Editorial

The Fidonews Banner

Maybe you did and maybe you didn't notice the change in the Fidonews Banner... You know, that part with the dog and information? Aww... come on.. You saw it, didn't you?? :-)

Ok, I started looking at back issues of the Fidonews (you people have got to stop pointing me at stuff like that :) and found that there were several Fidonews Banners used over the years.

Here is the first one from Volume 1, Number 1:

Volume 1, Number 1                              1 Dec 84
+----------------------------------------------------------+
|                                             _            |
|                                            /  \          |
|    - FidoNews -                           /|oo \         |
|                                          (_|  /_)        |
|  Fido and FidoNet                         _`@/_ \    _   |
|    Users  Group                          |     | \   \\  |
|     Newsletter                           | (*) |  \   )) |
|                             ______       |__U__| /  \//  |
|                            / FIDO \       _//|| _\   /   |
|                           (________)     (_/(_|(____/    |
|                                                (jm)      |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

No, I'm not going to post every change in the Fidonews Banner that has been. :)

I do think that it is interesting that the Banner has been changed. Being that I'm not one of the original Nodes in Fidonet and my attention isn't generally that great, I didn't notice the changes until I was pointed at the archives of the Fidonews in regards to that story by Tom Jennings in the Fidonews that was removed by a hub due to content.

I'm not going to suggest that every Editor change the Fidonews Banner or that it should be changed. I really don't know why the changes took place either. Maybe someone with more history could answer that question.

If you look at that first Banner above, you'll notice that it is simple. Computers were simple in that day.

There isn't much information in the Banner. There wasn't much to tell back then. Remember that Fidonet and Fidonews were just beginning and were small.

There is the Dog and a bowl. The words "Fidonews" and a few words telling that it is the Fido and Fidonet User Group Newsletter. Well... that's what it is.

Now, as time goes along, the Banner changed as Fidonet changed. So, here's my reason for the change and what it means to me only;

Fidonet is growing. You might think I'm crazy, but we are moving into the Internet and doing so much more than we did just a few very short year ago. Think of the way computers have advanced. Think of how Fidonet is struggling to keep up. Sure, we're behind in many ways, but for a hobby, we aren't doing that bad. :) In this light, a change seemed in order.

[Update: here is a copy of how the latest Fidonews banner appears in the plain text/ASCII version: [jb 5/28/01]]

 F I D O N E W S         Volume 18, Number 22             28 May 2001
+--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| |The newsletter of the | | Fido, Fidonet and dog-with-diskette are |
| |  FidoNet community.  | | US Registered Trademarks of Tom Jennings|
| |Copyright through 2007| |     San Francisco, California, USA      |
| |          ____________| |                                         |
| |         /  __          |    Crash Netmail Attach Articles To:    |
| |Fidonet /  /  \         |     Editor@1:1/23 (1-972-562-8064)      |
| | Lives!(  /|oo \        |          Frank Vest@1:124/6308          |
|  \_______\(_|  /_)       |                   or                    |
|            _`@/_ \    _  |             flv@texoma.net              |
|           |     | \   \\ |                                         |
|           | (*) |  \   ))|           Editor: Frank Vest            |
|           |__U__| /  \// |     Deputy-Editor: Lawrence Garvin      |
|  ______    _//|| _\   /  |                                         |
| /Editor\  (_/(_|(____/   |   Newspapers should have no friends.    |
|(________)        (jm)    |                    -- JOSEPH PULITZER   |
+--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
    Copyright 2001 by Frank L. Vest, Editor for Fidonews Globally.

The new banner as I see it;

Computers talk now. Some even understand speech to some degree.

The Dog "talks" now. Notice the "bubble" that encloses the wording above the dog. It's much like the "bubble" that you read in many comics and advertising.

The "Copyright" has been changed to reflect that it is a US copyright. I'm not going to get into that and you can read it however you wish.

The bowl??

Well, I liked the old dog with the bowl and decided to bring back some of the past. We move forward by learning from, respect of, and looking back on where we started from.

The word "EDITOR" on the bowl??

Sometimes I feel like I'm just so much food for Fidonet. Have you ever felt that way? :-)

Anyway, there you have it. A story told and changes made. I hope the story is a positive one.

Regards,

Frank - Fidonews Editor and a meal. :)