Volume 6, Number 38 18 September 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 submitted by a FidoNet SysOp will be rejected if it is properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 August 1989 IFNA Board Meetings .......................... 1 SPA Installs 800 Number to Track Software Piracy ......... 8 NCLM Sweepstakes ......................................... 9 The Life and Times of HEX ................................ 11 OASIS: The Echo for Recovering Overeaters ................ 13 The President's Report ................................... 15 2. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 20 Latest Software Versions ................................. 20 3. NOTICES .................................................. 23 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 23 FidoNews 6-38 Page 1 18 Sep 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Thom Henderson, c/o 1:107/509@FidoNet August 1989 IFNA Board Meetings Seems I've been down this road before. The official minutes of the IFNA board meeting are late, but I do have my own notes taken at the time. As before, they were taken using PC Outline on my laptop (a very nice program, if you haven't tried it), and I'm interspersing comments now to "fill in the gaps." I. 25 Aug 89 17:00 Outgoing IFNA board meeting A. Roll call 1) Bill Bird vice Courtney Harris 2) Matt Whelan 3) Matt Whelan vice Bill Bolton 4) Thom Henderson vice Irene Henderson 5) Jim Channel vice Scott Miller 6) Stephen Barnes 7) John Knox 8) Don Daniels 9) Mort Sternheim (chairman) 10) Tony Davis vice Ted Polczynski 11) Steve Jordan 12) Phil Buonomo vice David Melnik 13) Four vacancies from 24 seats leaves 20, we have a quorum "Vice" in this context means "in place of", so that "Bill Bird vice Courtney Harris" means "Bill Bird sitting as alternate for Courtney Harris." Note that Matt Whelan holds two votes -- this crops up again later. B. Old business 1) Accepting minutes of last meeting, but we don't like them. I don't think the official minutes for the February meeting ever did get published. Time will tell if the official minutes of THIS meeting ever get published. C. New business 1) Agenda for meeting a) Election of officers b) Appoint group to look into the BIX deal c) Appoint group to look into OPCN nodelist d) Funding expenses of the IC FidoNews 6-38 Page 2 18 Sep 1989 e) FidoNews editor f) Bolton's five motions g) Feedback from the floor This is the old board setting the agenda for the new board's meeting the next day. Standard stuff, and the new board can change it (and does). D. Motions of thanks 1) Thank San Jose sysops for a nice con a) passed 2) Thank Vince Perriello for doing FidoNews a) passed Standard stuff. Vince in particular was thanked because he had already tendered his resignation. E. Report of the elections 1) 180 ballots mailed 2) 62 valid ballots received 3) Tie in R19, Vietch and Roberts a) Amended report to give divisional to guy with more overall votes and other guy as a one-year at large b) Accepted report as amended The Elections Committee wound up with a tie for the Division 19 seat, so they referred that back to the Board. Since there were vacancies in the At-Large seats, the Board decided to give one of them the Divisional seat and the other an At-Large seat. F. Informal discussion of officers for next year G. Adjorn until circa 21:00 Durned if I remember what the informal discussion was about. I think we just tossed around some names of likely people for the officer positions. Then the outgoing Board adjorned for dinner, with the meeting to resume as the new Board after dinner. II. 25 Aug 89 22:00 First meeting of the new IFNA board Unfortunately, I didn't take down the roll of who all was at any of the other meetings. John Knox was supposed to be doing that. Foolish me, I didn't think anyone but me would ever see these notes, so I skimped on some of the grunt work. A. Motion to allow proxies 1) passed What this is referring to is the business of allowing one person to represent more than one Board member. For example, in the earlier meeting Matt Whelan sat both on his own behalf and as alternate for Bill Bolton, and hence had two votes. This cropped up again because several members of the newly elected Board had been unable to attend and had made overlapping assignments in their alternates. I don't remember for sure how Mort handled the vote, but I think he did it by a show of hands of those FidoNews 6-38 Page 3 18 Sep 1989 physically present. B. Motion to thank Mort for being chairman 1) passed C. Election of officers. 