Volume 5, Number 14 4 April 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 1988 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. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. 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. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 An Editor's Ramblings .................................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 CD-ROM When two 66 MEG HD's just aren't eoungh ........... 3 Censuring FidoNews????? .................................. 4 FidoNet: Use in Education ................................ 8 Local EchoList for Users ................................. 9 What the heck is going on here????? ...................... 11 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 13 The 10 Point Gothic Column ............................... 13 Let's YACK about Electronic Voting ....................... 15 4. WANTED ................................................... 17 Programmer Wanted ........................................ 17 5. NOTICES .................................................. 18 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 18 Latest Software Versions ................................. 18 FidoNews 5-14 Page 1 4 Apr 1988 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= An Editor's Ramblings Well, things didn't go exactly as planned. I had hoped to gather enough articles for an "April Fools" edition of FidoNews. Unfortunately, there just wasn't the time to make it happen this year. Maybe next year everything will work out. In the meantime, if you'd like to start writing an article for an April Fools edition (or any other holiday for that matter) feel free to send it in early. Just remember to leave me a message telling me when it should be published as I don't have the time to go over every article. Most weeks, I'm lucky if I can find the time to browse the articles for major problems in content. I do find the time to respond to most of the mail I receive, so if you have an idea for an article drop me a line and I'd be happy to discuss it with you. As I write this, yet another long group of long time members of FidoNet are about to leave us. I wish them well and hope they succeed in their efforts. While I can't sanction what they're doing, I can understand many of their reasons. One of the biggest problems in FidoNet is how much we seem to have lost. The days of mutual trust and respect seem to have vanished. The case of the twit sysop in the policy documents seems to have been forgotten, or perhaps it just needs to be amended. I have the great pleasure to be in a closely knit net (157). I have met and talked with many of the local FidoNet sysops (and a good number of non- FidoNet sysops) and I believe we all know each other to a degree. I can always to find something to admire and/or respect in each of these fine individuals who dedicate at least part of themselves to the telecommunications community. Some of this is due to the face-to-face meetings with these people. While our electronic medium has many advantages, there is nothing that can help establish respect for these peers as a normal conversation. This makes "get togethers" like FidoCon very important. Over the next few months, you're going to see a lot of information on the upcoming FidoCon in Cincinnati, and hope that many of you will find time in your busy schedules (and tight budgets in my case at least) for this event. Sometimes when I read the messages that come across the net, I can almost follow the thoughts and see the expressions on those who I have come to know. This only helps us to communicate better, which is one of the things we're after...right? I also hope that all if our FidoNet family will attend, even those who may have left us for one reason or another. Perhaps at FidoCon we can even find the time to help heal the wounds that have caused the separations. I think all of us would agree that FidoNet is spreading almost out of control. I firmly believe this is a good thing. I can not say that the results we're seeing are good however. In this growth we should be striving to improve communications and understanding. Instead all I see is people who seem convinced FidoNews 5-14 Page 2 4 Apr 1988 that their way is the one true way. We should all try to be a little more understanding of our fellow sysops (and users). We need to learn how to be more tolerant of each others views. A disagreement is not a reason to start a "blood feud." People like the "Neuter-Net" crowd does nothing for the net. Regional and network coordinators should be trying to remove people like this from FidoNet. I know of no decent and upstanding sysop that would tolerate behavior like that from his users, and likewise I can find no place for people like that in FidoNet. Being a FidoNet sysop