE, run it, and make a USER.BBS with them as SYSOP privelege. After uploading this file, they call back in, with the new name, and bingo! they are in control. A nastier version of this is to download your current user list, use SYSOP.EXE to upgrade them (or two, or three ... in case you find one of them) the upload it. If this happens to you, delete USER.BBS *immediately*. Fix it so that the Fido area is not available to users, and then you will be safe. Better do it quick, now that it's all documented here. fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:28 Page 5 NOTICES FOR SALE WANTED fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:29 Page 6 THE ROUTE LIST This is the latest route list (ROUTE.BBS). Please put this into ROUTE.BBS if you are not part of a local Fidonet Host system. If you are (or think you are) contact the host nearest you. One way to tel is to poke through FIDOLIST, and see if a local system found there is also in the list below. Route-To 1 1,99 Route-To 27 14,21,27,44,45,73,202,310,315,318 Route-To 51 4,10,16,17,22,51,65 Route-To 56 56,77 Route-To 59 59,309 Route-To 61 61,302 Route-To 69 63,69 Route-To 85 85,306,308,312,326 Route-To 79 79,204,205,317 Route-To 207 42,203,207,320 Route-To 327 327,328