Volume 5, Number 1 4 January 1988 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief Dale Lovell Editor Emeritus: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Contributing Editors: Al Arango FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. Copyright 1987 by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them. Everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. HAPPY NEW YEAR Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Surprise! Words from a new editor ........................ 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 Alternet: The End ........................................ 3 Response to AlterNet Editorial ........................... 5 AUTOECHO A ECHOMAIL Utility .............................. 7 Computer Performance Echo ................................ 8 The 1987 Andrew Fluegelman Award ......................... 9 Telecommunications Today ................................. 11 3. NOTICES .................................................. 16 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 16 Latest Software Versions ................................. 16 4. COMMITTEE REPORTS ........................................ 17 State of IFNA and FidoNet - January 1, 1988 .............. 17 FidoNews 5-01 Page 1 4 Jan 1988 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Much to my surprise I received a message from Thom Henderson a few weeks ago. It wasn't that he had sent the message that took me so much by surprise as the message's contents. He was looking for a new editor for FidoNews and was "offering" me the position. Let me say up front that it took me several days to finally come to a decision. It wasn't an easy decision to make! As a semi-regular columnist I had it easy. If I didn't feel like writing or didn't have the time it was no big deal, although I did have to live with the guilt it caused (and yes, I did feel guilty when I didn't get a column out). As editor it would be my responsibility to the net to make sure that an issue of FidoNews did go out every week, regardless of what my work schedule was like or my personal feelings. Only after I was sure I could take on the responsibility did I check to make sure I could do the work required. This may sound backward but I was reasonably sure that if I decided to shoulder the responsibility, I could manage the work. In the end, I decided that it was "the right thing." For the time being there shouldn't be any real change apparent to most of you. I am continuing Thom's policy of printing anything I receive (outside of obvious plagiarism, libel, or criminal intent). I am going to try and take a more active role in getting material. Many of you will be hearing from me in the near future in this regard! What kind of articles am I interested in? Well first off, I'd like to see someone take up my old "Regular Irregular Column." Actually, I'd like to see a large group of "contributing editors" spring up in the near future. All the title means as far as I'm concerned is that the person makes regular contributions to FidoNews. Not weekly. Not monthly. Just regularly. Also, right now there are many new bulletin board systems being introduced to the net. I'd like to see some articles from these "converted" sysops and their users on what they expect and see in FidoNet. What made them decide to add FidoNet compatibility to their systems, and how easy (or hard) was it for them to learn some of our unique terminology and practices. Some other topics I'd like to see articles on in the future are Gateways. What are they? How do they work? At FidoCon I heard some of the possible uses of EchoMail, is anyone doing anything new and exciting? Tell us about it if you are. There are several public service EchoMail conferences, are they actually accomplishing anything? Also, what is the EchoMail backbone? How do you "link up" with it. Some of these are questions that every sysop asks at one time or another, and it would be a big asset if everyone could point to and read a good article on topics like these. If you think you'd like to write something but are unsure FidoNews 5-01 Page 2 4 Jan 1988 how it would be received, drop me a line and we'll discuss it. In addition to my electronic address (which is now a public board, no more routing worries) I'm listing my home and work addresses and phone numbers. I'm also interested in hearing from you on topics for articles you'd like to see. Who knows, maybe I can find someone to write them! In summary, I'd like to say that I am very excited about this new position and hope that I can live up to your expectations. I plan on taking a more active role than Thom did in that I'm going to be a little aggressive in getting some of you to write an article instead of just posting a message in EchoMail. EchoMail is fickle, many people may not see a message that directly pertains to them. Why not enter a message AND send in an article, after all this is YOUR newsletter! Your Editor, Dale Lovell 1:1/1 (1:157/504) 216/642-1034 (data) Home Work 3266 Vezber Drive Parma Computer Center Seven Hills, OH 44131 5402 State Road 216/524-1875 (voice) Parma, OH 44134 216/661-1808 (voice) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 3 4 Jan 1988 