carries a responsibility and duty towards the net. I know those aren't exactly popular words today, but we need to remember them. Each sysop is responsible to the net as a whole, and also has a duty to work with it instead of against it. I'm not talking about "political" topics here, I talking about COMMUNICATING and RATIONALLY DISCUSSING topics. I myself have grown tired of the flaming and the personal attacks, for they have NO place in FidoNet. I have no problem with a friendly argument, just the almost violent fights that seem to be breaking out in many of the echomail conferences. Oh well.... This is getting me depressed. I really hate getting up on a soapbox and preaching. But I refuse to sit in the sidelines and watch FidoNet get torn apart by what's going on. While I know we can never return to the wonderful spirit of cooperation that once existed, I firmly believe that we should be able to discuss our disagreements on a civil level. As I warned in one of my old columns, I shoulda been a preacher. Editorials like this convince me I could have written one hell of a sermon. Hmmmm.... There's an idea in there somewhere, maybe it will mature in the following weeks. Until later... 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 3 4 Apr 1988 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= 151/2 Ben Mann 684 MEG On-Line After reading with great interest the last two issues of Fido News. And reading many articles on the new CD-ROM technology I decided that two 66 MEG HD's just weren't enough. After all our mainframe has 200 MEG per drive and my ALR '386 was way behind at 132 MEG HD. So I called Compact Disk Products, Inc., 217 East 85th. Street, New York, New York, 10028, 1-121-996-6999. A nice sounding gentleman answered the phone and informed me they had both an Hitachi CDR-1503S and the PC-SIG CD disk in stock. I said sent it "AIR". The next day a nice new Hitachi CDR-1503S was mine. The hook up was stright foward despite the warning about use with different BBS systems. A nicely done INSTALL program comes with the PC-SIG CD-ROM disk and in just under 1/2 hour I had the new toy installed. Re-boot and WOW. DIR the beast and there's over 111,000,000 FREE. That's over 440 MEG of files on my new drive E:. I had to write a program to convert the .UPP files (list of files on each disk) to a TBBS readable format. Change a few menu's. And there I had it. The FULL PC-SIG library on-line. Now the mainframe people come back and say "552 MEG on T H A T ???". A short course on the DIR command. Many page fulls of files scroll by and away they go mumbling something about learning "C". If you would like to have a look, call Alert Data TBBS at 1-919-274-7000. It's in Greensboro, NC. It used to be five lines no waiting. Now days it's eight line, some waiting. By the way. You can daisy chain up to four per system. That's 2.2 GEGbyte. And if you have a hard time selling your better half on the idea, it plays audio CD's. Just tell them it's a computerized CD player. The sound is GREAT. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 4 4 Apr 1988 Jerry Hindle 1:18/6 Well this is the 3rd article I have written tonite and I hope it is the last. This is on the subject of "editing FidoNews" and is directed at BOTH sides of this debate. In this corner weighing in at XXX lbs we have FidoNews, publication of FidoNet, under the auspices of IFNA, by and for the FidoNet sysop, user, groupie. This prestigious publication, started by Tom Jennings, has grown from 2 pages a month to over 30 pages some weeks. It has published the controversial, the sublime, the ridiculous, and even some material the national scandal mags would not touch with long poles. This publication has published (for lack of a better word) some articles that would light fires under a lot of us and on the other hand has been (sometimes) the ONLY source of information to the "grunt" sysops of the net. The management has decided to institute an editorial policy of not publishing obviously libelous or deceitful articles (a good point), and also offensive articles. This I must disagree with. While I may not "like" what Fnews publishes I can always "turn the page". This is akin to me saying that if I do not like the constitution, that it may not be printed because I "might" read it and be offended. If I read it and am offended, then I can only say it is my own fault for reading it. I am not forced to read FidoNews (nor any other publication for that matter) nor am I bound to believe what is written therein. In the other corner we have the management, weighing in at XXX lbs. These prestigious gentlemen say they are "looking out for us" by not publishing "offensive articles". Why? If I say in this article that the moon is a devil worship symbol, does that make it true? NO. If I say that BinkleyTerm