Articles

• ECHOLADE - refreshing echomail
• FTSC Administrator vote
• FTSC Standing Member vote
• Precedent - Must we do it all again? D. Myers

ECHOLADE - refreshing echomail

ECHOLADE
A refreshing extract from Fido's echoes
Purloined without permission by D Myers

Hans Mangold on the subject of the shrinking nodelist:

AS> Will another year and the consistent loss of 40-50 nodes in
AS> Zone 1 every week turn a few heads?

Sure it will -- but, more important, will it make any difference to the shrinking nodelist? Can I blame the RC, ZC or IC for the lack of callers to my system? Heck, I might as well blame you, Clinton and Santa Claus for the fact that BBS callers are staying away in droves.

Andrea, there is little you, I, or anyone else can do at this point in time with regards to the consolidation of the BBS scene. Like it or not, it will take its course.

The key is: what will emerge after the consolidation? Send me $64 million in unmarked bills, and I'll send you the answer......

In the meantime, something to think about:

In most of Z1, unemployment is near or at historic lows. Not only that, but today's work pressure is higher than ever before, and overtime statistics are running near or at historic highs. Running a successful BBS takes time, and, given the economic climate in the States, time is presently a genuine luxury for many people. Something has to give -- in most cases, it's the hobby that has to give, especially when the sysop looks at his dismal caller logs at the end of the day. :-(

I never forget -- almost two years ago, I visited a Book/Magazine-Store with a fellow sysop. The latest Boardwatch magazine had just arrived, and I anxiously flipped through the pages -- imagine my shock when I discovered that this was the first issue which did not have one single BBS-related article or ad. We had seen the writing on the wall before, but that was one heck of a wake-up call, a slap in the face. In view of the realities, my friend, who was running our largest hub at the time, took his system down shortly thereafter; I decided to stay. Different strokes for different folks.

Such are the realities of BBS life today, and it makes no difference who or what is sitting in the *C chairs, the BBS scene will unfold itself according to its own dynamics, the rest is nothing but wishful thinking. Something about the chairs on the deck of the Titanic comes to mind.... ;-)

FTSC Administrator vote

Official announcement - FTSC Administrator vote
by Mario Mure', 2:335/533 mure@sistemia.it

VOTING PROCEDURE
FTSC ADMINISTRATOR

As detailed in the FTSC_PUBLIC echomail conference and in FIDO1547.NWS, Odinn Sorensen has informed us that he wants step own as FTSC Administrator as soon as another person is ready to take over that office.

To fill this vacancy, an election for a new FTSC Administrator is being held.

Number of positions to be filled:

1

Responsibilities:

See FTA-1001.

Elegibility for appointment:

See FTA-1001.

>From 1998-11-20 until 1998-12-10, nominations have been accepted following the process described in FTA-1001.

The next step is the voting process to appoint a new FTSC Administrator.

Votes

Only votes from FTSC Standing Members as per current version of FTA-1003 who have not resigned from their position will be accepted provided that they are received by the election administrator no earlier than 1998-12-11 at 00:00 UTC and no later than 1998-12-31 at 24:00 UTC. FTSC Standing Members are encouraged to send their votes by crash mail. If they choose to use routed netmail they do so on their own risk.

Results

The election administrator shall publish the election result in the FTSC_PUBLIC echomail conference no later than 1999-01-07 at 24:00 UTC.

Term of office

The elected candidate will be appointed for a period that ends 2002-12-31.

As election administrator for this election, Mario Mure' has been appointed.

FidoNet address: Mario Mure', 2:335/533
Internet address: mure@sistemia.it

All FTSC Standing Members as per current version of FTA-1003 who have not resigned from their position are eligible to vote.

Voting commences 1998-12-11 at 00:00 UTC and closes 1998-12-31 at 23:59 UTC.

Each FTSC Member ballot is to be sent either via:

• netmail to Mario Mure' at 2:335/533, or
• Internet email to mure@sistemia.it

Receipt of votes will be acknowledged by return netmail or email.

Ballots should include a password. The ballot format is given below.

Each vote shall be for only one of the 2 candidates. An abstention is permitted.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|           BALLOT - FTSC ADMINISTRATOR ELECTION, 1998              |
|                                                                   |
|          VOTER'S NAME _______________________________             |
|                                                                   |
|          PASSWORD     _______________________________             |
|                                                                   |
| Please indicate your wishes for ONE of the following candidates   |
| with an "X" in the "VOTE" column at left. To abstain, leave blank |
| all "VOTE" columns at left.                                       |
|                                                                   |
| Ballots containing more than ONE "X" in the "VOTE" columns will   |
| be considered nul and void.                                       |
|                                                                   |
| There are 2 names, given in alphabetical order sorted by surname. |
|                                                                   |
|        "I support the appointment of this individual              |
|                as new FTSC Administrator."                        |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| VOTE  |  NAME                     NODE #                          |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|       |  Radu Malica              2:530/139                       |
|       |  Colin Turner             2:443/13                        |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------+

FTSC Standing Member vote

Official announcement - FTSC Standing Member vote
by Mario Mure', 2:335/533 mure@sistemia.it

VOTING PROCEDURE
FTSC STANDING MEMBERS

As detailed in the FTSC_PUBLIC echomail conference and in FIDO1547.NWS, a number of FTSC Standing Members have resigned. To fill these vacancies, an election for new Standing Members is being held.

Number of positions to be filled

Not a definite number. According to FTA-1001 the FTSC shall have no less than 7 and no more than 30 members. Therefore a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 11 new Standing Members may be appointed.