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Alternet: The End By Aaron Priven Before I start, I'd like to say what I liked about the AlterNet Policy. Mainly I liked the terminology. As someone who named his BBS ("Angevin Empire") after a 12th-century dynasty of English kings, I am amused by the idea of being a knight rather than a sysop. But I don't think that the major point of AlterNet's existence was to be amusing. I've only been in FidoNet a short time as a sysop. I didn't know the 'good old days' before the IFNA wars. But one of the things about the FidoNet I know is the fact that there's only one of it. Despite zones and arguments and flames there's still only one network, with one simple way of getting information from one node to another. That's changed now. Now we're going to have two networks. Then the next thing that happens is we'll have lots of little networks. Probably we'll just give separate zones to the different little networks. All those who think that IFNA is the greatest thing we've ever had and we need more of it, go to zone 1. All those who hate IFNA and everybody in it and would be willing to go in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee to denounce them, go to zone 9. Everybody who doesn't care about Fidonet as long as their BBS is listed so they get national exposure, go to zone 12. Everybody who is happy as long as they get TECH, COMM, and ECPROG, go to zone 120. Everybody who would just as soon collect stamps, go to zone 1,238,272!. Sound like the Bell System break-up to you? Even worse than that, because the Bell System break-up was at least geographical. These little nets will more than likely be spread over all parts of the net, in little bunches. (Making it un- Policy3 to give them zone numbers, as POLICY3 has a restriction on units not made exclusively for the improvement of communications). I'm not going to argue here for one sort of action or another, whether IFNA should be left alone or reorganized or disincorporated. But the net must be kept unified. There are so many other forces that may come to bear on us: governmental regulation, software incompatibility, telephone abilities, the simple problems of growth. We must work together to solve our problems -- not fall apart. I know we all have our own ideas about what should be done. But whatever is done we must do it together. FidoNews 5-01 Page 4 4 Jan 1988 --------------------- The message above was directed not so much at the sysops and users at large, but rather at the particular sysops who are leading factions like 'AlterNet' and 'SoutherNet'. Here is one that is addressed at everyone. The biggest danger in all this factionalism is not that the net will choose the wrong direction, but that the net will break up. One way to limit the use of factional nets is not to beat them, but to join them. I am considering joining *all* factional nets that may arise: AlterNet, SoutherNet, and any other netlets that may arise. This is not an ideal solution, by any means, but en masse it might limit the use of factionalism. I await your thoughts. Aaron Priven Fido (1:125/1154.0) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 5 4 Jan 1988 Don Daniels, President International FidoNet Association 1:107/210 This letter is basically in response to the editorial and article that appeared this past week in FidoNews dealing with AlterNet. According to these documents a currently unstated number of individuals appear to be interested in forming their own network beginning early in 1988 as an alternative to...well, that's hard to say exactly. "FidoNet" is a likely answer, but they seem to be taking most of that with them in the sense that FidoNet is in essence a group of computer systems that exchange files using the FidoNet protocol. It could be that "IFNA" is what they are taking exception to, except if we accept the premise, as many of us believe, that IFNA is merely the current mechanism for implementing the collective will of all concerned sysops regarding the Net, it would seem that they are merely attempting to avoid subjection to such collective will, which strikes me as being not on the mark. Furthermore, several of their number have indicated that they maintain respect and support for IFNA and wish to continue their current relationships. Whether that will be allowed or not by AlterNet itself is also hard to say as, at least one of their patrician voices has declared that, even if not disallowed, continued dual association would be philosophically incompatible. On the other hand, others of their aristocracy have declared that such bi-lateral association would not only be allowed but would be desirable. To me, the message then is that there is not yet a clear view of exactly what AlterNet is and may become. As such, it would appear that the best thing to do for the rest of us is simply nothing but wait and see. However, a few moves have been made by the two sides. Ryugen Fisher was kind enough to call me and provide an explanation of his thoughts and concerns relative to the changeover. We agreed on many points including the point that it would be mutually advisable for Ryugen to maintain his seat on the Technical Standards Committee, thereby functioning as a liaison with AlterNet. He