1) Chairman of the board a) Thom Henderson (elected) b) John Knox First let me repeat the thanks to Mort Sternheim. The only reason he isn't still the Chairman of the Board is that he turned it down in no uncertain terms. I'm beginning to understand why... 2) President a) Motion to table, passed 3) Vice President, tabled 4) VP-TC, tabled You'll notice a few things got tabled here. Mostly nobody wanted to nominate anybody without having some time to think about it and talk to the nominees. We figured we'd hold off on electing officers until we could find people who were willing and qualified. 5) Secretary a) Chris Vietch, by acclaimation 6) Treasurer a) Chris Vietch, by acclaimation 7) Acting secretary a) John Knox by acclaimation In retrospect I'm kind of wondering about these. We didn't have official minutes from Chris for the February meeting, after all. John got elected because he was there and doing it at the time, but I still haven't gotten the minutes. D. Motion to recess, passed. It was starting to get late at this point, so we called it a night. Besides, most of the new Board wanted a chance to go talk to the people at FidoCon and get their input on some upcoming agenda items. III. 26 Aug 89 20:30 Second meeting of the new board A. Call to Order B. Roll call C. Election of IFNA President and Vice-President and filling of vacant positions on Board of Directors 1) Div 3 vacancy a) Matt Whelan - by acclaimation FidoNews 6-38 Page 4 18 Sep 1989 b) Appoints Randy Bush as Bill Bolton's alternate 2) Interruption while Kaplan phones to make Mort Sternheim his alternate 3) At large vacancy a) Tony Davis b) Tom Jennings - winner 4) President a) Les Koyman - winner b) Fabain Gordon 5) Vice President a) Fabian Gordon - by acclaimation 6) VP-TC a) Bill Bolton - winner b) Ben Baker Some other last-minute appointments happened that didn't make it into my notes (remember, I was supposed to be chairing the meeting while all this was going on), but the end result is that we had 23 out of 24 seats represented, which is the best the IFNA board has ever done. Now we get to the dull stuff. D. Reports from Officers 1) President, no report 2) Vice President, no report 3) Vice President - TC, tabled 4) Secretary, tabled 5) Treasurer, tabled E. Standing Committee Reports 1) Executive Committee, no report 2) Administrative & Finance, tabled 3) Nomination & Elections a) already been done 4) Technical Standards, no report 5) Publications, no report 6) International Affairs, tabled 7) Membership Services, no report 8) Membership Data Base, no report 9) By Laws & Rules Committee a) Report filed. No activity to speak of. F. Divisional Director Reports 1) 10 Courtney Harris, no report 2) 11 Bill Allbritten, no report 3) 12 Bill Bolton, tabled 4) 13 Irene Henderson, no report 5) 14 Ken Kaplan, no report 6) 15 Scott Miller, no report 7) 16 Ivan Schaffel, no report 8) 17 Neal Curtin, no report 9) 18 Andrew Adler, no report FidoNews 6-38 Page 5 18 Sep 1989 10) 19 John Knox, no report 11) 2 Henk Wevers, no report G. Other committee reports 1) Ethics Committee a) Ethics document submitted, but no report. 2) Public Affairs, no report Do you begin to sense a pattern here? H. Old Business 1) Bill from Tom Marshall a) Referred to Executive Committee for action The bill, as I recall, was for work Tom Marshall did related to the IFNA logo. The Executive Committee was told to look into it and do whatever was appropriate. 2) Tabled items a) VPTC report tabled again b) Secretary, no report c) Treasurers report, tabled - Insufficient, no balance sheet - Referred to exec comm for high priority action d) Admin & Finance, tabled The pattern continues. I. Exception -- Vince Periello appointed as proxy by Ivan Schaffel by phone. An exception to the order of the day as Ivan Schaffel phones in. J. New Business 1) Call for additions to New Business 2) Executive committee appointments a) Don Daniels b) Karl Schinke c) Matt Whelan d) Chris Vietch 3) Ethics document a) Referred exec and ethics comm More routine stuff. 