Guest Editorial

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My article for Fidonews...
by Gary Gilmore 1:2410/400

Beware the "Saviours".

In Fidonews Vol 17, No.50 (Dec. 04, 2000), Lesley-Dee spews forth some of her choice verbal turds, something she does as a hobby when she's not being a professional insinuator and part-time "saviour of Fidonet". For those that don't know what a "saviour" is, it's someone that knows what you need, knows what you should think, and has no problem telling you, because all of the rest of us poor old sysops are just too dang dumb to know what's good for us. If you're not "smart enough" to listen to these "saviours", they'll beat you over the head, start name-calling you, and generally hound you until (they hope) you'll just give up, or join their little clan and mindlessly parrot what the other "saviours" in this little group say. (If you don't, don't worry... they'll just turn on you next.)

Let's take a little look into the toilet and see what turds Lesley (the saviour) Dee has dropped, shall we?

LDD> THE BENEVOLENT ELFLORD Dallas Hinton - This guy believes that he knows what his region wants, and needs, and he will take care of it for them.

That's funny... she's here trying to make Dallas look bad with the above claim, but here she is, telling YOU what's best for YOU, and trying to take care of it for you. How very nice of her. Hmmm... should Dallas' region listen to him or to her? What a quandary. Of course, since Lesley knows all, and IS an official "saviour of Fidonet", Dallas' region should probably listen to her diatribes, er, commands, umm, I mean "suggestions", right?

LDD> THE WOULD-BE ELFLORD Janis Kracht

Ahh, now here we have the favorite little name these saviours like to use... "elf-lord". Funny, I don't know any elves in Fidonet, but I guess you all must be, since the "saviours" like to call you that. (Personally, I'm 6' 3", so I'm hardly an elf. How about you?)

LDD> This gal believes just about everything Dallas believes

How about that! Lesley is a mind reader! She apparently has the ability to know what others (whom she has no dealings with, nor is even in the same region with, let alone net) think and feel! Stunning, isn't it? Well, it's nothing for a "saviour". Wait'll she walks on water, folks. It's worth the price of admission! (Don't mind the scuba gear though, since sometimes "saviours" can only walk on water when you're not looking.)

LDD> She was trained by Elflord-for-Life Martin Belcke

Funny... I can't remember Martin training ANYone for ANYthing here in Region 11. Even stepping up as Temp RC11, it was pretty much "here's the stuff, have a nice day". Not much training there. <laugh> I greatly appreciate the other RCs who helped me get up to speed with some of my new duties.

LDD> who recently resigned his Elflord

You folks aren't really "elves", are you?

LDD> position in Region 11, turning the reins over to his best buddy Gary Gilmore.

"Best buddy"? Not every having met Martin in person, I wouldn't know who his "best" buddy is, but I somehow wouldn't think it'd be me. He's certainly not MY best buddy. That position is currently held by my wife. My second "best buddy" lives nearby, and keeps trying to get me to take a job with him at Unisys. My third best buddy is probably the NEC of the net I'm in. My 4th though 37th best buddies are guys I work with currently, or have done tours with. So much for her implication. Well hell, I guess even a "saviour" can be wrong once in a while. It's hard work saving us all from ourselves. (I consider Martin a "friend" though. He's always been quite a nice guy, and pretty straight up, at least in our dealings and discussions. Nothing at all like a "saviour".)

Of course, our "saviour" forgets to mention that Martin asked the Z1C about having me take over as Temp RC11 first, and that the Z1C OK'd this. Now, it doesn't read as well when you leave this part in... kinda blows the whole "smokey back room" and "conspiracy" thing, so our "saviour", like all good little "saviours" leaves a little real truth out of their version of the "truth". Hey, you gotta hook the readers when you're trying to bullshit 'em, so your garden variety "Fidonet saviour" isn't above bending the truth, or even leaving truth out completely. <shrug>

LDD> In five months, Gary has not been able to "manage" to pull an election together

Yep. 100% right. I haven't. I've been too busy trying to clean up the massive amount of dead nodes, help nets replace MIA NC's, busy helping ALL R11 nets get connected to each other (via our regional echoes), get netmail flowing again, and in general, getting R11 cleaned up, connected, and making sure they're all taken care of. I'm sorry. I guess I should have left all the dead nodes in, called an election (with links broken all over the region) and then called an election. Yep, I guess that's how the "saviours" do it. Of course, I'd rather see R11 be informed, able to discuss things amongst themselves, and do an election in a region where everyone can get netmail, regional echoes, and even backbone if they want it. I sorta think communications is the cornerstone of being able to hold a proper election. I guess I shoulda consulted with the "saviours" first.