will also step down from the chairmanship which will preclude potential conflicts of interest. One of the majors factors which has motivated Ryugen to make his choice has been the considerable flaming which has appeared in the various EchoCons. This certainly is one area within which I can completely sympathize as I have been appalled at the lack of consideration shown by so many of our sysops. It always struck me that such behavior would sooner or later exact a heavy price and here we can see one such instance in the alienation and loss of a considerable number of concerned sysops who have made and probably would have continued to make many valuable contributions FidoNews 5-01 Page 6 4 Jan 1988 to FidoNet. I'm certain I personally will feel this loss, which seems worse when considered in terms of the petty behavior of others which has motivated it. I happened to be talking to Tom Jennings this past FidoCon on related ideas. Actually I'm slightly surprised that I've heard that he disapproves of this current scheme as he was making the point that we shouldn't limit our horizons. "How do we know," he said, "that this is the best way of doing things? If we're not open to trying other approaches we may well miss the solution that would prove best in the long run." So with that thought in mind we bid farewell to our AlterNetives. As they embark and sail across uncharted waters for unknown lands in their quest for their particular Holy Grails we wish them Godspeed. Perchance our paths will cross again in another time. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 7 4 Jan 1988 Ben Mann / Paul Pappas OPUS 151/1000 AUTOECHO is a program that stems from the needs of all ECHOMAIL HOST and HUB sysops. It allows a NODE to send a message to the HOST system and turn on and off ECHO's that he/she would like to recieve or not recieve without the intervention of the HOST system sysop. A message is sent to AUTOECHO with a password in the subject field. This password MUST agree with a password the HOST system defines in a file called AUTOECHO.PWD. The body of the message contains the ECHO's the requester wants turned on or off. If the ECHO is preceeded by a minus sign the ECHO is turned off. If no sign is there the ECHO is turned on. AUTOECHO then modifies the HOST systems AREAS.BBS or ECHO.CTL file and adds/deletes the ECHO being sent to that requestor. It also send a message to the requestor informing him/her what action was taken. All actions taken by AUTOECHO can be redirected to a log, AUTOECHO >> AUTOECHO.LOG, so the HOST sysop can tell what ECHO has been picked up or deleted. AUTOECHO.A93 may be requested from 151/1000 or 151/100. A .DOC file and examples are included. Can you say "AUTOECHO?", I thought you could. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 8 4 Jan 1988 Larry Kayser 104/739 I have established new echomail conference called CPE. It's purpose is to provide a forum for practitioners of computer performance measurement and capacity planning. It's main thrust is in mid to mainframe size environments, but all are welcome. The forum hopefully will provide a place to exchange ideas and techniques. This echo came about as a result of an informal meeting held several weeks ago at the Computer Measurement Group (CMG) annual meeting held in Orlando. Better than 25 individuals attended a informal meeting to discuss the value of such a conference and a number of nodes have already expressed in interest in joining the effort. If you are interested in joining such a conference, drop me Net- Mail to 104/739 and we will get you included. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 9 4 Jan 1988 The UTOPIAN Network 107/269 107/169 ECHOMAIL -- ANOTHER FLUEGELMAN FOR FIDONET ? Last year Tom Jennings won the First Annual Andrew Fluegelman Award with the "software that started it all" -- FIDO\_IBM.EXE. For THIS year's Award ... how about thanking JEFF RUSH for creating ECHOMAIL ? ( We can get him the award first, and tar-and-feather him afterward, right? ) Besides, maybe we OWE Jeff Rush a little more than we do to other Network Software Developers. While ECHOMAIL was technically SHAREWARE ($25.00) Jeff Rush acted as if the program had been released to the public domain. Though the program itself marked each message with the node number of its users, and Jeff read in many of the national ECHOS, he never made an issue of the people who used the program and "forgot" to pay SHARE. This year the competition is going to be stiffer. More people know about the Award -- the prize is $5,000 -- and commercial programs ARE eligible. The Award will be made on the merits of the software according to these judging criteria: ** It advances the state of the art in personal computing ** It manifiests innovation in concept and design. ** It demonstrates orientation to personal computer users. If we can generate enough nominations to engage the judges' interest, ECHOMAIL is good enough to win ! It has brought BBSing as far from the NetMail-only Fido Boards as FidoMail brought BBSs from the stand-alone technology. What's more, ECHOMAIL has produced the same kind of outpouring of creative energy that FIDO did ... it has been cloned, improved, and has inspired dozens of add-on