Articles

• Net 1:231 Has a New Web Page
• 'Anarchy' in Region 50 Russia - no RC?
• An Innocent Bystander

Net 1:231 Has a New Web Page
by Richard Bash - 1:231/0
Internet: rmbash@cord.iupui.edu

FidoNet 1:231 in Indianapolis, Indiana, is pleased to announce the creation of a web page for the Net. The URL is:

http://www.oaktree.net/net231 [faulty URL [jb 4/25/01]]

While no astounding creation of art, the page lists all of the members of Net 231, their BBS names, BBS phone numbers and also provides links to web pages of the members of the Net. Documents such as POLICY4.DOC, the local Net operating guidelines and a node application form are also available via the web page. You are invited to visit the site and provide your constructive comments on ways to improve the page.

Elections of R50C went crazy

By Mikhail Ramendik, 2:5020/145.43, ramen@average.org

WARNING: this question caused much flame in the Russian sysop areas. I am not into it either side, in fact I'm not a Node at all. I just want to communicate an interesting story.

It all started as usual. R50C, Basil Dolmatov 2:5020/140, has quietly resigned. Elections were announced, Kostya Boyko 2:5020/37 became Returning Officer.

The elections were to end somewhere like February 17. But some mail was lost on the way to the RO. So the senders (an entire Net) requested a prolongation. The RO granted it to 22 Feb. Then...

On 19 Feb he announced the results. Dmitry Zavalishin, 2:5020/32, won.

He claimed that as the mail from the requestors has arrived, the vote was over, despite the public announcement of prolongation. Flame started here.

But it did not end here. For the winner got only 44% of the votes that came, with Mikel Lavrentyev 2:5020/35 second with 23%. A second run - between these two was requested from the RO and finally granted by him. But...

BY THIS TIME, THE OLD RC AND THE ZC HAVE RECOGNIZED THE NEW RC!!!

So now we have no publicly accepted RC. Anarchy? ;)

This situation is very dynamic. In fact it may change by the time this article reaches Fidonews. And I hold NO opinion on what side is right. But it calls us to some thoughts.

What has become of the Net which started as just a union of friendly SysOps?

Why has the Founding Father Tom Jennings left his creation? I have his answer here in a letter of July 1994. The text of the letter makes it clear that this information is not confidential.

8<

Personally, I consider "policy4" to be a smelly old crock of shit. You can quote me on that, only you will find many people have heard me say it before... :-)

Note that "POLICY4" contains valid procedural advice and information -- how to assign numbers, how to define a functional system, and such. For that it's fine. Otherwise, the actual policy is intended to let a small number of people control the behavior and speech of another, larger group of people. I immediately mistrust people who propose such things. If they are young enough, I give them time to get over it :-)

8<

Do we NEED to have this structure, so that the RC elections become something like Presidential ones with all the necessary scandals? Surely the *backbone* needs management, but then the Net and the backbone are not the same, and one theoretically can be a node and not link to a backbone.

I'm NOT proposing anything here. It's just food for thought. And - I apologize to Tom Jennings if it was not good to quote his letter.

In fact, my secret desire is that he would show up here with an article explaining his thoughts. Perhaps we have grown old enough to understand.

Mikhail Ramendik. Moscow, Russia. Team OS/2.

An Innocent Bystander
Robert "Not a Sysop" Parson
Jackalope Junction 1:3822/1

I've been reading Fidonews with great interest over the past several months (actually years, but that's another matter). Quite a few things have sparked my interest, and I thought I'd comment as an "interested bystander." (It's true, I'm really not a sysop.)

I noticed a disturbing trend in the Coordinator's Corner that Zone 1 was losing roughly 200 nodes a week, so I started keeping my own stats on the Nodelist. There are some differences, which I attribute mainly to the differences in which we are compiling our stats, but generally turned up the same thing. At this rate, Zone 1 will cease to exist in midsummer 1998. By the way, according to the latest report published in Fidonews, the number of nodes in North America has now slipped below 10,000. My hat's off to Ward Dossche for compiling and making this analysis available.

On this subject, someone noted a couple months ago that most of the nodes in Zone 2 are not BBSs. His description sounded like most of them were glorified points. If someone could explain this a bit better or clear up any misunderstanding on my part, I'd appreciate it.

Someone else noted (I really should keep Fidonews archived on my computer and give these people the appropriate credit. But again, I'm not a Sysop) that a "State of the Network" message/address/whatever would be of interest. There are significant problems with Fidonet both technically and internally. He's in charge, at least nominally, and we should demand he say something.

Election underway for IC and pending for Z1C? Without notice in Fidonews? After consulting Policy 4, it appears notice of elections is not necessary. Looks like something that needs to be fixed.

And about that Policy 4... forget it. P4 doesn't work. It's outdated and the only reason it's pulled out is when somebody has some griping to do. Should The Powers That Are ever decide to update Fidonet Policy, don't bother with P4.whatever. Scrap the darn thing entirely, start fresh, skip a P5 even and go on to P6. My first recommendation is to split it into two documents. One that is specific to technical standards, the other for personnel matters (moderators, coordinators, and the ubiquitous etc). I also think a Fidonet Users' Guide for non-sysops would be very helpful.

Since the latest Big Controversy seems to be Chris Baker's editorship of Fidonews, I thought I'd comment on that as well.

I contacted Donald Tees about taking over the reigns about two years ago when he originally announced he was considering resigning. My vision was somewhat different from his and the (unwritten) mission of Fidonews. So, I opted out. Nobody else picked up the standard. Late last year, Donald disappeared from Fidonet. After several weeks hiatus, and apparently quite a bit of non-action on the part of those who had responsibility, Chris began publishing Fidonews. There are some things I would not have done, and a few things I wish I'd thought of. But generally, I think he's doing a good job with this thankless position.

If there's somebody upset enough with Chris' editorship, there's nothing to stop them from publishing a competing Fidonews, as long as it doesn't actually call itself "Fidonews" or represent itself as the "Official Publication of Fidonet." I think anyone who tries will find out exactly how difficult it is.

Now that I've rattled on a bit, I guess I should tell you what I bring to the table since I've noted I'm not a sysop: nothing. I'm just a user of a local BBS. And isn't bringing us users together what Fidonet is all about? I'm keenly interested in the continued viability of Fidonet. And frankly, it looks pretty shaky.

Robert Parson 1:3822/1