Volume 4, Number 29 3 August 1987

Volume 4, Number 29 3 August 1987
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| _ |
| / \ |
| /|oo \ |
| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
| _`@/_ \ _ |
| International | | \ \\ |
| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
| (jm) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings

FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to
submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission
standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from
node 1:1/1.

Copyright 1987 by the International FidoNet Association. All
rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for
noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067.

Two Weeks to FidoCon!

Table of Contents

1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
Logic Chopping: A Study in Censorship .................... 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3
FidoNet Conference Information ........................... 3
FIDO-FAM - FIDO BBS File Area Maintenance Utility ........ 4
Hotline! (2) ............................................. 7
FidoNet's Growing Pains -- A USENET Perspective .......... 10
3. NOTICES .................................................. 12
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 12
COMPUTERFEST '87 ......................................... 12
Special notice for FidoCon goers ......................... 12
Latest Software Versions ................................. 13
International FidoNet Conference Registration Form ....... 14
IFNA Order Form and Membership Application ............... 15
FidoNews 4-29 Page 1 3 Aug 1987

=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================

Logic Chopping
A Study in Censorship

Most of you are probably aware of the recent brouhaha over
EchoChop. Not long ago I announced that EchoChop would function
no more, that it was all just an experiment. This left a
question or two unaswered, like what was the experiment, and how
did it turn out?

I didn't answer that question before because the experiment was
still running. It ran in two phases:

Phase one: Create EchoChop and announce to the world what it
is and what it's for. This served mainly to encourage
expression from those who are against the idea.

Phase two: Have EchoChop expire at a preset time, and then
announce to the world that it is no more. This served mainly
to encourage expression from those who are in favor of the
idea.

Phase one happened mainly in public in the echomail conferences,
and is thus pretty well known. Phase two happened mainly in
private network mail, and is thus less publicly known. Is still
happening, I should say. I'm on the verge of creating a canned
message that says, "No, you can't have it, it's gone."

What did I learn from all this? Quite a bit actually. For one
thing, a great many people feel a need for some sort of control
over echomail content. But EchoChop (or anything like it) is not
the way to go. Echomail is chaotic enough already without people
using things like EchoChop. People want more order, not less.

This implies some sort of central control over echomail. But
that is a cure that leads to problems in its own right. For
example, there are many conferences where none of the
participants want anyone outside having anything to say about it.

What I propose is a compromise approach based on the tools we
already have at hand. Each conference in theory has a moderator
who oversees the conference. But up until now a moderator has
been pretty powerless to actually do anything. I propose that we
define failure to abide by the wishes of a conference moderator
as excessively annoying behaviour. The remedies stated in
Policy3 then come into play to back up the wishes of the
moderator.

Of course, we'll need some agreed upon way to determine just who
the moderator of a given conference is, since I'm assuming here
that only the moderator can lodge a complaint for annoying
behaviour. So we pick some sucker, er, dedicated volunteer to
FidoNews 4-29 Page 2 3 Aug 1987

act as our official "Registrar of Conferences" (Thomas Kenny
comes to mind). This would NOT mean that every conference must
be registered. A conference would only have to be registered if
its moderator wants to invoke the protection of Policy3. The
moderator of an unregistered conference would simply be on his
own when dealing with annoying behaviour (much like things are
now for all conferences).

Does this mean that IFNA will finally get involved in echomail?
Well, yes it does. I've heard that the echomail backbone has
sworn to go on strike (or some such) if IFNA ever touches
echomail, but I'd like to point out that this approach involves
IFNA in echomail only so far as the participants in any given
conference desire -- and not really very far for all of that.

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 3 3 Aug 1987

=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================

FidoNet Conference Information

Your participation will help to ensure a successful and
informative conference. Send in your registration form NOW.

The registration form for the conference does not include hotel
accommodations. The conference will be held at the Radisson Mark
Plaza Hotel. If you wish to stay there you must contact the
hotel directly.

Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel
5000 Seminary Road., Alexandria, VA 22311
1-800-228-9822

Mention that you are with the FidoNet Conference and you will
receive discounted room rates. The Radisson has agreed to extend
these rates for any who wish to stay on after the conference and
visit our nation's capital. The Radisson provides free
transportation to and from National Airport any time of the day.
A Metro stop (subway) at the airport will give you access to the
Smithsonian, the Zoo, and other national landmarks in the
District.

Room Rates for the Conference:

Single or Double Occupancy: $80.00 /night
One additional cot in a room: $20.00/night
Children under 17 accompanied by an adult: Free

If you wish to share a room and need a roommate, please contact
Brian Hughs at 109/634. He will help you find someone to share a
room with.

There are four restaurants in the Radisson ranging from
relatively "inexpensive" to "very, very, expensive". The sysops
in net 109 are compiling a list of establishments in the
surrounding neighborhood which will be available when you get to
the conference. During the Conference there will be a Banquet on
Friday night and a luncheon on Saturday. If you are interested
in attending these, don't forget to mark them on your
registration form.

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 4 3 Aug 1987

FIDO-FAM Version 3 Release Announcement by Dennis Glaeser

filename : FFAM301.ARC (latest version is: 3.01)
available from : Fido 100/10 (or any current user)

FIDO-FAM is a FIDO BBS File Area Maintenance utility. It allows
the user to quickly and easily review, modify, and coordinate the
files in any FIDO File Area with the appropriate FILES.BBS file.
Version 3 also has some features to support OPUS BBSs (ver 0).

This utility uses SYSTEMnn.BBS files to define the directories to
use, and manages the files named: FILES.BBS, DIR.BBS, FILES.BAK,
and DIR.BAK in each file area. FIDO-FAM will work with any system
which uses these files as defined by FIDO (version 11w) specs.

FIDO-FAM can be run locally on any computer running MSDOS or
PCDOS 2.x or higher, and which has an ANSI terminal or device
driver installed.

FIDO-FAM can also be run remotely. This allows authorized users
to do file area maintenance from home. The remote terminal, or
modem program, being used MUST respond to the ANSI terminal
control strings for:
- Cursor Positioning
- Clear Screen
- Clear to End of Line
- Set Colors - Note: color display not required.
An 80 x 24 display is used, to support remote users who don't
have 25 line screens.

Program Summary

The following is an abreviated summary of FIDO-FAM's features.
The ARC file contains a complete User Manual, ready to print.

Syntax : FIDO-FAM [a] [b] [d] [i] [n] [r] [k]
[path to system files]
[SEND nn [nn..[nn]] TO filename]

Command Line Parameters:

A - Auto Adopt mode. Upon entry to a file area, new files are
automatically added to FILES.BBS.
B - No Backups. This option defeats the creation of .BAK files
for FILES.BBS and DIR.BBS.
D - Show File Date (the way OPUS does).
I - Make Insert mode the default when editing strings
(otherwise Overwrite mode will be the default).
N - No ANSI Color commands are used.
R - Restore original colors (for PCDOS machines only).

Any multi-char input on the command line, except that which
begins with the keyword 'SEND', is interpreted as the path where
the SYSTEMn.BBS files are to be found.

FidoNews 4-29 Page 5 3 Aug 1987

An environment string named FAMOPT may also be used to invoke
FIDO-FAM options EXCEPT the SEND option. The FAMOPT string has
the same format as the command line.

If the keyword SEND is found on the command line, FIDO-FAM
operates in a Batch SEND mode, rather than interractively. This
means the program creates the SEND file(s) requested and then
terminates.

A SEND file is a copy of FILES.BBS with the File Size, and
optionally File Date included. It is a file 'snapshot' of an
Area's contents, and is also what a user will see when Fido (or
Opus) displays a Files list for the Area.

A SEND command will contain a filename and a list of Area
Numbers. FIDO-FAM will create either a single file which
concatenates the Areas together, or multiple files, one in each
Area.

SEND files can also be created while running FIDO-FAM
interractively.

