Volume 6, Number 15 10 April 1989
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| /|oo \ |
| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
| _`@/_ \ _ |
| International | | \ \\ |
| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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| (jm) |
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Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello
Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell
Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
Contributing Editors: Al Arango
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
Reflections on the Anarchist Principle ................... 1
Daisy, The Apple CP/M BBS ................................ 10
Groupmail and Confmail replacement released .............. 15
VETNet is ALIVE!!!!! ..................................... 20
2. COLUMNS .................................................. 27
The Veterinarian's Corner: Vaccinations .................. 27
When the Topicops Came Calling ........................... 28
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 35
Latest Software Versions ................................. 35
And more!
FidoNews 6-15 Page 1 10 Apr 1989
=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================
Tom Jennings
1:125/111
The following is the opening essay in "THE BLACK FLAG OF ANARCHISM
AND OTHER ESSAYS", available from Employee Theft Press, ($2.50 from
1369 Haight St, San Francisco CA 94117) -- all funds from the sale
of this pamphlet go to "WITHOUT BORDERS ANARCHIST CONFERENCE &
FESTIVAL", to be held in San Francisco this July 20 - 25.
Reflections on the Anarchist Principle
by Paul Goodman
"Anarchism is grounded in a rather definite proposition: that
valuable behavior occurs only by the free and direct response of
individuals or voluntary groups to the conditions presented by the
historical environment. It claims that in most human affairs,
whether political, economic, military, religious, moral, pedagogic,
or cultural, more harm than good results from coercion, top-down
direction, central authority, bureaucracy, jails, conscription,
states, pre-ordained standardization, excessive planning, etc.
Anarchists want to increase intrinsic functioning and diminish
extrinsic power. This is a social- psychological hypothesis with
obvious political implications.
"Depending on varying historical conditions that present various
threats to the anarchist principle, anarchists have laid their
emphasis in varying places: sometimes agrarian, sometimes free-
city and guild-oriented; sometimes technological, sometimes anti-
technological; sometimes Communist, sometimes affirming property;
sometimes individual, sometimes collective; sometimes speaking of
Liberty as an almost absolute good, sometimes relying on custom and
'nature'. Nevertheless, despite these differences, anarchists
seldom fail to recognize each other, and they do not consider the
differences to be incompatibilities. Consider a crucial modern
problem, violence. Guerrilla fighting has been a classical
anarchist technique; yet, especially where, in modern conditions,
*any* violent means tends to reinforce centralism and
authoritarianism, anarchists have tended to see the beauty of
non-violence.
"Now the anarchist principle is by and large true(1). And far from
being 'utopian' or a 'glorious failure', it has proved itself and
won out in many spectacular historical crises. In the period of
mercantilism and patents royal, free enterprise by joint stock
companies were anarchist. The Jeffersonian bill of rights were
anarchist. Progressive education was anarchist. The free cities
and corporate law in the feudal system were anarchist. At present,
the civil rights movement in the United States has been almost
classically decentralist and anarchist. And so forth, down to
details like free access in public libraries. Of course, to later
historians these things do not seem to be anarchist, but in their
FidoNews 6-15 Page 2 10 Apr 1989
own time they were regarded as such and often literally called
such, with the usual dire threats of chaos. But this relativity of
the anarchist principle to the actual situation is of the essence
of anarchism. There *cannot* be a history of anarchism in the
sense of establishing a permanent state of things 'anarchist'. It
is always a continual coping with the next situation, and a
vigilance to make sure that past freedoms are not lost and do not
turn into the opposite, as free enterprise turned into wage-slavery
and monopoly capitalism, or the independent judiciary turned into a
monopoly of courts, cops, and lawyers, or free education turned
into School Systems."
Footnote(1) "I, and Other anarchists, would except certain states
of temporary emergency, is we can be confident that the emergency
is *temporary*. We might except certain simplistic logistic
arrangements, like ticketing or metric standards or tax-
collection, if we can be confident that the administration, the
'secretariat', will not begin to run the show. And we might except
certain 'natural monopolies', like epidemic control, water-supply,
etc."
First published in ANARCHY 62 (April 1966)
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FidoNews 6-15 Page 3 10 Apr 1989
Gateways to and from FidoNet <tm>
Technical, Administrative, and Policy Considerations
Randy Bush 3 April 89
Copyright 1989, Randy Bush. All rights reserved. The right
to distribute for non-commercial use is granted to FidoNews.
What is a Gateway to/from FidoNet?
---- -- - ------- ------- --------
A gateway is a collection of software and procedures whereby net
mail and/or echomail may be transferred between FidoNet and
another computer communications network. Gateways are
bi-directional, as folk always want to reply to others' mail.
Gateways exist now.
o There are a number of software packages for gating between
uucp-based systems and FidoNet, the most well-known being
the UFGATE shareware package. These packages gate both net
mail and echomail, and are often used to provide FidoNet
access to/from Internet via the uucp network. These tend to
go through much effort to make FidoNet look as much like
Internet as possible. About 25 uucp gateways are scattered
around FidoNet.
o Rhodes University has developed a complete system between a
Cyber-based NOS network and FidoNet. This system handles
both net mail and echomail, and is also strongly based on
the Internet standards, and almost views FidoNet as a
transport mechanism to get to/from Internet. It is used to
gate a fairly localized cluster of mainframes to FidoNet at
a single point, and has made special arrangements for
further routing and forwarding of mail.
o WWIVnet has developed gating software based on the ForDog
package for the MS-DOS-based WWIV systems, and some other
package for the Mac-based Tabby systems. The MS-DOS system
uses Binkley or another FidoNet mailer handles the protocol
transfers to make the WWIV system look like a FidoNet system
to other FidoNet nodes. WWIVnet gates are said to be
scattered around the US and Canada.
o A number of FidoNet-based systems have been developed for
various flavors of UN*X. These vary from encapsulated Fido-
worlds within UN*X (i.e not true gates at all), to FidoNet
front ends for UN*X mail systems.
o RBBS-net seems to have developed gateway software for the
MS-DOS-based BBS network, but I do not know enough to
characterize it.
All of these gateway systems can and are being run in a safe and
FidoNews 6-15 Page 4 10 Apr 1989
cooperative fashion, and are providing a nice cross-cultural
exchange with benefits for both sides of the gates.
At this time, there are also other nets which, because they are
based on technology similar to FidoNet, are dumping mail onto
and taking mail off of FidoNet willy nilly, with little thought
to the technical, administrative, or social consequences. Often,
this is done with good intentions, not realizing they are
providing a disservice to both nets.
What are the Characteristics of a Good Gateway?
---- --- --- --------------- -- - ---- --------
Like good contracts, good gateways should be fair to both sides.
There is the need to preserve both the technical and
sociopolitical integrity of all parties to the transaction.
Technically, both networks will have specifications and
requirements for transfer protocols, message and echomail
formats, control data files, etc. Beyond the borders of the
gateway software, each universe should be completely and safely
maintained.
o Messages and echomail should completely conform in format
and content to the technical specifications of each side of
the gateway.
o Addressing of messages and echomail should completely
conform to that of the network in or through which the
messages are traveling or resident at all times.
o A normal user should be able to enter new messages destined
for the other side of the gate and to reply to gated mail
with relative ease.
o If FidoNet uses a network A as an intermediate to get
to/from a network B, or if network C uses FidoNet to get
to/from network D, then the inter-net transitions should be
auditable, but local customs and technalia of the
intermediate network may not need always be enforced.
Socially, the customs and fashions of each network should be
maintained in that network.
o There must be administrative liaison and control between the
two networks so agreements may be made and enforced and
disputes may be adjudicated.
o If the networks being gated overlap geographically, then
systems should not have to pay significant costs to move
mail between the two networks when it is between two nodes
that are in the same general locale.
o Gating is not simple, technically or administratively.
Unless each net anticipates significant use of the gateways,
and the anticipated gain is seen as greater than the
FidoNews 6-15 Page 5 10 Apr 1989
anticipated pain, then one side or the other may reasonably
decline to do the necessary work.
What Technical Standards Exist?
