F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No. 6 (07-Feb-1994)

F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No. 6 (07-Feb-1994)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | |
| FidoNet BBS community | Published by: |
| _ | |
| / \ | "FidoNews" BBS |
| /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: |
| | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet addresses: |
| |
| Sylvia -- [email protected] |
| Donald -- [email protected] |
| Tim -- [email protected] |
| Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) |
| [email protected] |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies and other boring but important details, |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================

1. Editorial..................................................... 2
2. Articles...................................................... 2
Esperanto - The International Language...................... 2
Subject: FidoNews........................................... 3
Uucp is NOT a sysop....please!.............................. 4
Foreign Language Articles................................... 5
A comment to the editoral in FidoNews 11-3.................. 6
Dear Editor,................................................ 6
FREE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE.................................... 7
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 10
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 2 07 Feb 1994

========================================================================
Editorial
========================================================================
Please find below some amusing opinions about using languages other
than english in the snooze. perhaps i shouldn't say, a-musing,
anything. Some of these opinions are passionate. We admire the
passion with which fidolanders embrace their views. Anything worth
doing is worth considering endlessly.

However, endless consideration won't get the snooze out the door on
time. sigh.

We came really close to losing all these articles to-day ... I managed
to do the standard typo while deleting backup files, and deleted the
articles instead. Since we run on a network, there was the normal
panic while I shut down all the other stations, rebooted the
file server standalone, and unerased them again.

Here they are.
========================================================================
Articles
========================================================================
Esperanto - The International Language

by Frank J. Perricone, 1:325/611, [email protected]
Esperanto - The International Language

A trend surfacing in recent FidoSnooze articles is the publication of
articles in languages other than English. The justification: even
though English is the most common language, other languages should
be supported, with translations as available as possible.

Of course, English is the most common language in FidoNet, because
FidoNet originated in the United States. Contrary to what many
Americans might think, however, English is *NOT* the most common
language in the world, by far. There are some 500 million speakers
of English in the world -- that is, only about 10% of the world
population. More than two and a half times as many people speak
Mandarin Chinese.

The rapid spread of international networking is contributing to the
increasing global awareness of the need to have effective communication
between people of different national and cultural origins. Members of
FidoNet can be proud to be in the forefront of this movement; we are
the world's largest amateur network and the world's second-largest
network of any sort, and when the OtherNets are added in, we are a
communication system of surprising power, breadth, and effectiveness,
especially considering the entire thing is run by amateurs, almost
completely on a not-for-profit basis. Surely FidoNet is a haven for
internationalism in communications.

Thus, it surprises me that there is no widely-disseminated echo for
discussion of (and in) the language of international communication,
Esperanto. I have heard rumour of an echo in Germany, but the
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 3 07 Feb 1994

contact addresses I was given are not in the nodelist (perhaps due
to reorganizations) and I can't find anyone who is a participant.
Of course, I probably could not afford the international calling
anyway.

The United States is known, and laughed at, around the world for its
isolationist, naive opinions about languages. The majority of
Americans still think it is appropriate for speakers of other
languages to learn English -- even though these people would never
consider giving up English in favor of someone else's language.
Thus, it is perhaps no great surprise that there is no Esperanto
echo on the North America backbone. Of course, the vast majority
of Americans who have even heard of Esperanto know very little
about it. In particular, few people realize that, spending only
an hour or two a week, one can become fluent in the language within
only a few months study.

Since FidoNet has been a force in favor of international communication
on an equal level, and since this trend has only increased in recent
times (as evidenced by the multilingual FidoSnooze), maybe the time
is right. If anyone is interested in helping me form an echo,
hopefully to be moved onto the North American backbone eventually,
and maybe even linked in to similar echos in other countries in
the dim and hopeful future, please get in touch with me. People
who are interested in the language, even if they do not speak it
at all, should respond. Only if we all join together can we be
successful in bringing such an echo into existence.