is not a mailer program, does that make it true, NOT LIKELY (it is an excellent mailer by the way guys). But what it does do ( and it's only faault) is "offend" someone. Hey, tough luck folks, if it bothers ya, don't read it. I have always wondered how these book burners found "exact quotes" from offensive books. What did they do, sit and read it, yup every single word. Yet they chose AFTER the fact that they read it to try to stop me from even having the opportunity to judge for myself whether it offends ME by having the book, mag, article removed from print. If they can read it why can't I? To the management of FidoNews (whomever that may be) I say this.....publish EVERYTHING with only 2 exceptions and those being articles with OBVIOUS criminal intent of any kind and articles containing OBVIOUS LIES. Beyond that you should not concern yourself with offensive as the law does not cover offensive except in pornography mags aand even then they say that it is offensive only if sent to someone without them asking for it. We ask for FidoNews by the simple fact that we call and download it (ask your system to send it to us) which the courts say means the contents are not offensive to us. FidoNews 5-14 Page 5 4 Apr 1988 Besides astronomy has always fasinated me to no end....... Jerry Hindle ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 6 4 Apr 1988 Jerry Hindle 1:18/6 (aka 7:48/0) I have been reading this weeks Fnews (512) and have been giving connsiderable thought to the DAK controversy and IFNA's handling of that situation. I have come to the following conclusions on this matter: 1) While I do believe that IFNA tried to handle this matter to the best of their limited ability I find that thru no fault of their own they have been WHITEWASHED by DAK. I feel that DAK (as big a company as they are) was well aware that their "deal with one sysop" (not named by the way), was in no way, shape or form a true attempt to promote BBSing. They have lawyers there who fully know the meaning of the word COPYRIGHT. If they truely believed for even a split instant that permission from one sysop was in fact legal they are in for serious trouble down the road. Just suppose for an instant that I owned a copyright on Lotus 123 (which I DO NOT), and that someone gave them permission to use the opening screen in their ads. Lotus would sue the pants off DAK forr un-authorized use of copyrighted material not to mention TradeMark infringement. DAK knew full well they were violating a copyright when they did what they did. Their only interest in the pamplet was to sell products to go along with it (as evidenced by their claim of 50,000 moddems sold) and as an after thought they decided to "donate" any profits to the American Cancer Society (a very worthy cause I must say). They did this only to "cover their A$$" as it were since they could always claim no profits were made (although they failed to menntion how much the production costs of said pamplet were) and thus they were legit. They got caught and proceeded to whitewash IFNA with promises of this and promises of that. They said they will provide IFNA with free copies of the pamplet to distribute, but what they failed to mention is that the cost of production of those pamplets will be taken out of the future donations to the cancer society. They failed to mention that their cost of production was already covered in the profit margin of the sales associated with the pamplet give-away. They failed to mention these little items for one reason. They are in this for one reason and one reason ONLY, to make MONEY. They could give two hoots about BBSing, they care even less about IFNA or FidoNet. The pamplet in question was made for the purpose of generating sales in a slumping sector (ie computer add-ons) and beyond that they are not interested. Now the way I see it, this is what "should have happened". DAK distributes the pamplet with FidoNets blessings, BUT they absorb ALL costs of production and distribution AND they give a set fee per copy to the American Cancer Society (like 5 cents each or something). This will benefit everyone in that DAK business write-off for their taxes, the American Cancer Society will get even more money and IFNA will get the free copies and the free publicity promised by DAK. For the "sin" of failing to get official permission before-hand DAK should be required to turn over to the American Cancer Society ALL funds received from FidoNews 5-14 Page 7 4 Apr 1988 the nominal charge they levied on the pamplet and do this in IFNA's name and not theirs. They eat the production costs on those too. Now I realize this may not seem like much to you but I must also make this point here. The article also states that should you NOT wish to have your node published in future copies of this pamplet