---- --------- --------- ------
Before we develop new specifications, social protocols, and
standards, we should see what exists already.
o FidoNet Technical Standards exist already for the data
formats and the communication protocols for net mail and
echomail. All conforming gateway systems mentioned above
conform to these standards. These are named FSC-nnnn, or
more recently FTS-nnnn.
o The SRI-NIC has published standards for message formats and
communication protocols that are used between a significant
number of networks that already gate to each other. These
are often referred to as the Internet standards and named
RFCnnnn or IDEAnnnn.
o The ISO and CCITT have standards for message formats and
communication protocols which are used between a significant
number of systems. These are based on X.nnn specifications,
eg. X.400.
Other standards undoubtedly exist and should be investigated by
anyone desiring to build a gateway system.
The game of 'my standard is better than yours' has been played
for decades with no conclusion other then demonstrating the
stupidity of war. What matters is that each net's standards are
maintained within that net.
What Administrative Standards Exist?
---- -------------- --------- ------
Most networks have formed administrative procedures and
guidelines which regulate if and how other networks may gate
to/from them.
The most notable exception is the uucp/Usenet which, having no
formalized administrative rules for anything else, imposes none
on gateways. Before we recoil in horror, note that uucp/Usenet
is three to four times the size of FidoNet, is over twice
FidoNet's age, and has a significantly better signal- to-noise
ratio.
The SRI-NIC provides a procedure for registering Internet
domains. A domain is somewhat like what we are considering a
network. This Internet registration procedure ensures that the
network has
o administrative responsibility and control, and
o at least two registered sites which provide address mapping
FidoNews 6-15 Page 6 10 Apr 1989
for the network being gated.
FidoNet is a registered domain of Internet. Our domain is called
fidonet.org. The administrative responsibility is the FidoNet
IC's. The registered 'nameservers' are at lynx.cs.orst.edu and
k9.cs.orst.edu, both at Oregon State University, though this is
bending the two nameserver policy a bit.
DECNET, ARPANET, ... all have applicable standards, but, as they
are strictly limited to formal commercial relationships, they
are of little interest here.
What Administrative Policies are Needed by FidoNet?
---- -------------- -------- --- ------ -- --------
What does FidoNet really need to state in terms of administrative
requirements on a network wishing to gate to/from FidoNet?
FidoNet needs a means of ensuring that a formal relationship
exists which may be used to negotiate technical standards
between the two nets, internet adjudication of disagreements
both technical and social, and enforcement of decisions.
Similarly, the other network will likely want such assurances as
well. Therefore an agreement should be reached stating:
o who is administratively responsible,
o who is technically responsible,
o what technical and administrative documentation exists, and
o both parties will abide by eachother's rules when in the
other's house, and
o how grievances are to be stated and adjudicated.
In addition, it will be advisable for FidoNet to place some
requirements on a network wishing to form official gateways.
Some of these requirements and their motivations are:
o If the other network geographically overlaps a significant
portion of FidoNet, then the other net should be of
sufficient size that gateways can likely be recruited in
most areas where the nets overlap. Thus, systems should not
have to pay significant costs to move mail between two nets
that happen to be in the same locale.
o If the other network geographically overlaps a significant
portion of FidoNet, then there should, at a minimum, be
gateways in each FidoNet zone where they overlap.
o If the other network geographically overlaps more than one
zone of FidoNet, then that net should have its own gateways
between the zones, and not use FidoNet to move the burden of
interzone PTT costs.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 7 10 Apr 1989
o If the other network geographically overlaps a significant
number of the regions in a FidoNet zone, then there should,
at a minimum, be gateways in each FidoNet region where they
overlap.
o If the other network is geographically localized, then
special arrangements may be made whereby there traffic is
gated to/from FidoNet at one or more places by special
arrangement as if the other network were a FidoNet node or
local network (in the intra-FidoNet sense) itself.
o Gating of net mail, i.e. user-to-user messages, must be
implemented and easily used. Gating of Echomail is
optional.
o Mail must be bi-directional. If someone in the other net
can send mail to a node/user on FidoNet, then that FidoNet
node/user must be able to reply.
o If echomail is gated, then, unless special circumstances are
recognized by the responsible administrators, it must be
gated bi-directionally.
o If a conference is moderated (in the Usenet sense, similar
to Dutchie's Conference Mail's moderation or GroupMail) on
one network, then it should be moderated on all other
networks, or at least the gateway into the network where it
is moderated should ensure that correct moderation is done
by forwarding or whatever is appropriate.
For inter-net gateway systems in the process of formation, it is
assumed that some of the above requirements may be waived during
a startup period at the discretion of the administrative bodies.
Observe that if FidoNet were to try to take a shortcut which has
been suggested and simply require Intetnet registration of
gating networks, then, of the current networks gating to FidoNet
correctly (see above), only the Rhodes system could conform
technically. Eg. the uucp gating packages gate to uucp which has
no administrative center and is not registered with Internet.
To require Internet registration would further neither the goals
of Internet, nets wishing to gate to FidoNet, nor FidoNet
itself.
What Technical Requirements should FidoNet Place on Gating Systems?
---- --------- ------------ ------ ------- ----- -- ------ --------
Each network will have its own specifications for communication
protocols, data formats, message conventions, addressing, etc.
Though more generally used standards are to be preferred, what
really matters is that each net be self- consistent and
integritous and that gateway systems maintain that integrity.
From the FidoNet perspective, the following attributes of a
gateway system seem to be mandatory.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 8 10 Apr 1989
o Conformance to FidoNet message format as specified in
current FidoNet technical standards (eg. currently FSC-0001)
must be maintained while messages are within FidoNet.
o Information to assist message comprehension and processing
by gateway systems and/or other networks may be contained
within the message body, either hidden behind ^A lines or
not. If such information is needed, then conformance to
current Internet standards (eg. currently RFC822) is
recommended.
o The FidoNet message header must contain valid FidoNet
addresses at all times the message is on FidoNet. Valid
FidoNet addresses are addresses of specific FidoNet nodes in
the current FidoNet nodelist.
o The source and/or destination address in the other net
should be embedded in the text body of the FidoNet message,
either hidden behind ^A lines or not. Conformance to
current Internet standards is recommended where appropriate,
but addressing conventions in the other net may preclude this.
o A message must contain sufficient information that the
originating system and user may be easily determined.
o A FidoNet sysop and/or normal FidoNet BBS user should be
able to enter messages destined for users in the other
network and reply to gated mail using current FidoNet
software.
o If echomail is gated, then the echo messages should conform
to all current FidoNet standards for echomail. For example,
currently an echomail message should:
- have a correct tear line
- have an origin line of the proper format with a FidoNet
origin of the gating FidoNet node
- have seenbys of only FidoNet nodes
- have a path line that goes back at least to the gating node
o If echomail is gated, then an echomail message must contain
sufficient information that the system and user of origin
may be trivially determined, whatever net may have
originated it.
o The origin of gated echomail should be determinable in a
regular way sufficient that the gating software can provide
easy construction of private net mail replies to echomail
messages which would return to the echo messages's
originator through the appropriate gateway, which may or may
not be different than the gateway through which the echo
message came. It is acknowledged that this may require hand
editing on the part of the user composing the reply.
o If echomail is gated, and the other net has no equivalent,
it may use net mail and/or net mail mailing lists. Messages
coming into FidoNet from this type of net mail or mailing
FidoNews 6-15 Page 9 10 Apr 1989
list should properly gate into the appropriate echomail
conference, and replies should work correctly as well.
Conclusion
----------
It is hoped that, given a philosophy and guidelines such as those
outlined in this paper, FidoNet will continue to expand its
links to other networks to the benefit of FidoNet and networking
in general.
It is hoped that this paper will be of some help to those
constructing gateways to/from FidoNet, and to the administrators
of FidoNet and other nets who are considering gating to/from
FidoNet.
This paper, the purported facts contained, and the philosophy
espoused are the sole responsibility of the author, and are
quite likely technically incorrect and are undoubtedly morally
bankrupt. Should you have constructive correction or criticism,
please contact:
Randy Bush
FidoNet: 1:105/6 1:105/42
[email protected]
uucp: { mcvax!uunet, tektronix }!oresoft!dawggon!randy
Internet:
[email protected] [email protected]
Telemail: RBush
FAX: +1 (503) 245-8449 TWX 910-464-4779
----------
FidoNet is a trademark of Tom Jennings and Fido Software, to
whom we all owe much thanks for the origin and spirit of
FidoNet.
