Articles

Fidonet finally grew up
Shannon Talley
sysop@fidonet.dynip.com

I will take advantage of your "Editor Pro Tem Special."

In regards to the conversation between Todd Cochrane and Joe Jarad and the "Empires", "Here, Here"!!

Todd & Joe were discussing the refinement of the nodelist to reflect an actual "Fido-IP/Node" instead of a node number which represents a specific geographical area.

There are two ways to employ this. Method one: "Do It". This is the most risky method because it violates Policy 4 (too many parts to mention). Method two: Submit a change to Policy 4 (OK, you can stop laughing now). We could always wait until the end of the elections and bring it up to the new Zone Coordinator. However, with the way Fidonet has been run, I have no faith in the hierarchy.

In all actuality, it is simple to make the transition now using method one. For instance, I received my node number (1:275/311) from 1:275/0. However, I FTP all of my mail from another node in another part of the world. As long as a node has the -Unpublished- flag attached in the nodelist, it is impossible to tell where they really are.

Incidentally, because I have a 'geographical' node number, Netmail never get's to me because I don't pull mail from my geographical NC. See, I have a Telnet/Web only BBS. I have a series of regular customers from all parts of the world, who access Fidonet mail through my system in a myriad of ways. Including reading Fidonews <bg>.

Whether RC's, NC's, or other nodes like it or not, Fidonet is going to the Internet. As a matter of fact, it's on the internet now. I'm not just talking about FTP'ing packets, I'm talking about "all of it". I make Fidonet available via Telnet, QWK, & Web pages. The problems with the nodelist we knew we would face in 1994 when the Internet Exploded, are being faced right now, and have been faced since (at least) 1996.

In conclusion, simply making the pen and ink changes to the nodelist will make things run smoother for the nodes. And isn't that what this "Amateur Network" is all about anyway? Wasn't what the original intent by Tom Jennings?

Lastly, in response to the gentleman who said that if a BBS didn't have at least one dial up line then they were not a real BBS. "You can Telnet to my BBS like everyone else because a BBS by any other name is still a BBS."

Let's fix the nodelist.

Shannon Talley

sysop@fidonet.dynip.com
http://fidonet.dynip.com
telnet://fidonet.dynip.com
ftp://fidonet.dynip.com