Volume 6, Number 22 29 May 1989 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings 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. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Copyright 1989 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. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No article will be rejected which is properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 "The Falcon's Rock" Starts DCJOBS Echo Conference ........ 2 EuroconIII - A Preliminary Report ........................ 4 The Lost FidoNet Archives - Volume 1 ..................... 6 International FidoNet Convention 1989 is ALIVE!! ......... 12 FidoCon '89 Registration form ............................ 15 A Damyankees Ramblings ................................... 18 Formal Objection to Policy4 Ratification Method .......... 21 JOBS_BBS: An employment issues BBS ....................... 22 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 24 And more! FidoNews 6-22 Page 1 29 May 1989 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Hello again. Glad to see you're still here. I appreciate your loyalty. This week, I'm starting a series of articles entitled "The Lost FidoNet Archives". Using materials sent me by Ken Kaplan, Harry Lee, and a few other FidoNet "old-timers", we have been able to put together some stuff that everyone should read at least once. Of course, many of you might have seen it before, but, you know, just reading some of these things again reminds me of something I've been missing lately. That something is: what is GOOD about FidoNet. We've all been hearing from various people about what's BAD about FidoNet. Well, if it's so damned bad, why are we all still here, many of us at great personal expense? Think about it. Maybe a few of you could write something, expressing YOUR opinion on the issue. I'll sure as hell print it! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the materials I have found. If anyone out there has anything else they think is worth printing in this series, feel free to send it along. Cheers, Vince ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 2 29 May 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= "THE FALCON'S ROCK STARTS 'DCJOBS' ECHO CONFERENCE" George Falcon, SysOp of "The Falcon's Rock" (Opus 1:109/501) is starting an echo conference called "DCJOBS". The mission of the echo conference will be to expedite the job search process for individuals, and to serve as a resource for personnel managers and human resource departments. It is the intent of the echo conference that the emphasis in the echo conference will be on the participation of principals in the hiring process. While those who rework resumes and guide job- seekers in improving their image serve a valuable function, I'd like to see this conference benefit from the active participation of jobseekers and those in a position to hire them directly. Access to the echo conference is not restricted to any fixed geographical area, or to any specific class of users or SysOps. There is no restriction on the type of jobs being sought or offered... pyramid schemes and "unlimited income potential" jobs are a waste of everyone's time. Those SysOps interested in participating in the new echo will have to poll 109/501 for it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 3 29 May 1989 Michael Hughes BIZNET BBS System, 1:307/1 (719) 544-2432 Pueblo, CO The Entreprenuer Echo The Entreprenuer echo, ENTREPRENUER, is a backbone echo that has been created in response to a need of new business people to be informed on start-up business assistance provided by a myriad of sources. With the business failure rate somewhere between 80 to 90 percent of new business ventures ENTREPRENUER will address the need to put people together with common questions and experience to help guide a new business individual to a well informed decision. Any topics dealing with new & newer business efforts can be dealt with. Business plans, presentations, research resources and support in promotional ideas and advertising. If you are starting or thinking of starting a business... you will find ENTREPRENUER the place to get information from people that have "been there". If you would like to carry this echo please contact your NEC, REC or BIZNET BBS System, 1:307/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 4 29 May 1989 EuroconIII - A Preliminary Report Personal impressions by Henk Wevers, former ZC2 (official reports will follow) This past weekend, Zone Two had its third FidoNet Conference, called EuroconIII in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. During the conference, a lot of subjects were discussed, problems were solved and directions for the next year were set. Below are a few of the more important subjects, seen from my personal point of view. There will be official reports of the meeting in a week. I'm sure they will be published in FidoNews. 1. Resignation of the ZC2, Henk Wevers One year ago at EuroconII, I announced that I would resign at the next conference. Candidates were sought and were found, but at EuroconIII we had only one serious candidate left, Ron Dwight from Finland. Ron was strongly supported by a popular ballot taken of the attendees of the 1989 EuroconIII. 2. Directions for European FidoNet Organisation set It has been decided that there will be a European FidoNet organisation. The goals of this organisation are limited and will be (among a few others I don't remember now) - Funding of the ZC2 so far as is possible - Acting as an external affairs comittee for FidoNet Europe, by helping with public relations and contacts with other organisations and goverments, eg. PTTs, EC, etc. - Holding the copyright for the Z2 portion of the FidoNet nodelist - It has been stated clearly that the organisation is for supporting what is now called FidoNet in Zone 2. It is very clear that the above organisation will not interfere with the daily operation of FidoNet. How and when a system is allowed into the net, working routine, complaints etc. will still be set by a policy. Currently Europe is running under Policy-4E (and has been for over a year). 