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. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for
network mail 24 hours a day.
Copyright 1989 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. IFNA may also be contacted
at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141.
Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and
are used with permission.
We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article
published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No
article will be rejected which is properly attributed and legally
acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission
received.
Table of Contents
1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
National Major League Baseball Echo Proposed ............. 1
FrontDoor - Mailer for the 90's .......................... 2
SEA Letter: USNO ......................................... 6
Will ZIP Replace ARC? .................................... 7
2. COLUMNS .................................................. 10
The Old Frog's Almanac - Update .......................... 10
Trapped .................................................. 12
Let's YACK about (How) FidoNet Gains Independence! ....... 14
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 15
And more!
FidoNews 6-11 Page 1 13 Mar 1989
While looking through a list of available national echos recently,
I was surprised to note there is not an echo dedicated to Major
League Baseball. As an ardent fan of the game, I decided to take
it upon myself and start one. In the process, I have enlisted the
aid of Glen Jackson, sysop of the local IBM User's Group's BBS, as
well as his own BBS here in St. Louis, Mo.
I am involved in broadcast media, and am in the press contingent
that covers the St. Louis Cardinals locally. This gives me
occasional insight into the game from a different perspective from
most fans. It is also our hope to be able to draw an occasional
response or visit from various others in media and in the game
itself on the echo. There are a lot of computer users in the game
itself, and in the people on the fringe of the game.
The scope of the discussion would be limited to Major League and
AAA Minor League Baseball. It is our belief that it should also
restrict itself to discussion of the game, and the merits of its
participants both present and past, and to avoid "flaming,"
advertising of any nature, and, in general, promote good
conversation in a courteous environment. While there are some
great rivalries in the game between various teams, the inheret
nastiness they bring out would also be avoided by rules. We are
more interested in promoting the discussion of the game itself than
continuing friendly, and not-so-friendly discussions between fans
of rival team.
It is our best hope to have the echo started by the beginning of
baseball season in April; if we can get enough boards on-line in
time, perhaps we could start during spring training. Baseball has
been setting attendance records across the country- last year was
the best season ever. I think this makes it an excellent time to
begin a national echo for our national sport!
--- David Blair @ 100/617
For those of you that would be interested: we will first be
putting together a list of those nodes that wish to participate.
This will NOT be a closed echo. If enough nodes request links
immediatly, we will ask to have this run through the backbone. If
not, 100/617 will Host it.
Moderator will be David Blair. Conference Rules will be posted.
For more information, you may send netmail to: David Blair 100/617
--- Glen Jackson 100/617 (100/0)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 2 13 Mar 1989
F R O N T D O O R 2 . 0
=========================
The Mailer for the 90's!
-by-
Onanus Maximus
(Michael Nelson, 143/20)
How 'bout it, Bunky? Would you like a FREE 5 megabytes of hard
disc space? Would you like to stop juggling 10 or 12 programs,
just to get the ol' mail in and out?
Would you like to do everything with function keys, instead of
having to constantly exit from your mailer to modify countless
batch, routing, event, and config files?
Would you like an editor that is virtually a word processor?
How 'bout a terminal program that is every bit as good as TELIX
3.11, but integrated into your mailer program?
If all this sounds good, you should take a look at "Front Door",
Joaquim Homrighausen's superb integrated mailer. The "Last Test
Release (1.13g)" of Front Door 2.00 came out last week, and several
members of Net 143 have converted to it. Every one I have talked
to who has tried it is delighted with FD. Why?
The SETUP Program:
Front Door is a truly INTEGRATED mailer package. To begin with,
one of the first features of FD you encounter when setting it up is
the SETUP.EXE program. This is a very nicely done, menu-driven
program that lets you set up all parameters required for FD's
operation. After you have run Setup.exe the first time and have FD
running, you can modify all parameters, on the fly, by merely
pressing your F6 key!
The Setup program even gives you dropdown menu driven control
over your event schedules and security (session passwording, file
passwording, etc.). You can easily setup colors for the mailer and
for the terminal program. Modem control is also accessible from
Setup, as is complete control over file requests.
If you are running a ConfMail-type message system, Setup
includes up to 200 "Folders" for Echo, Local, and NetMail areas,
all configurable from the menu.