DECNET is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
-30-
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FidoNews 6-15 Page 10 10 Apr 1989
Raymond Lowe
3:700/13
D A I S Y
THE
Apple CP/M Bulletin Board System
* * *
It seems that there have recently been quite a few queries in the
net about Daisy, the Apple II BBS of which I am the author, so
for all those interested here are some details about Daisy.
Daisy who?
----------
A couple of years ago I was talking to my friend Ken Lo about
Bulletin Board Systems, and about how hard they were to write.
This was not a surprising topic of conversation as we are both
programmers, both BBS users and the conversation in question was
via messages on one of the local RBBS.
I thought that BBS were probably pretty hard to code, and were
way beyond the capabilities of the Apple ][+ which was then my
main computer (I've since moved up to a //e).
Ken disagreed, he thought it wouldn't be that hard to produce a
BBS. So after some discussion we decided to attempt the
development of what we referred to at the time as an "Apple
Fido".
We decided to use Apple CP/M and Turbo Pascal v2 for the
development as these were the most advanced systems available to
both of us.
With Ken working on the low level serial card drivers, we found
it necessary to drive the UART directly using memory mapped
registers, and me on the high level code it wasn't long before
the first Daisy was running.
You can well believe that the first call I received using Daisy
was quite a thrill for me. Even if a major bug did mean that
every character the user entered was displayed on a separate
line.
That, and many other bugs, were soon found and fixed - it wasn't
long before the very first version of Daisy was released.
Of course it was some time before anyone actually USED Daisy to
run a regular BBS. But the thrill of coding and debugging kept
us happy as we quickly developed a whole range of features for
the system.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 11 10 Apr 1989
Though it started off as a deliberate backward engineering of
Fido Daisy soon took on a life and character of its own. Today
Daisy includes many features seen in Fido, Opus and other BBS
together with quite a few features all of its own.
For Users
---------
From the point of view of a remote user the overall look-and-feel
is very much that of Opus or Fido. Most of the commands they are
already familiar with will work as they expect, and they can use
the system just fine without ever learning anything about the
Daisy specific features.
This only applies to users though; Sysops will find Daisy rather
different from what they may have seen before. As I had never
seen any BBS from the Sysop side when I started writing Daisy I
had to design everything from scratch.
For Sysops
----------
The first level of Sysop control is through a point-and-press
interface available all the time the system is waiting for
callers. This gives options such as "Start local session", "Edit
user list", "Event" and the "Terminal mode"; though not all are
available while a remote user is on-line.
During a session, be it from the local console or remotely via
modem, an on-line Sysop menu gives high-level users access to
another level of commands used to control message areas, message
renumber, access privilege levels, multiple bulletins and similar
things.
At the most detailed level all basic configuration information,
detailing which drives are to be used and so on, is controlled by
a text file which can be created using any normal text editor.
In fact all these configuration options are entirely optional, it
is perfectly possible to run the BBS by just entering 'BBS' at
the CP/M prompt and letting it run. The program automatically
generates any files it really needs.
Daisy Mailer
------------
Of course if you write a program on the basis of it being an
"Apple Fido" pretty soon people start expecting it to be able to
do FidoNet mail.
Well after quite a lot of prodding I finally got around to
starting on a mailer for Daisy. Working from the early Fidonet
Technical Standards Committee documents I built up all the code I
needed to automatically send message back and forth from Daisy to
Fido and Opus systems.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 12 10 Apr 1989
Now the Daisy Mailer is an optional extra which plugs into the
BBS and does all the packing, calling, transferring and unpacking
of messages.
It handles type two mail packets, file attaches and routing
perfectly. Echomail support is built-in and in the most recent
versions can receive ARCmail.
As Daisy is fully NetMail aware mail calls can be accepted at any
time, so it qualifies for the #CM: continuous mail flag if
correctly configured.
Ah, but...
----------
Unfortunately there is one catch if you want to use Daisy for its
FidoNet mail capability; the Mailer has not been tested by the
FTSC and hence has not been 'validated' by them as being Net
compatible.
This means that officially a Daisy BBS cannot be assigned a node
number in the nodelist.
Of course this doesn't stop you from using it as a Point system,
and I've used Daisy as a point without any problems, but if you
want a regular node number you're out of luck.
My early attempts to get the Mailer tested and validated were to
no avail; not because it was tested and failed those tests, but
rather because I could never get anyone to answer my messages
requesting that it be tested.
More recently, around the new year, I sent a full set of Daisy
and the Mailer on floppies to an Apple user in the U.S. at the
request of James Deibele who is apparently now responsible for
'foreign' mailers.
As the Apple user in question is not a CP/M user I don't expect
she'll get anywhere very fast (how soon do you think you'd be
able to get Opus running if you were not a MS-DOS user and didn't
even have a DOS bootable disk?)
So the Daisy Mailer may or may not be tested and validated Real
Soon Now.
Despite all that if you have a friendly NC, as I have, you can
probably get yourself hooked into the network for Echomail and
such.
Requirements
------------
To run Daisy you need the following:
* An Apple ][ series computer or compatible
FidoNews 6-15 Page 13 10 Apr 1989
* Z80 card and CP/M software
* Super Serial Card or compatible serial communications
device.
* External 300/1200 or 2400 baud Hayes AT compatible modem.
* Clock cards, either Time ][ or TimeMaster, are optional.
* A large capacity RAM card configured as a ramdisk is
recommended for running the BBS, it is considered essential
for running the Mailer.
* You'll also want as MUCH on-line disk storage as possible;
floppies are okay but three would be better than two.
Copyright
---------
Daisy and its associated documentation and utilities are not PD,
they are the copyrighted property of the authors.
Free use and distribution is, however, permitted - and
encouraged. The only restrictions are 1) you mustn't sell it
(make money out of distributing it), 2) distribute modified
versions without the authors permission.
Getting Daisy
-------------
The following Daisy files can be FileRequested from Electronic
BBS, 3:700/18, 2400, 23 hours a day (not during NMH).
DSY2-D.ARC 32940 02-11-89 Documents, manuals
DSY2-X.ARC 35061 07-19-88 Extra files, help
DSY2HTCS.ARC 57701 11-09-88 Daisy v2H for Time II, code
DSY2HMCS.ARC 57872 11-09-88 Daisy v2H for Timemaster //, ''
MSGUTL25.ARC 22793 01-03-89 Message utility v2.5 /w source
PACKUSR4.ARC 12326 12-28-88 Pack user list v4
MLR034.ARC 40442 02-11-89 Mailer v0.34
NODECOMP.ARC 23311 02-11-89 Nodelist compiler
SCHED0-5.ARC 13968 07-19-88 Scheduler v0.50, timed events
FILER7.ARC 28110 01-06-89 Filer sub-system
DSYST130.ARC 11131 09-04-88 Statistic program for Daisy
DSY2G-S.ARC 89663 08-22-88 Source code of Daisy V2g
The Daisy support echo, echo key DAISY, is also available from
3:700/18 or 3:700/0(Mail Gateway), it has quite a low turnover.
The Daisy support board is Daisy Information Gateway
3:700/719(700), +852-3-765-6899, 1200 baud, 24 hours. You won't
find this in your Nodelist for reasons as given above.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 14 10 Apr 1989
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FidoNews 6-15 Page 15 10 Apr 1989
Dutchie Conference manager 2.91 released
Henk Wevers
2:500/1
This week DCM, short for Dutchie Conference manager, has been
released. DCM is a full replacement for the Confmail/PKARC
combination and has optional many of the features of Groupmail
without its drawbacks. DCM was the last program needed to
complete the Dutchie software packet so no third party programs
are needed for a complete mailer/editor/conferencemail setup.
Although DCM is part of the Dutchie packet it can be used in
cooperation with almost all other mailers available for FidoNet
operation.
Confmail replacement
--------------------
DCM replaces confmail completely and even has a powerfull build
in archive program so you do not need programs like
PKARC/PKXARC or ARC for your conference setup. One relatively
small program replaces all. In addition to the known Confmail
features DCM offers a lot more in about 85 Kb.
o Two control files
Two control files tell DCM how to perform its tasks.
As those files are already present in a Dutchie
environment Dutchie users need no extra configuration
files.
o Smart tossing/scanning
DCM will toss/scan in one run. This means that fewer
diskaccesses have to be made. As the complete Dutchie
package uses standard dosscalls that are a bit
slower than some of the tricks confmail 4.0 plays
(but less risky) the overall speed is about the same
as that of Confmail. If you have a lot of 'passthru'
conferences, DCM wins.
o Smart Passthru conferences.
