Editorial

The Backwaters of Fidonet
Doug Myers

Though I've lived in the same house since the late seventies, I seem to have drifted from the mainstream of Fidonet into its backwaters. Recently, I found that an echo I moderate, BFDS_MAIL, hasn't been getting out to the rest of FIDONET since the millennium change. Now this isn't a major echo - it was established for a small group of people who still like to dabble in DOS batch files. It's not even the main discussion area - most of the action is in the BATPOWER echo. BFDS_MAIL serves primarily as a file announcement and administrative echo for the Batch File Distribution Service, a small File Distribution Network on the Filebone which specializes in the small utilities and programs which enhance batch files.

I suspect that the echo has gotten lost one hop away from me. My NC gets his echoes from David Moufarrege and, though I haven't made contact with David yet, the echo seems to be lost to nodes further up the line. In the course of figuring out what happened to the echo, I discovered that I'm no longer getting such items as BACKBONE.NA, BACKBONE.WW, and BACKBONE.Z1B, though I still get the weekly NODEDIFF (with a few times missed). In ftping the distribution lists, I find that BFDS_MAIL is still listed in the North American Backbone, but has been dropped from the Zone 1 Backbone and the World Wide Backbone.

So I've got some fixing up to do...

I suppose I could write an editorial crying that FIDONET is falling apart, blaming everyone and his uncle for the botched echo handling and file handling, take my node down in protest, and just surf the internet for the rest of my life. But I'll tell you why I won't:

First of all, the small group of batch power nuts with which I associate ARE FIDNET. Oh, not all of it... but they're the spirit of Fido. The power of Fido has always been in the ability of small, specialized groups to work together in a manner of their choosing in ways which wouldn't be possible without the larger Fidonet structure. Certainly the internet sports its newsgroups for batch file enthusiasts, but for some reason it doesn't seem as "homey" as the echo structure of FIDONET. So the small little administrative echo is worth reestablishing just for the continued association of the small group using it.

Secondly, I'm the guy who's drifted into the backwaters of Fidonet. When George Peace left Fidonet and connections to my local net began failing, I held onto the local net concept even though the evidence was in that one must make reliable connections to one of the major hubs in order to fully participate in Fido. Both John Souvestre and Bob Seaborn offered me such free connections... all I needed to do was master the art of moving mail via the internet.

But I had other things going on in my life, and I procrastinated.

I suppose that getting my little corner of FIDONET working again is not going to be insurmountable - people here have always been generous in their helpfulness when I've paid enough attention to ask for the help. And maybe this illustrates what FIDONET will need to remain viable for the future - just folks like me paddling out of the backwaters from time to time.