Fidonet Current Events

• An end to RC elections throughout zone one?
• Formal request for Policy change

An end to RC elections
throughout zone one?
Carl Austin Bennett 1:249/116

It appears that our illustrious ZC1 has been tampering with the content of regional nodelist segments, removing both 1:12/0 (Lesley-Dee Dylan) and 1:12/379 (Dale Ross). The name which appears in the /0 position is neither that of the elected RC nor the deputy RC.

So what does this mean to sysops in the other nine regions of zone one, or elsewhere in Fidonet?

If your region has a policy where your NC's elect an RC, kiss it goodbye. If your region has a policy where your sysops elect an RC, kiss it goodbye too. Janis has just unilaterally set this network back twelve years, way back to the distant 1200-bits-per-second days before RC's were selected democratically by various regions which they represent.

A dangerous precedent has been established.

If Z1 reverts to a 1989-style "ZC appoints RC's who appoint the ZC" system there is nothing to stop Janis from removing your RC's or even from removing all ten Z1 RC's and replacing them with her own supporters.

This precedent also sends a clear but unfortunate message to the other zones. At this point, all checks and balances in the system are removed.

You have a regional policy (such as those in regions like R13 and R18) intended to guarantee your net's right to go vote? Expect it to be ignored in much the same way that R12's current election policy is being ignored.

Who, then, does this affect? Everyone. The vast majority of regions have some procedure in place to elect co-ordinators. This affects them all.

That Janis and Lesley-Dee hold politically opposite opinions is beside the point. This does not justify tampering with the nodelist in this way.

Lesley-Dee was elected to represent her region, not to represent one ZC. She was elected by a little more than a 2:1 majority of sysops in-region. She answers to the region which elected her, period.

As for Janis' claim that Lesley-Dee should not have given an RIN to Dale Ross? A red herring. Lesley-Dee didn't nodelist Dale, I did.

I listed Dale to address concerns expressed by members of the region about the political "go list yourself elsewhere" sentiments being directed at him.

I have since stepped down, but as we say in MOOSECHAT, the buck stops here.

So what should be done? If Janis was put in the ZC position by six regions, then six regional co-ordinators would be able to overrule her or even force the election of a new ZC should the need arise. There are more than six regions in zone one with elected co-ordinators in some form; these regions all have a direct interest in seeing this dangerous precedent reversed in order to keep their own elected RC's.

However, for such an approach to be effective, other regions need to speak out now. Waiting until more of the RC's (or even all of them) have been removed and replaced with Janis' hand-picked appointees will only make the problems much worse.

If you are a sysop elsewhere in zone one, contact your RC and ask for their intervention. If you are an RC still in place elsewhere in zone one, contact your fellow RC's. It only takes six regions to address this issue. The worst thing that you can do is to sit and do nothing.

Formal request
for Policy change
From/By Frank Vest
1:1/23

It was brought up in the Fidonews echo that the section of P4 regarding the Fidonews is not accurate. Below is a message that I, as Fidonews Editor, wrote to all the RCs in Fidonet.

I see this as a "do'able" thing. It would affect no other section of P4. It might, in fact, get the RCs in Fidonet together to do more good for P4 and Fidonet in general.

If the RCs can work together to do this small thing, it is possible that they can work together to do other things for P4 and Fidonet.

I felt it an obligation for me and worth the try. If you feel similar, please contact your NC, RC or ZC in support of this. Thank you.

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Dear Regional Coordinators,

Please reference the below quoted section of Policy 4;

"1.3.1 FidoNews

FidoNews is a weekly newsletter distributed in electronic form throughout the network. It is an important medium by which FidoNet sysops communicate with each other. FidoNews provides a sense of being a community of people with common interests. Accordingly, sysops and users are encouraged to contribute to FidoNews. Contributions are submitted to node 1:1/1; a file describing the format to be used is available from 1:1/1 and many other systems."

This is not accurate in that the address given is not correct. I would like to ask that the below change to Policy 4 be proposed and that this change be voted on as noted in Policy 4.

"1.3.1 FidoNews

FidoNews is a weekly newsletter distributed in electronic form throughout the network. It is an important medium by which FidoNet sysops communicate with each other. FidoNews provides a sense of being a community of people with common interests. Accordingly, sysops and users are encouraged to contribute to FidoNews. Contributions are submitted to the node that is listed in the Zone section of the current Fidonet Nodelist as Fidonews Editor; a file describing the format to be used is available from many systems."

As described in Policy 4, referenced below, a proposal for a change may be brought to the Regional Coordinators in Fidonet and by a majority of the Regional Coordinators to the International Coordinator.

I now formally ask that the Regional Coordinators decide if the above proposed change to Policy 4 should be considered. If so, please contact the International Coordinator with your request for this change.

"8 Referenda

The procedures described in this section are used to ratify a new version of FidoNet policy, which is the mechanism by which policy is changed. This procedure is also used to impeach a Zone Coordinator.

8.1 Initiation

A referendum on policy modification is invoked when a majority of the FidoNet Regional Coordinators inform the International Coordinator that they wish to consider a proposed new version of Policy."

Sincerely,

Frank Vest - Editor, Fidonews

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