utilities. It has that "spark" that the judges will be looking for. SO, let's pass the word through our networks, our echo conferences, and among our friends. Let's bring home the Fluegelman with ECHOMAIL! ======================================================== To nominate a program for the Andrew Fluegelman Award ======================================================== Fill out the following form and make SIX copies. Handwritten copies will NOT be accepted. Name of Program : ECHOMAIL 1.30 Package consisting of FidoNews 5-01 Page 10 4 Jan 1988 SCANMAIL.EXE, TOSSMAIL.EXE, and SETMARK.EXE Creator: Jeff Rush Release date: 05/13/86 Software Marketer: Tau Productions, 1124 Wildwood Drive, Richardson, TX 75080 Brief Description: ECHOMAIL, a SHAREWARE program, enables (sample) a network of personal computer Bulletin Boards to support "newsgroup" or "conference" messaging. Messages entered by users are automatically sent (via ordinary telephone lines) to all BBSs participating in the same ECHOconferences, and may be read and replied to by any user in any other BBS. Information "known" in one BBS is "known" by all other boards ina very short period of time -- often overnight! Reason for Nomination: ECHOMAIL has made much of the (sample) long distance information-sharing power of mainframe networks available, via PC's, to amateur operators, non-commerical users, small businesses and grass-roots organizatons. As a result, private news services, specialized data bases and no-paper, no-postage newsletters are now an economic and practical reality. Nomination submitted by: your name ------------------------------------------- Company: Phone Number: your company phone ------------------------------ --------------- Address: your address ------------------------------------------------------------ Mail to: Andrew Fluegelman Award, Attn: Shirley Gines PCW Communications, Inc. 501 Second Street San Francisco, CA 94107. . But, remember, time is short; the DEADLINE for nominations is FEBRUARY 1,1988. Send your SIX copies of the Nomination form ... TODAY! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 11 4 Jan 1988 Telecommunications Today Some time ago, a group of particularly bright folks came up with the idea of a standard code of letters, numbers and punctuation symbols so that different kinds of computers could exchange information. The code assigned numeric values ranging from 0 to 127 to each character. The choice of a name for the code was made by less-bright folks, and that's how ASCII was born (American Standard Code for Information Interchange, pronounced AS-kee). ASCII wasn't the first code devised. One of the earliest codes was called BAUDOT. It was devised by George Baudot, whose name lives on with those who refer to data transfer speeds as baud rates instead of bit per second. After the introduction of ASCII, IBM even made up its own code called EBCDIC (pronounced EB-sid-ik). It stands for Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code, and it never really caught on outside of the large-scale IBM mainframe world (probably because the acronym they chose wasn't very snappy). Even the IBM PC and compatibles use what is called a superset or expanded version of the ASCII standard. The PC's character set contains 256 characters rather than ASCII's 128. Codes 0 to 127 are identical to the ASCII standard, but 128 to 255 are used for special characters unique to the IBM and compatible personal computers. When telecommunicating with non-IBM machines, IBM computers generally use codes 0 to 127 only, which is the normal ASCII set. A BIT OF BINARY Let's look at how we use these numeric codes to actually transmit information, namely three characters we'll choose at random: I B M Not too random, huh? The ASCII codes for these letters are: 73 66 77 These numbers are in decimal, or base ten format, the number system we humans use in everyday life. Computers use the binary number system. Binary numbers are in base two format. The only characters used in base two are ones and zeros. Each one or zero is called a bit (Binary digIT). Bits are easy for computers to work with. Since computers are electrical devices, they know only whether an individual bit is on (1) or off (0). The binary equivalent of: 73 66 77 is a series of ones and zeros: I = 73 = 1001001 B = 66 = 1000010 M = 77 = 1001101 FidoNews 5-01 Page 12 4 Jan 1988 Not only is this format easy for a computer to handle, it is very easy to convert into sound and send over telephone lines. We'll see why a little later on. PARITY We've seen how ASCII character codes can be represented as strings of seven bits. In the early days of communications, it was soon discovered that noise on the telephone lines could interfere with data transmission. People needed some way to verify that what was being received matched what had been transmitted. By adding an eighth bit to the beginning of each string, a crude form of error detection called CHARACTER PARITY was created. This error-checking is handled by the software running on both ends of the telecommunications link. This extra bit was named a PARITY BIT, and it made it possible to use EVEN or ODD parity schemes. It works like this: with even parity, the total number or ones in any