Editorial

A bit of international news, and then nothing...? Hmmm...I would have suspected much more going on worlwide in FidoNet than just one issue's worth of news.

As it is, enough mail has trickled through in the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee to generate the need for a decision, and under the rules of the FTSC, public input is requested, as presented below [read: 'in this issue' [jb]], and taken from the FTSC_PUBLIC echo. No formal notice was sent to the FidoNews...which seems odd for an intent of soliciting public input.

Doc Logger appears yet again, along with an interesting observation of his writing and prose.

In general news and information, it appears that more and more people seem to feel that trying matters in the 'court of public opinion' has more weight and value than trying to resolve matters through the very simple process established within FidoNet Policy.

Moreso when claims of legal action are bandied about by those with little or no legal experience to assess the validity of these claims. If nothing else, this should be amusing to watch.

On another note, the message I received from a node in the former Soviet Union has not been followed up by the writer. It would be most interesting to hear from the "Quiet Giant" in Zone 2 and get a perspective that many in the West do not have available to them.

If nothing else, it would be an interesting forum for the discussion of the formation of "Zone 7", and offering both a true and earnest representation of those who had no voice before.

Also, it would seem that more people are discovering Adrian Walker's "so long and thanks for all the fish" message, posted on his website.

It's interesting to see so many cast blame and accusations over this, but so far only see two people actually propose to do anything about the loss of the EchoList management of tags.

For those of you who don't know, Adrian has apparently decided to shut it down without offering the code to run it. Certainly, that is his perogative...after all, it is his code.

But my feeble attempt to recall the past remembers that his predecessor, Mike Fuchs, offered to make his code available at the least to his successor, but the offer was refused...am I incorrect in my recollection of this?

And, on a last note...

I receive a number of commercial E-Mails from various companies and corporations around the world, offering 'free trial' software or equipment, or offering 'discounts' on the same...

Should I post these in the FidoNews each week, or not?

Your input is welcome on the idea...these are not paid advertising, nor is there usually any graphics attached. These are generally press releases from these companies.

However, I'm not at all certain if these would be appropriate to include. On the one hand, they are commercial; on the other hand, these often include materials of general interest to sysops.

Feel free to contact me at 1:1/23, or at editor@fidonews.org.

-zf-