3. Policy changes agreed It has been agreed that the way the *C's are choosen will be by democratic means (bottom up up to the ZC level). The current Policy-4 proposal has been voted down unanimously. Attendees will organize the nay voting of their region. A new proposal with above changes will see light and done by the new ZC, who estimates a month, maybe two. 4. Mandatory fee for a net being in the nodelist In order to fund the European FidoNet organisation to make sure that the operation of the ZC and the costs of public relations FidoNews 6-22 Page 5 29 May 1989 and contacts with organisations and goverments can be financed it was agreed that there will be a mandatory fee for a net to be in the nodelist. The fee was set at 4 ECU multiplied by the number of individual nodes in the net. How a net raises their contribution is their affair. Regions collect the money from independend nodes. There will be a yearly check on this and a net not fulfilling this requirement will be put on hold in the nodelist by the ZC2. 5. Steering comittee formed A steering committee has been formed to found the European FidoNet organisation. The BOD of such an organisation will be between 3 and 5 members. The BOD is appointed by a voting comittee that has a member of each region (country). How a region (country) chooses their member of the voting committee is their business, but it should be done in a democratic way (what normally is regarded as democratic in their region, in any case, bottom up). 6. International scope expressed clearly From above it is clear that the European sysops are seeking a different way to handle FidoNet than the sysops in zone 1 (we are not sure about zone 3 and 4). The attendees expressed their intent to be part of the international FidoNet community, and hope that these differences will not lead to splits or other problems. They think that all parties can live with the decisions made so far and that the attempt to organise the net in the described way should get a fair chance. 7. Pleasant Conference The conference has been a pleasant way to meet other sysops of Europe and the USA. You can imagine that it is difficult to come to an agreement as described in the above paragraphs. But all attendees have been very helpfull and were always seeking ways to overcome differences in opinion. From above you can see that they succeeded. And yes, besides heavy stuff like the above, long discussions and very warm meetings, we also had technical discussions, a lot of beer, loooong dinners (phew!), floppy disk throwing contests, hard disk throwing contests, visits to the Evoluon and a lot more fun. Be sure to be there next year! Henk Wevers, Former ZC2 (Hey, I'm off the hook!) [ with very mild editing by 1:105/6 ] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 6 29 May 1989 THE LOST FIDONET ARCHIVES VOLUME ONE Compiled by various members of FidoNet Edited by Vince Perriello This is the first article in a series which reprints documents of historical significance to FidoNet. This week we feature Tom Jennings' original description of FidoNet, which was first made available to Fido Sysops in the form of a file called FIDONET.DOC, in April 1984 (the date on the file I have is May 26, 1984). Please note that most if not all of the FidoNet addresses, data line phone numbers, and company names and/or addresses mentioned in this or any of the other articles in this series are not to be considered reliable for current use in locating something or someone mentioned here. Refer to the current nodelist if you want to try to find any of the above. The original text of the file (with minor reformatting) follows: Tom Jennings 30 Apr 84 Fido #1: (415)-864-1418 Some preliminary ideas for the FidoNet. (If you haven't heard, FidoNet is an intersystem message forwarding system mostly for Fidos, but could be used for others as well.) Please, don't worry about all the seeming complexity here. Most will go away. I have just typed everything I could think of all at once, and not all is applicable. (Besides, you're (probably) not gonna code it.) There are some points that need ideas: mainly, how to pay for it, how it will appear to callers trying to send mail, and any mysterious operational type problems you see. Like most of Fido, I imagine this too will be built with 90% suggestions. If you have any ideas on this proposed system, please leave me a note on Fido #1 at the above number. Thanks. O P E R A T I O N From a callers point of view, the system will have one additional feature when entering a message. One way or another the caller tells Fido which system the message is to be sent to. This could consist of a prompt (System A, B, ...) or some such thing. (Any ideas?) In any case, mail will only work from a MAIL subdirectory. Messages left here will be like all other messages; readable or not, depending on the privacy, etc. Replies can be left, etc, FidoNews 6-22 Page 7 29 May 1989 which get mailed in the same way. It may be desirable to search this area for each user after signon, the same way message searching works now. If old messages don't pile up like in other areas, this should be nice and fast. There will not be any automatic confirmation of received messages. It will be up to the user to do so, by mailing a message stating that is was received. Maybe it will be possible to confirm, by reading the RECV'D flag from the message, but that won't go into the first one. In the MAIL area, the usual message search ("Messages to you" etc) should be adequate, if mail traffic is less than or the same as the current message traffic. I M P L E M E N T A T I O N The only change to Fido will be a new command line parameter: /Y /W /Y Is the hour of the day to start doing mail as opposed to normal BBS stuff. /W is the window width, in minutes, to do mail in. For example, 0200/Y 90/W says do mail from 2:00AM, for up to 90 minutes, i.e. until 3:30AM. During this time, Fido will not accept any normal callers. Also, outside these times, Fido will not accept mail. If no switch is present, or the window is set too small (TBD) then it will not send or receive mail, like it does now. Neither will it bump someone off if they happen to call just before the appointed time. However, as soon as they logoff, it will start handling mail if it's supposed to. The mailer (the program that actually sends and receives mail) is a seperate program. It is run from the batch file (RUNBBS.BAT) right after Fido.EXE. This works like Control-C and errors do; via ERRORLEVEL. For instance, the batch file might look like: FIDO ... 