character is always even. If the seven-bit code for an ASCII character has an even number of ones, the parity bit is set to zero. If the seven-bit code for the ASCII character has an odd number of ones, the parity bit is set to one. Using even parity, 1001001 1000010 1001101 becomes: 11001001 01000010 01001101 The receiving software then removes or "strips off" the parity bit and works with the remaining seven bits. If a bit string is found to contain an odd number of bits before stripping, it is assumed to be an error and the string was retransmitted. Odd parity works in a similar way, always requiring an odd count of ones. But parity is of little value for most personal computers users today. This type of error-checking dates back to the days when eletromechanical devices such as teletypes were in heavy use. The gears and cams of these machines were much more prone to introducing errors than modern equipment. In fact, so few systems employ parity- checking schemes these days that many computers (including the IBM-PC) use the parity bit for data instead of for error-checking. This allows IBM-PCs to send and receive all 256 PC characters, rather than just the 128 characters in the ASCII set. In this case, there is no parity: 1001001 1000010 1001101 becomes: 01001001 01000010 01001101 We still use eight-bit strings, but the HIGH BIT (leftmost bit) simply represents special characters which are mostly special FidoNews 5-01 Page 13 4 Jan 1988 graphics characters. Just A Bit More We're almost ready to ship out our data to the modem. The last thing that needs to be added are FRAMING BITS which indicate the beginning and end of each bit string. They are usually called the START and STOP bits. A start bit of zero is inserted at the beginning of each character, and a zero stop bit is appended to the end. Now our message looks like this: 01001001 01000010 01001101 becomes: 0010010010 0010000100 0010011010 Now we are ready to transmit our data to the modem, but first a simple definition of what the modem function is. The name MODEM comes from two words which describe it's function. MOdulator - DEModulator. Modems use two sets of frequencies to send and receive data. Just for simplicity's sake, let's call them high and low frequencies. One modem will send data using the high voice, and listen for data from the modem on the other end in the low voice. The other modem will do just the opposite. One modem is using the assigned frequencies in what we call ANSWER MODE, and the other is using ORIGINATE MODE. If both were in the same mode, each modem would hear both itself and the other modem at the same time, so they wouldn't be able to differentiate between what they are sending and receiving. Each voice has two octaves, referred to as SPACE and MARK. | MODE | |(0) SPACE |(1) MARK | |-------------+----------------+----------+----------| | | | | | | ORIGINATE | TRANSMITTER | 1070 | 1270 | | " | RECEIVER | 2025 | 2225 | |-------------+----------------+----------+----------| | ANSWER | TRANSMITTER | 2025 | 2225 | | " | RECEIVER | 1070 | 1270 | |_____________|________________|__________|__________| By convention, the tone associated with the zero-bit is space, and the tone for the one-bit is mark. Also by convention, the normal state of the phone line when no data is being transferred is a continuous mark tone, which can be considered a constant stream of ones. SENDING AND RECEIVING Finally we're ready to transmit the data. Remember, our modems are pretty dumb animals when it comes to data. All they do is FidoNews 5-01 Page 14 4 Jan 1988 take the series of ones and zeros passed to them by the computer, convert them to mark and space tones (MOdulate), and then turn the tones back into ones and zeros at the other end (DEModulate). Here we have a "quiet" transmission of all marks (ones) waiting for some data: MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM We are hunched over our keyboards happily telecomputing and oblivious to everything happening inside our machine. If we type: I B M the ASCII codes for which are: 073 066 077 our computer recognizes what we typed as: 01001001 01000010 01001101 so out telecommunications software adds the start and stop bits: 0010010010 0010000100 0010011010 and the data is sent to the modem, which changes the zeros and ones into mark and space tones: SSMSSMSSMS SSMSSSSMSS SSMSSMMSMS which is superimposed over the "quiet" of a solid mark tone: MMMSSMSSMSSMSMMMMSSMSSSSMSSMMMMSSMSSMMSMSMMM so the receiving modem can change them back into a stream of zeros and ones again: 11100100100101111001000010011110010011010111 The telecommunications software on the other end watches the incoming stream of ones and zeros from the modem. By convention, the first zero says, "Hey! The next eight bits are a character and the ninth bit after me will be another zero. After you see that last zero, watch for the start of another character!" So the telecommunications program removes the extraneous ones introduced by the constant mark tone, as well as the start and stop zeros: 01001001 01000010 01001101 which the person on the other end finally sees as: I B M FidoNews 5-01 Page 15 4 Jan 1988 Seems like a lot of trouble for three letters, doesn't it? Fortunately it's all handled for us by software and hardware working together. (Some of the examples are greatly oversimplified, and I've been pretty loose with terminology for clarity's sake.