F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.11 (14-Mar-1994) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | | | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: | | _ | | | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS | | /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: | | | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet addresses: | | | | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) | | editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies and other boring but important details, | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 1 2. Articles...................................................... 3 The History of Fidonet another progress report.............. 3 Reply to an Article in FidoNews............................. 5 COUNTRY Echo - Message with your friends in low places...... 7 ANNOUNCEMENT: NoSnail v1.10 for RBBS....................... 8 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 9 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== FidoNews 11-11 Page: 2 14 Mar 1994 I had a longish arguement/discussion/thread with a local bussinessman on one of the local echos this week. It started with the intervention of the moderator to a new user, progressed quickley to the standard clash of power-tripping vs Free-Speech thread number 6, and then nicely evolved into a disscussion of Fido philosophy, and why the echos had been set up like they have been. Several things occured to me during the whole thing. First of all, Fidonet is growing up. I see far less flames, and far more literate and interesting posts. The crowd seems to be older. Secondly, there are a lot of people that are new to the net, and do not understand the beginnings of Fido, or why things are set up the way they are. Fido is ten years old this year. Marge Robbins @ mrobbins@wps.com is writting a book on Fido's history, and portions of that research will be published here. I would like to ask some of the old-timers to start thinking of articles. We want to hear why you got involved, and what you want the net to look like. What you think the strengths and weaknesses are. What you think we should do about them. enditorial by me: 1:1/23 hello. i was supposed to reply to last week's plea for lack of expletives now, but i can't because i'm lying, passed out, on the couch. i should mention what i might have said, anyway, for fun. I'm only dreaming, though, so this doesn't count as part of our argument game. i'm becoming somewhat paranoiac, bopping around amidst the electric community because i do not know what is real anymore. i used to see by-lines, serious looking news announcers in suit jackets, and recognizable titles of journals with academic reputations. I don't see those things much, on the net. I no longer have a preconceived, subconsciously accepted and exclusive list of sources for "truth" which i could always depend upon to provide me with a framework for telling differences between "normality" and "otherwise". Hence i'm lible to believe anything. i'm writing this with a pen on the back of an envelope which was used to convey an issue of ANIMADVERSE, an anarchist journal with a box number address and no names on anything. Why should i believe any of the news in it? I can't point a finger at a writer and hold them to their version of truth. [Actually, i like this kind of publication because it has a personal style to it, like net mail and unlike big media stuff. I'd rather learn from people than from spewing robots.] How can i tell the difference between urban myth and real statements of facts? I need to know the difference between those things, so i can know what things require action and judgements and which things FidoNews 11-11 Page: 3 14 Mar 1994 should inspire only laughter, right? Don't i need to know this? Do i need semeone to tell me which is which? Before the net made so much information instantly available, i had institutions and figures to lend credence to stuff, right? K, so, maybe i am suspicious of how good a job such entities have been doing of thinking for me, but at least i didn't have to be personally responsibe for my beliefs if i didn't want to be liable for them. And i don't have those any more! I have no more excuses. Now i have to be my own institutions and everything. The net makes me NEED to hone whatever facilities i might innately discover for making choices about what to believe. oh - about the "expletive".. Which expletive? The only true curse on the net is untruth. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== The History of Fidonet another progress report By Marge Robbins 1:283/120 or mrobbins@wps.com So many exciting things have happened since last I wrote for the snooze I scarcely know where to begin. Tom Jennings has sent me a whole box of items from Fidonet's past. Some have, compliments of NC283 Keith Sippy, been turned into JPGs and will eventually become available to all interested parties. NC107 Burt Juda has made available diskspace on ftp.fidonet.org as a permanent home for the files I have been accumulating. Some files are there now, available by anonymous FTP, and others are on their way. Once they are approved by TJ I will be uploading some of the JPGs to that site. I would also like to make the collection available via freq from several Fidonet systems around the country. If anyone who has lots of disk space would like to volunteer please contact me. You must be willing to commit at least 30mg to be on the safe side. The snoozes alone are 10. You can keep track of what is new in one of several ways. FTP there of course change to pub/fidonet/history and issue the directory command. OR gopher to ftp.fidonet.org and see what's in my directory. On the Gopher menu the item you want is Fidonet History. Due to Mr. Jenning's generosity and earnest desire to help in any way, I have a more or less permanent account on WPS.COM. This morning I spent a considerable amount of time playing with his mail program and now have a functional fake mailing list set up for this project. Anyone who wants to keep up to date on this project can be added to my mailing list. Just contact me on WPS.COM. I suppose since the Internet tends to be very confusing to most of us it FidoNews 11-11 Page: 4 14 Mar 1994 might be a good idea for me to