Gee, sorry if I've been sandbagging. I invite anyone in Region 11 to complain if I've been taking too long for their tastes. Of course, our "saviour" Lesley fails to notice (after all, she "knows all", right?) that I asked the region if they wanted to wait until after the Z1C election was over, and no one objected. Of course, that's probably not good enough for the "saviour" crowd, but gee... I'm not lucky enough to have any "saviours" in my region. We're all just a bunch of sysops who want to enjoy our hobby. Guess that makes us bad elves, eh?

LDD> (his latest excuse is that there is a Z1C election on, so the region cannot have an election at the same time

Yes, our saviour has caught me. I lied. There's no Z1C election going on. I just said that to hang on to this wonderful position a little longer. <laugh>

LDD> Janis turns to Gary for help on all matters that are over her head

Hmmm, our "saviour" seems to be slipping again. I can't recall Janis asking me for help in a long time. If it was about anything, it would have been regarding the FileGate, and was probably something minor. (I do remember helping her with our routing chart, only because I was hooking up nets, and finding dead nets... there's that pesky communication stuff again.) Of course, when you're trying to tar & feather someone, you just cast out any old accusation you like. Don't matter if it's true or not. Just say it. This is Fidonet, and they're the "saviours". They MUST be right. They don't need facts to back up their accusations. Just fling 'em and see if anyone believes you. It's the "saviour" way!

LDD> Gary is the asshole who filed a policy complaint against Net 163 for providing a node number to a node in Malaysia when there was no other way for him to be in Fido.

<chuckle> "No other way", except the teensy neglected mention that I contacted the RC of the area where this Malaysian node should have been listed (before doing anything), and the RC was more than happy to give this node a regional independent listing. Funny... it doesn't sound as compelling when you mention this fact, so our "saviour" just neglects to mention it at all. You can't be a "saviour" and be truthful, don't you know. (Note how our "saviour" turns to name calling up there? Makes it easier to spot "saviours" that way. I'm sure I'm supposed to be terribly torn up being called "asshole". I'll go cry now. Boo hoo. There, I'm better now. <ROFL>)

LDD> Janis is expected to lean on Gary for support for a while, then get full of herself and throw him off.

Ooh, look! Our "saviour" is a fortune teller too! Is there nothing (besides telling the truth) that our "saviour" Lesley can't do? We should genuflect in her presence.

If any Z1C candidate thinks I'm going to hold their hand, they'd better smell the coffee. If I wanted to deal with Z1C issues, I would have run for the position myself. I don't, so I didn't. Of course, our "saviours" DO want to deal with Z1C issues, they're just too darn smart to need to run for the position. (Remember the old saying? "Shit or get off the pot"? Seems most of our "saviours" are super-glued to the seat!)

LDD> When she figures out that she is not capable of handling the position, and does need help after all, she will turn to Dallas Hinton, and he will end up controlling the zone.

Ah, how nicely we see Lesley (our "saviour") wrap this up to attack two of the candidates she likes the least by somehow tying them together. Funny though... this election was declared a "sham" by "Saviour Lesley" and her fellow "saviours"... if that's the case, they sure like to spend a lot of time trying to sway everyone to their thinking over a "sham".

(I have to wonder... does our "saviour" think us elves are stupid enough to believe her wild claim above for a minute? Folks, just shows ya how little the "saviours" respect you, and how they think you're all too stupid to notice their lies and scare tactics, and will, like sheep, just follow them to the Fidonet promised land.)

LDD> Since Janis objects strongly to any hint that Region 11 should have an election for RC, do not expect to ever be bothered with an election for Z1C again if she wins.

Hmm, let's see. Janis "objects" to a RC election, so that means no Z1C elections? Howzzat again? Seems our "saviour" showing us how stupid she thinks we all are with yet another wild claim. I'm surprised she didn't toss in something like "and Janis will then raise your income taxes" as well. <laugh>

But anyway, I guess our "saviour's" crystal ball was broken on the day that Janis offered to help run a RC11 election, and how she helped contact nets and nodes to get everyone in R11 connected so that we could do an election properly. (However, I'm looking outside R11 for an election coordinator, just to make things as "hands off" internally as possible, and to make it harder for our "saviours" to call "foul!" on an election that doesn't concern their region anyway.)