that YOU ARE REQUIRED to send via SnailMail an official requesst to remove your node from the list. My question is this-- ---WHY????? I did not violate a copyright! I did not give DAK permission to use my name etc in any way shape or form and I certainly did not give IFNA permission to release ANY info on me to a corporaton to be used to "make a profit". The way I see it is that if they wanna use my name in their little scheme (which by the way they already have) then they owe ME the proceeds from that venture in the form of a "standard contract" from the Actors Guild. That contract I believe is now up to $200 + a DAY. Now that means that if they started this little venture even as late as a week ago from the date of this writing (3/24/88) that they owe me standard contract wages of $1400.00 and they owe the same to every sysop in FidoNet (less the one who gave them permission). I should not be required to "do" anything to stop them from using my name and node info. They should be required to obtain my "release in writing" which they have not done. I am awaiting their letter with amusement in that I will probably be long dead before it arrives. For thier info my mailing address is: Jerry Hindle P.O. Box 16223 Memphis TN 38186-0223 and my net/node number is at the top of this article. I am also awaiting the check for my past due "wages", wanna bet on whether I get that or not? DAK should have to EAT ALL PRODUCTION COSTS and donate all fees collected to the American Cancer Society. That is just one of the pitfalls off "doing business" when you do not get the proper perrmission IN ADVANCE! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 8 4 Apr 1988 FidoNet: Use in Education Chris Regan 1:141/525.0 This is part one of what will hopefully be a series of articles in the FidoNews. This is a request for all System Operators that use FidoNet interfaced with an Educational Institution. (ie. College, High School, Trade School, and/or any who are interested in the use of FidoNet in Education) This is a request for the people who fit the above criteria to send a NetMail message to the 1:141/525.0 and leave information containing the following: 1) School/University Name 2) Net/Node Number 3) Type of System 4) System Operator 5) Some information about the System (intents, services, who uses?) 6) Address, Voice Telephone/Data Telephone 7) What software? You will be placed on a list and receive information on the use of Education and FidoNet, A Monthly Newsletter and a listing of the systems involved and a listing of software/hardware that are new on the market that deal with education, and a review of Each (if available). Send to : The Cyber Foundation c/o Christopher Regan IFNA Node 1:141/525 SEAdog/OPUS ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 9 4 Apr 1988 Stu Turk SoundingBoard 1:129/26 A local EchoList for Users If you live in a area that contains a large number of boards running EchoMail, you may want to get together with other Sysops and produce a list of public Echos available in your calling area. You will find that your Users appreciate such a list. A while back I received a number of messages from Users asking if I knew where they could read certain Echo conferences or if I could pick up Echos that I already carried but to which the User asking did not have access. It was pretty much like the messages you read from Sysops asking where they can pick up an Echo. But in this case, the Users just wanted to read them. Although the Echos on my BBS are, for the most part, ones that interest me personally, the entire idea of Echos is for the BBS's Users to be able to participate. And since no BBS can carry _all_ the available Echos, Users must call from board to board, looking for Echos on topics of interest to them - often not finding them because many boards don't make the list of Echos available to first-time callers. Sysops, of course, can locate a source of Echo feeds through various lists supplied by the Echo Hubs. This got me to thinking about a User list of Echos in my area. After discussing the project with the NC, I posted the idea in our Net's Sysop Echo asking Sysops located in Pittsburgh or its suburbs to netmail me a list of their public Echos. Most Sysops sent me their MSGAREA.BBS file and the original list took a little sorting out due to several boards having slightly different area descriptions for the same Echo. PGHECHO contains a one-screen description of what EchoMail is and how it works. Some general instruction such as "stick to the topic of the Echo area" is included. Then the list is divided into sections for General Interest, Health and Public Service, Communications, Sight and Sound, and Computer Hardware and Software. The last category is the largest, listing Echos from Amiga to VAX. Under each category the