4) Paying for IFNA meeting space a) Delegated to treasurer This is referring to the rent on the rooms where the IFNA general membership meeting is to be held. 5) Nodelist copyright notice FidoNews 6-38 Page 6 18 Sep 1989 a) moved with amendments I didn't get the wording of the motion, and now I don't remember what it was. The original motion was to radically simplify the nodelist copyright statement, but I think it was amended to having the executive committee look into it. 6) Motion to entertain proposals for FidoCon 90. a) Rejected 8) Motion to defend copyright against OPCN Nodelist a) Exec committee to look into it and do something 9) OPCN Nodelist - Theo Polczynski a) Fails for lack of second 10) Motion to fund the International Coordinator a) Tabled 11) Motions to entertain ammendments to bylaws a) 02:00 Recess to resume at 08:00 Sunday, passed It was that last item that took most of the time. We finally broke up at 2 AM with the issue still unresolved. IV. 27 Aug 89 08:30 Final meeting / general membership meeting A. New bylaws, passed 1) Recess to the meeting room, passed At this point my notes started to suffer a bit from competing demands. The New Bylaws motion (which passed) was the amendment to clear up the definition of an "At-Large Member" to nail down in no uncertain terms that all FidoNet sysops are voting members of IFNA. Somewhere in here was the so-called "YPOP motion" (yellow piece of paper) calling for the referendum. B. Resignation of FidoNews Editor 1) Vince turns hat around "Turning your hat around" is merchie slang for relieving yourself. That is, turning a watch over to yourself, or standing two watches in a row (I sense somehow that I'm not clearing this up very much). It means that when Vince resigned, Vince took over as editor of FidoNews. C. Motion to accept Policy4 - Phil Buonomo 1) no second D. Motion on BIX and FidoNet echomail - Don Daniels 1) rejected E. Motion to rename IFNA - Bill Bolton 1) tabled F. Motion for affirmation of IFNA's interests - Bill Bolton 1) referred to exec committee G. IFNA FidoNet policy document - Don Daniels H. Adjournment FidoNews 6-38 Page 7 18 Sep 1989 Towards the end my note-taking REALLY suffered, for two reasons. We were in the meeting room for the general membership meeting and I couldn't put my laptop in a convenient location, and we adjourned with only about five minutes left before checkout time so I had to dash back up to my room. I remember that Bill Bolton's motions got light treatment because they were mostly rendered moot by the YPOP motion. I don't really remember what Don's motions were about. Anyway, there you have it. Those are the notes I have on what happened at the Board meeting. I haven't given up hope yet on getting official minutes, but I'm hopping mad about the delay. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 8 18 Sep 1989 SPA Installs 800 Number to Track Software Piracy September 11, 1989(Washington,D.C.)-The Software Publishers Association announced today that it has installed a toll free 800 number to track reports of software piracy. The number is 1-800-388-PIR8. The toll free line will enable users to report cases quickly and easily of unauthorized duplication of software through unauthorized sales, hard disk loading, internal corporate copying and electronic bulletin boards. "Until now, users and aggrieved individuals have had no clear vehicle through which they could report serious copyright violations" said SPA Executive Director Ken Wasch. "Now the 800 number will make it easy for individuals to report cases of software piracy. All reports to the SPA will be followed up. Hopefully through 'cease and desist' letters, litigation against copyright violators may be avoided." Through the SPA Copyright Protection Fund, the SPA has filed over 20 lawsuits against dealers, mail order operations, technical colleges and corporations who have sold or used unlawful copies of software. The SPA's litigation efforts are complemented by an ongoing public awareness campaign that educates users about the lawful use of software through the SPA publication, "Software Use and the Law", as well as through anti-piracy advertisements that run in trade journals and the general press. Individuals wishing to report cases of software piracy should contact the Piracy Hotline at 1-800-388-PIR8. Anyone desiring copies of "Software Use and the Law" may contact the SPA by sending a self addressed stamped envelope. The Software Publishers Assocition is the principal trade group of the PC software industry. It's over 525 members include the leading publishers in the business, consumer, education and vertical software markets. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 9 18 Sep 1989 Butch Witherspoon Fido 1:288/525 National Computer Learning Month COMPUTER LEARNING FOUNDATION 1989 SWEEPSTAKES Computer Learning Month Certified School Sweepstakes 4 Grand prizes: Two schools in each category, drawn at random from the entries recieved that meet the criteria as computer learning month certified schools, will each recieve a computer system. 