Saluton!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: FidoNews
From: David O'shea (3:640/556)

I don't have time to do a full article for FidoNews.. but I
thought I would be original and write a message actually about
FidoNet and not some other garbage. Basically all I want to say
is that I'm getting sick of reading what people's views on
homosexuality and vulgar language and the right of free speech
are.. when I first downloaded FidoNews I thought I was getting
something that would tell me what was happening in FidoNet!
Lately here in Queensland, Australia quite a few BBSs have been
getting rid of FidoNet due to the garbage that is starting to
get into it (a good example is the "Jane Kennedy Fan Club" in
the Zone 3 Games Area, but the same happens in international
echoes). There should be some way of stopping it but in the
Zone 3 Games echo no one can find the moderator and it seems to
be up to the users to wipe out the trash, and that just isn't
possible!

And now, a suggestion for FidoNet: names with meaning. I looked
around on a few BBSs with FidoNet and found many meaningless
names (well at least to me). There is an area called "That"
which seems to be for sysops to discuss users, "Mecca" which I
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 4 07 Feb 1994

still don't know about, and many more.

I'm sorry I couldn't type a full article but I do not have the
time.

Thankyou for your time.
David 'Mudlark' O'Shea

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Uucp is NOT a sysop....please!

* Original To : Ola d'Aulaire, 1:141/1020
* Original From: Don Dawson, 1:141/730@fidonet
* Original Date: Jan 30 10:42

[Note to all: this was taken from a local echo]

On <Jan 29 @14:16> Ola d'Aulaire (1:141/1020) wrote to All:

Od> Hmmmm.... Lately, when my users enter UUCP in the To: field, the
Od> address Od> 2:281/10 pops up. That's in Delft, Netherlands! --
Od> with the operator listed as UUCP. Most [callers] are not
Od> sophisticated enough to know that they should change that address
Od> to the 1:141/420 gateway. It's an annoyance to have UUCP listed
Od> as an operator in the nodelist and have it come up like that.
Od> I've left instructions all over the place, but not everybody reads
Od> them so their UUCP mail still tries to go to the Netherlands
Od> address. Any way to tweak the nodelist not to recognize it
Od> without causing a checksum failure?

Ola: I answered your question in the echo, but the choices are not
fool proof. Last summer, for a brief time, someone in Zone 1 used
"uucp" as a sysop name. Uucp messages my callers entered were sent
to Michigan, a long distance call 1/2 way across the U.S. rather
than routed via local calls inside Connecticut.

It's my recommendation that "uucp" be forbidden as a sysop name in
the offical nodelist. If a net has a need, a suitable entry can be
added to private nodelists.

Bob Satti, Ron Dwight, Trev Roydhouse, Gamey Garcia, Henk Wolsink,
Honlin Lue are the ZC's for each of the 6 FidoNet Zones. If they
could agree to prohibit this sysop name (and put same in the nodelist
as a "note") it would be put to rest once and for all.

As Internet and FidoNet gating becomes more common, there is an ever
increasing chance sysops and NC's will be tempted to use UUCP as a
sysop name.

Thanks.
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 5 07 Feb 1994

Foreign Language Articles
Scott Raymond (1:278/6000)

> To now cut letters on the basis that they are not in english
> strikes me as provincial, small-minded, and derelict in our
> duty. Simply put, the answer is no.

I think you may have missed my intent when I sent you that
netmail quoting Fido policy. I did not say that you had to discard those
articles simply because they were not in English. I was saying that the
majority of Fidonet simply cannot understand them and would probably
benefit from a translation.

I quoted policy because there are *reasons* why English is the
official language of Fidonet. For one, it's the international language of
the world chosen by the United Nations. For another, more than half of the
people in Fidonet speak English as their first language, and almost all of
the rest unnderstand enough English to get by. English is the lowest
common denominator in Fidonet, and by publishing articles that are not in
English, you exclude the majority of the people reading Fidonews.