If you pass some conferences without reading them DCM
will never unpack the messages in those conferences
into a local directory. You do not need a directory
for these conferences. It speeds up the scan/toss
process too.
o Smart zonehandling
If you are processing echomail between zones DCM will
help you out. All seen-bye lines will be stripped off
except the important ones (your own and the other gates
address). This zonehandling capability is standard in
the dutchie package.
o Smart pointsupport
DCM handles (like the rest of the Dutchie program)
points transparantly. Just set it up and forget about
FidoNews 6-15 Page 16 10 Apr 1989
them.
o smart scanlists.
a typical scanlist looks like this:
500/2 3 4h 5c 6 512/3 .1S .2 .3 1:105/42
As you can see short notations are available, and
points are indicated by a dot in front of their
pointnumber. An 'H' attached to an address means that
the attache file message to this node must have the HOLD
flag, a 'C' means that it must have the crash flag. S
means a 'split' conference and this one switches on
Groupmail like features that will save you lots of
diskspace and transmission time. We will discuss that
later in this article.
If a full zone address is available and the zone is
another than your own zone DCM will act as a zonegate
for this Conference.
In addition to or in stead of this list of nodes you
can tell DCM to find the nodes in an ascii file by
placing a @filename.ext on this line. If you have
standard distributions you can point to the same file
from different conferences. The dutchie package has
support programs to send canned messages or files
to a distribution list so you can inform all nodes
that get the conference with one simple command in a
batchfile or on the commandline.
o smart flags
The flagfield controls DCM Functions per conference.
Among them are f.i. R for renumber, K:<n> for
killing messages older than n days and M:<n> for the
maximum number of messages to keep in this Conference.
Access to the conference is controlled by the L:<n> and
S:<n> flags, who control Accesslevel and Accesskeys
for the automated JOIN and DISJOIN functions that are
build into DCM as an AREAFIX replacement.
o smart JOIN/DISJOIN build in functions
DCM has build in JOIN and DISJOIN functions for
unattended joining and disjoining a conference. These
functions are easy to use yet versatile. They generate
welcome messages and succesfull joining a conference
(by means of dutchies service requests) will result in
a working conference on the requesting node. All
changes on both nodes involved are performed, including
creation of directories, changes in the areas file,
welcome messages and a 'rulesfile' created on the
requesting node. For full appriciation of this function
you will need Dutchies mailer program, but the function
can easely be performed by other mailers in cooperation
with a small program to be released in the near future.
o smart archiving
DCM has build in archive and dearchive programs
modelled after the PAK series. An environment variable
controls the backward compatibility with older archive
FidoNews 6-15 Page 17 10 Apr 1989
programs but if your echomail is exchanged with other
systems using DCM you can switch to a better 'crunching'
system.
o Smart duplicate and topology problem detection
DCM will detect duplicate messages that arrive
on your system and get rid of them before they
hurt the network. DCM will also scan the PATH
list at the end of each message. If there is a
topology problem DCM will remove the message
and inform you about the problem so you can take
corrective measures.
Groupmail functions
-------------------
DCM addresses the same drawbacks in current conference
mail processing (pointed out by a lecture of the
echomail coordinator last FidoCon) as Groupmail but
has a totally different solution for these
problems.
Lets quickly review the problems that we all have
with the current way of handling conference mail:
o there is a copy of each messages present
on your disk for every node you scan to.
o The number of seenbyes often exceeds the
contents of the message itself.
Those designproblems in confmail lead to excessive
disk use and unneeded connection time. Both translate
in money unneccesarely spend on diskspave and phone
costs.
When the echomail topology is under control in a
network you can switch to the split conference mode
of DCM by merely adding an S at the end of the node
in the scanlist. Other than Groupmail, you can switch
to the new system on a per node base and you do not
need to convert the whole conference. From this you
can also see that switching back and forth between
the new methode is very easy, just append or erase
the trailing S.
The best place to convert to the new format is on a
BOSS node. He has tight control over the topology
and will benefit most. When switched to the new
methode almost all seenbyes are stripped off and
there will be only one copy of the message on
you disk. This works two ways, the messages are
shorter and there are a lot less. An example:
a Boss serving 20 points, who all have 5 conferences
with ca 40 messages a day yield a total of 20 *
40 = 800 (packed) messages a day.
The new system only has 40 (packed) messages on your
disk and they are about 50% shorter. Not bad and on
hughe echomail processors this adds up.
There is a small drawback to this approach, there is
FidoNews 6-15 Page 18 10 Apr 1989
an attached file for every conference. On high speed
half duplex modems this will reduce the overall through
put. The Dutchie Mailer 2.91 will solve this problem
in cooperation with DCM and send those small archives
as one big archive, real time.
In the next few months we will release a 'condense'
program that will condense those files into weekly,
monthly and yearly archives. Nodes wishing to get
a backlog of the conference then can filerequest
the old messages.
More
----
I have not discussed all features of DCM, you should
try it yourself. The program is copyrighted, but there
is no fee charged. It will be released with a
conversion program for an easy switch from confmail
to DCM.
Availability
------------
We expect that the 2.91 release will reach the USA
this or the next week, it will be put on the software d
istribution backbone, so in a few days it will pop up
everywhere in fidonet.
There is more
-------------
DCM is the last program we needed to complete the
Dutchie Personal Mailer software packet from the
Netherlands. Its a complete fidonet capable software
packet with an european touch. The complete packet
contains:
Dutchie, the mailer
Dutched, the full screen editor
Install, a 5 minute install program
Packer, the most versatile packer available
Sched, an intelligent scheduler
DCM, dutchies conference manager
XMIT a batch/commandline file sender
REQ a batch/commandline file requestor
MSG a batch/commandline message sender
Dutchlat an intelligent nodelist translator
Dutchcom the nodelist compiler
Dutmain a full screen nodelist maintenance prg
Third party software avaiable:
Dmenu A very friendly full screen shell
around dutchie for points
Dutchlog The best log analyzer available
FidoNews 6-15 Page 19 10 Apr 1989
Password a service request to allow
nodes to change there own
session password on another dutchie
mailer
more ....
Current version is 2.90c. Next version will be 2.91
DCM is the first 2.91 version that has been released,
the others will follow during april and may.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-15 Page 20 10 Apr 1989
VETNet is ALIVE!!!!!
By: Todd C. Looney
Vietnam Veterans' Valhalla
1:143/27 7:406/27
300/1200/2400 Bauds
(408) 293-7894
The sysops of the Vietnam Veterans Valhalla bulletin board
are both Vietnam combat veterans; I served during the war as a
Medical Field Surgeon in the U.S. Navy attached to an Emergency
Field Evac Hospital and later a long-range recon team near Dac
To, and spent more than my fair share of time in a VC/NVA prison
camp across the border in Laos, and Nancy my wife, who is a
veteran of a different sort having fought HER war *years* after I
returned to the United States, battling the problems I
brought back from that little country tucked thousands of
miles away in Southeast Asia. Nancy and I have, for the most
part, conquered all of the problems of that traumatic past
through years of hard work!
Many of the men and women who returned from that war
continue to carry it's memories and nightmares with them today.
Although most Vietnam veterans live a successful, happy life,
there are those whose every day is a bitter struggle to survive,
trying to find some way to either escape the horrible memories,
or to come to terms with themselves so they and their families
can begin to live a normal life!!
We feel it is our responsibility as caring and empathetic
individuals to share ourselves with those Vietnam combat
veterans of both kinds; the ex-military soldier-at-arms, and
their wives, friends, and lovers, with the hope that somehow the
knowledge and understanding we gained from the years
encompassing our own struggle might be of some help to those who
are still fighting their war!!!
THE VIETNAM VETERANS' VALHALLA BULLETIN BOARD
IS DEDICATED TO VIETNAM VETERANS,
THEIR WIVES, FRIENDS, & LOVERS!
And to the memory of the 58,000 men and women who never came home
Our system has been successfully operating for nearly 3
years now, and received well over 37,000 calls! We also founded
and coordinated the International Vietnam Veterans'
EchoConference (IVVEC) which can be seen on more than 200
bulletin boards across the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Please contact our system, or one of the nodes listed below who
carry our conference and join in. You don't need to be a veteran
of any kind to participate. We welcome you with open arms to
learn who we are and what we are all about!
