F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No.42 (16-Oct-1995) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editors: | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Sylvia 1:221/194 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Sylvia max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 1 2. Articles...................................................... 3 Political struggle within Fidonet?.......................... 3 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 3 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== There is only one article in the inbound today, and it appears to be almost a repeat of an article that was in last week's snooze. A few revisions, and that is all. Perhaps the author got impatient. Our local (region 12) sysop echo is full of arguement about the geographical net boundaries specified in policy. Again. Of all problems in Fidonet, that single issue has probably caused more problems, arguements and bad feelings than any other issue. Remember the German fiasco? The England fiasco? The Hong Kong fiasco? And locally, the Toronto fiasco? (which never made the snooze because it is being fought out in the regional arena) FidoNews 12-42 Page: 2 16 Oct 1995 Every one of those problems could have been solved by simply telling the people that could not get along to either find some people they could get along with or to go away. Every one of them escalated into a major problem because a single person or a small group had the power to say "my way or no way". The same can be said for 95% of all policy complaints that I have ever seen. When it is the responablity of the individual sysop to find a place they can fit in, there are few problems. When where they fit in is dictated by someone else, and it does not work out, then policy complaints are the result. In the beginning, it was quite simple. You found a hub that was willing to feed you, and you set up your board. Yo applied, via netmail, for a node number. That was the end of it. Unless you annoyed your hub to the point that they refused to feed you anymore, you were set forever. If you did annoy your hub to that point, it was up to you to find a new feed. If found in the same net, you could keep the node number. If not, you were forced to get a new one. Then the politicians got into the act. It Was Decided that the real purpose of new members was to reduce costs, and they would be assigned to existing hubs in a manner that contributed to CRP's so that routed mail and echos would be cheaper for all. Nets, new nodes, and sysops became pawns in the great game of my net is bigger than your net, and my cost for email is lower than your cost. Policy 4 was written, and centralized control became the great solution to everything. Establish a net in a geographic area, and you were granted a monopoly on Fidonet for that area. Problem is, that it solved little, and causes most of the problems. If left to the marketplace, nets will tend to develope on a geographical basis because it is cheaper for all. Enforcing the same thing from above is like trying to regulate the tides by statute. It doesn't work. FidoNews 12-42 Page: 3 16 Oct 1995 ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Political struggle within Fidonet? Political struggles within Fidonet - Is it still a hobby? By Jeremy Guthrie and Sean Laurent jguthrie@coredcs.com <-> fizban@coredcs.com Hello, my name is Jeremy Guthrie. I used to be NEC of 2207. Sean Laurent, the former NC of Net 2207, and I had developed new nodelist specifications that shrank the 3.3 meg nodelist down to 800K. I had every piece of administration software designed: nodediff generators, update doors, etc... I had api's written in ansi c++ and ansi pascal. I had a converter to switch between the new and old formats. There was a browser for the new format and much more. I had a solution for the nodelist problem. In fact I was going to release it all as public domain. When net 2207 was removed, that all changed. I will be copyrighting the code and specifications. Why am I doing this? Because, Mark Lynch removed our new net without even asking our side of an argument. He just pulled it from us saying his approval of it was a mistake. I am a person who likes to be dealt with personally; I consider it a show of respect to deal with someone on such a matter. Mark did nothing of the sort, so with that I refuse to let specifications go to the public. I no longer run a board and do NOT want to return to Net 238, my former net, because I face the same problems there. Net 238 follows the same course as Mark did. Many there, such as John Hrusovszky (1:238/300), accused us of misleading Mark, of sending "a bogus net formation request" (whatever that is), and then the individuals couldn't prove it. I had a great FREE solution to a big problem of FidoNet, but because people refuse talk to me or try to be objective, I refuse to help those who hinder me. Just thought people had the right to know, Jeremy Guthrie formerly 1:2207/1 1:2207/110 Sean Laurent formerly 1:2207/0 1:2207/120 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== FidoNews 12-42 Page: 4 16 Oct 1995 ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) more addresses: Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia- 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 voice: (519) 570-3137 sylvia: (519) 579-8029 Fidonews is 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 1995 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds. OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail address. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the previously listed address. FidoNews 12-42 Page: 5 16 Oct 1995 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. ' ' disgreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or semethin to amuse ourselves,, and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -- END -------------------------------------------------------------------