Editorial

Fidonews Globally
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308.1

Fidonews is the global newsletter of the Fidonet Community.

The above is only one sentence, but it says a lot.

Fidonet Community: A group of people with interests that vary widely but who enjoy this hobby we call Fidonet.

Newsletter: A regular report with items of news or interest that is sent to a special group of people.

Global: Covering the globe. All nations. All cultures, the world.

Well... I've said many times that I believe we are a community. We are a special group. I don't think that can be argued and we do vary widely in that we are from all over the world.

The Fidonews, then, is a newsletter that contains news or interest to/for/of this widely varied group.

Can the Fidonews only contain articles of interest to Fidonet members?

Yes, and it does. Provided we realize that Fidonet members are varied in their interests. Not all articles can be of interest to everyone. Not everyone will be interested in all articles.

Let's get down to it. What is Fidonet interested in?

Computers, communication, technology, communities, people. We fill these interests via computers using the technology available.

So, then. We have a group that has an interest in computers and communication. This group varies widely in their interests and wishes to communicate. It is made up of and is about people in this group. Circular statement? But that is what we are.

How to edit a newsletter for such a group? It would be easy if this were a special interest group that was only about planes or animals or some such. It is not.

Can we say that an article is of interest to everyone in Fidonet? How?

We are so varied that to write an article that is of interest to everyone would be impossible. Even special interest newsletters realize this. I've looked over some sites with newsletters on special interest hobbies.

Radio controlled air planes. There are articles that are about certain planes, certain parts and other information that might not be of interest to everyone since all of the hobbyists don't use that particular RC plane, part or some such thing.

Now, I admit that the articles were about radio controlled planes and that is the subject of the newsletter. Fidonews is about Fidonet. Should the Fidonews be only about Fidonet technology? I offer a quote from the first Fidonews;

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ARTICLE SUBMISSION

The format of this thing is totally ad hoc; please make recomendations as to formats, sections needed, liked, or hated, columns you'd like to see, or see removed, anything at all. If you want to submit something regularly, we can start a column for you.

You are ENCOURAGED to send things in for the newsletter. ANYTHING is fit for the newsletter, such as a description of your board, problems found, questions, jokes, fixes, horror stories about wrong FidoNet numbers, things for sale, etc etc etc.

--- cut ---

I'll admit that this was written when Fidonet was new and very small and "ANYTHING" might not be desirable today. We do have a kind of format as well. It's not "ad hoc" nor is it "set in stone", but it does give some form to the Fidonews.

The point is that, even then, it was realized that Fidonet was a community and that not all articles would be of interest to everyone.

If an article isn't of interest to you, skip it. If you read it and it doesn't interest you, forget it. If you want something of interest to you in the Fidonews, write it and submit it. What you write might not be of interest to everyone, but it might be of interest to someone.

Fidonews is global. To argue that it is controlled by one area is nonsense. To argue that people are shouted down by certain groups is also nonsense.

Please remember that the Fidonews Publication is NOT the same as the Fidonews Echo. The Echo is for discussion of the Fidonews. You don't have to participate in the Fidonews echo, or even read it, to submit an article to the Fidonews.

If you are tired of reading the same things, week after week, or from the same people, week after week, write an article and send it in. One person can not write the whole Fidonews. If the Fidonews feels "one sided" to you, put the blame where it belongs. I hope your shoulders are broad enough to hold that blame.

Have you submitted an article today?? :-)

To submit articles,

E-Mail message or file attach to: fidonews@sbcglobal.net or editor@fidonews.org

Netmail message or file attach to: 1:124/6308 or 1:1/23

Please be sure to leave me a note that you are sending an article via file attach so that I will know to look for it in my inbound.

Kind regards,

Frank Vest - Fidonews Editor

"A Newspaper should have no friends" - Joseph Pulitzer
"An Editor will have no friends" - Frank Vest