For those of you with Assistant Sysops (boy, that must be THE
LIFE!), Setup includes multiple levels of password protected
security for the Sysop and the Assistant sysop. You can allow your
Assistant access to only certain functions and areas, if you like.
And, Setup allows control of security for FD's powerful Server
function. More about the Server later....
The Mailer Program:
FidoNews 6-11 Page 3 13 Mar 1989
The Mailer program is the heart and soul of Front Door, and,
when you compare it with BinkleyTerm 2.00, it is evident that you
are dealing with state of the art mailer design. Every function
you need is instantly accessible through multiple layers of
Function keys, with context sensitive help available at most points
just by pressing the F1 key.
If you are tired of oMMM and its mysterious ways, you will love
Front Door. FD includes its own integrated packer which packs
bundles on the fly, only when they are to be sent during the
current event. FD also includes a complete set of easy to use
routing commands, and it supports route scheduling which is tied to
your events.
Recent history stats are automatically maintained, and you have
control through Setup as to how much history FD should keep. There
are separate Inbound and Outbound history screens with all the data
you could possibly need, and these data screens are easily
maintained, again through the use of Function Keys. You can sort
data, tag it, dump it to a file, print it, etc., all from the
Manager sub-menus.
There are pre-programmed Function keys as well as 10 user
definable ones, accessible as Alt-Fx series keys.
Just got a new NodeDiff? No problem... FD includes an
integrated NodeList compiler, and the resulting compiled NodeList
files are so much smaller than the ones required for Bink that it
is ridiculous! A savings of several hundred K of disc space is
realized by these files alone! You can easily compile your
NodeList with a simple press of a function key, or you can put the
necessary code into your RUNFD.BAT batch file to handle it for you
when the new NodeDiff arrives. (I should point out, however, that
the FREE version of FD will not yet merge the NodeDiff with the
existing NodeList... that feature is included in the commercial
version, though). Because of the built-in compiler, you will not
need ParseList, XlatList, or XlaxNode (but you WILL need XlaxDiff
to do the merge).
The Editor:
The editor built into FD 2.0 is by far the best editor in any
mailer package. This sucker is virtually a word processor, with
such functions (again, all accessible through multiple layers of
function keys) as importing a text file into a message, the ability
to send multiple copies of the message out buy typing CC: and then
either the name or the net/node number, file attach, file request,
forwarding, replying, reply with quoting, ten user definable Origin
lines that you select from a menu, accessing a specific message by
number, and scanning for unread messages.
There is a second level of function keys under the Utilities key
which allows you to do such things as printing a single message,
tagging several messages either manually or through a selection
process, printing tagged messages, dumping messages to a file,
FidoNews 6-11 Page 4 13 Mar 1989
purging messages by user or system... it goes on and on! There
are eight pages in the manual devoted to the many varied functions
of the editor alone!
The Terminal Program:
Calling Front Door's terminal program a "Dumb Terminal" is like
calling Albert Einstein "slow". This terminal program is easily
the equal of Telix 3.11, and for a SYSOP, it is much better! It
includes the ability to use the entire nodelist as a dialing
directory, and to easily import a node's data into the 200 position
dialing directory. You can either enter a net/node number or a
Sysop's name, and this terminal will find the right number. If you
enter a name search string, FD will find all the matches in the
NodeList, and pop up a menu for you to select from. For instance,
if you type in Todd Looney, it will show you 143/0, 143/27, and
even 143/28 (Integrated Systems, Todd's business BBS). You then
select the one you want with the moving bar menu, and it will dial
out.
The terminal has the ability to store over 60 thousand sets of
macro keys for logon codes, etc, and will store information about
the macro key set you use with that particular BBS.
All of the great file transfer protocols are hard coded into the
program, and it includes automatic Zmodem downloads, YModem-G
(great for those of us who have HST's, PEP's, or MNP modems because
YModem-G does not use any error correction and therefore is much
faster with error correcting modems), and SeaLink Overdrive, in
addition to the old standbys like Xmodem and Ymodem.
The Server Program:
Front Door's Server program allows you to call in with a pre-
written script, sent in the form of a message, and the script will
execute in a fashion similar to a DOS batch file. Basically,
anything you can do with a batch file, you can do with Server!