Nancy and I are looking forward to meeting you all, as are
the Sysops of the nearly 200 VETNet BBs systems below:
IVVECLST.009
==================================================================
OFFICIAL NODELIST - INTERNATIONAL VIETNAM VETERANS ECHO CONFERENCE
==================================================================
FidoNews 6-15 Page 21 10 Apr 1989
20 January 1989
As of the above date, these are the net/nodes currently receiving
the IVVEC Echo.
If you have any ADDITIONS, DELETIONS, or CHANGES to report, please
Contact Woody Carmack at 1:153/130 (1-604-462-8753 Data) or leave
a message in the IVVEC. We will acknowledge receipt of your note.
=================================================================
NET/ MAX
NODE BBS NAME City/State/Country Phone BAUD
================================================================
632/350 Yarra Valley BBS Melbourne Austr AU 61-3-848-331 1200
114/113 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-894-1470 2400
114/13 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-894-1470 2400
153/123 DAETECH Burnaby BC 1-604-420-2641 9600
153/130 Vietnam Veterans In Canada 9600 HST 1-604-462-8753
Headquarters, Vietnam Veterans In Canada
153/501 Valley Hub Clearbrook BC 1-604-850-0021 2400
153/508 Ebenezer Christian BBS Mission BC 1-604-826-6607 9600
153/133 Hot Line Data Network Langley BC 1-604-533-0421 2400
220/20 Old Frog's Almanac Nanaimo BC 1-604-758-3072 2400
103/507 Philosopher's Log Anaheim CA 1-714-535-1258 9600
200/100 The Board Room Belmont Shores CA 1-213-498-6425 2400
161/502 Wildcat Benicia CA 1-707-746-5820 2400
161/66 Generic BBS Citrus Heights CA 1-916-722-3659 2400
203/66 Generic BBS Citrus Heights CA 1-916-722-3659 2400
161/1 Nerd's Nook Concord CA 1-415-672-2504 9600
202/401 jabberWOCky Escondido CA 1-619-743-9935 2400
161/34 Now and Zen OPUS Fair Oaks CA 1-916-962-1952 9600
161/56 Nat'l Family Forum Freemont, CA 1-415-651-4147 2400
161/7 Mover Mouse BBS Fremont, CA 1-415-883-1644 2400
200/200 CSULB Long Beach, CA 1-213-494-8737 1200
161/39 Nightline Mather AFB, CA 1-916-362-1755 2400
161/509 Enterprize Pinole, CA 1-415-758-1650 2400
FidoNews 6-15 Page 22 10 Apr 1989
161/11 The Byte Boutique Sacramento CA 1-916-483-8032 2400
161/5 River City II OPUS Sacramento, CA 1-916-646-9678 9600
161/943 Eagle's Nest Sacramento, CA 1-916-334-2822 9600
10/215 Silver BBS San Diego, CA 1-619-226-4502 2400
125/31 Echo Coord San Francisco CA 1-415-621-5206 9600
143/27 Vietnam Veterans Valhalla San Jose CA 1-408-293-7894 2400
Todd Looney 24Hrs 365Days FrontDoor v2.0 CM
Headquarters, Vietnam Veterans Valhalla
143/86 Cat's Tail BBS S T O P San Mateo CA 1-415-349-8245 2400
125/78 Living Sober BBS San Mateo, CA 1-415-342-2859 2400
125/12 The Grape Vine Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-546-4938 2400
125/7 Survival Forum Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-545-0746 9600 HST
103/501 Mount Silverthorn Tustin, CA 1-714-544-3369 2400
104/28 Pinecliff BBS Boulder, CO 1-303-444-7073 2400
128/13 COSUG-Colorado's User Clrdo Spg CO 1-404-548-0726 2400
128/16 Firenet Leader Colorado Spring CO 1-303-591-9600 2400
104/739 The Phoenix Parker, CO 1-303-841-9570 2400
104/51 P2 B2 South Denver, CO 1-303-329-3337 2400
141/488 Alice's Restaurant Branford CT 1-203-488-1115 2400
141/250 Wilton Woods Wilton, CT 1-203=762-8481 9600
135/27 Bitsy's Place Miami Beach FL 1-305-865-0495 1200
135/35 The Way Out BBS Miami, FL 1-305-665-3283 1200
363/9 Wit's End Orlanda, FL 1-305-894-0807 1200
363/10 Midas Touch Orlando, FL 1-305-648-1133 1200
366/38 Jolly Green Giant Shalimar, FL 1-904-651-3875 9600
18/43 Athens Echo Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 9600
370/10 OnLine OPUS Athens, GA 1-404-548-0726 2400
370/5 Athens Forum Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 9600
12/7 HPCUA Honolulu HI 1-808-422-8406 9600
FidoNews 6-15 Page 23 10 Apr 1989
12/1 Aura Net Honolulu, HI 1-808-533-0190 2400
115/761 ICS/TRIX 1 OPUS Chicago, IL 1-312-761-7887 2400
115/529 Elk Grove Repeater Elk Grove Vlg IL 1-312-529-1586 2400
115/20 North Shore BBS Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 2400
115/429 Chicago Business Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 2400
232/4 Runways End OPUS Peoria, IL 1-309-691-5416 9600 HST
11/202 The SouthSide BBS Indianapolis, IN 1-317-882-9330 1200
227/1 Michiana TechLine Mishawaka, IN 1-219-258-0286 9600
227/150 The SX Project Whiting IN 1-219-659-2711 2400
108/90 DATANET Information System Erlanger KY 1-606-727-3638 2400
108/50 The ZOO BBS Independence, KY 1-606-283-2040 2400
321/109 PIONEER VALLEY PCUG #1 Amherst, MA 1-413-256-1037 9600 HST
321/201 Mountain Top Dalton, MA 1-413-684-2886 2400
321/203 VETLink #1 Pittsfield, MA 1-413-443-6313 2400
Headquarters, Berkshire Veterans' Center
G. Joseph Peck
109/722 Ronnie's Roadies BBS Camp Springs MD 1-301-736-0135 1200
109/648 Falcon's Rock College Park, MD 1-301-345-7459 2400
13/33 Avi-Technic Lutherville, MD 1-301-252-0717 9600
13/30 The Futurists BBS Perry Hall, MD 1-301-529-0716 9600
261/628 Liberty Hall Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 2400
261/628.1 Systemhouse Link Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 2400
109/717 The Tin Badge BBS Silver Spring, MD 1-301-589-2016 1200
1/214 Region 14 Echo Coor Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3398 2400
1/314 Software Dist Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3469 2400
282/1 Midwest Echo Star Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3469 9600
151/20 Metro Link Charlotte, NC 1-704-541-8626 2400
151/60 VMC-BBS Lewisville, NC 1-919-945-4850 2400
151/100 NC Central Raleigh, NC 1-919-851-8460 9600
FidoNews 6-15 Page 24 10 Apr 1989
151/1000 REDCON Raleigh, NC 1-919-859-3353 2400
14/662 Friend's BBS Omaha, NE 1-402-896-2669 2400
Headquarters, Joan Renne
132/101 BBS Source Archive Nashua, NH 1-603-888-8179 2400
150/803 Jersey Vertex Moorestown, NJ 1-609-869-0139 2400
305/101 NASW New Mexico Las Cruces, NM 1-505-646-2868 2400
381/401 Border Connection Santa Fe NM 1-505-678-1318 2400
107/105 NY Transfer Staten Island, NY 1-718-442-1056 2400
108/105 Global Time Systems Cincinnati, OH 1-606-341-7910 2400
157/1 Auer Register Cleveland, OH 1-216-883-0578 2400
110/20 EDS Data Dayton, OH 1-513-455-2431 2400
157/501 The PC-Key BBS Girard OH 1-216-545-9205 2400
385/4 Info-Net Lawton, OK 1-405-357-6181 2400
385/6 Bink's Barn Lawton, OK 1-405-357-2473 2400
147/14 Dark Star TBBS Oklahoma City, OK 1-405-691-0863 9600
148/120 Genetic Research Vat Toronto ON 1-416-480-0551 2400
11/700 FCAU IBM Net Toronto, ON 1-416-427-0682 9600
221/156 Waterloo CBCS PUBLIC Waterloo, ON 1-519-746-5020 9600
221/157 Waterloo CBCS Echomail Waterloo, ON Unpublished 9600
105/16 Net 105 EchoMail Hub Portland, OR 1-503-761-3003 2400
105/61 Shotgun OPUS Portland, OR 1-503-760-4521 2400
157/506 Beacon Hill OPUS Transfer, PA 1-412-962-9514 2400
362/1 The Mines of Moria Chattanooga, TN 1-615-344-9601 2400
