Columns

Dear Editorbeing,

This article is submitted by Charles Herriot (163/110) who managed to rescue Doc Logger from a pack of ravening Echopol police. Apparently, Logger's penchant for BBSing to the accompaniment of bagpipe music was not only in bad taste, but was also a serious Fidocrime.

Roll da' flic Zorch....

Dear Reverend Visage,

The fact that you have been ignoring your flock in their hour of need has been made more obvious in recent days. Despite the hopes that Echopol evangelists could be eradicated shortly after Smallpox, the usual suspects are at it again. It seems that a new version of Echopol is being bruited by Bob Kohl. He doesn't seem to understand that arming small intellects with more policy is certain to engender many unhappy years of "Policy complaints" with the document being used to torture unsuspecting Fidoserfs. A tadge more alarming is the fact that Bob has expressed concerns about the content of echos which he feels need to be controlled by policy.

As the good and decent people that we are, all appropriate energy should be devoted to teaching Mr. Kohl where to find the <RETURN> button on his keyboard so that he can skip past the messages that would otherwise make him cry. It boggles the mind to imagine what the socially maladroit will do with a new blunt instrument in the form of Echopol. If a fellow like Gary Gilmore can screech from his perch in New Zealand about a nodelisting in North America, think of what fun his ilk will have if given a chance to whine about what is written in the echos. I wish Bob no joy at all in his Echopol endeavours and may the farce be with him.

All six loyal readers of the Snooz might have noticed the ominous heading last week: 'The Coming Civil War" and been mightily puzzled that it was followed by a puff piece lauding the sainthood of our ZC, Bob Satti. Only the unkind will snicker at the irony that the same gushy accolades were contained in a letter wherein the author says good-bye to Fidoland.

I think perhaps what was being hinted at in the Civil War reference was the ongoing debate among the ZC elflords about who should be kicked upstairs to the IC position. Ward Dossche, the ZC2, has apparently asserted that the ZC's should be granted weighted voting according to how many Fidoserfs they "rule" in their fiefdoms. I haven't noticed that Ward is insisting that he go whole hog with his democratic sedition and have *all* Fidoserfs actually vote, but he gets at least half marks for effort.

Mr. Dossche's excitable detractors are predicting ruin and damnation should his concepts prevail. Naturally, the Z1C, Bob Satti has expressed grave concerns about conducting the debate in public. Evidently, Satti is not the least bit fond of having his machinations scrutinized by those he presumes to rule.

On that cheery note, I'll segue into my Chautauqua which is as much addressed to Satti as it is to all five of the other regular Snooz readers. I'd like to lead off with a quote from Walter Lippmann in an essay entitled "The Indispensable Opposition."

"The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But, though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense."

So, as one of Mr. Satti's most fervent opponents, might I tender some advice with respect to the creation of Echopol? If the policy document is created, and if the framers are permitted to presume authority for it or vested by it, there will be less than a year elapsed before another *C vs. *EC battle erupts. There will also be legions of trolls who attempt to use the document for reasons which have nothing to do with the smooth flow of mail. The ZC's netmail will runneth over with new policy complaints, and if Satti remains true to his past decisions, he'll amaze the Fidoserfs with more amazingly dumb decisions.

I must go Visage. Your secretary is in grim shape. She claims that Bill Clinton didn't try to hug her. "Am I the only one?" she bleats, over and over. As a gesture of our concern for her, I suggest we send her on a skiing holiday with either the Kennedy or the Bono families.

Regards,
Furlang Island Academy of Squid Ballet,
Furlang Island, South Pacific