The following is a list of commands available in the File Area
Editor:
Display Controls (scrolling, paging)
Mark/Unmark Lines (many of the following commands
operate on single or multiple
entries in FILES.BBS. Multiple
entries may be either a range of
lines or all Marked Lines)
Abandon/Adopt file(s)
Send a Command to DOS
Line Editor (for file names and comments)
Find
Regenerate the Display
Insert a comment
Jump (to a new location)
Kill/Delete Line(s)
Move/Copy lines (within this area or to another area)
Overwrite this Comment
Quit the Editor
Rename the File
Sort files (by Name, Extent, or Date)
Date the file description
View a File
Move current line to another area
Display a 'help' screen
Adopt all orphans
Remove Date from Comment(s)
Edit DIR.BBS (one line only)
Touch (update File Date & Time)

This version of FIDO-FAM underwent about 3 months of Beta testing
by a number of Sysops from all over the country. The program's
functionality and user interface were developed in response to
their comments.
FidoNews 4-29 Page 6 3 Aug 1987

FIDO-FAM's copyright allows unlimited non-commercial distribution
and use. User comments, criticisms, suggestions and/or
contributions are solicited.

User support is available by sending messages to Dennis Glaeser
on Fido 100/10 [phone (314) 232-6881].

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 7 3 Aug 1987

James Zachary
Fido 115/537

Hotline! (2)
(c) 1987
James Zachary

The telephone at the water and sewage department is often busy
with calls from customers concerned with public health matters.

RING!

Southeast Treatment Plant, this is Zack.

"Is this the water department?"

Yes Ma'am, for most of this area.

"Good. I have some very technical questions to ask you about
the water."

I'll try and help.

"Why are my nipples getting so hard?"

You're not really serious.

"I AM SO!! My nipples ... they're hard and they have this
white coating on them!"

Uhhhh, huh ... hard, uhhh, nipples with white, uhh ... stuff
...

"Not only that, they're getting warped!"

I see.

"They used to be soft, pink and round!"

I'm sure they were.

"Now they really look disgusting!"

I'm sure they do.

"So I want to know what you're going to do about this!"

I really don't think I can help you. Have you discussed this
with your personal physician?

"Yes I have! He said I should call you because he thought it
was from the water!"

I see... uhhhh, just why and how does he think the water is
causing this?

FidoNews 4-29 Page 8 3 Aug 1987

"He said cleaning them in boiling water sometimes does that."

Sounds painful. Can't you just sponge them off?

"Painful?! THE BABY BOTTLE NIPPLES ARE THE ONES I'M TALKING
ABOUT!"

Now I understand.

"Are you going to buy me new ones?"

Why would we do that?

"Because your water ruined these. My baby won't suck them
anymore. He's been sick and I think it's from the white stuff
... he used to really suck ..."

May I ask how old your baby is?

"He's six, going on seven"

Six ... and he refuses the bottle? Maybe he's getting a little
old for the bottle.

"DON'T TELL ME HOW TO RAISE MY CHILD!"

I wasn't. How long have you been using these nipples?

"Since he was born."

"Hmmmmm. My guess is the white film is from the calcium
carbonate in the water ... kind of like bathtub ring of the
nipple ..."

"AND?!"

... and they are hard and warped because of being boiled and
bitten for six years.

"So! You are refusing to pay!"

Well, that's not for me to decide. I was only trying to
suggest they might just be plain worn out.

"THEY WOULDN'T BE WORN OUT IF YOUR WATER WAS ANY GOOD!"

There is really nothing more I can do for you.

"JUST HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET MY MONEY?"

Well, why not grab your nipples and run down to our main
office. There you can file an insurance claim.

"What good would that do? Will they give me the money?"

They will investigate and make a judgement whether to settle or
FidoNews 4-29 Page 9 3 Aug 1987

not.

"Well, you sure haven't been any help! How do I get them to
pay more attention than you have?"

Just show them your nipples.