362/501 Coconut Telegraph Chattanooga, TN 1-615-698-4858 2400
18/7 Flash Port Memphis TN 1-901-525-2710 2400
18/6 POSSM Mail Echogate Memphis, TN 1-901-353-4563 9600 HST
Jerry Hindle 24Hrs 365 Days BinkleyTERM v2.0
All NAMVET News Letters online for FReq. MAIL ONLY
130/5 CUSSNET UTA Arlington, TX 1-817-273-3966 2400
136/200 The Chai Way II Austin, TX 1-214-358-3738 2400
FidoNews 6-15 Page 25 10 Apr 1989
124/4210 Hardwired Dallas TX 1-214-437-4075 9600
124/4214 *CHRYSALIS* Dallas TX 1-214-895-9054 2400
124/4106 CHAI Way II Dallas, TX 1-214-250-3323 9600
124/110 Flying Dutchman Dallas, TX 1-214-642-3436 9600
124/117 NCC-1701 Node 1 Dallas, TX 1-214-240-8821 2400
124/4117 NCC-1701 Dallas, TX
124/14 Chrysalis Dallas, TX 1-214-985-9054 2400
124/200 Dallas Outbound Dallas, TX 1-214-437-4075 2400
124/201 Hardweird Dallas, TX 1-204-931-2987 2400
19/5 Micro Application El Paso TX 1-915-594-9738 2400
106/386 Information Center Exchan Houston TX 1-713-872-4429 2400
106/108 Stormy Weather I Houston, TX 1-713-644-4345 9600
106/111 Shutterbug's OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-880-4329 2400
106/113 The Opus Network Houston, TX 1-713-780-4153 2400
106/114 The Fireside Houston, TX 1-713-496-6319 2400
106/357 TMBBS Houston, TX 1-713-497-5433 2400
106/666 Anything Goes OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-997-2624 2400
106/132 Fast BBS OPUS Katy, TX 1-713-392-0093 2400
382/1 Crystal Palace Lake Travis, TX 1-512-339-8037 2400
382/14 Corona Del Mar Rockport, TX 1-512-729-7026 9600
381/201 Pro Link San Angelo, TX 1-915-944-2952 2400
387/401 Comp-U-Gen II San Antonio TX 1-512-496-9373 2400
387/601 NCOA International BBS San Antonio TX 1-512-653-0409 2400
387/800 NCOA International BBS San Antonio TX 1-800-365-6262 2400
109/604 ShanErin Alexandria, VA 1-703-941-8291 2400
109/639 The RENEX BBS Woodbridge, VA 1-703-494-8331 2400
343/111 Lessor Puget TB Edmonds, WA 1-206-742-8067 2400
343/9 Everett OPUS Everett, WA 1-206-355-1295 1200
FidoNews 6-15 Page 26 10 Apr 1989
138/4 PTC Net Mount Vernon, WA 1-206-757-5248 2400
1/217 Region 17 Echo Coord Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 2400
138/101 Story Board Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 9600
138/3 Region 17 ADVISOR EMERITUS Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-9232 2400
138/49 The Cohort Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-2646 9600
138/35 US HDS Human Service Seattle, WA 1-206-442-8127 2400
138/52 Burrell's Ballpark Tacoma, WA 1-206-752-4672 2400
139/640 Fox Valley Tech Appleton, WI 1-414-735-2513 2400
154/200 PC-Express Greenfield, WI 1-414-327-5300 2400
* 1:261/1004 The PainFrame 1-301-488-7461 UNK
* 1:343/26 AFMINS BBS 1-206-488-4309 9600 HST
* 1:387/801 The Commo Bunker Phone number not available.
* 1:161/208 G.A.D.M. Multi-User Hayward, CA (415) 581-3019
* 1:139/630 APPLEGATE Appleton, WI
* 1:261/1007 FINAL FRONTIER (301) 947-4404
* 1:344/117 LSO QuickBBS, Everett WA (206)334-3088 9600 HST
* 7:49/0 ALTERNET The Flying Dutchman, Grand Prairie, TX
* 7:440/1 Lord Frog Of Swamp (715) 362-3895
* 7:43/15 NITEWING HST
* Addr Unk AFIMS BBS *WILDCAT* HST PCP (206)488-4309
* 1:231/70 ISU BBS Terre Haute IN
* 1:170/203 The GUNNER'S MATE
* 1:347/2 Computers on line
* 1:370/11 Classic City Vet's Conference, Athens, GA (404)548-0130
* 1:204/45 SeaHunt BBS (415) 343-5904
* 1:14/703 Telen-Quest BBS (417)882-5108
* 1:154/288 The Inner Circle
* 1:19/43 McScott's BBS, Blytheville AR, (502)532-6212 9600 HST
* 1:344/9 The Precedent, Everett WA (206)355-1295
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-15 Page 27 10 Apr 1989
=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================
The Veterinarian's Corner
Excerpts from the ANIMED GroupMail Conference
by Don Thomson, 1:102/1005
A brief schedule of vaccinations that should be kept up:
Parvo - depending upon area and amount of travel and exposure to
other dogs this should be a yearly to twice yearly booster.
Parvovirus causes a severe bloody diarrhea with vomitting, and
may be life threatening. The virus is extremely hardy, and normal
disinfectants will not kill it. The Simi Valley-Moorpark area
has a relatively high environmental content of contagious virus.
DHLP - Distemper, Hepatitis, Leptospirosis, and ParaInfluenza
This vaccine is commonly combined with the Parvo vaccine into
what is commonly known as the "6 in 1" vaccine. These should be
boostered yearly. Canine Distemper is a multisystemic virus,
that may initially appear as a simple 'cold' but later spread
into the central nervous system and cause seizures, muscle
tremors and even death. We still see cases of distemper,
thankfully limited to unvaccinated animals.
Rabies - Depending upon which vaccine is used, this must be
boostered every one to three years. This is the ONLY vaccination
that actually is required by state law. Rabies incidence in the
Ventura County area has been limited to rabid bats, primarily in
the Camarrillo area and the Ojai foothills. It is serious, and
uniformly fatal.
DB Thomson, DVM
1:102/1005
9:871/16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-15 Page 28 10 Apr 1989
An echo tragedy by Rogers Cadenhead
Alpha BBS (393/1)
It was another beautiful day on the network, the kind of day
where you could almost smell the ASCII wafting through the
nation's fiber-optic phone lines. In houses and apartments
and computer labs and offices across the nation, fingers
contentedly tapped on keyboards under the green or blue or
multi-colored hue of computer screens, entering words and
sentences and paragraphs that would echo across the nation
and even farther through a patchwork chain of bulletin board
systems. Call it fate, call it karma, or just call it the
genius work of some system operators: the discussion echoes
had united thousands of computer users across continents
without costing most of them a single penny. It was a
beautiful setup, made possible by a few philanthropist
sysops who were crazy, rich or both. By April 1989 it was
coming into adulthood as a diverse, widespread network with
infinite possibilities.
But then disaster struck, spreading through the chain like
an immunodeficient power surge. You might say it started on
a small QuickBBS system in Galliplis Fry, West Virginia, on
an echo devoted to farm implements. The main discussion
thread on that April week was about modern developments in
the spade:
Message #1807 "ToolNET"
Date: 03-Apr-89 08:53
From: Jacob McDonald
To: Mac Harley
Subj: Dig It
>... If your hand-held digging tool is more than 12 inches
>long, it's not a spade, it's a shovel. So I don't think
>your argument has any relevance at all to Bubba's
>situation ...
Mac,
Look, I don't know how you fellers in Mississippi label
thangs in your hardware stores, but what I'm talking about
is a spade. A long spade. I've digertized it and made an
.RLE graphic file of it -- call mah BBS and download
LONGSPADE.RLE if you wanna take a gander at it. You have to
know when to call a spade a spade. And this is a spade.