Look at it from a reader's point of view - if you place articles
in Fidonews that are in a language foreign to the reader, then you are
discriminating against those people unable to read it. I didn't want or
ask you to discard the articles - all I wanted was to be provided a
translation so I could benefit from the articles being published.

So far, three non-English articles have been published. The
first was written by Francios Thunus, who seems to be fluent in four
languages (English, French, Spanish, and a Germanic tongue with which I am
not familiar - perhaps is *is* German, but I cannot be sure). I admire
Francois; I am adept with English, but my skills are lacking in other
languages. I know enough to get my face slapped in seven different
countries, but not enough to hold a conversation - or even understand what
is being said to me - for more than ten seconds.

The other two articles were written by Pablo Kleinman. Long time
readers of the Snooze are familiar with Pablito - while I do not agree with
everything he has to say, I would like to point out that he is fluent in
both English and Spanish.

I'm not saying that the people who wish to write articles in
languages other than English should not have their articles published; I'm
just asking them to provide an English translation so the rest of us can
benefit from their words.
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 6 07 Feb 1994

A comment to the editoral in FidoNews 11-3
From: Mikael St�ldal (2:201/337)

Jag tycker att det �r dumt att publicera artiklar p� andra spr�k �n
engelska i FidoNews. Engelska �r det spr�k som flest, just d�rf�r �r
det officielt i FidoNet. Att till�ta flera spr�k i FidoNews l�ser
inga problem, det skapar problem.

Did you understand the above paragraph? It's in Swedish, my native
language. The translation is a bit down, but have a try before you
press the PageDown key.

I think it's stupid to publish articles in other languages than
English in FidoNews. English is the language that most people
understands, that's why it's the official language in FidoNet.
Allowing several languages in FidoNews doesn't solve any problems, it
creates problems.

Best Regards
Mikael

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Editor,

I would like to express my resounding agreement with Mr.
Dennis McClain- Furmanski's article intitled "What An Editor is
For" that appeared in FidoNews Vol.11 No.4. In reference to the
editorial in that same issue, I wish to point out that I by no
means wish to "tell you what to do". I do believe, however,
that as editor you do need more of an editorial direction for
FidoNews.

A few weeks ago I requested from my hub to have my feed to
FidoNews removed. He complied and I skipped an issue, but it
appeared in my inbound directory the following week. Apparently
the switch was not perminent. I had intend to compose a netmail
to him requesting once again to cease sending the 'Snooze' this
way, but decided to take another peek. I couldn't resist...
heh. As I read your editorial I was emmediately ready to simply
forget it and write my hub with the request, however, I wanted
to catch the news blurb about the Handyman echo first. Mr.
McClain-Furmanski's article caught my eye (it was of similar
title I had at one time considered writing myself) and thus I
read it.

It gives me hope that you will heed his advice. There are
echoes, in large part, that serve the same function that
FidoNews does at the moment. A "Letters to the Editor" section
may be a good addition, but please don't pass off such posts as
"articles". Perhaps a section specifically for "opinions", but
they should be well written and pertinent, not simply inclusive
replies. Most of what appears in FidoNews is nothing more than
an echomail or netmail message dumped into a file.
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 7 07 Feb 1994

I believe that with a slighty more oriented editorial bent
FidoNews could be a wonderful publication. I by no means expect
to agree with everything published, indeed my experience in
FidoNet to date has provided me with more than a few
opportunities to question and defend my own opinions. It's a
healthy thing from time to time. However, there is no excuse
for poor quality. I am not interested in recieving a
compilation of echomail/netmail messages. I *am* interested in
reading well written, interesting, and pertinent information and
commentary about the FidoNet community.

I have decided not to press my hub to stop sending me FidoNews
at this time. My hope is that you will take to heart what Mr.
McClain-Furmanski and others like him say. The current ideals of
providing an open and accessable forum for expressing views and
relating news about FidoNet *can* be maintained, but that does
not mean a little editorial disgretion can't be excercised in
determining what to print.

