F I D O N E W S Volume 15, Number 49 7 December 1998

F I D O N E W S Volume 15, Number 49 7 December 1998
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet community | "FidoNews" |
| _ | +27-41-515-913 [5:5/23] |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
| | | \ \\ | Editor: |
| | (*) | \ )) | Henk Wolsink 5:7104/2 |
| |__U__| / \// | |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Submission address: FidoNews Editor 5:5/23 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MORE addresses: |
| |
| submissions=> [email protected] |
| [email protected] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
2. GUEST EDITORIAL .......................................... 2
What's Wrong with this Picture? - Doug Myers ............ 2
3. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 5
4. ARTICLES ................................................. 6
ECHOLADE - refreshing echomail ........................... 12
Mail ..................................................... 13
5. COLUMNS .................................................. 15
What's Not Happening - Fallen Star ....................... 15
6. NOTICES .................................................. 16
7. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 17
8. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 20
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 1 7 Dec 1998

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

Greetings,

Have you had contact with Zone 6 lately? It appears they are just
at their end of usefullness. I mean, they may as well not exist, as
nothing is being heard from that part of the world.

Mike Muller <[email protected]> would like to know if you have any
NODELIST or DIFFS files around from say 6 years ago. He is looking
for a friend who he seems to think, was in net 1:2078 NYC.
Please e-mail him direct. Thanks.

Happy reading,

PS: Another article did not wanted to be taken up by Makenews and
as such, I have appended it to the end of this issue. My
apologies in advance, if this issue does not print to well.

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

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 2 7 Dec 1998

=================================================================
GUEST EDITORIAL
=================================================================

What's Wrong wiht this Picture?

What's Wrong with this Picture?
The Other Fidonews Position
Douglas Myers 1:270/720

Henk Wolsink's editorial in last week's Fidonews has found one
ardent supporter in Bob Morasvik. Bob apparently feels that it can't
be comprehended in one reading, and has bent his effort to reposting
it on a daily basis to anyone who will listen and many who won't.
Parts of that article are quoted here. Readers who wish to see the
full editorial in context are invited to review last week's Fidonews
or just about any Bob Morasvik post in the FN_SYSOP echo this week.

Henk's editorial presents his opinion of an action by Thom LaCosta,
the Echolist Keeper. Thom's action followed a recent election in
the FN_SYSOP echo. Echo rules mandate an annual election of the
moderator. Rob Ferrara was elected to this position this year,
defeating Zorch Frezberg, the incumbent. The problem developed when
Rob contacted Zorch to get the echo password, a necessary item for
changing the echo listing. Zorch did not respond to Rob's request,
except to change the listing naming Rob as moderator, but retaining
the password. Rob requested the Echolist Keeper change the password
to one of his choosing. Since Rob was the moderator by virtue of
both the election and, at that point, by the echo listing... Thom
complied. After Thom changed the password to give Rob control of
his echo, Zorch Frezberg broke his silence and revealed a
questionable "trusteeship" which, he claimed, gave him to right to
control the password irregardless of the fact that he'd been voted
out of the moderator position (with whom the password normally
resides).

Henk came down firmly against this in his published opinion last
week, stating in part:

-------- extracted from Henk Wolsink's Editorial Opinion --------

The list keeper has NO right to -

a. supply the new moderator the current password or
b. change the password or
c. change details of the echo with(out) permission of the
password holder. ie. Ex-moderator in the above scenario.

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

Applied to the events which actually transpired, these high sounding
principles translate into little more than a ringing endorsement for
Zorch Frezberg to do as he wishes with the area FN_SYSOP, despite
the expressed wishes of the sysops in that echo, and despite the
rules and tradition which make them the owners of that echo.
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 3 7 Dec 1998

Henk moves on to this passionate conclusion:

-------- extracted from Henk Wolsink's Editorial Opinion --------

Secrecy has been violated! Get rid of the echolist keeping system.
It's useless with what has happened recently!

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

And he's correct that secrecy has been violated. But it's the
"secret" trustee arrangement which has been busted - an arrangement
which was only known to Zorch Frezberg, Bob Morasvik, and Bob Kohl.
This was an arrangement se secret that it couldn't be shared with
the sysops, the owners of the echo, at any point during the
election. This was an arrangement so secret that it couldn't be
shared with the Echolist Keeper until after he took the common sense
action which busted it. This was an arrangement which, when finally
exposed to the light of day in an effort to discredit the Echolist
Keeper, was universally rejected by the sysops participating in
FN_SYSOP... the owners of the echo, and the very people for whom the
password was supposedly held in "trust."

But is Henk correct that the Echolist Robot should now be abandoned,
a useless commodity? That would depend on your view as to the rule
of the Echolist Keeper.