End of discussion.
Jake
-- QuickBBS v2.03
# Origin: Farmer's Corner WV's down-home BBS (8:555/12)
The discussion on ToolNET wasn't particularly interesting at
that time, since most of the replies dealt with Bubba
Hatfield's search for new spade innovations for his Krum,
FidoNews 6-15 Page 29 10 Apr 1989
Texas, farm. But boredom is no excuse for what happened
next in a message sent from a Pekin, Illinois, TBBS:
Msg#:891 *ToolNet*
04-06-89 07:02:49
From: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK
To: ALL
Subj: POPULISM
After all the troubles with farms and drought these past few
years, and the efforts of Jesse Jackson and other
politicians to draw needed attention to the plight of rural
America, I wanted to talk about populism.
Populism -- a sort of anti-establishment, grass-roots, buy
butter, not guns political philosophy -- was widespread in
the early 20th century. People like Theodore Roosevelt and
others led the fight for common people's rights and fairness
for the underprivileged as well as the privileged.
Populism has all but died as a political ideology in
America, but Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower
and others want to bring it back. The positive side of
populism is people like Hightower, fair-minded politicians
who care about the farmer and want to make sure that we
don't lose him. But the negative side is David Duke, a
former KKK leader whose populist message won him a seat in
the Louisiana state Legislature.
What I want to know is, will populism be coming back in
America, or is it dead as a political force? Do any of you
discussing farm tools consider yourselves as populists, or
admire politicians that do?
-- TBBS v2.0
# Origin: Red's Herring BBS -- A Fishy Database (2:48)
As you can probably expect, the reaction to Pumblechook's
message was both swift and immense in its ferocity.
ToolNET, as moderator Jediah Hereford said time and time
again in messages, was devoted to the discussion of farm
tools. This message had nothing at all to do with farm
tools!
From Cleveland, Ohio:
Section 8 ... FARMTOOL DISCUSSIONS
Posted on: 4/11/89 - 13:12
From: PETE MCDONALD
To: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK Msg #120, 11-Apr-89 1:12pm
Subject: POPULISM
That message is not about farm tools. This discussion, as
you would probably know if you weren't as stupid as a milk
cow, is about farm tools. Git a clue, Morris!
FidoNews 6-15 Page 30 10 Apr 1989
-- ConfMail v1.7
# Origin: Ol' McDonald's Online Farm, E-I-E-I-O (1:817)
From Norman, Oklahoma:
Message #2234 "TOOLNET"
Date: 11-Apr-89 17:56
From: Luke Duke
To: Morris Pumblechook
Subj: POPULISM
I don't know what kinda fancy boy you think you are, but the
moderator of this here echo don't allow that kinda political
discussion here. Stick to the farm tools or stay off, boy.
-- QuickBBS v2.2
# Origin: Sooner or Later BBS - Boomer Sooner! (0:702)
From somewhere down under:
Message #666 "Farm Tool Network"
Date: 10-Apr-89 15:02
From: SEVIL NATAS
To: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK
Subj: POPULISM
You have posted a MSG on this echo that is off-topic. Damn
you to hell for all eternity -- and melt your blasphemous
modem, too!
-- HellFire v6.66
# Origin: Satan's Hollow -- BBS at the Earth's Core (6:666)
These were only a few replies sent to Pumblechook, who
received every bit and byte of ASCII abuse that the echo's
regular contributors could dish out.
Unfortunately, he was not the kind of person who could take
a hint.
Msg#:903 *ToolNet*
04-12-89 07:02:18
From: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK
To: ALL
Subj: POPULISM
Since this echo is devoted to a rural subject, I thought a
discussion about rural politics would be appropriate, so I
brought up populism. If you're interested in farm tools, it
only stands to reason that you must be interested in farms.
If you are interested in farms, you must be interested in
farm survival. If you are interested in that, you must be
interested in populism, don't you think?
If the people on ToolNET want to talk about this, who are
you few to say that they can't? Why are there so many
FidoNews 6-15 Page 31 10 Apr 1989
restrictions on what can be discussed here? There are only
so many things you can say about farm tools, after all, and
you won't be interested in farm tools if you lose all your
farms, now will you?
-- TBBS v2.0
# Origin: Red's Herring BBS -- A Fishy Database (4:28)
As you can probably imagine, this reply generated enough
message threads to sew a quilt. Message writers discussed
Morris Pumblechook's lack of intelligence, his "hoity-toity
attitude that belongs with them New York yuppie cream
puffs," his lack of masculinity and his dubious ancestry.
He had committed the mortal sin on an echo: deviating from
the topic. That made him, as one person said, a deviant.
From Norman, Oklahoma:
Message #3108 "TOOLNET"
Date: 14-Apr-89 09:53
From: Luke Duke
To: Morris Pumblechook
Subj: POPULISM
People are paying good money to send these messages all over
God's green screens, and you are taking away from valuable
discussions about the real topic: farm tools. I don't know
if there are any real men in Illinois, but if some of them
are on this network, I sure hope fer yer sake that they
don't come callin' on you in Pekin anytime soon ...
They might want to stuff your RS-232 interface where even
AT&T can't reach out and touch.
-- TBBS v2.2
# Origin: Sooner or Later BBS - Boomer Sooner! (0:702)
Despite the threats and the endless barrage of messages
telling him what the topic of ToolNET was and what kind of
real man he wasn't, Morris Pumblechook continued to fight.
Msg#:922 *ToolNet*
04-15-89 09:31:50
From: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK
To: ALL
Subj: POPULISM
I've given up any hope of actually discussing populism here,
but I'd like to propose a revolutionary idea for all of you
on ToolNET. If you don't care for a message topic that
comes up here, why don't you just skip it? That way, if
most people don't care for it, the topic will scroll off.
When you reply to a topic you don't like by saying you don't
like it, what are you contributing to the echo? Instead of
"protecting" it by keeping the subject on the "real" topic,
you're taking even more space away from discussions. If
FidoNews 6-15 Page 32 10 Apr 1989
you're really so upset about off-topic messages that cost
money to send all around, why are you writing some of your
own?
These echoes give us all a chance to expand our knowledge
and communicate with a broad range of people. They are an
ideal place for exposure to new ideas, but instead of
allowing that to happen, many of you are too busy policing
what should be said to actually say anything. You'd rather
criticize a topic because it might not belong than
contribute one of your own. In the beginning, God created
one echo. The discussions were able to go forth and
multiply, and all was good with the world. When discussions
became really popular, they separated from the first echo,
and more echos were born. And all was good with the world.
At some point, someone -- perhaps Sevil Natas -- said that
enough is enough. No more off-topic messages. As it was
telecommunicated. As it was done. And now, echoes are
dominated by teletyrants -- topicops -- who are armed with
modems and ready to shoot to kill any topic that might not
belong.
And now, I am an outlaw. I roam the ASCII prairie from
coast to coast, and I will post my messages wherever the
discussion takes me, even if it's off-limits on the echo
where I ride.
See you later, officers.
-- TBBS v2.0
# Origin: Red's Herring BBS -- A Fishy Database (4:28)
This was the last straw for the upstanding members of the
ToolNET echo. "This terminal ain't big enough for the both
of us," they threatened, but Morris Pumblechook had escaped
their clutches. There were no messages on the echo for a
few days, not even any about tools, because most people got
so riled about Morris that they forgot what they were
talking about.
The next message posted came from echo moderator Jediah
Hereford:
Msg#:10090 *ToolNET Echo*
04-17-89 15:05:13
From: THE MODERATOR
To: ALL ECHO CONTRIBUTERS
Subj: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK
A virus has walked among us, a virus that endangers not your
hard disk but the very existence of echoes. Morris
Pumblechook tried to subvert the designated topic of this
echo, and he will try to do so again to other innocent
echoes with users who might not be as vigilant as we were.
Thanks to the good work of many of you, Morris was not able
FidoNews 6-15 Page 33 10 Apr 1989
to lead us from the path of righteousness into the damnation
of inappropriate debate. For that I thank you.
But he is still out there calling bulletin boards and trying
the same tricks on other echoes. They might not be so
lucky.
Because of that, I ask you to disguise yourselves and travel
among the other echoes, ready to do battle with the infidel
wherever he may appear. When an off-topic message occurs,
even if under another name that could be Morris using an
alias, let him know that we're ready for him. Let him know
that we won't let it happen. Let him know that he can't
change the subject, no matter what subject.
