Editorial

"From both sides now"

The title is part of a song that I remember. Can't say who wrote it, sang it or that those are important.

This week we have two conflicting views expressed. One by Doc Logger who, being tranquilized, managed to grace us with an article. The other by Warren Bonner, a regular columnist in the Fidonews.

One seems to think that the events regarding the WTC attack has brought the U.S.A. together and that the president is doing fine. The other seems to think that the government of the U.S. is just getting a "wake up" and should have woke up long ago.

Either way, both are of limited interest to a select group and neither are really Fidonet related in strict terms.

(pardon my take off, Doc)

Rolla da flick, everyone.

As I climb into my "time capsule" and press the "red button" (Oh no! Not the "RED BUTTON!!), I'm whisked back through the Fidonews. Years fall away. Editors and articles from the past appear to me in visions of days gone by.

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It's 1985. fido201.nws

"The new years first newsletter ... more and more articles and ads every week. One complaint from a few people: not too much of interest to general users, so far all articles have been from Sysops. While that is fine, maybe encourage a few users to send articles? FidoNews is NOT only for sysops, it is for anyone."

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It's 1986. fido304.nws

"Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:

The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received."

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It's 1996. Fido1303.nws

"There were no articles submited this week."

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It's 2001. fnews1844.nws

"I respect the tradition of FidoNews editors to publish anything not in violation of the (NA?) law. Maybe it is time however to review this policy. Maybe it is time to define the topic of FidoNews and restrict articles to those that are on topic."

-=-=-=-
It's Nov. 12, 2001

Whew! What a trip!! It's good to be home again. I think. :/

Yes, I'm picking editions and all that other "unfair" stuff. So what?? Go write a rebuttal.

The gist (is that a word?) is that in the examples given, it's thought that the Fidonews is not just for Sysops. Then we go back to the "publish anything" syndrome. Then there are no articles. The current thing is that articles should be about Fidonet only. No special interest groups.

Really!! Try to please people and what do ya get?!?

Ah well. We have the answers to last week's "Question of the week" poll. I guess that's not Fidonet related either, but at least it asked for an opinion about the Fidonews.

Whatever shall we do?? The poll seems to indicate that all sections are liked in general... Well, except for the "Comix in Ascii" "Recipes" and "Poet's Corner", and even they made high marks on the wall when they jumped.

I'm not being ungrateful for your replies, dear reader. In fact, I am impressed with the turn out. My expectation was to get a couple of responses and that would be it. We may try this again sometime. Thanks to all of you who replied!

What did this little trip into the past and last week's poll prove? Nothing that we in Fidonet didn't already know.

A poll will generally have about an equal percentage of votes no matter how many questions are asked. IOW, everybody likes a different part of some of it.

There will be a small percent of the total possible represented in the poll. IOW, Some will try to make a difference while others sit back and watch them beat their heads against the wall... then complain about the whole thing while doing nothing.

No matter what you do, somebody won't like it. IOW, You can't please all the people all the time... and some won't be pleased anytime.

I'm sure that there are other things that were proved by last week's poll too. Oh well.

As I read and read and read in the Fidonews echo, I watch for articles coming in via Netmail or E-mail. I hope for an article about Fidonet. I get articles about other things. :( I note that in past editions this was also the case. In some issues, there were no articles. In others there were articles about this or that Zone, Region or Net. Some were about happenings other than Fidonet and a few, very few, were of interest to all.

I've read thoughts of how the Fidonews is for users as well as Sysops, should be only about Fidonet, can have any subject, should be of general interest and other variations. What I see in the past is what I see in the present. Lots of talk, complaints, ideas, demands and little in the way of action. A new Fidonews Editor comes around with ideas and dreams of making the Fidonews a great place. S/he is met with all of the aforementioned complaints and little help. If the "Snooze" is empty, it's boring. If it's full of articles by a couple of people with one view, it's one sided and boring. If the editor changes anything, it's wrong, one sided and boring.

To tell the truth, I find the Fidonews boring, but for a different reason. I read the articles over and over while formatting and putting the Fidonews together. :-)

Of all that I've mentioned in this writing, there is one thing that worries me. The threats I've read and received. Threats such as; `I'll see what I can do.' `I may just write an article!' `It's almost finished.' `I thought about writing an article!' ` Maybe next week I can get something to you.' If all these threats are carried out, Whew!! We might have a Fidonews that had something in it. Wouldn't that be awful?? :) <note the sarcasm>

So! What's the answer??

Same as it was to start with. The Fidonews is what YOU make of it.

I hope that all of you have a great Fidonet day, a better Fidonet tomorrow and are pleased once in your life.

Regards,

Frank Vest - Editor, Fidonews