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 10 3 Aug 1987

FidoNet's Growing Pains
A USENET Perspective

[The following was extracted from the news.admin USENET news
distributions. This message was massaged to fit the format of
the FidoNews, but is otherwise unaltered. - Kurt Reisler SYSOP
109/74 - The Bear's Den]

Article 621 of news.admin:
Path: hadron!sundc!seismo!husc6!bloom-beacon!think!ames!ptsfa!
ihnp4!cbosgd!hal!ncoast!allbery
From: [email protected] (Brandon Allbery)
Newsgroups: news.groups,news.admin
Subject: Re: Fidonet (was Re: the USENET problems)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 17 Jul 87 03:52:35 GMT
Reply-To: [email protected] (Brandon Allbery)
Followup-To: news.groups
Distribution: na
Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh
Lines: 47
Xref: hadron news.groups:1090 news.admin:621

As quoted from <[email protected]> by [email protected]:

> Unfortunately, Fidonet's 'governing body', IFNA, met with the
> same kind of warm, friendly, cooperative attitude that such
> suggestions meet on usenet. Entire echo conferences
> (=newsgroups) died from the flaming and stupidity. Only about
> 20% of the >1500 public Fidonet nodes have even joined IFNA.
>
> Note that the FidoNews one reads on usenet is the weekly
> newsletter put together by the constructive folk. The
> trashers prefer to occupy net.bandwidth with rumors, innuendo,
> ad hominem attack, and the normal flaming. As Fidonet users
> tend to be more amateur than those on usenet (no implication
> meant in either direction), the Fidonet trashers usually don't
> even make interesting reading.

At the last few meetings of CASA (the Cleveland/Akron Sysops'
Association), I had a discussion with some Fido sysops. The
similarities between Fidonet and Usenet were striking.

Indeed, Fidonet is going through the same problems as the Usenet.
In fact, worse problems, because they don't have any "backbone"
sites, in the Usenet sense: no gatech, no seismo (of course,
that's about to happen to us as well), no UUNET, nothing of the
sort. Excessively low SNR could destroy the Fidonet much more
quickly than it would the Usenet: the current Usenet situation is
untenable on the Fidonet.

I've also become more involved with local Fido systems. And seen
this myself.

When it comes down to it, anarchy doesn't work when the
population is too high. Fidonet is rapidly approaching the line,
FidoNews 4-29 Page 11 3 Aug 1987

Usenet passed it long ago but continues on sheer blind inertia.
(The loss of seismo may well blow Usenet sky-high. Add the
possibility that Gene Spafford may leave the net, and it gets
worse. If UUNET fails (still possible) on top of everything
else, the loss of coordinated effort may damage the Usenet beyond
all hope of recovery.)

It's time to open our eyes and look at the world. Part of this
may involve the "backbone cabal" meeting with the IFNA "board of
directors" (if and when) and comparing notes; maybe together we
can come up with a solution for both networks. As it is, it is
certain that the current situation is teetering on the brink.
--
[Copyright 1987 Brandon S. Allbery, all rights reserved] \ ncoast
216-781-6201 Redistributable only if redistribution is
subsequently permitted.] \ 2400 bd. Brandon S. Allbery, moderator
of comp.sources.misc and comp.binaries.ibm.pc
ihnp4!{hoptoad,cbosgd}!ncoast!allbery
<<The opinions herein are those of my cat, therefore they must be
correct!>>

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 12 3 Aug 1987

=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================

The Interrupt Stack

20 Aug 1987
Start of the Fourth International FidoNet Conference, to be
held at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, VA.
Contact Brian Hughes at 109/634 for more information. This is
FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet
all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're
hoping to see you there!

24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.

If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.

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COMPUTERFEST '87
August 22-23 1987
Saturday 10am to 6pm
Sunday 10am to 5pm
Dayton Hara Arena

Speakers, Seminars, User Group information, Product
demonstrations, Flea Market.

Drawing each day for a personal computer. Hourly door prize
drawing.

Tickets $3.00 at the door for each day. Parking is FREE and
there is a lot of it.

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Fourth International FidoNet Conference

With the conference rapidly approaching, I want to remind
everyone to send in your registration forms. Even though
registrations will be accepted on Thursday Evening and Friday
Morning at the Conference, It will not be possible to sign up for
the Banquet on Friday or the Luncheon on Saturday if you do not
pre-register. We need to have a final head count for these
functions by Tuesday, August 18th. Please send in your
registration forms before that date.

Anyone wishing to charge their registration fees on either Visa
or MasterCard, feel free to contact Brian Hughes at the number
listed below. Remember, your participation will help insure a
FidoNews 4-29 Page 13 3 Aug 1987

successful conference.

