Articles

• Passing thoughts
• New URL For WWW-FidoResource

Passing thoughts
by David Hallford

As I take a well deserved vacation my mind started to dwell on how I would do things in Fidonet. These aren't the best ways or the smartest ways, or even the correct ways. Just the way I would do it.

ELECTIONS: Hmmm, a good thought on the surface but what is the real consensus within Fidonet. No one knows. Each side of the dispute is so busy arguing for their view point that no one has taken the time to check with the SysOps. Why not have the ZC's task the RC's to task the NC's to poll their networks and report back by node number who wants or doesn't want elections to be the standard. If elections win the vote of the Sysops then use the same procedure to determine if it should be by popular vote or representation (ie the Sysop's elect the NC/NEC, the NC/NEC elect the RC/REC, the RC/REC elect the ZC/ZEC) and what the length of each term should be. If the Sysops want the appointment route to be the standard, then let it. This will end a lot of the bickering current within Fidonet.

ECHOPOL: Why? It seems to be working to me. It's now a cooperative effort between moderators, routers, and SysOps. A bad moderator gets ignored, a bad router gets routed around, and a bad SysOp gets a feed cut. No rules or regulations to fight over. Let's face it, we have been arguing over Policy 4.07 for 10 years or so. There are still folks who interpret it their way even in the face of rulings by the ZC. Why add more regulations to argue over? At the most I would have a policy that defined the positions and terms used but granted no additional power to anyone.

ECHOMAIL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS: The more the merrier, I say. Those that serve the folks will survive. Those that don't - won't. I can't think of a better way to regulate them!

EXCESSIVELY ANNOYING BEHAVIOR (in echomail): Why not? A lie is a lie if it's in echomail or netmail. Character assassination can be worse in an echo than it can be in netmail. I would like it to be possible to file a Policy 4 complaint against folks who accuse others of being someone elses puppet (or clone) without proof. Most of us think for ourselves, so why do we think others don't? Just because they agree with someone on an issue doesn't make them puppets. I agreed with some things that Ho Chi Minh said. That sure doesn't make me his puppet since I would have gladly put a bullet in his brain had the opportunity ever presented itself.

NICE FOLKS (and those not so nice): Some people cause me to stop and think over a position or stance I have taken. Some nicely and some not so nicely. It doesn't matter because I owe them thanks for causing me to think. Bob Satti was the nicest and Tom Cole was the least nicest, but I owe them both my thanks. I will not say who I feel are nice or not nice, but I would like to thank the following for a fun 11 years:

Bob Satti, Bob Kohl, Bob Moravsik, Bob Seaborn (geez how many Bobs are there?) Martin Belcke, Brenda Donovan, Russ Edwards, David Bowerman, Bruce Bodger, John Souvestre, Mike Murray, Ruth Argust, Zorch Frezberg (as if I would forget him <g>), Andy Brown (in fact all of the NECs past and present in R10), Tom Cole, Joe Jared, George Peace, Ken Wilson, Adrian Walker, John Pfieffer, Dennis Travis, Gerry Calhoun, the dwarves in Mindless Chatter and Drivel, and all the folks who take the time to read the Fidonews and participate in Fidonet on a vocal level (whether I agreed with you or not).

As the man said "Goodbye and thanks for the fish". I liked that one and think Fidonet should adopt it as the 'official' goodbye.

Goodbye, and thanks for the fish!

###30###

New URL for the
World-Wide-Web Fidonet Resource
by Lee Kindness, wangi@earthling.net

Just a short announcement - The World-Wide-Web Fidonet Resource is now at the URL below:

http://travel.to/fidonet [faulty URL [jb 4/25/01]]

This location will redirect you to the current 'real' home of the WWWFR, which is currently is still http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/students/cs_yr94/lk/fido.html [faulty URL [jb 4/25/01]] but is likely to change in the future. If you use the new URL the change will not be noticed...

I'm also planning a number of changes to the site, I fancy getting my hands dirty with a bit of Perl. If I want to add cgi-bin enhancements then i'll be looking for a new home for the page - anyone care to offer a UNIX account with telnet/ftp access? ;)

Cheers,

--
- Lee Kindness ------------------ wangi@earthling.net -
- http://come.to/kindness [faulty URL [jb 4/25/01]] -- http://travel.to/fidonet [faulty URL [jb 4/25/01]] -