digress and give some basic instructions. If you have an internet address, use it and skip this paragraph. I'm at mrobbins@wps.com. If you are stuck with a Fidonet address and want to receive my progress reports send a netmail message in the following fashion... To: UUCP at 1:1/31. ON THE FIRST LINE in the body of the message put to: mrobbins@wps.com. And yes, I do get mail at 283/120 but am not as likely to act on it in as timely manner as I am something that shows up on WPS.COM. My current project is slogging through a 1 mg+ file of articles I have culled from back issues of the snooze. sorting and indexing. Some are historical, some of just human interest. Here's one of my favorites. Fidonet's first baby. Fido227 8/19/85 ------------------------------------------------------------ The First FidoBaby Ken Kaplan (Fido 51) and his wife Sally now have the first official FidoBaby, named Eric Samuel Kaplan. Sally wants to wait for awhile before she'll let Ken assign him a node number. We'd like to welcome Eric as the newest and youngest member of the growing Fido family, and offer him our best wishes. We'd also like to extend our congratulations to Ken and Sally. _________________________________________________________________ And just as a fire won't burn in a vacuum, this project would be going nowhere fast without lots of good help. All of the folks in the following list have contributed in some way, from helpful suggestions, to donations of files, to sharing of memories to Burt and Tom contributing time, disk space and memories. My thanks to all. If you have helped in any way and are not on this list, please accept my apologies and contact me so I can add you. FIDONET HISTORY PROJECT CONTRIBUTORS Tom Jennings, Burt Juda, Keith Sippy, David Drexler, Dan Buda, Butch Walker, Bob Davis, Bob Morasvik, Jack Winslade, Michale McCabe, Peter Stewart, Terry Mueller, Bert Happel, Joshua Lee and probably many others whose names I neglected to safely store. FidoNews 11-11 Page: 5 14 Mar 1994 Reply to an Article in FidoNews by Darren Ryall 1:153/822@fidonet.org Date: 11 Mar 94 13:38:57 What did Robert Robertson say again? Oh yeah... RR> Unnecessary Expletives. RR> I was reading the February 21, 1994 (Vol 11 No 8) RR> edition of Fidonews and was shocked to see the use of RR> an inflammatory word in the editorial. If you're RR> wondering what word, go back and read it for yourself. RR> There are many young users who read Fidonews. I've RR> always enjoyed reading Fidonews, but this type of RR> language is totally unnecessary. On our board, we try RR> to maintain a family type atmosphere and when a young RR> user or anyone else can go to the bulletin menu and RR> read this type of trash does not give Fidonet and the RR> BBS community a very good image. I hope that in the RR> future that the editors will delete these unnecessary RR> expletives. RR> RR> Robert Robertson 1:3607/5 RR> eobytes!robert@vulcan.com Okay Robert....now that we've started in on Fidonews...let's start in on American television. And then American radio. Now, let's go after the satellite feeds to require that all messages be pure and wholesome. Now, let's go after all international sources of profanity. Okay, now let's go after the American Constitution, and while we're at it...all constitutions everywhere amending such with a clause saying that all thought, actions and words must be bunnies and light...without coarse or rough language. Now, define coarse or rough language. Now try to enforce it. And while we're at it, define unnecessary expletives. I know some people that think the word "Gee Whiz" is the height of profanity. I know others who use terms regularily that would probably make my father blush. What is unnecessary and vulgar to you does not apply to the world, Robert. And also, please keep in mind that you are also reading what is essentially a public newsletter sent out by two private individuals who have the right to really print anything that they see fit to print. And speaking from personal experience, they probably are really tired of seeing all these messages telling them what they can or cannot print. If you think that what they are printing is vulgar, then fine...delete the Fidonews or else make it unavailable for public viewing. Or complain to your higher's up...you have that right. I personally see nothing wrong in what the FidoNews prints...and have watched the editors bend over FidoNews 11-11 Page: 6 14 Mar 1994 backwards to ensure that every party in FidoNet is equally represented. No matter how distasteful that taste may have been to themselves personally at times...their responsibilities to their readers is upheld, and they stick by what they print. If you have a problem with that idea, then by all means...censor what goes into your BBS so that the BBS world for your users conforms to what you feel it should be. Again, that is your right. But with a world full of seedy dives, and seedier characters...you're never going to get rid of vulgarity and you're white-washing the world to attempt to cover the cracks that will always be there. And setting up anyone who sees only that Care Bears and Teddy Ruxpin view of the world for a really nasty fall someday. Because by not educating those that have less knowledge of the world than yourself...you leave them open to exploitation and manipulation by those who may not have their best interests at heart, as you yourself undoubtedly do. And let me tell you Robert... there's nothing sadder to see than a glassy-eyed follower who traipses along lemming-like behind some god-like figure. You probably remember a similar incident that happened in Waco, Texas, right? An entire compound of people followed one man to their deaths. Therein lies the danger of control Robert...we have free speech and freedom of expression to help prevent another Stalin, or another Hitler. It leaves us open to those that would try to exploit others, surely. And it leaves us open to any sicko that wants to walk along the street and proclaim that their view of the world is the only True One. But it also allows you free to say what you have to say...and for me to reply to that opinion. Whether you agree with me or not is totally irrelevant...at least our messages get across to others. And be careful of who you judge...you also fall