And, for security, Server sessions are password protected. This
really gives you capabilities similar to (but not as powerful as)
programs such as Carbon Copy Plus and PC Anywhere III.
Point Support:
Front Door's support of points is unsurpassed by any other
mailer. Full point addressing is used (1:143/20.3, etc.), and is
also supported by Joaquim's optional FDTosScan program for tossing
and scanning mail.
Zone Awareness:
Since Joaquim is Swedish, and does lots of EchoMail with nodes
in Europe, he and Peter Stewart have taken extra pains to make FD
especially Zone-Aware. For those of you who are involved in
multiple Nets such as EggNet and AlterNet, FD will make your
interzone work painless. In fact, Zone Awareness was such an
important part of FD's development that the company that Joaquim
FidoNews 6-11 Page 5 13 Mar 1989
and Peter started is called InterZone Software!
Summary:
Hopefully I have not "gushed" too much about Front Door, but it
is the most exciting development in mailers since BinkleyTerm was
introduced, and you may have guessed that I am very enthusiastic
about it. It has already made my life as a SYSOP easier, and has
reduced my phone bills to boot, because FD performs mail transfer
handshaking MUCH faster, thereby reducing your connect time. Put
those benefits together with the enormous savings in disc space, (I
picked up about 4 megabytes of free space by converting,
considering I was able to blow away TELIX, Binkley, oMMM, Bonk,
XlaxNode, Please, Amax, and go to fewer and smaller NodeList
files), and it makes Front Door pretty hard to beat!
If you have any doubts about all this, please feel free to send
me NetMail at 1:143/20 or 1:143/400. Or, check with any of the
nodes who have recently converted to this state of the art mailer.
The list currently includes 143/23, 143/20, 143/29, 143/27,
143/120, and 204/42. Several other nodes in 143 have freq'd the
program from me and are in process of converting. You can freq FD
from me either under the magic name "FD" or as FD113.PAK. It is a
big archive though (about 523K), and takes about 40 minutes at 2400
bps or about 8 minutes at 9600/ARQ (*HST*).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 6 13 Mar 1989
What's Happening at SEA?
When it was first introduced, the USNO program by System
Enhancement Associates, Inc. was widely hailed as by far the best
such program anywhere. So what did we do? We made it better.
USNO is a program that calls the U.S. Naval Observatory and sets
your system clock. What could be simpler? However, that can get
a bit expensive for those of us who don't happen to live in
Maryland.
It has always been possible to tell USNO to dial a different
phone number, but that hasn't helped much as there is a severely
limited supply of Naval Observatories in the United States.
But with the advent of the SHELL statement in SEAdog 4.50, any
SEAdog system can be a "Naval Observatory" for his friends and
neighbors. All it takes is a copy of USNO version 1.05, and the
following statement in your CONFIG.DOG file:
shell 84 usno EST -r30
Change the time zone to whatever yours happens to be, of course.
Now anyone with USNO version 1.05 can tell it to use YOUR phone
number.
Files mentioned this week:
USNO.ARC The USNO clock-setter.
USNO.ARC may be downloaded from our technical support bulletin
board at (201) 473-1991, or may be file-requested from either
520/1015@AlterNet or 1:107/1015@FidoNet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 7 13 Mar 1989
John Herro
1:363/6
Will ZIP Replace ARC?
Bulletin boards store most files in a compressed form for two
reasons. First, it reduces the time it takes to send files by
modem, saving on telephone charges. Second, it saves disk space.
At one time, most files were compressed with the program SQZ
(Squeeze). Also, several related files were grouped into one
"library" file with LU (Library Utility).
System Enhancement Associates (SEA) improved file compression
dramatically with a shareware program called ARC (Archive). ARC
compresses files and groups them into one file, all in one pro-
gram. Also, it compresses files harder (to a smaller size) than
SQZ. Although .ARC files are not compatible with SQZ, ARC is a
much better program. So almost overnight, ARC files replaced SQZ
files on bulletin boards.
Phil Katz of PKWARE then produced a shareware program PKARC,
which was compatible with ARC, but ran much faster. A later ver-
sion of PKARC was able to squeeze some files harder than SEA ARC
at the expense of compatibility. However, it had an option to
produce SEA ARC compatible files. Even with the greater compres-
sion turned on, PKARC ran much faster than SEA ARC.