10 Second prizes: Five computer learning month certified schools in each category will be drawn at random to recieve software programs. All computer learning month certified schools: A computer learning month certified school award certificate - level I and/or level II, depending on the level(s) achieved, and a press release for publicising your school's acomplishment in local papers. Description: The computer learning foundation wants to encourage more teachers to get involved in using computers in thier classroom, to try software programs they haven't used before and to develop lesson plans that integrate computers and software into the curriculum. We also want encourage state and county departments of education and local schools to provide teachers with in-service time for trying different software, developing lesson plans and sharing thier knowledge with one another. Upon reciepts of the entry form, the computer learning foundation will verify eligability, automatically enter qualifying schools in the Sweepstakes and send the school principal a computer learning foudation certified school certificate for the appropriate level(s) and a press release tosend to local papers to recieve public recognition for the schools effort. Rules: To be eligable to enter the sweepstakes, a school must be a computer learning month certified school - Lvel I and/or Level II. If your school qualifies for both levels, you will be entered in both categories of the sweepstakes, so you will have two chances of winning. Computer learning month certified school - Lvel I: Between July 1, and November 30, 1989, every teacher in the school must try three sofware programs they have not tried before. While many teachers can try the same programs, we encourage teachers to each review different programs and share thier knowledge with each other. To enter: (1) set up a teacher participation form with the following headings: Teacher name(s) that developed the plan, grade, title of leson plan, the signature of the teacher(s) that developed the plan; (2) attach one copy of each lesson plan to the teacher participation form; and (3) complete the contest entry form, and have the principal sign it. Remember, the individual teachers may also submit thier lesson plans to the lesson plan contest if they meet the FidoNews 6-38 Page 10 18 Sep 1989 criteria; however, each submission to the lesson plan contest must include a seperate entry form. For more information contact Butch Witherspoon, Fido 1:288/525 or write to NCLM Echo, P.O. Box 8045, Granite City, IL 62040-8045. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 11 18 Sep 1989 A Windy City Yarn THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HEX Copyright (c) 1989 James Zachary I'd like to introduce y'all to Mr. Steve Bonine, ZONE 1 COORDINATOR of FIDONET. I'm proud to call Steve a personal friend of mine. Judging by the blatant accusations and not so subtle innuendo from a few folks, there is a need for me to shed some true light as to what Steve is really like. Steve and I first met in prison ... uh, noooooo, lessee here ... Actually, Steve and I first met at the KScope Bar and Grill during a get-together for members of the now defunct Computer Guild Street Gang of Chicagoland. Steve came roaring up on his Harley Davidson ... hmmmm, maybe that was Lady Mingette ... anyway, in walks this 6'8'' hulk of a man with shoulder length hair and railroad-spike earrings ...uh, noooo, that was Ingvar Mike ... I guess The Bruiser served up a few too many of Dr. Dick's Oxide Bombers for me to really remember very much of that night. However, the brawl did lead to sobriety, tolerance and a sustained period of peace. (We all got 30 days). I think Steve made bail first since the police couldn't match the bloodstains with any on his knife. Zappie was indicted for drunken walking so, since they already had his driver's license for speeding (in a stolen patrol car), his shoes were removed for 36 months. Ingvar Mike and his cousin, Grudd, kicked through the walls of Cook County Jail, grabbed the fair Mingette and they haven't been heard from since. I get the impression that many of y'all think Steve is not sensitive to the feelings of others. I'm here to tell ya that the man is so responsible that during the latest anti-gun and animal-rights crusades, even though he is an avid hunter, he gave up shooting deer. He now chases them down on foot and eats them alive. The rumor of Steve working in 'mainframe-security' is partially correct. He isn't a programmer, he carries them from building to building, chained to his wrist. His nickname, HEX, is not derived from Hexadecimal --- he simply has this thing about sticking Bowie knives into voodoo dolls while mumbling incantations. The man is an accomplished