0200/Y 90/W IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO MAIL IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO END RUNBBS MAIL: MAILER 0200/Y 90/W RUNBBS END: Like current Fidos, ERRORLEVEL is 0 if normal termination (caller hung up, etc) 1 if Control-C or stack overflow, 2 if disk file error (disk full, missing files, etc) or 4, the new level for: "Time to do Mail". FidoNews 6-22 Page 8 29 May 1989 If it's time to do mail, Fido exits with ERRORLEVEL 4. If 4 or higher, it runs MAILER, which then runs RUNBBS.BAT which starts it all over again. Otherwise, if 1 (or higher) it is an error, it goes to the end and stops. When run, the mailer sits and waits for phone calls, or if instructed to do so, (command line switches or a command file, whatever) makes calls. If a human type caller calls, they will get a message to the effect "Waiting for mail, please call back after ", where is the end of the window to wait for mail, and hang up on them. (The /W and /Y switches will be duplicated in the mailer, for reasons I'll not bother with now.) C O S T First, it is very important that we figure out what it would cost. This is the second most important part. The cheaper it is, the more likely FidoNet can be made operable. However, no matter how cheap it is, if an ingenous way of paying for it doesn't exist, then it all falls flat. Right now, late night long distance (coast to coast) toll charges are about $13.00 per hour. ATT is proposing, as part of some other boring issue, lowering this to $10.00 per hour. This is quite cheap; a lot of messages can be sent in an hour. I hereby declare the mail size unit to be the Cubit: 1 Cubit == 80 characters * (1200 / baud rate) A cubit of mail sent at 300 baud will cost 4 times as much as one sent at 1200. When 4800 baud modems become available, the price per cubit will drop. Unlike commercial mail systems that are out for profit, FidoNet's mail unit, the Cubit, is small enough to account for very small messages, but large enough not to be too small to account for. There are 12.8 cubits in a K byte. An error checking transfer protocol is needed; XMODEM will not be used, as transfer times routinely double with long phone lines. (Dont want to pay for that.) More on that later. As an example, say we want to send a small (five lines, 64 characters per line) message from Los Angeles to New York. Each message has a header (to, from, date, etc) that consumes about 80 characters. Assume also that the transfer rate is 1200 baud, and also that the transmission method has a 10% overhead. Msg size: 4. Cubits Message Overhead: 1. Cubit Message Size: 5. Cubits Message Size: 400. Characters Cost Per Hour: 13.00 Dollars Chars/Second: 120.0 (10 bits/char) FidoNews 6-22 Page 9 29 May 1989 Cubits/Second: 1.3636.. (120sec / (cubit * 1.10)) Cubits/Hour: 4,909. (3600 sec * cubits/sec) Cost/Cubit: 0.2648 Cents ($13.00/cubits/hr) Sample Msg Cost: 1.324 Cents Yes ... its cheap. Remember, this is pure cost, no hardware maintenaince overhead, no payroll, no profit, etc. Delivery time, nor even delivery, is garenteed. The above does NOT include any connect/disconnect or disk access overhead. However, it also does not count any savings from text compression, which could save 10% to 40% maximum. Probably more like 20% maximum in the real world. P A Y I N G F O R A L L T H I S This is the most serious problem. The technical part is easy! Also, BBS's in general are run more like little fiefdoms than businesses, in the sense the are usually operated privately, and almost never pay for themselves, never mind make money! If FidoNet takes inordinate amounts of effort on the part of the sysop, it'll probably fold up due to that also. There are a couple of ways this can be paid for, but none are really any good for typical free systems. (Note that receiving (accepting) mail costs nothing. FidoNet might be able to operate well with only a few well placed "benefactors", and work acceptably well with only local "paying" nodes, if mail is limited to say, an area code.) IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS AT ALL ON THIS SUBJECT PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!! THIS WILL MAKE OR BREAK THE FIDONET IDEA!!!! In any case, some sort of accounting will have to be done. Except for very rare cases, mail will have to be paid for. The mailer will be able to account for each messages cost, length of transmission, etc. There must be a method for limiting mail sent by a specific user, and a "sysop" type feature for relatively unlimited, or at least differently limited, mail. The information associated with a peice of mail will have to be worked out in detail later, and while not too complex (any complexity can be put upon the mailer) it must be adequate for future expansion. Presumably, not everyone will be allowed to forward mail indescriminately. That would be awful nice, but unfortunately not practical. There may be exceptions: for instance, for a club-run system, you might want to let any user send a fixed amount of mail over a fixed period of time, say, a month. If it was a dues paying club, a number could be worked out that would accomodate this. Anything beyond that amount would have to be accounted for by some other method. IDEA #1 FidoNews 6-22 Page 10 29 May 1989 Club-run systems. Basically, covered above. IDEA #2 Private, pay-ahead system. While this is very workable, it means even more work for the sysop, and probably some legal liability, like running a business, unless the proper rigamarole wording is used, i.e. "donations" not "charges". No one will be able to send mail unless they mail some amount of money to the sysop. The amount donated is kept in a list maintained by the mailer, who subtracts the cost of the message from the balance. Usual warnings if not enough, etc, and probably a warning when it reaches some threshold. T H E N E T W O R K Might as well be trendy and use some network terminology here. Some of it's even handy. The topography of FidoNet is in keeping with bulletin board philosophy; totally random and as little organization as possible. Also, there is no control over the location of the various message nodes (mail send/receive systems). My first thought was to pass mail over as short a distance as possible; however, this is a waste of time, as late night long distance calls are charged on a per hour basis, and in any case the more transfers the higher likelyhood of messages getting lost. Message delivery time, if all is well, should be overnight. If a system goes down, delays will be in