Then SEA sued PKWARE for violating its copyright and for using
the name "ARC" and the .ARC file format. Which side (if either)
was right is debatable, but the court ordered PKWARE to stop
selling ARC compatible programs and to stop using the name "ARC."
NoGate Consulting produced a shareware program PAK that can pro-
duce ARC compatible files. It squeezes harder than PKARC, but
runs considerably slower. It is still faster than SEA ARC.
Just now PKWARE released the shareware program PKZIP. It pro-
duces .ZIP files (called zipfiles) that are not compatible with
ARC. However, it runs as fast as PKARC or even faster, and it
squeezes harder than PKARC. Also, with extra compression turned
on (by typing the options -ea4 -eb4), it squeezes even harder
than NoGate PAK and runs about as fast compressing, and much
faster expanding!
I benchmarked all these programs by compressing version 1.21 of
my ADA-TUTR (Ada Tutor) program, which contains 33 files totaling
more than 700K. The files are of a variety of types. I didn't
benchmark PKPAK, because it is the same as PKARC except for the
file extension. The benchmarks were run on a Toshiba T1200 lap-
top. The results show that PKZIP is clearly the winner:
Normal Compression:
PKARC v. 3.5 319577 62 secs. 63 secs.
PKZIP v. 0.9 297045 61 secs. 66 secs.
Maximum Compression:
NoGate PAK v. 1.0 287228 155 secs. 154 secs.
PKZIP -ea4 -eb4 257399 160 secs. 57 secs.
It looks as though Phil Katz actually outdid himself with PKZIP.
In normal compression, it runs in about the same time as PKARC,
but compresses harder. In maximum compression, it squeezes hard-
er than NoGate PAK, compressing in about the same time and ex-
panding 2.7 times faster!
PKZIP has a few new features, such as the ability to include sub-
directories. However, these are unimportant compared with the
excellent compression the program achieves.
I have no connection with PKWARE, except for being a registered
user of PKZIP. However,
------------------------------------------------------------
| I think that ZIP will soon replace ARC as the standard |
| for bulletin boards, just as ARC earlier replaced SQZ. |
------------------------------------------------------------
There are more reasons besides the superior performance of PKZIP.
First, if I correctly understood SEA's announcement in FidoNews
607, the latest version of SEA ARC is not shareware but a commer-
cial program! This is just what I had feared in the article "My
Two Cents Worth on PK vs. SEA" in FidoNews 540. Clearly we want
a shareware file compressor that can be freely spread around on
bulletin boards! Second, Phil Katz explicitly placed the name
ZIP and the ZIP file format in the Public Domain, to encourage
others to write ZIP compatible software. SEA has not done this
with ARC, which is why the court could stop PKWARE from selling
ARC compatible software. By placing the ZIP file format and name
in the Public Domain, Phil Katz is wisely preventing a repetition
of the unfortunate legal battle that recently took place.
Some sysops may hesitate to use PKZIP because their bulletin
board software (e.g., Opus) can list the contents of an ARChive
but not a ZIPfile. However, as ZIP becomes the new standard, the
software writers will make their software compatible with it.
Who will be the first person to write a ZIPmail program similar
to ARCmail?
PKZIP is distributed as the self extracting program PKZ090.EXE.
You can find it on many bulletin boards, including Society BBS,
1:363/6, 407-773-2831. Get a copy, spread it around, and evalu-
ate it. If you like it, register and use it. (Those who regis-
tered PKARC need not register PKZIP.) Let's make the BEST file
compression method the new BBS standard!
FidoNews 6-11 Page 9 13 Mar 1989
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 10 13 Mar 1989
"Too zoon oldt unt too late schmart..."
by Ken McVay, 1:153/20
There is an inexorable line of progression that seems to impose
itself upon those of us who become enamoured of FidoNet.
First, of course, is that surge of excitement when you receive
your new node number, and your first netmail message. As time
goes on, you find yourself becoming more and more interested in
some specific area, and, over a period of time, increasingly
proud of your clever accomplishments.
You become an expert at creating ever more efficient batch files.