Echos are listed by EchoName, followed by a description (EchoNames themselves are often misleading) and then under each Echo, a list of Pittsburgh area boards which carry it. At the end is a listing of Pittsburgh BBSs that participate in EchoMail, the phone number and Sysop's name. After finishing a draft copy of the list, I sent it to several Sysops and received some suggestions and error corrections (that's when I found out there are different descriptions for the same Echos). Once corrected, a final ASCII file was sent to George Stanislav, 129/39, a member of my Net who developed the OECC program for use with Opus's *.BBS files. George added the OEC command and color keywords then compiled it with his program. We then distributed PGHECHO.OEC, the file with the keywords. It was intended to serve as an OECC sample and to permit Sysops who wished to do so to change the colors by simply using a word processor's "find/replace" feature and recompiling. PGHECHO.BBS is an OECC compiled file meant to be inserted into FidoNews 5-14 Page 10 4 Apr 1988 the BULLETIN.BBS Menu where it can be read in color on Opus BBS's. PGHECHO.LST is a straight ASCII file for our TBBS members and Opus boards that did not use the Bulletin menu. User acceptance and reaction has been very positive from the beginning. It ranged from "Hey, I found a neat file on [some other] BBS" type of message, to one User who downloaded the ASCII copy and said he was going to upload it to other boards. I caught him and explained that it had been distributed by netmail already but that some Sysops had not yet had time to post it. It appears to be second only to the list of local BBS's for files that are read by Users. I've since passed control of the list to another PittNet Sysop, Joe Fossati, 129/50. He keeps the list up-to-date, adding new Echo listings as they become available and updating the names of the boards on which each echo is available as boards pick up or drop Echos. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 11 4 Apr 1988 Jerry Hindle 1:18/6 (901)353-4563 2400bps Can someone tell me just what in the heck is going on here? I "thought" when I joined FidoNet, that I was joining a group of "hobbyists" in the telecommunications arena. I "thought" I was attempting to get to know great folks the likes of Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Ben Baker, Ken Shackleford, Ken Kaplan, Bob Hartman, and others simply too numerous to name. I "thought" I was going to "do my part" to further the field of personal computing thru telecommunications. I even "thought" that someday (given a lot of luck and a little assistance) that I might even join the ranks of the "widely-known" names in FidoNet. I find instead that I have joined a group of amatuer flamers, ner-do- wells, and "lawsuit larrys" (pun intended). I have even fallen prey to this generalization myself in that I "flame" from time to time, I speak out on what I think, and instead of "debating" the points of each sides views, I go completely out in left field and throw rocks at the other side. I am therefore making a resolution for myself right now that should I be confronted by flames, I will turn away. Should I be confronted by a sensible "debate" of the points of a disagreement, I will debate the points (and refrain from demeaning the debator) and will speak out on injustices where I find them. I grew tired of all the flaming and joined "AlterNet" where I am quite content to debate others and actually have managed to win a round or two there. All the arguing going on in FidoNet reminds me of a semi-famous Richard Pryor special I saw on cable wherein he was speaking of trying to talk rationally to another person and all they could do was hurl racial slurs back at him. As he put it he was no longer a man but he was instead a (such and such) (deleted the exact statement here for the sake of social politeness). I feel just about like that. Anyone calls me names (as have a few folks in the past) and I will simply stop talking to them (or typing as the case may be). This I feel would be excellent advice to everyone in FidoNet at this point in time. Debate the views, to be sure, but refrain from turning on the firepower and demeaning the debator. He, like you, as just another person, no better, no worse. He has his views and you have yours. It is not life threatening that you convince he he is wrong. You will not die if you modify your position a bit and see where he is "coming from" and you will certainly need less of the Rolaids and less of the aspirin. I guess the bottom line is this. Treat the other person the same way you expect to be treated. If you wanna be called names and told that you are lower the whale poop, then call him names and I can almost guarantee that you will get what you want. BUT if you want to try to understand what the other person is saying then LISTEN to him and then he will in turn LISTEN to you and if he doesn't then no amount of arguing or screaming or name calling is going to change their minds. Try this for 45 days....if someone calls you something or says something you feel offends you then ignore it completely. They do NOT sign your paycheck, they do NOT FidoNews 5-14 Page 12 4 Apr 1988 pay your bills and they certainly HAVE NOT yet "walked the mile in your moccasions". I bet that after 45 days you will have almost complete forgotten what was said. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 13 4 Apr 1988 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= The 10 Point Gothic Column -------------------------- The Hermit's Point of View Greg Glynn - The Airlock Hermit From 3:712/502 - Home of the Brave The Hermits Software Selections for This Week. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MYTHWARE.ARC - Bulletin Board, Comms Program, MailMasher, NodeList Compiler, Message Router, Database, Spreadsheet, Word Processor. And most incredible of all the size of the whole program is only 408 bytes.Sounds impossible? You're right! LOCKIT.ARC - 412Kb program that locks your Keyboard, Modem and your microwave oven up for no apparent reason. Breaks the ice at parties. FRISBEE.ARC - Great new program that actually picks your computer up and throws it across the room. An incredible piece of programming from the people that brought you "Chip-Heater" and "Motherboard-Melter". LEECHOFF.ARC Written by a sysop who was tired of users continually downloading without uploading! Looks like a 67Kb R-Rated game but when they try to download the final 2 bytes of info, cosmic rays come out of their Computer screens and fry their brains. Won "Program of the year" at the NASA PC-Fair. Be careful downloading this one for the first time. GALAXY.ARC - This great new game is an intercosmic stellar war simulation. Requires 12 ATs connected in series and 4 gigabytes of internal memory just to load the Online Help File. Definately NOT for the faint hearted! SYSOP.ARC - Real-Time simulation of an OPUS Bulletin Board. Try to run 30 EchoMail conferences, 200 users, 50 different file areas and a marriage simultaneously. A genuine game of skill. FREEDISK.ARC - Calculates the amount of free space left on your hard disks. Requires 12MB of storage space. - Look for more exiting Software from the Hermit - FidoNews 5-14 Page 14 4 Apr 1988 - coming to a Bulletin Board near you! - ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 15 4 Apr 1988 YACK Yet Another Complicated Komment by Steven K. Hoskin ( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 ) Episode 5: Electronic Voting I don't know about y'all out there, but I want to see a democratic FidoNet. You know, where each FidoNode gets one vote on matters that concern the InterNational FidoNet. I thought originally that was why the InterNational FidoNet Association went corporate; so there'd be rules to follow about collective voting. As it turned out, for whatever reasons, IFNA did not turn out to be that voting tool, that graceful central coordinator of the collective will of all FidoNet SysOps. One of its problems is that members of FidoNet are NOT necessarily members of IFNA. Therefore, IFNA cannot do things to control FidoNet, as FidoNet SysOps don't get to vote on IFNA matters if they're not IFNA. To join IFNA costs $25. You should NEVER have to pay to vote on something that affects the way you run your life. Period. I joined IFNA because I thought it would help to insure the survival of FidoNet during hard times. That may still hold true, and I will probably be an IFNA member for life, but one thing has become clear to me: IFNA IS NOT ESTABLISHING NET-WIDE DEMOCRACY. Don Daniels, president of IFNA, has requested ideas for ways to establish a fully democratic FidoNet, BE IT VIA IFNA OR SOME OTHER MECHANISM. Now there's a man who's interested in FidoNet. Well, here we go again, folks, YET ANOTHER idea: Electronic Voting. Reserve a FidoNode, just like 1:1/0 does the NodeList, and 1:1/1 does the FidoNews, to handle strictly Electronic Voting. For sake of example, I'll use 1:1/9. I don't know if this Node number is being used for anything, but that's my example. For starters, if IFNA is to be retained (as many of us would STILL like to see), we must adopt a by-law (if nothing stronger can be used) that states in whatever legal wording is needed that IFNA as an organization MUST ABIDE BY FIDONET SYSOP VOTE RESULTS. And that IFNA MUST ISSUE BALLOTS FOR VOTE ON ANY RESOLUTION REQUESTED BY ANY FIDONET SYSOP. Then get 1/9 going. An automated system, disallowing human tampering, whereby ballots and resolutions are sent to the node, 1/9 sends the ballot via Network mail AUTOMATICALLY to