Guest Editorial

Dem Bones, Dem Bones...

Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, doug@mdtnbbs.com

Despite another break in the Backbone, mail mover notables assure us that echomail will continue to flow. The first crack in the Backbone occured recently when George Peace withdrew, citing differences with John Souvestre's strong-arm attempts to control the organization. However, George didn't actually stop moving mail and, after the dust settled, echomail continued to flow. Not to be outdone, John Souvestre last week quit the Backbone and started his own. Supporters of the new Zone 1 Backbone (I count at least two) predict the demise of the old North American Backbone within 6 months.

It's ironic that as echomail volume decreases, presumably due to the increasing influence of the internet, echomail organization becomes increasingly complex. At the moment, I'm aware of nine organizations dedicated to the distribution of echomail, and there are probably more:

FS

FidoSpine

FTPB

FTP Bone

FTPH

FTP Hub

IHub

Internet Hub

NAB

North American Backbone

PC

Planet Connect

TFPD

The Funny Papers Distribution

WWB

World Wide Backbone

Z1B

Zone 1 Backbone

Some have noted that all this splintering is actually good for Fido echomail, as the ensuing arguements about distribution methods are keeping the echoes alive. If the past is a reliable guide, then the formation of the Z1B will keep the beef coming... we'll just have more 'bones to contend with.

In the spirit of further divisiveness for the good of Fido echomail, I'd like to offer some more acronyms for the enterprising amoung us:

POB

Peace O' Bone. Why shouldn't George have his own?

WWF

Hulk Hogan gets into echomail.

Z1T

Teens abandon AOL chat rooms and take to echomail.

Z1P

Compressed echomail with a new packet format: PKZ1P.

ZZZ

For those of us who prefer to sleep through the echo wars.