Articles

• New happenings in my life
• The Amazing Zone 1 Word Twist Game

New happenings in my life
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308(.1)

Just to get off of the kicks and politics of Fidonet, I thought I'd write a little about what is happening in my life. I'm not getting real personal here, but it's a change. :-)

I'd like to invite other Fidonet people to write some about things that are happening in your life. It doesn't have to be real personal or some earth shaking event. Just about anything that might be happening in your life. The idea here is to make Fidonet and the Fidonews more "family" and "community". We are, BTW, a family of sorts and what is happening in our individual lives might be of interest to others. Who knows, you might make a friend or two. :-))

This idea was hatched by noticing that the first issues of the Fidonews, Tom Jennings as Editor, asked for events happening in the lives of Fidonet members. It seemed to be his belief that Fidonet was a community, a thought that many still have, though not always shown.

Anyway. Send articles about the birth of your child, grandchild, your pending marriage, what new things you are attempting with your computer(s), BBS, or whatever to the Editor as a submission. Even the remodeling of your house... Heck we're a community here, right? :-)

Enough of that. Here's my offering. :-)

Ok. Recently I tried to network three of my systems together just for fun. My thought was to be able to play games and read/write messages from any of the systems without having to have several setups on several systems. I could also see the benefits of having the BBS download files on a system with more space and allowing the BBS to simply retrieve them as needed. Easy way to increase the BBS. :-)

I had a couple of NIC cards and with some cable, I started. Now, I'm not a network specialist in any form. I couldn't get the cards to configure and the whole thing failed to work. I finally found setup programs for the cards and tried again. With the help of some Fidonet members, I learned that the setup for many of the older NIC cards must be done from Dos... not a Dos prompt.

It's been a learning experience, but I now have three systems running on a peer to peer. Two are Win98 and one is Dos. FWIW, There is an excellent site on the Internet at: http://www.wown.com/ that has some very good help on networking a peer to peer. You can also get software to network Dos systems with TCP/IP and other protocols on the Internet. If anyone is interested in the Dos stuff, let me know and I'll try to point you at some information.

Have a great day!

Frank

The Amazing Zone 1 Word Twist Game
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308(.1)

It's time once again, as always, to play "The Amazing Zone 1 Word Twist Game".

How to play?

Simple: Any statement made or word(s) said by someone in a Fidonet Echo are interpreted and twisted, in any way you want, to mean what you desire, regardless of the intention of the statements or word(s). This is best used in an administrative echo to disrupt or stop someone from actually doing something that another sees as wrong without having to justify why it is wrong.

Let's start:

First, This is my side of post made in a Fidonet, Zone 1, Echo by me and how it can be twisted. My post is noted as "Statement *" and my twist of the statement is noted by "Twist *".The statements are real. The twists are made up and should not be related to any real twists that have been used on any messages.

Begin:

"Why are some areas listing (gaining) nodes while others are not? I'm not pointing a finger at any one group here."

If only it would be taken that way.

Statement 1:
"Fidonet has a Policy. Some respect it, some ignore it. Some follow it, some work around it, some disregard it while others do other things with/to it."

Twist 1:
I agree with you. The ones that ignore it are wrong because it is law. It's precious and should be revered and followed.

Twist 2:
Yes, you are right, it is a bad policy and should be ignored and disregarded. It is outdated and should be thrown out.

Statement 2:
"If P4 is ignored, anyone that asks for a Node number can be given one by anyone that is willing to assign one."

Twist 1:
Absolutely. That's how it should be and we are doing that.

Twist 2:
Of course you are right. P4 forbids that. How dare someone think that Node numbers can be given by anyone!

Statement 3:
"If P4 is followed, one must apply for a Node number and agree to certain things."

Twist 1:
Yes. That is what is killing Fidonet. People don't join because of P4. You are correct in wanting it thrown out.

Twist 2:
Yes. P4 should be followed. We agree.

Statement 4:
"I'm not saying either or any is bad or good, just stating the facts as I see them."

Twist 1:
Facts?!? Yeah, your facts!

Twist 2:
Facts?!? Yeah, your facts!

Statement 5:
"If any organization has a policy and that policy is followed, there will be those that won't join that organization because of the policy. If there is someone, or section/group in the organization that is willing to ignore the policy, the ones that wouldn't join before because of the policy will/might then join."

Twist 1:
You are right on. Policy should be followed to prevent those undesirables from getting in.

Twist 2:
Absolutely. Allow new Nodes in. Forget about that old, outdated text file called a policy.

Statement 6:
"When this happens, there is going to be conflict between at least two factions of the organization."

Twist 1:
Yup. And our way is best. How good of you to see this.

Twist 2:
Yup. And our way is best. How good of you to see this.

Statement 7:
"The ones that follow the policy will fight with the ones that ignore the policy because it is against the policy and wrong in their view."

Twist 1:
<sarcasm>
Of course we can't have that famous policy ignored. Heaven forbid! What is this world coming to?!?

Twist 2:
<no sarcasm>
Of course we can't have that famous policy ignored. Heaven forbid! What is this world coming to?!? I'm glad you're with us on this.

Statement 8:
"The ones that ignore the policy will argue that the policy is wrong and defend this with arguments that they are gaining members for the organization."

Twist 1:
Of course they will. That's the only argument they have.

Twist 2:
Yup. Can't argue with facts.

Statement 9:
"There could be others that will argue for parts of the policy to be followed and other parts to be ignored because of different reasons and judgements. Sadly, in many instances, the sides that are arguing will be totally unwilling to work towards fixing, developing, or other wise helping, preferring to argue and continue doing as they always have."

Twist 1:
Fix what? It isn't broken. What we do is working fine. Prove it needs be fixed.

Twist 2:
Fix what? It can't be fixed. What we do is working fine. Prove that it can be fixed and we'll talk.

End:

Of course, this isn't always the case and not all people in Zone one participate in this game, but it does happen. :(

Have fun,

Frank