In a recent (rather spirited) net election I posted an
excerpt from _The New Hacker's Dictionary_ (Raymond, Eric S.,
Ed., The MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusettes, 1993) in the hopes
of illustrating a point about FidoNet. It didn't exactly work,
but it was a spirited contest to put it midily. It's a bit off
the topic, but I'd like to leave you with a bit from that book
for consideration.

"The most reliable manifistation of [the HACKER ETHIC] is that
almost all hackers are actively willing to share technical
tricks, software, and (where possible) computing resources with
other hackers. Huge cooperative networks such as USENET,
*FidoNet* and Internet can function without central control
because of this trait; they... _rely on and reinforce a sense of
community that may be hackerdom's most valuable intangible
asset_." [pg. 219]

Angel's Luck, Cristopher D. Egger, Sysop The New Amanda BBS
(1:170/612)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

FREE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE

Thank you for posting the HOTT announcement in FidoNews. The
announcement has been significantly updated (see the update toward the
end of the announcement); if possible, please post the new info to
FidoNews.

Too, it was not clear from the announcement in FidoNews that HOTT is
available to all BBSes for posting ... FREE OF CHARGE! Matter of fact,
I'm counting on FidoNet-based BBSes to help with our circulation drive.
Please let your readers & sysops know that HOTT is available for their
distribution. Thank you very much. The latest announcement follows.

FidoNews 11-06 Page: 8 07 Feb 1994

* * * P R E S S R E L E A S E * * * P R E S S R E L E A S E * * *

B R I E F R E L E A S E

FREE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ON NEW GENERATION COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS

Free, electronic magazine features article summaries on new generation
computer and communications technologies from over 100 trade magazines
and research journals; key U.S. & international daily newspapers, news
weeklies, and business magazines; and, over 100 Internet mailing lists &
USENET groups. Each issue (10/year) includes listings of forthcoming &
recently published technical books and forthcoming shows & conferences.
Bonus: Exclusive interviews with technology pioneers. E-mail
subscription requests to: [email protected] (Leave the "Subject" line
blank.) In the body of the message, type: SUBSCRIBE HOTT-LIST (do not
include first or last names) Gated to the USENET group
bit.magazines.computing.

* * * P R E S S R E L E A S E * * * P R E S S R E L E A S E * * *

G E N E R A L R E L E A S E

HOTT -- Hot Off The Tree -- is a FREE monthly (10/year) electronic
magazine featuring the latest advances in computer, communications, and
electronics technologies. Each issue provides article summaries on
new & emerging technologies, including VR (virtual reality), neural
networks, PDAs (personal digital assistants), GUIs (graphical user
interfaces), intelligent agents, ubiquitous computing, genetic &
evolutionary programming, wireless networks, smart cards, video phones,
set-top boxes, nanotechnology, and massively parallel processing.

Summaries are provided from the following sources:

Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post,
San Jose Mercury News, Boston Globe, Financial Times (London) ...

Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report ...

Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, The Economist (London), Nikkei Weekly
(Tokyo), Asian Wall Street Journal (Hong Kong) ...

over 50 trade magazines, including Computerworld, InfoWorld, Datamation,
Computer Retail Week, Dr. Dobb's Journal, LAN Times, Communications
Week, PC World, New Media, VAR Business, Midrange Systems, Byte ...

over 50 research journals, including ** ALL ** publications of the IEEE
Computer and Communications Societies, plus technical journals
published by AT&T, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu, Sharp, NTT, Siemens,
Philips, GEC ...

over 100 Internet mailing lists & USENET discussion groups ...

plus ...