One school of thought is that all Fido positions should be that of a
clerk. Fidonet Coordinators should just write their section of the
nodelist and stay away from any decisions. Thom should just let the
robot run unattended and stay out of anything requiring judgement.

I reject that position myself. Neutering those who hold a Fidonet
office simply puts someone else in charge... in this case the person
who can find a loophole in the existing rules, the person who can
convince others that a rule exists where it doesn't, or he who can
seize such things as knowledge of a password and elevate that
acquisition to greater prominence than a proper election.

The other view is that Fido positions are a trust, and the office
holders should actively seek to improve Fido... should help when
help is needed, and do what needs to be done to make the system
work.

Thom did what needed to be done, and my editorial hat is off to him.

[ ED: No Douglas, I do NOT support Zorch, nor Thom and neither YOU!
What I write in the editorial, is how I see it and believe it is
happening, for the good or bad and my comments and/or views, are
mine and NOT that of the ZCC or the IC nor for that matter, of
FidoNet and it's SysOp's.
There are many ways to kill a bird, or what ever saying you wish
to use, and I still believe Rob could have used alternative ways
in getting the password.
Please note: Zorch made an announcement in that he conceeded he is
no longer the moderator of FN_SYSOP and Rob having won most of the
votes and as such, was declared the moderator.
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 4 7 Dec 1998

Your comment about FidoNet positions, has nothing to do with the
e-list system. But since you brought the subject of 'positions'
to the fore, how about killing of Policy 4? :-)

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

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 5 7 Dec 1998

=================================================================
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
=================================================================

Area : Netmail Area

Date : Sat Dec 05, 16:21
From : Brad Crockett 1:340/201
To : Editor 5:5/23
Subj : abc.let

@INTL 5:5/23 1:340/201
@MSGID: 1:340/201.0 669a5440

Henk, in FidoNews #47, you wrote:

-------------------
The list keeper has NO right to -

a. supply the new moderator the current password or
b. change the password or
c. change details of the echo with permission of the password
holder. ie. Ex-moderator in the above scenario.
------------------

Nonsense. The list keeper had no choice in the circumstances.
Withholding the password from an elected moderator for any reason
would be doing a disservice to all of the participating sysops.

Brad Crockett
Duncan, BC Canada
1:340/201

[ED: No Brad, it's not nonsense. Please re-read what I wrote in total
not just the 3 items above and then you will notice, as explained
in my editorial in this issue.

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

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 6 7 Dec 1998

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

FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines

FidoNet address 5:5/23

Updated 16 August 1998 by Henk Wolsink
Updated 1 Mar 1998 by Zorch Frezberg
Updated 1 Jan 1998 by Christopher Baker
Updated 29 May 1991 by Tom Jennings
Based on the original work by Thom Henderson

| denotes a change since the last update |.

"Fido" and "FidoNet" are registered trademarks of
Tom Jennings, Box 410923, San Francisco CA 94141, USA
and are used with permission.

-----------------------------
SYNOPSIS:

FidoNews is the newsletter of the FidoNet computer network,
for both its Sysops and users. It is passed to its readers
electronically via the FidoNet and other computer networks
and to non-network readers as well as to the InterNet.

This document intends to tell you how to write and submit
articles for publication in FidoNews. Much of it describes
the technical specifications which an article must meet in
order to be included in the newsletter, as well as broad
(very) guidelines on content. (Of course you realize
articles can be submitted only electronically.)

Please read this document carefully.

The article you save might be your own.

-----------------------------
INTRODUCTION:

FidoNews was originally founded in early 1984 to include
all parts of the lives of its member Sysops and users,
which of course means not just technical matters. We do
not have fixed goals of maximum distribution or maximum
readership (i.e. lowest common denominator) but only to
meet the needs of our individual network members. The
success of this venture has always been contentious at
best (ahem).

In any case the grand experiment continues.

Over fifteen years later and roughly 20,000 Nodes in the
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 7 7 Dec 1998

network, the editorial policy, or lack of one, of FidoNews
has shown to best fit our ever-changing and unpredictable
needs.

-----------------------------
SUBJECT MATTER:

Articles on any subject of interest to FidoNet members and
users are welcome and encouraged, not necessarily of a
technical nature, though priority may be, but not
necessarily, given to articles of importance to the FidoNet,
its technology and its uses; other networks such as uucp and
the Internet; social aspects of communications; ethical
issues; other related matters.

-----------------------------
ARTICLE LENGTH:

Try to keep articles short. The longer it is, the less
likely people are to read it. Consider splitting long
articles (more than five pages) into smaller articles to
be run serially.

Exceptions will be made at the whim of the editors.