author with books like "Think and Go Bitch","I'm OK, You're KO'd", "The Sixty Minute Mugger" and "The Power of Positive Punching" to his credit. FidoNews 6-38 Page 12 18 Sep 1989 He is really not as power hungry as y'all think. The title 'ZONE 1 COORDINATOR OF FIDONET' somehow gave him the idea that he was to get that big-money job as the top dogcatcher for Chicago's Humbolt Park area. Since much of the old gang is out on parole, on Saturday, September 23rd, we will be getting together over at Steve's for a good-old-fashioned family barbecue (Steve is letting his wife and kids burn his tattoos off). I'm sure he wouldn't mind me inviting all 6000 Fidonet SysOps over to his place. It's BYOB (Bring Your Own Bail). Find out for yourselves that he is more evil than what you have ever imagined. If you are going to sling mud, please learn to do it up right! Formal 'leather and chains' attire is required. Steve's house is easy to find. It's next to the El Rukn Temple; just look for his black Hearse, license plate IKEELU, in the driveway. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 13 18 Sep 1989 OASIS: The Echo for Recovering Overeaters. by Jim A. 1:125/32 My name is Jim and I have an eating disorder. I started out as a fat kid, and went through all of the traumas that fat kids go through in our society. I went on my first diet when I was ten years old, and promptly lost about 30 pounds, which was half of what I needed to lose at the time. However, in a short time I gained it all back, plus a few additional pounds with interest. That was the basic story of my life: I would go on diets, lose some weight, and then gain back even more. I tried lots of different diet and exercise schemes, but none of them gave me any relief from my food addiction. Why should they? The diets treated only the weight, which is only a symptom of my eating disorder. I am just like an alcoholic with food. I was never satisfied with one piece of candy because I always wanted more. Although I always pretended to be on a diet, secretly I would binge on Pounder Bags of M&M's. At my peak I could finish a Pounder Bag in about ten minutes and then go for a large Nestle's Crunch Bar for dessert. Unfortunately, the laws of thermodynamics have not been repealed in my case. My massive overeating led to morbid obesity. At my peak I was 110 pounds heavier than I am now. I found help in Overeaters Anonymous. OA makes use of the successful principles of recovering from addictions that were pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous. Overeaters Anonymous is not a diet club, but a non profit fellowship of men and women with eating disorders who help themselves by helping others like themselves. There are no dues, fees, required diets, or weigh ins. The ONLY requirement for membership is the desire to stop overeating compulsively. OA has helped me to take those 110 pounds off and keep them off for over seven years. Since I am also a bbs user, I started a bbs that has a strong orientation to the OA program. It is called the OAsis and it is very similar to the other Anonymous/Recovery bbs systems such as those that were mentioned in the August 28, 1989 issue of Newsweek. On the OAsis board, other people interested in recovering from eating disorders share their experience in how to live life without overeating. There is now a backbone echo that allows users from all over to share in this form of mutual support. It is called the OASIS. If you think that some of your callers might be interested in recovering from obesity, compulsive overeating, and related eating disorders, then you might be interested in carrying the OASIS echo. If you have any questions, please feel free to check out the OASIS bbs at 415-658-5397, or net mail me at 1:125/32. FidoNews 6-38 Page 14 18 Sep 1989 One node at a time, Jim A. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 15 18 Sep 1989 The President's Report Les Kooyman Fido 1:204/501 It's my pleasure to address you here in what I intend to be a continuing series of reports on what's going on in IFNA from my perspective. In this first report, there are a number of pressing items that need to be discussed. In issues to come some of these topics, particularly those relating to the upcoming IFNA plebi- scite, will receive further attention. Feedback (comments, cor- rections, curmudgeonly-advice, etc.) on what appears here is always welcome. I've made mistakes before and I expect I will make more; none of us is perfect. I'd appreciate a copy of your comments at 1:204/501, but there's always the traditional method of reply via FidoNews article. With the