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 16 4 Jan 1988 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 9 Jan 1988 The next net 104 FidoNet Sysop Meeting. Contact Oscar Barlow at 104/0 for information. 25 Aug 1988 Start of the Fifth International FidoNet Conference, to be held at the Drawbridge Inn in Cincinnatti, OH. Contact Tim Sullivan at 108/62 for more information. This is FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're hoping to see you there! 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Latest Software Versions BBS Systems Node List Other & Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version Dutchie 2.80* EditNL 3.3 ARC 5.21 Fido 12e* MakeNL 1.10 ARCmail 1.1 Opus 1.03a Prune 1.40 ConfMail 3.3* SEAdog 4.10 XlatList 2.85* EchoMail 1.31 TBBS 2.0M MGM 1.1 * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 17 4 Jan 1988 ================================================================= COMMITTEE REPORTS ================================================================= Don Daniels, President International FidoNet Association FidoNet 1:107/210 State of IFNA and FidoNet - January 1, 1988 Rather than ask for status reports from the various committees this month, I felt it might be best to talk about some general concerns relative to IFNA and FidoNet. First of all, I'm pleased to report that, with the assistance of Bob Hartman, some real progress has finally been made in both the Executive Committee and Board of Directors which not only inaugurated their new electronic sessions, but have completed their first electronic balloting. It is particulary pleasing for me to report that the first item of official business passed in this manner by the Board of Directors was the confirmation of the choice of Cincinnati as the site of the 1988 FidoNet Conference, August 25-28. FidoCon chairman Tim Sullivan promises me that detailed information will be posted here for you shortly. We apologize again for the delay in establishing these sessions, but we were faced with quite a number of legal and operational difficulties relative to conducting official business via Electronic Mail. First results with the methods implemented seem to indicate that we have established not only a working approach, but one which may set precedents for other conferences and organizations. FIDONET - GROWING FAST FidoNet itself seems to still be thriving, albeit with certain growing pains. At last count, our NODELIST had approximately 2400 individual nodes in thirty countries and territories with the promise of more on the way. I've been told that over the last six months we have been growing at the rate of 125 new nodes per month. Should that rate continue we could expect to be 3400 strong by the time we meet in Cincinnati. (Better book early!) IFNA - IT'S TIME It's time to take a hard look at just what IFNA is, because it's not exactly what many of you have come to believe. I have been "preaching" the following concepts to my fellow board members, but have realized that the best way to convince them is to have the rest of you out there come to the same basic understanding I have - and then let you convince your representatives. FidoNews 5-01 Page 18 4 Jan 1988 OK, so let's look at one of the things that IFNA is not. It certainly is not an elitist group of a few people bent on taking control of FidoNet. I'll never understand how such an idea ever got started way back when, particulary at the very time when the then autocratic leaders of FidoNet tried to actually relinquish their hold on Net operations in favor of a more democratic process. But to this day there are people who still talk as though this is the greatest thing we have to fear. To me, as the current head of IFNA, IFNA is not so much an organization (although, of course, it has to be incorporated and have officers, procedures, and various operating mechanisms) as it is the spirit of FidoNet. That spirit started five years ago with Tom Jennings and John Madill and, along the way, infected all of the rest of us. Eventually, the burden of maintaining the expanding Net proved too much for TJ to handle and the job of overseeing the Net was passed to the guys in St. Louis (and others). Guided by that same spirit of FidoNet, this period saw the creation of the Net's operational heirarchy and the establishment of the various Coordinator positions to manage it. Once again the growth of FidoNet was so great that it became time to pass the responsibility, and the spirit, onto another source of greater resources and, to this end, IFNA, the organization, was conceived and implemented. I know now, as I talk to the various individuals trying to somehow squeeze additional time and energy into their efforts for FidoNet, that it is that same FidoNet spirit that drives us all in what we try to do in IFNA. So how does this work? You, as individual SysOps, have consented to be governed by a chain of Hub/Area/Regional/Zone/International Coordinators. Essentially, each coordinator operates as a sort of "dictator" with full responsibility for his domain. You have