You watch, you learn from your mistakes, and from your fellows,
and your knowledge continues to grow....until perhaps one day you
look at your system and smugly say to yourself "Ain't this
grand?"
You become quite convinced it just CAN'T be improved.
And then some gen-u-wine Old Phart who perhaps had "Node 12" when
all of this began pops in for a few hours, looks at your system,
shakes his head, and says "Have you considered doing that THIS
way instead?"
Invariably, having implemented his suggestions, you discover that
not only has your system become FAR more efficient, but that he
has simplified complexities to the point where your mind begins
(sigh...) to reel at the new possibilities.....and the circle
continues to turn...
Such was the case with me, when I began submitting columns about
my Almanac extraction system a few weeks ago. Having fought with
the task for nearly three years, I was quite certain that I had
finally arrived....hell, it was 99% automatic, right? And if my
SEAdog batch file had grown to nearly 100K, and its sheer bult
had began to impact on everything ELSE the system did, well, that
was a small price to pay for the terrific stuff it was doing.
Hell, if I had to spend another pile of money on a faster
computer, why not? Perhaps I had simply become so terrific at
what I do that I had outgrown this screamer in a short 5 months,
and it was time to get more toys, right?
Wrong. My old net host, Ken Yerex (now 153/1103), dropped in for
a weekend's social frolic...Ken is a certified Old Phart if there
ever was one, so I started showing off my toys, including my 98K
batch file...hey, you show most folks a 98K batch file, and they
fall all over themselves telling you how smart you are, right?
When I showed it to Ken, however, and told him it was too slow,
and I was going to buy a 20MHz machine to solve the problem, he
just smiled and said "What on earth for?"
FidoNews 6-11 Page 11 13 Mar 1989
He then proceeded to reduce the size of the batch file to 24K,
make the entire system lightening fast, and leave on Sunday with
a big grin on his face.....and here I sit, 5 years of experience
shattered in 4 hours, thinking about all the POWER he gave me to
play with...letssee now...I think I can REALLY do some neat stuff
NOW....so, you see, the circle turns once again.
What did he do? Well, for starters, he introduced me to the CALL
command (DOS 3.3 +) and we began creating smaller batch files
that wouldn't require searching 1600 lines to edit. He created a
RAMDisk of tiny proportions in extended ram, and moved everything
into it. Then the REAL education began. Next week I'll show you
how Yerex built a Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear :-)
Cheers!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 12 13 Mar 1989
Pam Murray
Fido 1:340/12
TRAPPED
The leopard paces slowly back and forth in his cage. As he
looks out through the iron bars, he can see the faces of children
and adults laughing at him. A piece of popcorn thrown by a
condescending spectator bounces off his nose, and he growls
menacingly, leaping against the bars and frightening the people
away.
The leopard looks longingly out at the open fields and sunny
meadows the peacocks and rabbits romp in. The leopard has been
living in his cage at the zoo for two years now, and every day the
metal grows colder, and the artificial cave he lives in becomes
drearier. He was born to be a wild animal, and roamed the open
African plains freely until he was captured and imprisoned in the
zoo.
The leopard slowly heads toward his cage and lies on the cold
metal floor. Sure, the attendants spread hay on the floor of his
cage so that the cage look more realistic, but the leopard knows
that he is lying on reinforced steel; not the warm brown soils of
his homeland.
The leopard closes his eyes and tries to imagine himself
racing after an antelope and dragging his prey back home to eat it,
but he is brought back to reality by the resounding echo of a
slamming metal door. There were no doors in his homeland, only
warm, rolling plains, and long grass that he could hide in. The
zookeeper brings the leopard his food. The leopard misses hunting
for his own food. Hunting was his livelihood - if not his main
reason for living. He thrived on the thrill of the chase and the
exhilaration of killing his prey. Now, in the zoo, his food is
brought to him. The leopard is becoming fat, and he knows that the
aches in his bones are caused by lack of exercise.
The leopard snarls at his keeper and climbs his concrete tree.
From here he can see his cage in all its grandeur - the flies
swarming about his food dish, the stale popcorn and the floor, the
artificial turf, the dry hay, and the flourescent lights in the
ceiling. The leopard descends from the 'tree' and enters his
'cave'. Here, knowing he will never return to Africa, he lies down
to sleep, and never wakes up.
