Articles

Succesion rules for the editor

By: Warren Bonner
To: Janis Kracht
Re: Succesion rules for the editor

In her neat sweet way, Janis replied to Michel Spinmaster:
[...]
MV> Having an independent newspaper is a good idea for the real world where there is competition and where it is the reader who ultimately decides what paper survives and what doesn't. In this case where there is no competition, the cure may be worse than the disease.

JK> Well, fidonet is not a business... our participation in it is a hobby.

MV> The present one does not have any.

JK> That's right.. There have been editors of Fidonews whose style I didn't like.. That didn't mean they should have been replaced just because I didn't like the way they did things.

Take care,
Janis

Warren> Bravo! Would like to have requoted the whole entire message for it's obvious diplomatic persuasion on your part. There are "rednecks" in some parts of our country, and there are "roughnecks" with a twist in some other countries.

You talk so nice and logical, I'll just keep quiet and watch... hehe

Ol'wdb

--- InterMail 2.29k
* Origin: Telnet://TheLastStop.osirusoft.com/ 1:103/401 (1:103/401)

Copyright

Area: FIDONEWS
Date: 30 Mar 01 18:21:46 Public
From: Tony Frew
To: Michiel van der Vlist
Subject: Copyright

G'day Michiel,

24-Mar-01 10:59:03, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Warren Bonner
Subject: Copyright

Warren>> IF the submission states that it is: "Not for reproduction without the permission of the copyright holder" and may registered with the USPO as a work of Art, lit. ect., it will not be published.

MvdV> If that is the law of your country and you wish to adhere to that you will have a serious problem obtaining contributions from outside the USA jurisdiction. It conflicts with the laws in effect in my country and many others.

MvdV> Sorry, to be so adamant about this, but I consider this a very serious matter. Until further notice you are not to publish /any/ of my texts in FidoNews Surely then it's simple.

Tony Frew> Don't SEND any text then it CAN'T be published! It seems weird to me that you will send a message in a FidoNews Echo (Publishing domain), then say that you don't want it published. You have just published it yourself. You write into the VERY Echo where Warren gets some of his material from. It's also where I get my copy of the FidoNews magazine as I'm not connected to File echos as such. I can see that you wouldn't want your words changed and then expressed as your opinion.

Tony Frew> Anyway. To make my point!!! As I understand it. FidoNet is NOT a democracy. FidoNet has its own rules embodied in P4. EchoMail of course has its own rules laid down by the Moderator of the echo concerned.

Each State in the USA has its own rules or Law. Each Country has its OWN rules of Law. As they say, "When in Rome do as the Romans do."

FidoNet to my way of thinking is an International Community. The rules we go by here transend various Country rules or State rules.

Think about it!!! If you don't want to abide by rules you have two options... Change the rules or move. Changing the rules is difficult but not impossible.

Moving is easy.

If you are reading this Warren you have my EXPLICIT permission to publish this in its entirety in FidoNews.

WB> Thanks Tony, permission not necessary, as "Not for publication" was not requested by you. Only your echo mail was quoted. 8^)

Kind regards,
Tony Frew
Fido : 3:774/605.1 - Internet : tony.frew@xtra.co.nz

Why so few Points in Zone 1?
Todd Sullivan <1:3613/1275.12>

The question was asked, and it's a valid one. The perspective used here will be that of the average user, who doesn't know much.

It's been said by many I've corresponded with in Europe that points are more efficient and less costly due to their local telephone costs. To me, that is the real reason why points have been more widely used in that part of the world.

The reason pointing never took off in Zone 1 (North America) is that the various phone companies - all various split-offs from Bell Telephone - are publicly owned companies, plus the fact that local calls have been historically cheaper than long-distance, and remain so. Why? Distance. Another reason is that I, who live in Florida, can call California with no problem. The distance is still "in country." I'm sure crossing national borders might have something to do with costs in Europe as well. Another reason would be the fact that mass-pro- duction lowers the costs tremendously.

With local costs so low, points weren't seen as necessary. Every one of a BBS' users would dial up and answer their messages on-line. With the larger multiline systems that existed, there was little or no delay getting online, except that the heaviest times of demand. There were mail bundling programs such as QWK and Blue Wave, but no one would use them when they could call, unless their time was limited. In those days, one could spend hours, if one had the access level, and many did, including myself.

Another reason was that BBSs weren't all about messages; there were games, files and pictures available. Adding to that the local (to the BBS) areas, no one really saw a need, especially with those multiline/node systems that allowed true interactive messaging locally. Furthermore, in those days the most advanced systems were IBM's PC-AT and 2/386, Commodore's Amiga 2000, the Apple II, TRS-80s. The Clones were just beginning to be seen on the market, and software was just being written for them.

Point software at that time was just beginning, and the "big thing" was running a BBS, as it was a prestigious thing to brag about at the computer club, if you belonged to one.

Point software became more prevalent when the large phone bills started coming in, and cron programs came out, as well as stand-alone mailers, which - up until then - only sysops and Fido Admins needed. Furthermore, running a BBS was becoming difficult; not everyone had the resources for the "long haul." When messages (mail) became more important, many BBS operators became Mail Only systemss, and resultantly lost users. People who were still wanting to send and receive mail still used their dial-up access or mail bundlers, but began using point software.

The real reason(s) seem to have been the perceived lack of a need for points, and the lateness of starting. When something is cheap, and works, one doesn't see why it needs fixing or improvement.

Todd Sullivan Moderator, WUNDERMENT, AMY_TECH, AMIGASALE

... Choose heaven for climate, hell for society.