no direct control over how he operates - the only mechanism you have (short of dropping out of his domain) to attempt any control over him is to convince his "boss" coordinator (who in many cases made the appointment in the first place) that your coordinator is not doing the job. No easy task. This was the sum total of the procedure until IFNA was formed. When the guys in St. Louis decided to form IFNA, one of the primary benefits they saw was the establishment of an overseeing body that would be responsible to all the Sysops of FidoNet and would manage for them, via the International Coordinator, the chains of coordinators. This management involvement was not intended to be on a direct basis up and down the chain, hasn't been, and won't be. What this primary function of IFNA does do, however, is close the loop. It allows you, the governed SysOp, to have an official say in the manner in which your network is administered by the various coordinators in the chain. This say is expressed through your direct vote and through the votes of your elected representatives. You charge these representatives to present your individual will for the future of FidoNet. What IFNA is then, in essence, is simply the collective will of concerned SysOps for the future of FidoNet. FidoNews 5-01 Page 19 4 Jan 1988 It's now time that we all really try to put this concept into action. We must give up any "us vs. them" mentality that we still maintain and understand that each and every one of us is operating with that same driving spirit of FidoNet. Oh, it may drive us in different directions on various topics, but the associated controvery should provide us with a synergetic energy, if we can all keep our emotions in check and operate on logic. Speaking of keeping our emotions in check, one of the changes which I have personally effected is to once again subscribe to the IFNA EchoCon in order to insure more feedback between you and your leadership. You are invited to use that forum (or send to me direct) to ask questions, express your views and enter into SERIOUS discussion of the issues facing FidoNet. But please, leave your egos, insults, flame-throwers, and all other disruptive forces behind. FidoNet deserves better than that. Each of you has a Divisional Representative to IFNA. Additionally, there are eleven other "at-large" directors. Adopt one or two. Make it clear to each of them that you believe in this concept and that this is how you wish to see things operate. Establish channels of communication whereby they can learn just what your will is on the various concerns confronting us, and you can see just what they are trying to accomplish towards your interests. There are many very difficult questions that they have to decide in this coming year, but it will be so much easier if you provide them with clear-cut declarations of your wishes. Try to understand the difficulties that they have in finding the various resources to meet their additional responsibilities on your behalf and offer to provide whatever you can to assist them. (All directors are supposed to meet in St. Louis February 19-21. Do you know that for more than one this represents a financial hardship? What can you do about that or other problems they may face in trying to meet their responsibility of representing you?) FidoNet is growing so fast that we can't hope to even maintain the status quo using our present approaches. Speaking just for myself, I know that unrealistic levels of time and energy are being expended (if you don't believe me, just ask my wife or child - or those of most of the other board members) and yet so little of what's required is getting done. We're going to have figure out new ways to provide the resources we need to catch up and stay caught up. In order to even begin to do this it's time to stop allowing our knee-jerk responses and really consider the implications of some truly tough questions: o What level of involvement in the handling of EchoMail do you wish IFNA to take to protect all your interests relative to this important but geometrically expanding capability? (Don't reply "Hands off" unless you really want IFNA to do nothing should the present backbone structure some day collapse or some other major problem occur.) o How can we expect to manage this already huge and fast-growing operation with part-time volunteers who, as FidoNews 5-01 Page 20 4 Jan 1988 dedicated SysOps, are already overtaxed in terms of finances and time? o Our International brethern, perhaps better accustomed than us to dealing with differences, still are coming to us to help them with the various problems they face. How can we respond to their needs when we have so much difficulty getting our own house in order? o What should we be doing in terms of providing the education, liability protection and so many other similar services to our membership as required by a non-profit charter? How can we expect to undertake anything like this on our miniscule budget? o How should we resolve the various questions concerning the place of so many facets of commercialism in a supposedly 'amateur' Net? We provide valuable services that, even if we could figure out how to charge for them, should still be an attractive bargain. Shouldn't