Brian Hughes: 202-543-4200 (work)
202-546-0883 (home)

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Latest Software Versions

BBS Systems Node List Other
& Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version

Dutchie 2.51 EDITNL 3.3 ARC 5.21
Fido 11w LISTGEN 05.25.86 ARCmail 1.00*
Opus 1.00* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 3.00*
SEAdog 4.00 TestList 8.3 EchoMail 1.31
TBBS 2.0M XlatList 2.81 Renum 3.30

* Recently changed

Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 14 3 Aug 1987

OFFICIAL REGISTRATION FORM
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL FIDONET CONFERENCE
RADISSON MARK PLAZA HOTEL
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
AUGUST 20 - 23, 1987

Name _________________________________ Date _____________
Address ______________________________
City & State _________________________
Phone (Voice) ________________________
Net/Node Number ______________________
Phone (Data) _________________________

Number in Your Party _________________
Staying at the Radisson? _____________
Number of Rooms? _____________________
Arrival Date? ________________________
Departure Date? ______________________

Registration Fees: How Many Total

Full Conference $60.00 each ________ $________
Late registration $10.00 each ________ $________
(after Aug. 1)

Friday Night Banquet $30.00 each ________ $________
Saturday Luncheon $16.50 each ________ $________

Total Amount Included (Registration and Meals) $________

IFNA MEMBERS ONLY:
How many in your party will
be attending the Sunday morning
Board of Directors meeting? ________

Send your registration form and a check or money order to:

Fourth International FidoNet Conference
212 E. Capitol St., Washington, D.C. 20003
Attn: Brian H. Hughes -- voice: (202) 543-4200

This registration form does not include hotel accomodations. If
you wish to stay at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel, please contact
them directly and mention you are with the FidoNet Conference.
Conference room rates are $80/night for single or double
occupancy, and $20/night for an extra cot.

Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel
5000 Seminary Rd., Alexandria, Va. 22311
1-800-228-9822

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FidoNews 4-29 Page 15 3 Aug 1987

INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
ORDER FORM

Publications

The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido
1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing them
directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee Chairmen
provide us with the latest versions of each publication, but we
can make no written guarantees.

Hardcopy prices as of October 1, 1986

IFNA Fido BBS listing $15.00 _____
IFNA Administrative Policy DOCs $10.00 _____
IFNA FidoNet Standards Committee DOCs $10.00 _____

SUBTOTAL _____

IFNA Member ONLY Special Offers

System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____
SEAdog price as of March 1, 1987
ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member

International orders include $5.00 for
surface shipping or $15.00 for air shipping _____

SUBTOTAL _____

Mo. Residents add 5.725 % Sales tax _____

TOTAL _____

SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
IFNA
P.O. Box 41143
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 USA

Name________________________________
Net/Node____/____
Company_____________________________
Address_____________________________
City____________________ State____________ Zip_____
Voice Phone_________________________

Signature___________________________
FidoNews 4-29 Page 16 3 Aug 1987

__
The World's First / \
BBS Network /|oo \
* FidoNet * (_| /_)
_`@/_ \ _
| | \ \\
| (*) | \ ))
______ |__U__| / \//
/ Fido \ _//|| _\ /
(________) (_/(_|(____/ (jm)

Membership for the International FidoNet Association

Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
increase worldwide communications. **

Name _________________________________ Date ________
Address ______________________________
City & State _________________________
Country_______________________________
Phone (Voice) ________________________

Net/Node Number ______________________
Board Name____________________________
Phone (Data) _________________________
Baud Rate Supported___________________
Board Restrictions____________________
Special Interests_____________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
Is there some area where you would be
willing to help out in FidoNet?_______
______________________________________
______________________________________

Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to:

International FidoNet Association
P. O. Box 41143
St Louis, Missouri 63141
USA

Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
insure the future of FidoNet.

** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
in formation and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted
by the membership in January 1987. An Elections Committee has
been established to fill positions outlined in the By-Laws for
the Board of Directors. An IFNA Echomail Conference has been
established on FidoNet to assist the Elections Committee. We
welcome your input on this Conference.

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