ALL Nodes FidoNews 5-14 Page 16 4 Apr 1988 in the NodeList DIRECTLY, and waits for some predetermined amount of time for a vote result. If one month is the predetermined time, have 1/9 re-send ballots to any Node from which no vote has been received on a weekly basis until either a vote is received or the time limit has been reached. As vote "ballot" messages come back to 1/9 via Network Mail, in some predetermined format such that a relatively unsophisticated program can determine the vote, 1/9 tallies the vote, stores the message, and sends a verification message via Network Mail DIRECTLY to the node that allegedly sent the ballot. Duplicate Node votes would be cancelled and the ballot reissued to the Node in question with a note commenting on the duplication. A password could be set up for each Node and placed somewhere in the Ballot return vote message. Improperly passworded ballots would cause 1/9 to send a message DIRECTLY to that Node informing him or her that a password failing had occurred. A place for changing of passwords could also be added to the ballot return message. This should eliminate "bogus" node voting, as the SysOp of the REAL Node could then be aware that somebody is trying to break into his or her vote. When all Nodes have responded OR the time limit is reached, 1/9 forwards the vote results to anybody that wants it, either via Network Mail or as an Echo Area. Have a preformed message format for requesting a ballot, which could be sent to 1/9 such that no human could interfere with the request for the vote. This eliminates interference with the vote request system if someone feels that their ballot/resolution has not been properly sent to 1/9 by IFNA. Improper resolutions thusly sent could be construed as being "excessively annoying" and multiple occurrences of such could then be voted on by the Network for possible EXCOMMUNICATION of the offending Node. Choosing who runs Node 1/9 is a sensitive subject, since that person could theoretically tamper with things. There's simply going to have to be SOME kind of trust out there. This is not a full overview, as I am trying to limit the size of this column. Replies, questions, comments, etc. contact me as STEVE HOSKIN at Node 1:128/31. I'd love to see this thing implemented. I'd even write the software. :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 17 4 Apr 1988 ================================================================= WANTED ================================================================= Daniel Tobias 1:380/2 PROGRAMMER WANTED Full-Time or Program-at-Home SOFTDISK, Inc. is looking for very talented programmers for BIG BLUE DISK, our monthly diskmagazine for the IBM PC, along with our other successful diskmagazines-- SOFTDISK for the Apple II and LOADSTAR for the Commodore 64. A thorough knowledge of MS- DOS programming and software, as well as creativity and imagination are required. We also seek contributing editors for BIG BLUE DISK as well as our other products. Contributing editors program at home and receive payment for programs published on our monthly disks. This is a good opportunity-- please write if you are qualified. Al Vekovius, President SOFTDISK, Inc. PO Box 30008 Shreveport, LA 71130-0008 P.S.: Attention Mac-Hackers: we're also launching a new diskmagazine for the Macintosh, and have similar openings for Mac programmers and contributing editors. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 18 4 Apr 1988 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 16 May 1988 Digital Equipment Corporations Users Society Spring Symposium. Will be held May 16-May 20 in Cincinnati, OH. 25 Jun 1988 EuroCon II starts in Tiel, Holland. Sponsored by the Dutch Hobby Computer Club. Will run for 2 days. Contact Hans Lichthelm at 2:2/999 for information. 16 Jul 1988 A new areacode, 508, will form in eastern Massachusetts and will be effective on this date. The new area code will be formed from the current areacode 617. Greater Boston will remain areacode 617 while the rest of eastern Massachusetts will form the new areacode 508. 25 Aug 1988 Start of the Fifth International FidoNet Conference, to be held at the Drawbridge Inn in Cincinnati, 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 2.81* EditNL 3.3 ARC 5.21 Fido 12g* MakeNL 2.03 ARCmail 1.1 Opus 1.03b Prune 1.40 ConfMail 3.31 SEAdog 4.10 XlatList 2.86* EchoMail 1.31 TBBS 2.0M MGM 1.1 BinkleyTerm 1.40* QuickBBS 1.02 * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by FidoNews 5-14 Page 19 4 Apr 1988 reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-14 Page 20 4 Apr 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 5-14 Page 21 4 Apr 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___________________________ -----------------------------------------------------------------