all pay their fair share? o It's time for us, both individually and collectively, to answer the question of whether FidoNet really is just a hobby or something more. It's easy to say that this is all a hobby when your scope of involvement is passing messages between a few systems. But when you are trying to provide the organization and administration for thousands of systems in dozens of countries, you quickly realize that to accomplish these goals requires more than a hobbyist mentality. Each of us needs to decide what level of involvement we are willing to support and then move in that direction. There is no reason that those of us with broader aspirations for the future of FidoNet cannot co-exist with those content to maintain the status quo. But it may well be necessary for us to restructure our separate approaches and operations to make this a reality. o It's also time that we looked at just what "Free" means in the term "Free Communication" we use so much. It means "open", "publicly accessible". It certainly does not mean "without cost" because someone, somewhere is picking up far more than their fair share. Just because you may have enjoyed certain no-fee services to date does not mean that this is some unalienable right. It means that you should be grateful for the gift you've received and should be asking yourself how to "repay" it in other ways or areas. You should also be trying to figure out now what you and we are going to do when your gracious benefactor(s) no longer can afford to meet the ever-increasing demand. Two big meetings face the IFNA Board of Directors in 1988: the St. Louis meeting in February and the convention in August. Many decisions are going to made that affect you and your FidoNet. Please try to meet locally and electronically, calmly discuss the various issues to understand the impact of viewpoints and needs other than your own, and then express opinions and FidoNews 5-01 Page 21 4 Jan 1988 suggestions to your representatives to help them enact your will. Remember: IFNA is but the collective will of all SysOps concerned about the future of FidoNet. If that includes you, then support IFNA and your representatives. It's your best chance of making sure that FidoNet's growth not only won't cause it to collapse under its own weight but will be allowed to continue in directions you want. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 22 4 Jan 1988 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) _`@/_ \ _ | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Membership for the International FidoNet Association Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to increase worldwide communications. Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________ State ________________________________ Zip _____________________ Country _________________________________________________________ Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________ BBS Name ________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________ Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________ Board Restrictions ______________________________________________ Your Special Interests __________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in US Funds to: International FidoNet Association c/o Leonard Mednick, MBA, CPA 700 Bishop Street, #1014 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-4112 USA Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to insure the future of FidoNet. Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the membership in January 1987. The first elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1987. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-01 Page 23 4 Jan 1988 INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION ORDER FORM Publications The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido 1:1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing them directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee Chairmen provide us with the latest versions of each publication, but we can make no written guarantees. Hardcopy prices as of October 1, 1986 IFNA Fido BBS listing $15.00 _____ IFNA Administrative Policy DOCs $10.00 _____ IFNA FidoNet Standards Committee DOCs $10.00 _____ SUBTOTAL _____ IFNA Member ONLY Special Offers System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____ SEAdog price as of March 1, 1987 ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member Fido Software's Fido/FidoNet $100.00 _____ Fido/FidoNet price as of November 1, 1987 ONLY 1 copy Fido/FidoNet per IFNA Member International orders include $10.00 for surface shipping or $20.00 for air shipping _____ SUBTOTAL _____ HI. Residents add 4.0 % Sales tax _____ TOTAL _____ SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER IN US FUNDS: International FidoNet Association c/o Leonard Mednick, MBA, CPA 700 Bishop Street, #1014 Honolulu, HI. 96813-4112 USA Name________________________________ Zone:Net/Node____:____/____ Company_____________________________ Address_____________________________ City____________________ State____________ Zip_____ Voice Phone_________________________ Signature___________________________ -----------------------------------------------------------------