author's permission I'll print excerpts of correspondence received if it is of general interest. Please forgive the length of this first report, there are some basic points this week that I only need to cover once. Items this week That said, I'd like to touch on the following items this week: * What does the President of IFNA do? * What's going on with the plebiscite? What Does the President do? Here are the sections of the Bylaws of IFNA and the Articles of Association of IFNA which deal with the office of the President. This list is, to my knowledge, complete and all-inclusive. From the Articles of Association: VI. During the intervals between meetings of the Board of Directors, the affairs of the Corporation shall be administered by an Executive Committee consisting of the President, four Directors selected by the Board of Directors, and, without vote, the Vice President and Vice President - Technical Coordinator. The term of office for the Executive Committee members shall be for one year or until their successors are elected. The Executive Committee shall meet at the call of the President, but no less often than quarterly. The Executive Committee may in its discretion submit for determination or decision by members of the Board of Directors any proposal pending before the Executive Committee. When such submission is made, it shall be in precise terms embodying the text of the proposed resolution. Such action shall be binding upon the Executive Committee. FidoNews 6-38 Page 16 18 Sep 1989 VIII. The officers of the Corporation shall be a President, a Vice President, Vice President - Technical Coordinator, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, who shall be elected by a majority of the Directors at the Annual Meeting. From the Bylaws: 25. The President shall, subject to instruction from the Board of Directors and with the assistance of the Vice President, represent IFNA in its relationships with the public and the various governments, governmental agencies and officials with which IFNA may be concerned and shall be the official spokesperson of IFNA in regard to all matters of IFNA policy. 26. In the absence or disability of the President, the Vice-President shall assume the duties of the President. 28. The Treasurer shall: b) sign checks drawn by the President in payment of obligations known by him to be proper and authorized; 30. Standing committees: a) The following standing committees are established: Administration and Finance; Executive Committee; Nominations and Elections; By-Laws and Rules; Technical Standards; Publications; International Affairs; Membership Services. b) Each standing committee shall include among its members at least one (1) Director. Additionally, the Treasurer shall serve as a member of the Administration and Finance Committee. Initial appointments of all standing committee members shall be made by the President at the ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING. Additional appointments may be made periodically by the President or the President's designate. The Chairman of the Board shall designate the chairman of each committee. The terms of office for all Committee Members shall extend only until the next ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING. Standing committees shall make written reports within thirty (30) days prior to each regular meeting of the Board of Directors. Standing committees shall originate studies in their fields and shall generate recommendations to the Board on their own initiative. 31. The Administration and Finance Committee: f) Makes recommendations to the Board and the President in areas of staff management, procedures and renumeration. 32. The Membership Services Committee performs studies and FidoNews 6-38 Page 17 18 Sep 1989 makes recommendations to the Board, and acts as advisor to the President, with regard to services provided to individual members, other than publications and including, but not limited to the ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING. 33. The Publications Committee performs studies and makes recommendations to the Board, and acts as advisor to the President, with regard to IFNA's publications, including FidoNews. 