Editorial

--= Good Bye John Boy =--

Today is the last day of the month, the day John pulled the plug on his BBS and the Southern Star, I was informed. Another pillar of Fido gone. First George Peace, and now John of the Star systems. It is sad to see them go. Sorry I don't have George's stats.

John's 49, single, no children. He is a Design Engineer (embedded systems, software and digital) by trade. He started the BBS 13 years ago. The system grew and spawned an Internet Service Provider business, which is what he does now. In FidoNet, he has served as NC, Net Hub, NEC, Region Hub, REC, Zonegate, Filebone Coord, Filebone Hub, and Zone Hub. He helped start Net 1:396, Backbone, ERN, Filebone, new FTSC and Z1 Backbone.

He has contributed to Fidonet since it was an unweaned puppy, and has many friends in Fido land who are sorry to see him go.

John said, "I know that there will be times that I miss it, but it's time for me to move on. You can still reach me at johns@sstar.com".

By: Warren Bonner

From the lips of Andy Brown in behalf of our Western Star...

Brenda goes through a lot for Fido net that a lot of people never know about.. All some people do is complain if the mail is not delivered when they think it should be..

Andy

Well folks, that is how it goes in fidoland these days. We struggle to keep the good people who give of their time and resources to make mail and files flow for all others... a kind of voluntary servitude for the benefit of all... which isn't appreciated on the level and with the respect it should be... I know! I lost my feed last Wednesday from Brenda Western Star, when her DSL provider pulled the plug and suddenly was in a quandary as materials were not coming in for the Fidonews all the way to Saturday! Whew! What a relief when I pinged her for the mail this morning and she had it waiting. That is when you suddenly realize that the folks that make fidonet work are to often taken for granted. Everyone should take a moment to send their feed a big smile and a thank you.

On another note it is time to enjoy the warmth of spring, moving the cocks ahead to accommodate longer hours to work and play by in the coming months. April fool day is here as you receive this, and I don't have to "fool" you with a fake headline as some would do. ]:-)) Keep your articles coming and I'll try to keep them in the Snooze!

WWR wdb Ol'wdb

From: "Rob Ferrara" <rob@crabapplelane.net>
To: <editor@fidonews.snfc21.pbi.net>
Cc: <wdbonner@pacbell.net>
Subject: Doug Myers
Date: Monday, March 26, 2001 3:39 AM

Hi Warren,

Douglas Myers was file-attaching the Fidonews to me after I left Fidonet. I had them going directly to a folder and I was reading them every couple of weeks. When they stopped coming, I didn't think much of it. I found out a few months ago that there was more to it than I thought.

When I resigned as moderator of FN_SYSOP, I asked Douglas to be interim moderator until another election could be held. In one of that echo's best moments, they elected him to the post.

The reason for my writing to you is that I'd like to restart the practice of file-attaching the Fidonews to me. Can you find a way to do it? I asked John Souvestre a couple of months ago. He said he would but he hasn't yet. I suspect he forgot.

I miss Douglas. My last message from him:

--- Start message

To: <ferrara@gs.verio.net>
From: Douglas Myers <DougM@paonline.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 18:54:11
Subject: Upcoming Events

RF> Good Luck and Best Wishes for a speedy and full recovery from your upcoming surgery. I'm 43. For whatever reason, I pictured you as being younger than I. I guess you just can't judge a cover by its' book.

Doug> I'm 53; perhaps the appearance of relative youth is a harbinger of the onset of second childhood :)

I'm pretty confident of the recovery. The doctors don't consider me a big risk.

--- End message

Publish if you like.

--- Rob Ferrara
Home Page: http://www.crabapplelane.net
Work Page: http://www.gm-part.com
Fantasy Football Home Page: http://www.crabapplelane.net/ffl/

To: "WARREN BONNER" <wdbonner@pacbell.net>
Subject: Fw: Article
Date: Saturday, March 31, 2001 12:30 PM

By: Philip Lozier

* In a message originally to Michiel van der Vlist, Janis Kracht said:

>MV> For one thing there is no way to get rid of an editor not performing to satisfaction.

Janis> Too bad. You deal with it. If an editor is not performing to your satisfaction, he could still be performing to other people's satisfaction. You can't make everyone happy. The position of Fidonews editor is not supposed to be held by the winner of a popularity contest.

Phil> Many editors are on the top of the "I HATE YOU" list, no matter what venue their publication comes out in...

A job of the editor is to provide whatever relevant information /they/ see necessary, despite the popular opinion, and to provide /their/ own view of things... I think Warren has tried to be fair... maybe TOO fair, and has put up with too much guff... maybe he should start exercising moderator privileges... after all, FIDONEWS is to report the news, not to put up with what he has from the Z2 faction (90+ percent who have nothing useful to contribute other than criticism). If Z2 had something amongst their vast, overpowering, numbers to contribute, I am SURE Warren would publish it.

Now, just from my HO, I think Warren should "moderate" the topic of Zone, trademarks, and copyright, from this echo, as related to FidoNews... If the Z2's can't handle that, and have nothing to contribute that is of a useful and productive nature, then so be it... let them start their own European version of FidoNews separate from this... What do we lose? NOTHING... just lose critics who never contribute anyway.

Phil

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" or "NOT FOR PUBLICATION", and may registered with the USPO as a work of Art, lit. ect., it will not be published without permission.

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 echoes 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 transcend 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.

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