LDD> THE KISS-ASS ELFLORD Ross Cassell - This mail mover does not see a conflict of interest between mailmoving and nodelist clerking.

Ah, here we are. If you volunteer for ANYTHING in Fidonet, you can't do any other thing. Funny that our saviours don't look into the nodelists and see that most people do double and even triple duties anymore. Why? Because (and it's they're right to do so), other sysops just want to sit back, get their mail, files and echos, and nothing beyond that. SOMEone has to get these things. SOMEone has to tend to the nodelists, weed out dead nodes, find new willing NCs for nets where the NCs have just vanished without notice.

(Note that our "saviour" doesn't seem to mind that the RC12 is also the REC12, which means he's doing this "mailmoving and nodelist clerking" that "Saviour Lesley" seems so vehemently against. That's up to Region 12 IMHO, but it is interesting that it doesn't seem to bother her, no?)

But, our "saviours" command that we do ONE JOB and only ONE JOB in Fidonet, so some of the rest of you better get ready to do more, because your "saviours" command it of you. (Notice this though... most of the "saviours" don't really do much of anything in Fidonet, other than command you how to think, how to act, and what to do.)

LDD> My suggestion is that the first place vote go to Ross, and the second place vote to Dallas. Janis is the biggest threat to Fido I have seen in a long time.

Don't be fooled. This is a backhanded endorsement. All this really says is "I command you to vote for Ross because I hate him the least". I'm sure Ross is thrilled with an endorsement from someone like our "saviour". (He probably flinched when he read it.) I have faith that those in Fidonet (those that aren't "blessed" enough to be "saviours") are smart enough to recognize axe-grinding when they see it, and will give our "saviour's" recommendations the respect they deserve. (Which is, umm... none.)

Now, MY suggestion? ...beware the "saviours". Beware those that will beat you over the head endlessly, screaming and ranting in any echo where they can corner you. These "saviours" practice innuendo, half-truths, micro- dissection of anything someone says (so they can better twist it), outright lies, unfounded implications and pretty much whatever they can in order to "scare" you, the "elves" to whom they like to refer. Their weapon is "FUD"... Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

If they can't scare you into seeing things their way, they'll hound and bully you. They'll call you names, they'll make fun of you, try to belittle you. (Which is, after all, just another version of bullying.) It's the "do it/see it our way, or else". Hmmm... for a bunch of people (who we know as "saviours") that preach how they want a "free Fidonet", and how they want "Fidonet for the sysops", it's certainly interesting to see how they all treat their fellow sysop when he or she DARE to disagree with their party line. Try it for yourself and see. Just jump into any of the gutters of Fidonet where they accumulate, and disagree with their stances. Wear a helmet though, since they'll be clubbing you too quickly for you to put it on later.

I'm sure (or at least I have faith) that the sysops in Zone One know better. They know better than to let a little band of childish bullies push them around. They know better than to be swayed by intimidation, name calling and the other childish antics of our "Fidonet saviours".

I hope that the sysops of Zone One vote according to their gut feelings, and what they learned in the HONEST exchanges the candidates had with those that WEREN'T trying out to trip them up. These candidates are volunteers in a hobby, and deserve a round of applause for even being willing to take the amount of bullshit that our "saviours" would heap on them just for volunteering, not BEING Z1C, just volunteering to. Notice that our "saviours" sit there tossing turds at the candidates, but can't be bothered to run for the position themselves and show us all how it should really work. Armchair quarterbacks. Back seat drivers. They know how it should be, but can't be bothered to get up and DO anything for us, other than browbeat, insult, attack, lie, imply and use cheap innuendos.

I don't care who anyone votes for in the Z1C election, because frankly, I think all three can do the job well. Beware the "saviours" though, since they're the real enemy to the well-being of our hobby. They're the ones that are so busy "saving" sysops right out of the nodelist with their attacks and innuendo, and "saving" sysops out of the nodelist when sysops get sick and tired of all the screaming and hollering and name calling that they seemingly do 24 hours a day.

Beware the "saviours".

--gary