Guest Editorial

Spanking the Fidonews Editor. :)
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308.1

In the Fidonews Volume 19, Number 49 on 09 Dec 2002 the "Inside" section mentions an article sent by Todd Cochrane as being a, "little late", since it should have been in the previous week's edition.

I also note that articles sent by myself were "late". I mention my articles to make a point, rather than to forward my status, ambitions or whatever one might assume.

The death of someone in Fidonet is a sad event, and more so when it is someone who was popular, important to Fidonet and so forth. Still, the world does not stop for such events.

While many articles are of less importance than the death of our friend, Bennie Hutto, there are articles that are of, at least, equal importance. The announcement of the FTSC election, I believe, is one such article.

In matters of time critical events that impact all of Fidonet, such as the FTSC election, it is important to get the information out to Fidonet Nodes. As I mentioned in one of my articles, the Fidonews is THE newsletter of Fidonet. It is used to inform Fidonet of happenings in Fidonet that affect Fidonet as well as other articles of interest.

I wonder what would have happened if there had been 4 deaths in Fidonet... one each week for 4 weeks... Would the announcement of the FTSC election or other events impacting all of Fidonet be delayed 4 weeks? I would hope not, but it appears that this would be the case. :(

I do understand my articles being delayed for the death of our friend Bennie. My articles were not of importance to all of Fidonet... at least not to the extent of something such as the FTSC election.

Devoting a Fidonews edition to someone is a nice gesture, but please, Mr. Editor, remember that there are time critical events that happen in Fidonet that are equally important and should not be put on hold. I don't know what Bennie would think about this, but I hope and think that he would agree.

Regards,

Frank Vest - 1:124/6308.1