increments of 24 hours. There should also probably be a "broadcast" type message, that stops at each node. Also, there really isn't anything stopping binary files from being mailed; they are not included here mainly because costs will skyrocket, but it would be a nice way to do Fido updates, etc. So, my current idea (any other ideas at all welcome!) is: Each sender has a list of systems it can forward to. This can be used to limit forwarding to non-toll call areas if desired. Also, this same list can be used to send mail destined for one system, to be sent to a different system, for further forwarding. This allows cheapskates to let someone else make the toll calls. (If they in turn let it go) Also, it lets a well funded system forward mail for other systems. If there are messages destined for five different systems, there will be five calls made (unless the abovementioned forwarding is done). This "nodeless" system is then relatively insensitive to down machines, etc, such that only mail for the down system will FidoNews 6-22 Page 11 29 May 1989 not be sent. If the net gets tied up (everyone calling everone else, for instance, though I think thats unlikely!) then some message forwarding can be done to lessen the traffic load between busy systems. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 12 29 May 1989 International FidoNet Convention 1989 is ALIVE!! By: Les Kooyman Planning Committee Co-Chairperson 1:204/501 This article was prepared from an earlier article written by Todd Looney, which was not published. Thanks from all of us, Todd. The Annual FidoNet Convention will be held in beautiful San Jose, California this year, from August 24 though the 27th, 1989. You will be delighted with the location as San Jose is located at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California. San Jose has spent nearly a decade of reconstruction and new building. San Jose is new, sparkling and alive! The area that was once the sleepy village of Pueblo de San Jose in the days of the Spanish Missions along the El Camino Real, has become a prominent financial and cultural center renowned throughout the world. Downtown has become cosmopolitan, but on an intimate scale. The Holiday Inn Park Plaza Hotel, which is situated in the center of the financial and cultural area of downtown, will be this years convention site. It is directly adjacent to the San Jose Museum of Art, the new San Jose Convention Center, and the San Jose Center for Performing Arts. San Jose's shops, ethnic restaurants and remnants of it's colorful past are woven in amongst the gleaming new high-rises. Parks and quiet cafes give tranquil counterpart to the urban bustle. The broad sidewalks are lined with trees and flowers. Parking is easy to find and public transportation virtually eliminates the need to rent a car; available to all corners of the Silicon Valley from right outside the Holiday Inn where you will be staying. There is so much diversity within a few blocks walking distance: new centers of industry and finance, museums, restaurants offering fare from over a dozen countries, boutiques that sell world-class goods, and Chinese, Hispanic, Japanese, and Vietnamese neighborhoods. Downtown is busy virtually around the clock. After the shoppers and office workers leave for the day, the theaters, cinema's, nightclubs, and supper clubs come alive. Broadway shows, opera, symphony, jazz, ballroom, and disco dancing, stand- up comedian nightclubs and Spanish language cinema's offer entertainment for every taste. Streets and parks are brightly lit, and lots of shops, restaurants, and coffee houses are open late into the night. Most of all, San Jose is a place for people. San Jose is located one hours drive away from San Francisco on the Bay with it's Golden Gate and rolling hills. Carmel and Monterey are just an hour and a half away along the rolling Pacific coastline across the redwood and pine forests of the Santa Cruz mountains. Santa Cruz itself is a scenic thirty minute drive from your hotel room. FidoNews 6-22 Page 13 29 May 1989 When you register in advance you will receive a packet containing all kinds of information about the California San Francisco Bay area you will find useful in planning your vacation around FidoCon. You will receive details ranging from nearby restaurants and shops, to discounts on surrounding amusements including the world famous Great America Theme Park located 15 minutes from Downtown San Jose in Santa Clara, California. This years convention will feature many events designed to be entertaining as well as informative. Registration night is Thursday, August 24, 1989, and there will be a reception that evening where you can meet with all those people you have come to know through the EchoMail conferences, as well as re-establish old ties with friends you met at previous FidoCon conventions. Friday and Saturday offer two full days of seminars and workshops. There will be four main sessions per day; two in the morning, followed by a break, and then two in the afternoon. There's also room to hold informal sessions for special interest groups, for example, Macintosh BBS sysops. Contact Les Kooyman at 1:204/501 to add or suggest additions to the program. Watch for updates about program scheduling and content here in FidoNews. Representatives from companies such as US Robotics (just to name one) will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate their latest line of well known products. Friday night's Banquet promises to be a feast, and you will hear from a well known keynote speaker whose identity we will not reveal until later, just to keep you guessing. IFNA will hold a General Assembly meeting as well as its usual meeting of the Board of Directors. We plan to have an intra-hotel Point Net set up for those of you who want to bring your laptops and modems. If you want to be included in the hotel nodelist, make sure to indicate this on the registration form before you send it in. We'll give you more information on this as we draw closer to the convention date. We have a block of 150 rooms set aside just for those of you who will be attending this years convention. The room rates at the Holiday Inn Park Plaza, located at 282 Almaden Boulevard, San Jose, California 95113, just 10 minutes from the San Jose International Airport, are specially discounted to $60.00 for conventioneers, just use any one of the following magic words when you