Eligibility for appointment

See FTA-1001.

>From 1998-11-20 until 1998-12-10, nominations have been accepted following the process described in FTA-1001.

The next step is the voting process to appoint FTSC Standing Members.

Votes

Only votes from nodelisted RC's and REC's will be accepted provided that they are received by the election administrator no earlier than 1998-12-11 at 00:00 UTC and no later than 1998-12-31 at 24:00 UTC. RC's and REC's are encouraged to send their votes by crash mail. If they choose to use routed netmail they do so on their own risk. Votes for Standing Members should indicate what candidates each voter is supporting. Only those candidates obtaining support from more than 50 % of the total number of RC's and REC's casting valid votes will be considered successfull. Successfull candidates will be appointed according to the total number of supportive votes they have received. The one with the highest number of supportive votes will be appointed first etc.

Results

The election administrator shall publish the election result in the FTSC_PUBLIC echomail conference no later than on 1999-01-07 at 24:00 UTC. In case of a tie about the last position to be filled this result may be supplemented by the ZCC decision as above no later than 1999-01-31 at 24:00 UTC.

Term of office

Elected candidates will be appointed for a period that ends 2000-09-30.

As election administrator for this election, Mario Mure' has been appointed.

FidoNet address: Mario Mure', 2:335/533
Internet address: mure@sistemia.it

"Nodelisted RC" is interpreted as anyone in the FidoNet nodelist (current on 1998-12-11) shown as the operator of a system with the Region keyword as per FTS-5.

"Nodelisted REC" is interpreted as the first person in the FidoNet nodelist (current on 1998-12-11) identified as the REC of her/his region. Identification by a REC user flag in the nodelist is the preferred way for identification.

If any single person occupies both the RC and the REC position for her/his region, she/he is entitled to two votes.

All RCs and RECs clearly identified as such in that nodelist are eligible to vote.

Voting commences 1998-12-11 at 00:00 UTC and closes 1998-12-31 at 23:59 UTC.

Each RC and REC ballot is to be sent either via:

• netmail to Mario Mure' at 2:335/533, or
• Internet email to mure@sistemia.it

Receipt of votes will be acknowledged by return netmail or email.

Ballots should include a password. The ballot format is given below.

Votes shall be "Yes" or "No" for each of the 4 candidates. An abstention for any candidate is permitted.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|          BALLOT - FTSC STANDING MEMBER ELECTION, 1998             |
|                                                                   |
|          VOTER'S NAME _______________________________             |
|                                                                   |
|          VOTER'S POSITION   RC/REC______ REGION______             |
|                                                                   |
|          PASSWORD     _______________________________             |
|                                                                   |
| Please indicate your wishes for each of the following candidates  |
| with an "X" in either the "YES" or the "NO" column.  To abstain,  |
| leave both columns blank for that candidate.                      |
|                                                                   |
| There are 4 names, so 4 votes are required in total.  Names are   |
| given in alphabetical order sorted by surname.                    |
|                                                                   |
|        "I support the appointment of this individual              |
|                as an FTSC Standing Member"                        |
+----+----+---------------------------------------------------------+
|YES | NO |  NAME                   NODE #        NOMINATED BY      |
+----+----+---------------------------------------------------------+
|    |    |  Lothar Behet           2:2446/301    RC 1:13, REC 1:19 |
|    |    |  Todd Cochrane          1:345/2       RC 1:10           |
|    |    |  David Hallford         1:208/103     RC 1:10           |
|    |    |  Sean Rima              2:252/300     RC 1:13           |
+----+----+---------------------------------------------------------+

Precedent - Must we do it all again?

Precedent
Must we do it all again?
Douglas Myers 1:270/720

If there were an award for the most overused term in Fidonet, the term "precedent" would be a strong contender. Bob Satti was criticized for firing Bob Kohl because it "set a bad precedent." Zorch Frezberg attempted to deny an elected moderator from obtaining the elist password because of "precedent." Indeed, the elist software itself has recently been criticized because it doesn't operate in precisely the same way as the previous software on the basis of "precedent."

Precedent, if the term is to be taken literally, is simply an event which occurs before another. When used in the various arguments occurring in Fidonet, however, there is a strong implication to the term which goes beyond simple timing. The term is used more in the sense of a legal precedent.

Lawyers look for a documented precedent frequently in the course of their work. The theory is that if a similar occurrence of an incident was already decided in a court of law, and if the laws haven't changed in the meantime, then the ruling should be the same no matter which judge or jury decides.

But Fido isn't a courtroom (despite appearances to the contrary in some of the echoes), so does a "precedent" carry the same imperative as it would in a court of law?

Certainly some sense of precedent is appropriate, as few want to "reinvent the wheel" each time they approach a problem. Most of us use session-level passwords with our links because precedent has shown that it prevents chicanery. Even if P4 didn't exist, most of us would work through the *C structure since it's better than NO plan. Most of us honor moderator requests due to precedent.

But sometimes precedent gets in the way of progress. Fidonet established a strong structure of geographic organization and distribution based on the realities of the telephone tariff structure. Changes in these tariffs, and the dramatic impact of internet connections, made these precedents cumbersome. And so they were pretty much discarded with the result that distribution costs plummeted and much of that distribution is decentralized now.

In a court of law, citing a precedent can compel a ruling. But in the world of Fido, precedents are routinely discarded when they have outlived their usefulness (and sometimes just on whim). To argue that we've done something a certain way before does not mean that we have to keep repeating and repeating it. We're free to try something new... and this is the stuff of which progress is made!