short of other's standards. As do I. As does the FidoNet itself, and the FidoNews. As does every creation of man on this planet or beyond it. Because we're HUMAN, and have human weaknesses and faults. And that's why we here I guess...to learn to live with our faults and to strive to overcome them. To attempt to become a more perfect being through religion, through self-learning, through whatever method is right for that person. And you have the chance to do it Robert...thanks to your history, your country, and your upbringing. Not all are lucky enough to be able to say that in the sphere that FidoNet encompasses. Thank your blessings, and learn to love others for their faults...as for their blessings. And the world will come a lot closer to being that bunnies and light picture that you always wanted it to be. Because the key to freeing the world is to win the battle inside first FidoNews 11-11 Page: 7 14 Mar 1994 and foremost. ...And I thought this was going to be simple.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COUNTRY Echo - Message with your friends in low places COUNTRY Echo - Message with your friends in low places by John Cosper (1:123/302) Problem: You like Country music (no, this is not the problem). The first couple of bars from any song by Reba, Garth, or Dwight sends chills down your spine and threatens to knock off your cowboy hat and spurs (this is not the problem either). But, if you look at the national echo listing, there is not a national echo available to talk about your favorite singers (at last, we get to the problem!). You've already been chased out of the CD_ECHO, MUSIC, and even 60S_70S_PROG_ROCK echos by Tori-Amos-worshipping, Axl-Rose-imitating, alternative-listening metal maniacs. What do you do?? Solution: Pick up the COUNTRY echo! The COUNTRY echo is now available from John Cosper at 1:123/302. It is already on the official backbone of Net 123 echos and is wanting to expand its borders beyond the Memphis area. Now is YOUR chance to help a future national echo get off the ground and talk about Country music with people who have actually seen the furniture at Graceland and lived to tell about it! Here are the requisite particulars... Tag: COUNTRY Purpose: The discussion of Country music Moderator: John Cosper Rules: 1. This echo is for the discussion of all aspects of Country music. "SOME" chatter is expected and allowed, but too much will result in a message from the moderator. Which brings us to #2... 2. Let the moderator moderate. Just because you may not see an official message from the moderator to a particular person does not mean the situation isn't being handled. Your response to an off-topic message is also considered off-topic. 3. The discussion of bootlegs or the unlawful copying or distributing of copyrighted material is forbidden. 4. Flames are not permitted at any time. 5. These rules are subject to change at any time. So what are you waiting for?? Drop me a line at 1:123/302 today and FidoNews 11-11 Page: 8 14 Mar 1994 start dissing Wynonnah's weight problem tomorrow!! :) This brings an end to my sales pitch. Thanks for your time. John The Music Room, 1:123/302 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ANNOUNCEMENT: NoSnail v1.10 for RBBS ANNOUCEMENT: NoSnail v1.10 for RBBS by Eddie Rowe @ Fidonet#1:136/1.0 (Monroe, LA USA) Just over a year after its initial release, WER Development unveiled its latest update of its Fidonet & Internet connectivity add-on for the RBBS-PC Bulletin Board System, NoSnail version 1.10. The NoSnail utility allows RBBS-PC sysops to grant OUTGOING netmail access to Fidonet technology domains to their users without incurring undo economic hardship from delivering the mail to the remote systems scattered throughout the world. Internet connectivity is possible by utilizing a Fidonet to Internet gateway -- some users of NoSnail operate such gateways themselves, while others use Fidonet connectivity to move to remote gateways. Since exported netmail may be written to the *.PKT FTS-0001 standard or to the *.MSG format, NoSnail works with virtually any Fidonet compliant mailer as well as the current range of Fidonet compatible mail products. New in the 1.10 release of NoSnail: Ported to the "C" programming language from PDS 7.x Enhanced Internet addressing for Fidonet <-> Internet traffic External language file for non-English systems Optional explicit OverMail support Optional Domain addressing support Solved random problems for OS/2 users (DOS Box) Availability: Submitted on 03/10/94 to the Simtel Archive Site (oak.oakland.edu) for the ~pub/msdos/rbbs_pc/ directory as NOSN110.ZIP for those with FTP access. As of this writing it is not yet been posted to the rbbs_pc directory for download. Fidonet members may File Request NOSN110.ZIP from any Planet Connect or Filebone downlink participating in the RBBS File Distribution Network (RBBSMAIL area). Any FTN capable system may File Request from the WER Development Support BBS @ Fidonet#1:136/1.0 at v.32bis & ZyXEL 19.2k speeds, or Fidonet#1:136/2.0 at v.32bis and HST 16.8k speeds using the complete filename NOSN110.ZIP FidoNews 11-11 Page: 9 14 Mar 1994 The WER Development Support BBS may be accessed at 318-325-6608 where NoSnail may be downloaded on anyone's first call without any complicated registration process. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tom Jennings IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been changed!!! Please make a note of this. "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) Internet addresses: Don & Sylvia (submission address) editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews (we're easy). OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or FidoNews 11-11 Page: 10 14 Mar 1994 Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere, mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.) INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding FidoNet, please direct them to deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org, not the FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.) SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. Asked what he thought of Western civilization, M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea". -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------