call the Holiday Inn at 1-408-998-0400 to make your reservations: FIDOCON, IFNA, FIDONET. Be sure to tell them you want the special rate or they'll charge you anywhere from $80.00 to $120.00 for your room. The $60.00 discount rate is firm, and you can make arrangements for a rollaway bed if you want to bunk up three to a room and split the costs. FidoNews 6-22 Page 14 29 May 1989 Public transportation is adequate to get you where you want to go without having to worry about getting killed by us crazy California drivers (the minimum speed limit for native Californians is Warp 7). We have an agreement with American Airlines as well, see the information in the registration form at the end of this article. In addition, registrations made before July 15 will be eligible for a drawing American is holding to give away a trip to Hawaii. Be sure to call the listed 800 number ONLY to make reservations (or have your travel agent call it). To register for FidoCon '89, see the "FidoCon 89 Registration Form" at the end of this article, which includes registration details. You can obtain up to the minute news by contacting the official FidoCon 89 node number 1:1/89 as well as on-line registration (see details in registration form below). You can also get the FIDOCON echo conference. This conference is available through the backbone, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it. In it you can not only get information, but you can also get your questions answered, as well as communicate with the FidoCon committee (program suggestions, leads for speakers, etc.). The members of the FidoCon committee are: Jim Cannell, 1:143/21 (Facilities, IFNA Liaison) Diane Farrell Smith, 1:161/7 (Finance, Accounting) Les Kooyman, 1:204/501 (Facilities, Program) Sean Ackley, 1:161/450 (Publicity) Feel free to netmail any of us or contact us through the FIDOCON echo. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 15 29 May 1989 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) FidoCon '89 in San Jose, California _`@/_ \ _ at The Holiday Inn Park Plaza | | \ \\ August 24-27, 1989 | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M Name: _______________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________ City: _______________________ State: ____ Zip: ______________ Country: ____________________________________________________ Phone Numbers: Day: ________________________________________________________ Evening: ____________________________________________________ Data: _______________________________________________________ Zone:Net/ Node.Point: ___________________________________________________ Your BBS Name: ________________________________________________ BBS Software: _____________________ Mailer: ___________________ Modem Brand: _____________________ Speed: ____________________ What Hotel will you be Staying at: ____________________________ Do you want an in room point? (Holiday Inn only) ______________ Are you a Sysop? _____________ Are you an IFNA Member? ______ Additional Guests: __________ (not attending conferences) FidoNews 6-22 Page 16 29 May 1989 Do you have any special requirements? (Sign Language translation, handicapped, etc.) ______________________________________________________ Comments: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Costs How Many? Cost --------------------------- -------- ------- Conference fee $60 .................... ________ _______ ($75.00 after July 15) Friday Banquet $30.00 ................ ________ _______ ======== ======= Totals ................................ ________ _______ You may pay by Check, Money Order, or Credit Card. Please send no cash. All monies must be in U.S. Funds. Checks should be made out to: "FidoCon '89" This form should be completed and mailed to: Silicon Valley FidoCon '89 PO Box 390770 Mountain View, CA 94039 You may register by Netmailing this completed form to 1:1/89 for processing. Rename it to ZNNNXXXX.REG where Z is your Zone number, N is your Net number, and X is your Node number. US Mail confirmation is required within 72 hours to confirm your registration. If you are paying by credit card, please include the following information. For your own security, do not route any message with your credit card number on it. Crash it directly to 1:1/89. Master Card _______ Visa ________ American Express ______ Credit Card Number _____________________________________________ Expiration Date ________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________________________________ FidoNews 6-22 Page 17 29 May 1989 No credit card registrations will be accepted without a valid signature. Rooms at the Holiday Inn may be reserved by calling the Hotel at 408-998-0400, and mentioning that you are with FidoCon. Rooms are $60.00 per night double occupancy. Additional rollaways are available for $10.00 per night. To obtain these rates you must register before July 15. The official FidoCon '89 airline is American Airlines. You can receive either a 5% reduction in supersaver fares or a 40% reduction in the regular day coach fare. San Jose is an American Airlines hub with direct flights to most major cities. When making reservations, you must call American's reservation number, 800-433-1790, and reference Star number S0289VM. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 18 29 May 1989 Pete White 1:322/360 1:16/0 And ramblings it will be. There's several subjects that need to be touched on and all are somewhat related. And all pertain to FidoNet directly. Looking at all that has been taking place is like trying to install a new BBS package and a new mailer all at the same time. There's lots of information on each individual part but darned little to tell you how it's all meant to go together. As a quick introduction, "Pete White " has been active in FidoNet for maybe three years. In that three years I've been in and out of IFNA, I've been the Net Coordinator of Net322, I've been (and still am) the Regional Coordinator of Region 16 and I've had enough time to learn quite a bit about FidoNet and the forces that drive it and make it work. I'm also the moderator of the Gaming echo conference and active in TBBS-Net, the Software Distribution Network (SDN), the Software Distribution System (SDS) and the TBBS Distribution Network (TDN). In other words, I'm obviously certifiable! But no where near as badly as some others out there. I see some interesting things in the echo