Perhaps he is happier this way. No doubt, the leopard's
heaven is full of antelope, warm soils, and blue skies. There are
rolling plains and long green grass he can hide in there, and he is
the king of it all. His heaven knows no cages, bars, or artificial
anything. The leopard had died, but we must not mourn him, for he
is truly happy now. (P)
PAM!
----
FidoNews 6-11 Page 13 13 Mar 1989
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 14 13 Mar 1989
YACK
Yet Another Complicated Komment
by Steven K. Hoskin
( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 )
Episode 23: FidoNet Gains Independence!
A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away - oops, wrong scene)
there was a man with a vision. To see personal computers around
the world linked together in an electronic mail network. The
network was FidoNet, and the man was Ol' Grandad Fido himself,
Tom Jennings.
For a long while this vision grew and took form, and the history
of FidoNet tells the tale of this expansion, a dream coming to
life in the modern-day electronic wizardry of the 20th Century.
As the network grew in leaps and bounds, many of the Great Ones
in FidoNet repeatedly expressed a desire to form a fraternal
organization of FidoNet Sysops; an organization that could be a
source of strength when the chips were down; a source of
equipment when the hardware was down; a pool of money and legal
resources when the law came down in the inevitable user abuse
court cases. What they wanted was an organization OF FidoNet
Sysops FOR FidoNet Sysops.
It was natural to fear that an organization which was collecting
and pooling money for this central source of aid would have to
pay taxes; and knowing that the money would not come easy, we
wanted to lose absolutely nothing we didn't have to. A natural
sounding solution was to become a tax-sheltered organization, for
example, a non-profit organization. After all, this organization
WOULDN'T be making any profit, it would merely be a pool of
resources for FidoNet Sysops.
The International FidoNet Association (IFNA) was formed as a
result of this second dream. Once it was formed as a corporate
entity, it fought for and finally received 501(c) status - that
of a general not-for-profit organization. Success! Right?
Well...
Due to the legalisms of BEING a 501(c) company, IFNA must now
take all hands off of FidoNet and work FOR THE PUBLIC. Educating
the public about telecommunication by disseminating information
about FidoNet technology. Not running or helping FidoNet.
You're on your own again, FidoNet. Good Luck!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 15 13 Mar 1989
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 16 13 Mar 1989
8 May 1989
Digital Equipment Corporations User Society (DECUS) will be
holding its semi-annual symposium in Atlanta, GA. Runs
through May 12. As usual sysop's will get together and chat.
19 May 1989
Start of EuroCon III at Eindhoven, The Netherlands
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
24 Aug 1989
FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose,
California. Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1/89
for info.
5 Oct 1989
20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
Don Daniels, Chairman
Bylaws and Rules Committee
1:107/210
Report on New IFNA Bylaws
The purpose of this report to provide a listing of those bylaws
amendments that were passed in the recent election and to discuss
some of the ramifications of such passage, in certain instances.
Those proposed Bylaw amendments that passed are as follows:
In discussing the impact of these bylaws changes, my intention is
to skip over those which strike me as relatively insignificant.
These include those which clarified "ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING" and
"ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING" as opposed to just "ANNUAL MEETING",
removed certain responsibilities from the Secretary or extended
them to his/her designate, and other similar matters of
housekeeping. If, perchance, I've overlooked something you
consider significant, then please feel free to respond to the
address above or to submit a letter to the editor.
Bylaws Amendments Enacted in the Recent Election
================================================
DEF.02 - This amendment changed all references from "IFNA
Network/Nodelist" to "FidoNet Network/Nodelist". It is unclear
what the effect of this will be considering the Board's action to
move further away from FidoNet in response to what was felt as
the desire of the membership as expressed in other areas and the
purposes of the organization as spelled out in the Articles of
Association.
DEF.04 - By adding this definition for International Coordinator,
IFNA now has formal recognition of the position. However,
nowhere else in the bylaws is this position mentioned and the
claim that the IC is "elected by the various Zones and Regional
Coordinators to arbitrate and rule on Inter-Zonal disputes" is
not in accordance with historical fact. This bylaw seems to
really be worthless in terms of the current position of IFNA.