Please do this -- if not for me, for the future of echoes
everywhere.
May the baud be with you,
Jed
-- QuickBBS v3.4
# Origin: Spare the Rake, Spoil the Farm (8:109)
As The Moderator had asked, many members of ToolNET started
calling other bulletin boards throughout the United States
and many other countries. They logged on under many
different names and waited for Morris Pumblechook to appear.
He did appear, under every name from Abramowitz to Ziegfeld,
posting messages about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons on the
Science Fiction and Fandom echo, posting messages about Star
Trek's first series on the Star Trek: Next Generation echo,
posting messages about classic radio on the TV echo, and
even posting messages about the Rev. Jesse Jackson's
political career on the Blacks in Religion echo.
When he did, the members of ToolNET attacked him in a flurry
of ASCII jihad. They wrote that his topic didn't belong on
the echo, that it should be on other echoes, and that he
should be smart enough to know that. They threatened to
leave the echo and said sysops wouldn't pay to transmit it
anymore if he didn't stop posting.
It is late 1990, and the war still continues. Many of the
echoes have lost a lot of member systems, and some have even
died. All the promise that the echoes offered for
communication, discussion and friendly chatter has been
usurped by topic protection. Some moderators have changed
their network software so they can screen all messages
before distribution, and they delete irrelevant passages and
sometimes entire messages.
The beautiful days when screens were bright and message
writers were brighter have passed us by. Even the ASCII,
which once smelled as fresh as free startup time on
FidoNews 6-15 Page 34 10 Apr 1989
CompuServe, has started to harden and clog the fiber-optic
trunks of the phone systems.
Morris Pumblechook has not been caught yet, but there are
hundreds who hunt him. On some desolate bulletin boards
where the echoes have no messages or the sysop has stopped
getting echoes, Morris posts a sad prairie song:
Oh, give me an echo, where the topics can roam,
And the callers and lurkers can play,
Where seldom is heard
A censoring word
And the talk is not stifled all day.
And the talk
Is not stifled
All day.
THE END
WHEN THE TOPICOPS CAME CALLING is Copyright 1989 Rogers
Cadenhead. It can be copied and distributed as long as it
remains unchanged.
Rogers Cadenhead is a BBS user and freelancer writer from
Denton, Texas. He can be contacted via Alpha BBS at (817)
566-6146 (node 393/1) or by mail at 915 1/2 W. Sycamore,
Denton, TX 76201. If you'd like to see more tragedies of
modern telecommunications, or want him never to submit this
kind of thing again, let him know.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-15 Page 35 10 Apr 1989
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FidoNews 6-15 Page 36 10 Apr 1989
=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================
The Interrupt Stack
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-15 Page 37 10 Apr 1989
=================================================================
REPORTS
=================================================================
David Melnik, Chairman
Nominations and Elections Committee
1:107/233
Request for Nominations for IFNA Directors for 1989 Election
The election to be held this summer will provide for replacement
of the following IFNA Director positions:
Division Incumbent At-large Incumbent
11 Bill Allbritten -- Ted Polczyinski
13 Irene Henderson -- Kris Veitch
15 Scott Miller -- Mort Sternheim
17 Neal Curtin -- Mark Grennan
19 David Drexler -- Matt Whelan
3 (vacant) -- (vacant)
Rules for Nominations
In order to nominate someone for a Director position you must be
a member of IFNA in good-standing at the time you make the
endorsement. You must affix your signature and the date to a
document proposing one or more candidates for one or more
Director positions. Nominees need not necessarily be IFNA
members.
You may nominate as many at-large candidates as you wish.
Individual nomination documents may be signed by more than one
IFNA member, thereby providing multiple nominations for all
nominees listed on the form (in fact, this is encouraged).
Nomination documents are to be mailed and received by the IFNA
Secretary by May 24 1989 at:
Linda Grennan 147/1
6204 Reeves Court
Oklahoma City, OK 73122
All nominations not reaching the Secretary by May 24 are subject
to rejection. Confirmation via netmail is advised.
Only those individuals who receive 10 valid nominations, who
qualify under all other regulations, and who accept the
noimination will appear on the ballot.
A sample nomination form follows the Election Rules.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 38 10 Apr 1989
(end of Nomination Rules for 1989)
1989 Election Rules (Preliminary)
1. WHO MAY VOTE FOR WHAT?
Anyone who is a regular member of IFNA in good-standing as of
the specified cut-off date (to be determined) may vote for:
o 1 Divisional candidate for the Division in which you reside.
o 6 At-large Directors.
o All proposed Bylaws Amendments.
If there is no one being elected for your Division, you do not
vote for any Divisional Candidate.
Anyone who is an at-large member of IFNA as of the specified
cut-off date may vote for:
o 6 At-large Directors.
2. HOW DO YOU VOTE?
FOR YOUR DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR: If there is no one listed for your
Division, then this section does not apply to you and should be
skipped. If there is only one candidate listed, that candidate
has already been elected and you should skip this section. To
vote for one of two or more candidates IN YOUR OWN DIVISION ONLY,
mark an X next to the name of your choice. Note that votes for
non-elected Divisional Director candidates will automatically be
applied to those candidates in the At-large category.
FOR AT-LARGE DIRECTORS: Place an X next to the name of 6 or less
At-large Director Candidates. If you voted for a particular
candidate to be your Divisional Director, DO NOT ALSO VOTE FOR
THAT CANDIDATE AS AN AT-LARGE DIRECTOR as it can invalidate your
vote for At-large directors.
FOR BYLAWS AMENDMENTS: For each proposed amendment you may place
an X in either the YEA or NAY area, according to your choice.
You need not cast a vote for any particular amendment if you so
desire; in this event your vote will be considered an ABSTAIN.
3. FROM WHERE DO YOU GET A BALLOT?
Regular and at-large members of IFNA as of the specified cut-off
date should receive a ballot in the mail. Also, ballot
information will be published in FIDONEWS and will be available
for request from the nodes listed below. It does not matter from
which source you acquire your ballot, but it is your
responsibility to get a ballot and return it to an official
receiver by the due date.
FidoNews 6-15 Page 39 10 Apr 1989
NODES WITH BALLOTS AVAILABLE AS "ELECT89.ARC"
1:107/210 (others to be determined)
4. WHERE MUST YOUR BALLOT BE RETURNED BY WHEN?
The official due date and site for the return of all ballots
shall be stated in the official ballots that are mailed out or
that appear in FidoNews. It is expected that additional sites
for return will be provided in Europe and Australia and that
ballots returned to those sites by the cut-off dates will be
considered as officially delivered.
(end of Preliminary Election Rules for 1989)
SAMPLE IFNA NOMINATION FORM FOR 1989 ELECTION
If you are a resident of any of the following divisions, you may
nominate one or more individuals to the position of Divisional
Director for that one Division only.
Note: Any individual nominated for a Divisional Director position
will also automatically be nominated as a candidate for At-large
Director (assuming all necessary prerequisites are met).
DIVISION DESCRIPTION
11 Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin,
Ontario, Quebec, PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Newfoundland
13 New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia
15 Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
17 Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Alberta,
British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon,
Northwest Territories
19 Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, South America,
Central America, Carribean
3 Australia, New Zealand
NOMINATED CANDIDATES
DIVISION NUMBER: _______ _________________________________
_________________________________
Only if you are a member of one _________________________________
of the Divisions listed above. _________________________________
FidoNews 6-15 Page 40 10 Apr 1989
AT-LARGE DIRECTORS _________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
NAME SIGNATURE DATE
NOMINATED BY: ___________________ __________________ ________
___________________ __________________ ________
Nominations ___________________ __________________ ________
may only be ___________________ __________________ ________
entered by ___________________ __________________ ________
IFNA Members in ___________________ __________________ ________
good-standing ___________________ __________________ ________
___________________ __________________ ________
___________________ __________________ ________
___________________ __________________ ________
Completed form must be received by IFNA Secretary by May 24 1989.
Mail to:
Linda Grennan 147/1
6204 Reeves Court
Oklahoma City, OK 73122
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-15 Page 41 10 Apr 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 3:711/403 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 Vic Hill 1:147/4
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 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210
11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 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 3:3/1
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 6-15 Page 42 10 Apr 1989
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