conferences and when reading FidoNews. I see attacks on those who are spending their time and money trying to feed the `echo-holics'. I see attacks on the *C structure for much of what they do, or don't do. I see a lot of commentary by folks who are obviously so biased and upset they ought to be collecting stamps or seeking an inner light. But I also see a system that works. Needs a bit of improvement, no doubt, but it works. What I don't see are answers to some of the basic questions I've asked since day one, that first day I unknowingly got a mailer to work! When I see all the messages about "power plays" and "the coordinators have all the power" I really get confused. Will someone out there tell me POWER over what? Is there a monetary benefit here that I'm missing that makes POWER profitable? If I have the POWER can I make my echo feeds send me the echos instead of me paying to go after them? I somewhat doubt that! Actually, it looks very much like those who are blamed for wanting POWER are those who are doing all the work. How about those who are screaming for democracy? Have any of them every watched "democracy at work" within FidoNet? You really ought to try it. Watching democracy at work when there was an ECHOPOL conference was enough to sell me on anything but. All I saw there was a few who were interested in only themselves and spent most of their time practicing in the age old FidoNet tradition of "the beating of dead horses" while a few others tried to get some intelligence from the proceedings. Those who scream loudly for "democracy" have absolutely NO idea what they are asking for. And those who feel the *C team could do better? Sure, there's no FidoNews 6-22 Page 19 29 May 1989 doubt it can do better, and if it weren't for people it would be perfect. You do know the members of the *C team are people, don't you? And many of them are doing a darned good job. I don't know every member of the *C team but if those running the nets all over the world are anywhere near as good as those here in New England we have little to worry about! The ones who make me worry are those who want "democracy". Some of those very same people want to be able to run their own nets with their own policy! Imagine it, hundreds of nets all over the place - each with it's very own policy. Why, with any work at all we could probably confuse everyone as well as the federal, state and municipal laws have! The strange thing is we have many nets out there doing just that, and everyone is happy! They never demanded the "right" to do it, they all agreed within themselves it was the right way to go and they went with it. Makes me wonder about those who are screaming for the same "rights" that others have had for years. Sure must be something wrong somewhere. Whatever it is, there's a LOT of people out there who are doing a LOT of work - and the pay is pretty slim. Sure, there's a few who are difficult to get along with and a few who shouldn't be involved as they do more damage than good. Guess that's because they are people. But if you have a problem with a "people", try to use the system to rectify the problem before you decide that the system is wrong. We have a new POLICY out for vote right now. Every NC is supposed to be discussing it with the all the nodes in the net before voting and the vote is supposed to reflect the wishes of the majority. There's a couple of points in this document that set my hair on end, every time I think of them, but once we have a document in place that CAN be changed we can start working at making changes. That's a LOT more leeway than Congress gives all you `voters'! And if your NC is NOT discussing it with you then send a message to your RC and/or the IC and make it KNOWN. Don't sit in an echo and cry, hoping someone will see and understand. It doesn't work that way. And, of course, we have all the commentary on FidoNews. Again, those who make the most noise don't seem to know they are dealing with people. They yell "RIGHTS", when they have NO consideration for any ones "rights" but their own. Have you read anywhere about how the *C team has been handling FidoNews at their own expense for years? Are you aware that the role of the *C team is to make FidoNews available, and NOT to deliver it? I'm one of those who has decided NOT to deliver FidoNews any longer. As every NC in New England is a long distance call for me it was my decision, based on the fact the readership is so low it was no longer worth the expense of sending it out on my nickel every week. Want to guess how many complaints were received? I think maybe one, but the way it was worded it's possible it wasn't really a complaint. Regardless, I received exactly ONE message about it. What don't I like about FidoNews? The list is lengthy. Probably the biggest concern I have is when "freedoms" are being considered there is little thought to the fact the IFNA is an international organization and FidoNews is supposed to represent the IFNA. Some of the things we discuss in our "free" FidoNews 6-22 Page 20 29 May 1989 society could get a SysOp in another country dragged from the keyboard and locked up, and that's in a country where they are tolerant! But my biggest disappointment is that a vehicle that could be used to communicate with ALL of FidoNet reaches a smaller percentage than you might know. Even when it's delivered it isn't read. Ask around, see how many YOU can find who read it. Most have given it up. If they want to read about cars, they buy Road & Track. Someone recently mentioned the articles here about pets, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with those articles. Lot's of good info there. But there's hundreds out there that don't want to read about pets. And where do they ask for input on the publication? In the very same publication that many have stopped reading! It appears the question worth asking is whether FidoNews is truly serving the needs of the 5000+ members of FidoNet or should it be for IFNA members only? Enough, already! All I can recommend is that when reading ANY commentary, including this, it's best to remember that the ones doing all the complaining are representative of less than 5% of the members of FidoNet. The *C structure is responsible to 100% of the net. Look at what FidoNet is. Simply amazing that it works at all! And what makes it work? The very same people who are doing everything wrong. And you wonder why I'm confused? These ramblings are my own and I am in no way speaking for the rest of the *C team. They're quite capable of speaking for themselves. If anyone would care to discuss anything said, please send net mail to me at 16/0, be happy to learn all I can. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 21 29 May 1989 Date: 15 May 89 10:04:16 From: Randy Bush of 105/6 To: David Dodell 1/0 Subj: Formal Objection to Proposed Method of Policy-4 Ratification David, I hereby file a formal objection to and complaint about the method by which you, the IC/ZC and the RCs, are attempting to put a new FidoNet policy, Policy-4, in place. You have unilaterally declared that it will be ratified by a procedure described for the first time within the document itself, and not by the procedure(s) in place now, before the document is accepted. Policies 1 through 3 were adopted by a consensus of the net as a whole, and P3 was subsequently (though irrevelantly, IMHO) ratified by IFNA. At the time Policy-3 was adopted, it was assumed that time would require new policy, and the the new policy would be adopted by means similar to that of Policies 1-3. If and only if Policy-4 is accepted, then the procedure outlined in Policy-4 is appropriate for adopting a Policy-5 or whatever. But, there is absolutely no grounds under current FidoNet policy and procedures for Policy-4 to be adopted by just the *Cs. I formally object, and deny your right to use such procedures, and deny the validity of any policy purportedly adopted by such a means. randy (with apologies for being a stickler as usual) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 22 29 May 1989 Ken Zwaschka 1:105/54 JOBS_BBS The JOBS_BBS is a "speciality" BBS. It focuses on topics that merge with my personal and professional interests. Specifically, it is limited to the Employment Profession, individuals who are looking for an Employer, Employers look- ing for Employees, Employee/Employer Relations and the pro- motion and growth of the phenomenon of Electronic Mail. If you are not a recruiter, an employer, or looking for a new job, there still may be message areas that are of interest to you. If you are looking for a job or have a job to fill, have em- ployee/employer relations concerns or interests, you are very welcome and invited to participate. Ken Zwaschka and Associates is an Executive Recruiting firm based in Portland, Oregon. We do searches for client compa- nies throughout the United States. All of our expenses are paid by those companies. Most (over 95%) of the searches we perform are for food processing companies. Even within that industry, our searches tend to be very unique and special- ized. Unless you are a professional in the food processing industry, it is unlikely we will be able to place you in a new position or directly find you employment, but we or other individuals who visit the JOBS_BBS might be able to refer you to someone who can help. I started the JOBS_BBS as an extension of my fast growing addiction for E-Mail and all of the possibilities it pro- vides for communication. The sysop and the other participants in this JOBS_BBS are interested in helping individuals maximize their employment potential and are happy to provide any advice or comments to help. This can include, but is not limited to resume and interview suggestions, how to find the "right" job for you, and how to optimize conditions in the job you have now. Employment oriented files for downloading are limited at this time but do include the following: Resume.doc - A sample resume that works (developed over ten years of recruiting plus ten years as a hiring manager) feepaid.txt - A list, with address and owners of all the employer fee paid search firms in Oregon. (updated quarterly) The following Message areas are "local" to the JOBS_BBS: JOBS-NOW: A "read only" area that lists all job openings posted in all the other echos the JOBS_BBS carries. Updated daily, all FidoNews 6-22 Page 23 29 May 1989 messages deleted after 30 days so most jobs will still be open. Currently there are over 150 job openings from all over the country RESUMES: A listing of resumes only from all other echos carried on the JOBS_BBS. Uploads are allowed. Currently over 100 resumes listed In addition, we carry PDX.JOBS, Net 105's discussion area for Employment issues; the National FidoNet JOBS, CONSULT- ING, and BUSINESS echos, and four excellent job oriented message areas from USENet. There is NO CHARGE OF ANY KIND for EMPLOYERS AND CANDIDATES to use the services of the JOBS_BBS. Because the JOBS_BBS is operated as a service of a professional search firm, we do charge a contingent "brokerage" fee to recruiters and em- ployment agencies that use the JOBS_BBS. Complete details are posted in the Bulletins when you log on. Although not really relevant to this article, the sysop of the JOBS_BBS is a Paradox Database user. The JOBS_BBS also carries a discussion area called Paradox as part of the ser- vices of the Portland, Oregon Paradox User's Group. I would be happy to arrange a echo-link for PARADOX echo, along with the JOBS_NOW, and RESUME echos to any sysop who is inter- ested in carrying them. Just send a FidoNet Mail message to me at 1:105/54. Ken Zwaschka Certified Personnel Consultant Ken Zwaschka & Associates Executive Recruiters and Business Advisors 618 NW Glisan Street, Suite 407, PO Box 2226 Portland, Oregon 97208-2226 Phone: 503-248-0734 FAX: 503-248-6320 The JOBS_BBS (FidoNode 1:105/54) 503-281-6808, CM, 2400baud ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 24 29 May 1989 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= The Veterinarian's Corner Excerpts from the ANIMED GroupMail Conference by Don Thomson, 1:102/1005 If there was ONE area of preventative care, outside of vaccination, that I would reccommend to improve the quality of a pet's life, it would be recommending rountine dental care. By the age of four years, approximately 60% of all cats, and 40% of dogs, have significant dental tarter and gingivitis that will soon cause periodontal disease and gum recession. Preventative dental care for pets, just like humans, begins at home. "What? Brush my dog's teeth?!!" The answer is a resounding "YES!" I don't recommend using toothpaste (except possibly those that are specifically formulated for pets) but rather use WHATEVER your pet LIKES! For pets, it is far more important to mechanically remove the soft plaque and