* listings of forthcoming & recently published technical books;
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 9 07 Feb 1994

* listings of forthcoming trade shows & technical conferences; and,

* company advertorials, including CEO perspectives, tips & techniques,
and new product announcements

BONUS:

Exclusive interviews with technology pioneers ... the first issues
feature interviews with Mark Weiser (head of Xerox PARC's Computer
Science Lab) on ubiquitous computing, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg
on the information society, and MCC CEO (and former DARPA director)
Craig Fields on the future of computing

TO REQUEST A FREE E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

Send subscription requests to:
[email protected]

Leave the "Subject" line blank

In the body of the message input:
SUBSCRIBE HOTT-LIST

If at any time you choose to cancel your subscription input:
UNSUBSCRIBE HOTT-LIST

Note: Do *not* include first or last names following
"SUBSCRIBE HOTT-LIST" or "UNSUBSCRIBE HOTT-LIST"

For your privacy, please note that the list will not be rented.
If you have problems and require human intervention, contact:
[email protected]

USENET AVAILABILITY

HOTT is gated to the USENET group bit.magazines.computing

FIRST ISSUE

The first issue of the reinvented HOTT e-magazine is scheduled for
transmission in February.

PLANNED FEATURES

There are numerous features that I plan to add over the next year.
First, I want to expand trade magazine coverage to over 200 sources,
including at least 30 British trade publications. Also, I want to
provide summaries of U.S. and U.K. national news programs, i.e., ABC,
CBS, NBC, and BBC. I'd like to transmit selected full-text features
from The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The (London) Financial
Times, and a Japanese English-language daily (plus article summaries
from a few other Japanese English-language dailies; there are a half-
dozen English-language dailies published in Japan). Eventually, I'd
like to add The New York Times (if I can negotiate a reasonable rate),
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 10 07 Feb 1994

The San Jose Mercury News, and The Boston Globe. And maybe even
Newsbytes and the Japanese English-language equivalent to Newsbytes.
I'm currently negotiating with The Los Angeles Times Syndicate for
Michael Schrage's "Innovation" column (Michael is willing to comp HOTT
on an experimental basis) and I'd like to add a few other syndicated
columns. And I have several other surprises!

UPDATE -- 22 January 1994

In the last month HOTT has grown from 2,000 to over 22,000 individual
subscribers; this already makes HOTT the largest circulation mailing
list on the Internet. And this figure does NOT include distribution
points in the U.S., such as CMU's Computer Science Department. An
additional 15,000 readers are being reached through distribution
points in over a dozen countries, including: Canada, the U.K., France,
Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia,
Estonia, Israel, South Africa, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan,
Singapore, Thailand, and the equivalent of the U.S. National Academy
of Sciences in the People's Republic of China -- and more distribution
points, each representing an average of 500-1,000 readers, are being
added each week. And as part of our publicity campaign, we're
mailing (by snail mail, fax, and e-mail) this announcement to over
1,000 media contacts in the U.S.; this will be followed in late 2Q 94
with a mass mailing to over 1,000 media contacts in Europe.

Our goal is to make HOTT the first mass distribution AND truly global
periodical on the Information Superhighway. Help us to achieve our
goal by subscribing ... and by informing your colleagues/readers of
our offering. Thank you very much.

Bye!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

========================================================================
Fidonews Information
========================================================================

------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------

Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello,
Tom Jennings

IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been
changed!!! Please make a note of this.

"FidoNews" BBS
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
Internet addresses:
Don & Sylvia (submission address)
[email protected]

Sylvia -- [email protected]
FidoNews 11-06 Page: 11 07 Feb 1994

Donald -- [email protected]
Tim -- [email protected]

(Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience)
FidoNews
128 Church St.
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
N2H 2S4

Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international
amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual
articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The
contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the
rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those
of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews.

Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or
distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in
other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews
(we're easy).

OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each
PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere,
mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.)

INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in
directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding
FidoNet, please direct them to [email protected], not the
FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously
volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.)

SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.

"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.

Asked what he thought of Western civilization,
M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea".
-- END
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FidoNews 11-06 Page: 12 07 Feb 1994