FidoNews 6-11 Page 18 13 Mar 1989
01.01 - Life members are now entitled to the full rights of such
additional membership categories for which they eligible.
01.02 - This amendment is going to create quite a few problems
because it was not well crafted. Its intention was to provide
some direct representation for FidoNet sysops who were unwilling
to join IFNA. The compromise it suggests may be reasonable in
intent, but the administrative problems it creates are
significant. The board of Directors, recognizing this, has
established a processing fee equal to the actual cost per ballot
of the past election to cover at least some of this potential
administrative burden. However, it is still unclear as to just
how to best interpret some of the clauses of this amendment and
to apply them to our real-life situation. In addition, current
changes of direction as expressed by the board may do much to
remove the original problem this amendment attempted to solve.
It would appear that the most likely way in which this could
actually work is as follows:
o Anyone who was listed in the FidoNet nodelist for 180 days
prior to the last annual membership meeting may apply to
become an at-large member of IFNA. No annual dues are
presently associated with this application. [The burden of
proof for meeting the requirement has not as yet been
allocated; it may be left to the applicant to provide the
proof as part of the application.]
o Anyone who becomes a member under this clause will therefore
become an at-large member for one year and will be entitled
to vote as indicated. Ballots will be sent to all such
members of record as of the cut-off date established in the
rules for the election. How the processing fee will be
collected is unclear; probably it will be required to be
returned with the ballot, if not required at the time of
application.
09 - This amendment should provide for better reporting of the
activities of the corporation by reducing the lead time for the
reports and by extending the number of reports required.
10 - The previous lead-time requirements for parts of the
election process were much too long in practice. Many people
discovered that they were too late to respond to the requirments
last year. Therefore, these dates have been shortened to more
meaningful time frames. However, there are problems with
overseas responses; it is expected that procedures currently
being implemented will address these problems so that the
shortened time spans will not burn one segment of the membership
at the benefit of another.
18 - Under the old bylaws, a Director could not be recalled in
FidoNews 6-11 Page 19 13 Mar 1989
the last six months of a term; this has now been reduced to
three months.
24.02 - This amendment, well intentioned though it may be, is
going to present so much of a problem that it is probable that
the BoD will have to intercede and change it prior to the next
election. The worst thing about it is that it INCREASES the
Board of Directors from the current 22 to 24. The Board is
convinced that it cannot operate effectively with such a number.
Discussions in St. Louis seemed to point to ten as being a more
realistic number in order to assure effective participation.
However, getting down to so low a number will require additional
bylaws changes to account for shortened terms - an unhappy
prospect.
Meanwhile, please consider the distribution this amendment has
created in terms of approximate nodes per voting division:
Based on 22 directors, there should be approximately 530 nodes in
each division. As can be seen from the above, splitting voting
division 12 into 12 and 3 was totally unnecessary as their
combined level of 447 already resulted in greater representation
per node than average. The division which should have been split
into two was unquestionably division 2 (1180/2=590). It can also
be seen that divisions 14, 15, and 16 should probably be combined
or redistributed (147+263+291=701).
In any event, the Board has already indicated that it wishes to
reduce its membership and that it desires to maintain roughly
equal representation. There should soon be an amendment to this
bylaw presented to the Board which will effect this for the
upcoming election. The Board also considered the problem of
international representation. None of the three overseas
directors was able to make the recent meeting, and two of them
turned out to be completely unrepresented. Obviously, whatever
solution that is reached in terms of distribution, must take into
account the difficulties of real international representation.
24.08 - This amendment allows the Board of Directors to change
the voting Divisions. It is expected that being able to do this
will result in fairer representation. As indicated above, some
of the Divisions do not provide reasonably fair per capita
representation, and it is expected that this will be corrected
shortly.
29 - This amendment has removed responsibility for a nodelist
from the Vice President - Technical Coordinator, which is more in
FidoNews 6-11 Page 20 13 Mar 1989
line with current reality. In addition, it also removes the line
declaring responsibility for the "smooth operation of the FidoNet
Network." Based on this direction from the membership, the board
has moved further away from any direct involvement with FidoNet.
35.01 - See 40.01 below.
35.02 - See 40.01 below.