trapped food particles regularly than it is to use 'the cavity fighter' toothpaste. Believe it or not, dental caries ("cavities") are much less of a problem in pets than is the aforementioned periodontal disease. I recommend twice a week brushings, about 1-2 minutes to briefly remove what you can. If your dog likes milk, dip the toothbrush in milk, if it likes chicken broth, use chicken broth. Reward it after brushing with a small crunchy snack..... You will find that dogs will soon look forward the attention and the reward! Just keep the experience as positive as possible and use lots of praise. Obviously this is most easily done early in training, than trying to fight with a 12 year old 'set in it's ways', but I have had clients with enough patience to slowly train their 14 year-old poodle to sit quietly while they raised the cheeks and lightly brushed the teeth and gums. Cats are a bit tougher, but they too can be coaxed with kindness and rewards. I will have to be honest, one of my cats absolutely refuses even my most patient attempts. I find that she needs routine dental scaling under a sedative or light anesthesia to remove the calcified tarter, as I cannot brush the plaque away. Other simple priciples: 1. Keep meals as dry and crunchy as possible to minimize plaque. 2. Be aware that smaller dogs are much more prone to dental disease than are large dogs. Make sure that a dental examination is part of your dogs regular health checkup. 3. Over the years I have changed my beliefs about bones. I have seen too many cracked teeth and removed too many bones lodged in the stomach or intestines to reccomend bone and other FidoNews 6-22 Page 25 29 May 1989 'swallowable' chews. I feel pretty good about recommending a large Nylon chew bone, or hard crunchy treats. Maybe some day I too will find problems relating to a swallowed nylon bone. Regular brushing is FAR more beneficial than these chews, and much less hazardous. 4. If your pet developes tarter and/or gingivitis, schedule a routine dental scaling and polishing with your veterinarian. Veterinarians are making tremendous strides in dental techniques and oral surgery. There are now even 'specialty practices' only for dentistry! In our practice we even have the capabilities to perform root canals. MOST of the expensive procedures can be circumvented by routine brushing and diet management at home in combination with examination and routine tarter removal by a qualified veterinarian. DB Thomson, DVM 1:102/1005 9:871/16 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 26 29 May 1989 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12m+* Phoenix 1.3 TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.03 TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Opus 1.03b+ RBBS 17.1D TPBoard 5.2* + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.20 EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.01 D'Bridge 1.18 MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 2.0 Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ConfMail 4.00 FrontDoor 2.0 Prune 1.40 EMM 1.40 PRENM 1.40 XlatList 2.90 GROUP 2.07 SEAdog 4.50 XlaxDiff 2.32 MSG 3.3* XlaxNode 2.32 MSGED 1.99 TCOMMail 2.2* TMail 1.11* TPBNetEd 3.2* UFGATE 1.03 XRS 2.2 * 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 6-22 Page 27 29 May 1989 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 5 Jun 1989 David Dodell's 32nd Birthday 15 Jul 1989 Start of the SAPMFC&LP (Second Annual Poor Man's FidoCon and Lake Party) to be held at Silver Lake Park on Grapevine Lake in Arlington, Texas. This started as an R19-only thing last year, but we had so much fun, we decided to invite everybody! We'll have beer, food, beer, waterskiing, beer, horseshoes, beer, volleyball, and of course beer. It's an overnighter, so bring your sleeping bag and plan to camp out. Contact one of the Furriers (Ron Bemis at 1:124/1113 or Dewey Thiessen at 1:130/24) for details and a fantastic ASCII map. 2 Aug 1989 Start of Galactic Hacker Party in Amsterdam, Holland. Contact Rop Gonggrijp at 2:280/1 for details. 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. 24 Aug 1989 FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose, California. Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1:1/89 for info. 5 Oct 1989 20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" 11 Oct 1989 First International Modula-2 Conference at Bled, Yugoslavia hosting Niklaus Wirth and the British Standards Institution. Contact 1:106/8422 for more information. 11 Nov 1989 A new area code forms in northern Illinois at 12:01 am. Chicago proper will remain area code 312; suburban areas formerly served with that code will become area code 708. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 28 29 May 1989 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Chairman of the Board Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Vice President-Technical Coordinator Linda Grennan 1:147/1 Secretary Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS Administration and Finance Mark Grennan 1:147/1 Board of Directors Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Bylaws Don Daniels 1:107/210 Ethics Vic Hill 1:147/4 Executive Committee Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 International Affairs Rob Gonsalves 2:500/1 Membership Services David Drexler 1:147/1 Nominations & Elections David Melnick 1:107/233 Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/1 Publications Rick Siegel 1:107/27 Security & Individual Rights Jim Cannell 1:143/21 Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333 IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210 11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1 13 Irene Henderson 1:107/9 (vacant) 14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5 15 Scott Miller 1:128/12 Matt Whelan 3:3/1 16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628 17 Neal Curtin 1:343/1 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871 18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Kris Veitch 1:147/30 19 David Drexler 1:147/1 (vacant) 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-22 Page 29 29 May 1989 __ 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 PO Box 41143 St Louis, Missouri 63141 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 second elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. -----------------------------------------------------------------