Subj : Re: Campaigning...
To : Carol Shenkenberger
From : Ward Dossche
Date : Sun Feb 17 2019 11:26 am
CS>WD> I don't think you understand how, in the grand scheme of
CS>WD> Fidonet-things, irrelevant Planet Connect was.
CS> It was fairly significant in parts of the USA that I was in for a time.
CS> I'm ot sure what footprint they had outside the USA.
I hope you have read "in the grand scheme of things".
As far as I know it was discussed a bit, some individuals may have attempted it
for a short while, but that was it then. As it involves satellites I take it
Michiel is better informed.
There never was a need for it as we had better ways with guaranteed free
distribution under the premise "what you get from us for free, you also pass on
for free".
There were some individuals trying to make a buck out of it ... There was a
Swedish docter living in Ghent/Belgium Martin Whelou ,,, he tried to give me
serious sums of money in order to be listed on top of the echomail-foodchain in
the nodelist. There was our friend Janssens from the Netherlands and his buddy,
we compared them to Laurel and Hardy. I was approached from Russia by people
offering money, never saw them in the nodelist afterwards. There was a guy who
had it so refined that he ran a hardware store and people wishing to
participate could get a point-address and needed to buy the hardware at his
store. Then he had a system scanning in- and outbound mail protecting his
business so his points never really got to know the outside world. He easily
delayed mail for days in order to check. Charging 7000BFr a year for access
(close to 200US$) with 300 points and all that hardware. He wanted to pull mail
from me and there was the "free" deal so I investigated him, ordered something
in his store and when picking it up anonymously there was a queue of people so
we chatted ... that was the day 'that' system folded. He physically threatened
me.
The Netherlands had cost-share wars .. don't tell me they went at all the
effort without an incentive.
But the real ringer was ... Felix Kasza, Ron Dwight (indirectly) and Jens
Mueller.
Felix became ZC2 and set-up a system where he charged for mail, you knew
up-front what you were paying for but he wasn't losing any money over it to use
a euphemism. It didn't work in the end, he didn't become the big star-hub for
Europe.
Ron Dwight was hoisted in the chair for a second term and became heavily
sponsored by Janssens from the Netherlands, even paying travels. C'mon ...
Because of an intra-ZCC quarrel Ron Dwight resigned and there were elections.
Ron's crown-prince was Jens Mueller from Germany who thought he had seen the
big light, started a 24-line TBBS-system available 24/7 and called it
"Eurostar" .... I candidated in that election. Ron never knew what hit him and
Jens only caught 48 hour before close of ballots he wasn't going to win. It
took weeks before Ron passed the baton to me and even then with proprietary
software tried to keep it under control. I think that was the beginning of the
end for the money-freaks in Z2.
But can you imagine? Corruption from the top-down ... even Fidonet.
I can only say I probably wasted a few nice automobiles, a few guns and several
vacations to a Tahiti beach-resort sipping rum and Coca-Cola on-the-rocks under
an umbrella ... might have been Cuba too ... behind a keyboard in the middle of
the night.
\%/@rd
--- D'Bridge 3.99 SR41
* Origin: Ceci n'est pas un courriel (2:292/854)