39. There shall be an official publication maintained by IFNA, in the form of a weekly journal, the name of which shall be FidoNews. A copy of this journal shall be available each week to all listed nodes. The general management of this journal shall be in the hands of the President. The policy of the journal shall be to publish all submitted articles of interest to the FidoNet community, within the bounds of legality and good taste. (End of Articles and Bylaws excerpts) From the above you can see that the office of the President is not a policy-making position; it is an executive position. The greatest "power" is the ability and responsibility to appoint members of IFNA's committees. This means that as President, I do not set the policy, I implement it. This has consequences for the following items I'd like to discuss. What's going on with the Plebiscite? Here's the resolution passed by the IFNA BoD at FidoCon '89 in San Jose: We, the representatives of the International FidoNet Association, have heard a cry for democracy in the administration of the network. As IFNA is supposed to represent the interests of the sysops, and as such representation is deemed to have failed, be it hereby resolved that: Without a mandate from the sysops of FidoNet, IFNA has no purpose or reason for existence. THEREFORE, the board proposes the following action, of which failure to pass will mean the dissolution of IFNA: It is hereby resolved that a special election be held for consideration by the Sysops of FidoNet of the following: IFNA shall be empowered to re-draft the bylaws of IFNA and to draft a Policy document for FidoNet. Such documents are to FidoNews 6-38 Page 18 18 Sep 1989 include: 1. An independent judicial system. 2. A reduced size Board of Directors, to be completely reseated in an election on or before FidoCon 1990. 3. Better representation from outside the United States. 4. Make each sysop in FidoNet a member in IFNA with all rights and privileges of membership. Voting for referendum of this document shall be completed on or before December 1, 1989. The rules of the election shall make it clear that failure of the election to approve the questions presented shall result in the current Board of Directors acting under Article XII to dissolve the corporation. In addition, it shall be made clear that approval must be gained from a majority of the eligible nodes in the nodelist in effect at the time of the election. (End of BoD resolution) The Chairman of the BoD, Thom Henderson, has noted that the following must be done by IFNA prior to December 1, 1989: 1) Run a net-wide vote of all sysops asking if IFNA should manage FidoNet. 2) Win the vote by a clear majority of all sysops. 3) Draft new bylaws and a new policy document. And by February 1, 1990: 4) Run another vote for approval/disapproval of the proposed bylaws and policy. 5) Have the proposed bylaws and policy approved by the membership (i.e. the sysops). Even though this is the stated order, it has been commented by several folks in the DEMOCRACY and SYSOP echo conferences that there needs to be some indication of the direction of the new bylaws and policy prior to the December 1, 1989 vote, or the vote is likely to be "no" due to a lack of information. I agree. I am making it a high priority to see that this effort goes on concur- rently with the effort to organize the election itself. I believe that the Sysops of FidoNet have the right to know what the direc- tion of IFNA is going to be if they are going to cast an informed vote. FidoNews 6-38 Page 19 18 Sep 1989 The election procedure will be determined by the nominations and elections committee of IFNA. As soon as that work is done, I will publish it here. The bylaws and policy drafts will be done by the bylaws and rules committee of IFNA. At this time, however, I believe it would be a very good idea if the policy effort were open for input from all in FidoNet who care to participate. To this end, I am conducting discussions with Jason Steck and others involved in the POLICY5.DEM effort, to see if that effort can be folded in to the job of preparing a draft policy under IFNA's name. The discussions to this point have not been conclusive, so I cannot at this time make an announcement that there is an agreement in principle to co-operate on this. However, I hope to be able to bring this news to you soon. In addition to all this, I understand that there is some question as to whether or not proper policy has been followed in amending the bylaws to make all FidoNet sysops members of IFNA. There is reason to believe that a special election of the 200 or so paying members of IFNA must be held prior to this bylaw change being ratified. I am working on this as my highest priority, because there is the possibility that without it no vote can be held in December. Summary In sum, there are some procedural issues that must be dealt with prior to the upcoming vote being held; there are organizational matters to be dealt with in a very short time; and there is an immense communication effort needed to get the word out to all the nodes in the FidoNet nodelist. Sadly, a simple article in FidoNews will not do this for us. Your help will be very valuable in the near future in helping to get the word out. Please consid- er seriously the difference you can make as an individual. Next week we'll begin to deal with the substantive issues in more detail, as well as look at some news and views regarding FidoCon and future FidoCons. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 20 18 Sep 1989 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12n+ Phoenix 1.3 TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.04 TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Kitten 2.15* RBBS 17.2A TPBoard 5.2 Opus 1.03b+ Wildcat! 2.00P Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.30* EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.02 D'Bridge 1.21 MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 2.0 Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ConfMail 4.00 FrontDoor 2.0 Prune 1.40 EMM 2.02 PRENM 1.47 XlatList 2.90 GROUP 2.15* SEAdog 4.51A XlaxDiff 2.32 LHARC 1.13 XlaxNode 2.32 MSG 3.3 MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.01* QM 1.0 TCOMMail 2.2 TMail 1.11 TPBNetEd 3.2 UFGATE 1.03 XRS 2.3 ZmailQ 1.09 Macintosh --------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b3 Tabby 2.0* MacArc 0.03 Mansion 7.0 ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 TImport 1.331 TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 FidoNews 6-38 Page 21 18 Sep 1989 Tset 1.3 Timestart 1.1 Tally 1.1 Mehitabel 1.2 Archie 1.60 Jennifer 0.25b2g Numberizer 1.5c MessageEdit 1.0 Mantissa 1.0 PreStamp 2.0 R.PreStamp 2.0 Saphire 2.1t Epistle II 1.0 Import 1.2b Export 1.2b Sundial 1.2b AreaFix 1.1 Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 1.00+* BinkleyTerm 1.50 ConfMail 1.10* ChameleonEdit 0.10 RMB 1.30 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Star-Net 2.00 BinkleyTerm 1.03a ConfMail 1.00 EchoDoor 0.11 ParseList 1.30 GS Point 0.61 ARC 5.21 TurboArc 1.1 LHARC 0.40 PKUNZIP 1.00 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 OMMM 1.30 Timestop 1.00 + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) * Recently changed FidoNews 6-38 Page 22 18 Sep 1989 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 6-38 Page 23 18 Sep 1989 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 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. 23 Nov 1989 26th Anniversary of "Dr. Who" - and still going strong 30 Dec 1989 Telephone area codes (5, 3 and 0) are abolished in Hong Kong If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 24 18 Sep 1989 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Thom Henderson 1:107/1015 Chairman of the Board Les Kooyman 1:204/501 President Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Vice President Bill Bolton 3:3/0 Vice President-Technical Coordinator Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Secretary Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS Administration and Finance * Board of Directors (CoB) Thom Henderson 1:107/1015 By-laws and Rules * Executive Committee (Pres) Les Kooyman 1:204/501 International Affairs * Membership Services * Nominations and Elections * Public Affairs * Publications Irene Henderson 1:107/9 Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333 Ethics * Security & Individual Rights * Grievance Committee * * Position waiting to be appointed/confirmed by IFNA Chairman of the Board of Directors, Thom Henderson. IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Courtney Harris 1:107/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210 11 John Rafuse 1:1/212 Phil Buonomo 1:107/583 12 Bill Bolton 3:3/0 Mark Hawthorne 1:107/238 13 Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Tom Jennings 1:125/111 14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Irene Henderson 1:107/9 15 Scott Miller 1:128/12 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871 16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628 17 Kathi Crockett 1:134/30 Dave Melnik 1:107/233 18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Jim Hruby 1:107/536 19 Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Burt Juda 1:107/1 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 Karl Schinke 1:107/516 3 Matt Whelan 3:3/1 John Roberts 1:147/14 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-38 Page 25 18 Sep 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. FidoNews 6-38 Page 26 18 Sep 1989 -----------------------------------------------------------------