39 - The policy for FidoNews has been explicitly stated to be "to
publish all submitted articles of interest to the FidoNet
community, within the bounds of legality and good taste." The
only difficulty with this is in determining what is "legal and in
good taste" within the FidoNet community, considering it is so
large and encompasses so many local variations. The Board has
affirmed the power of the Editor to act as the executor of this
policy, with the exception that either the Publications Committee
or the Executive Committee may override the Editor and cause an
article to be published which the Editor had chosen to withhold.
40.01 - With the changes to Bylaw 35, the responsibilities of the
Bylaws Committee in the Bylaws amendment process is now made much
more clear and the rights of minority groups to demand changes
are firmly established.
40.02 - This amendment is a compromise between those that feel
that the bylaws should be changed by the BoD and those that feel
that they should be changed by the membership. The BoD may
hereafter change Bylaws, but all such changes are automatically
to be subjected to the review of the membership during the next
election. The BoD has since exercised this right, as indicated
below.
42 - This new bylaw simply clarifies the order of precedence of
new conditions at a BoD meeting.
43 - This new bylaw is intended to dictate the basis upon which
IFNA is to relate to various networks. Should various network
entities enter into such agreement, it will clarify much of the
confusion and reduce the resulatant bad will such has existed in
the case of IFNA and FidoNet.
44 - An adjunct to the previous amendment, the establishment of a
grievance mechanism to resolve problems within the scope of
formal agreements only should also reduce ill will.
45 - The intent of this bylaw is to encourage innovative means of
FidoNews 6-11 Page 21 13 Mar 1989
operating IFNA. To date, we have been severely hog-tied due to
the fact that there was no basis whereby we were assured we could
legally transact business in electronic sessions. This should
help to alleviate that problem by giving us the mandate to do so.
The only thing that would trip us up on this now is if controling
jurisdictions pass laws specifically forbidding the transaction
of business through such means.
Bylaws Amendments Enacted by the Board of Directors
===================================================
46 - "Official communications of the Board of Directors or
Executive Commitee may be presented, in lieu of written form as
called for within these bylaws, through electronic means,
providing such means are secure and their authenticity
verifiable."
This bylaw will make it much easier for IFNA officials to do
their jobs in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, the complete list of these amendments is not
available. In addition to the one above, there was one that
established how certain IFNA officials could be removed from
office. There may have been one more, but I'm not sure as to
what it was at present. Hopefully, the transcriptions of the
meeting will soon be completed from the audio tapes and will
provide this information. Once available, I will prepare a
follow-up report.
The complete set of the current Articles and Bylaws may be
obtained from 1:107/210 as BYLAWS.ARC. It contains ARTICLES.TXT,
BYLAWS.TXT, and yymmdd.DOC which specifies the date the file was
last revised.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 22 13 Mar 1989
OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Chairman of the Board
Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President
Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
Bill Bolton 3:54/61 Vice President-Technical Coordinator
Linda Grennan 1:147/1 Secretary
Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer
IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS
Administration and Finance Mark Grennan 1:147/1
Board of Directors Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
Bylaws Don Daniels 1:107/210
Ethics Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390
Executive Committee Bob Rudolph 1:261/628
International Affairs Rob Gonsalves 2:500/1
Membership Services David Drexler 1:147/1
Nominations & Elections David Melnick 1:107/233
Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/1
Publications Rick Siegel 1:107/27
Security & Individual Rights Jim Cannell 1:143/21
Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIVISION AT-LARGE
10 Courtney Harris 1:130/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210
11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
12 Bill Bolton 3:54/61 Mark Grennan 1:147/1
13 Irene Henderson 1:107/9 (vacant)
14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5
15 Scott Miller 1:128/12 Matt Whelan 3:54/99
16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628
17 Neal Curtin 1:343/1 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871
18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Kris Veitch 1:147/30
19 David Drexler 1:147/1 (vacant)
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-11 Page 23 13 Mar 1989
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
increase worldwide communications.
Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________
Address _________________________________________________________
City ____________________________________________________________
State ________________________________ Zip _____________________
Country _________________________________________________________
Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________
BBS Name ________________________________________________________
BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________
Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________
Board Restrictions ______________________________________________
Your Special Interests __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in
US Funds to:
International FidoNet Association
PO 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
and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors
was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been
established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your
input to this Conference.