For practical reasons, we will attempt to keep FidoNews to
a "reasonable size", which is of course a highly subjective
and variable thing. As of Mar 1998, the goal is to keep
each issue under 100,000 bytes. Decisions regarding content
may be made based upon this, though in general it shouldn't
be an issue.

As above, exceptions will be made at the whim of the
editors.

-----------------------------
WRITING GUIDELINES:

We are not all professional writers, nor is that even a
goal for the FidoNews -- we want real communication to and
from real people; even at the expense of so-called "good
writing", which is frequently a tool to exclude.

There are, however, a few minimum requirements for any
successful writing, even for the lowly FidoNews:

* The subject discussed must be clear to people other
than the author! Don't assume that people will pick
up the context from your writing. Tell them
_explicitly_.

* Why are you writing this? It may _seem_ obvious --
"Review of the new Acme 75-baud Modem" -- but it's
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 8 7 Dec 1998

not. Are you the manufacturer? An irate customer?
Let us know your point of view.

* Who *are* you? A good question! Anonymity is
acceptable, though most people want to take credit
for their work. Include full contact information
including NetMail and E-Mail addresses, where such
is feasible.

* Articles submitted via Netmail or E-Mail must
contain all the technically required lines and
delimiters in the BODY of the message. This
includes the *[title] line and the 70 character
width requirement. To indicate the filename type for
one of these message submissions, place the
FILENAME.TYP in the SUBJ: line of your E-Mail,
NetMail, or EchoMail. Those that require extra
editing may be delayed from appearing in FidoNews.

* Articles will appear when space becomes available,
not necessarily the "next" issue. If your article
is of a time-critical nature, please say so when you
submit it; the editor still has final say.

* The editor reserves the right to request changes
from an author to meet these "standards", which you
have to admit are pretty loose. It is not the intent
for this to be a mechanism to refuse articles the
editor does not like, but simply to keep the
contents intelligible.

* If we have a backlog of articles, we may get fussier
about things. Historically, this has not been a
serious problem.

-----------------------------
SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

If all that hasn't scared you away, the next step is to
create a text file which contains the text of your article.
The resulting file should be sent or uploaded to "Editor",
| FidoNet address 5:5/23, or to "[email protected]".

The "physical" location (and phone number) of FidoNews
varies, and hence must be found elsewhere, such as
within a recent copy of FidoNews itself.

Filenames must follow the MSDOS standard:

FILENAME.TYP

a 1 to 8 character file name (A - Z, 0 - 9)
a period,
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 9 7 Dec 1998

a 0 to 3 character file type (A - Z, 0 - 9)

File types are used to distinguish types of submissions, as
follows:

.LET Letters to the Editor.
.ART An article, commentary, open letter, or
general news item.
.GUE Want to write a Guest Editorial?
Place [*Name & Node on line 1]
.RTX Need to make a Retraction of a previous
article or notice?
.COL Want to become a regular contributor
with your own column?
.ANS Answers to the Question of the Week.
.BIO FidoNet biographies - tell us your
personal story.
.TRU True stories of FidoNet.
.HIS FidoNet history - got an anecdote
to share?
.REV Reviews of related product, services,
or programs.
.JOK Net humor in print.
.FIC FidoNet (computer related) short fiction.
.CMX Comics in ASCII.
[watch those lines at 70 columns!]
[.CMX that are political will be
renamed to .GUE]
.PRF Want to Proofread? Get a cookie for
spotting errors.
.AD Advertising FREE services or events.
.SAL "For Sale"
.WAN "Wanted"
.NOT A notice for the back of the issue.
Keep them short.
.INT Internet addresses for FidoNet-related
Web Pages of general interest.

If your file doesn't have one of the above extensions, then
it will lay around taking up disk space until someone takes
a look at it and realizes what it is.

Maybe.

The name of the file is up to you, though you should use a
name which is not likely to be "stepped on" by someone
else -- the system will not guarantee file names are unique.
For example, FNEWS.ART is probably not a good name for an
article.

-----------------------------
CHARACTER SETS:

The character by character contents of the file itself must
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 10 7 Dec 1998

meet the following standards or it cannot be published in
FidoNews.

The FidoNews staff WILL NOT be responsible for making file
contents conform to these standards.

* FLUSH LEFT MARGIN: Please do not put a "left margin"
on your articles. Have the text start at the very
first column.

* RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 70 OR LESS: Less is tolerable,
more is definitely not. If your cursor is resting at
column 71 when your line is ended, you're okay. But,
*one* character past that, even with trailing spaces
and MAKENEWS will barf on your submission.

If your submission is physically rejected, the Editor
will have to fix it manually or send it back for
reformatting.

* RAGGED-RIGHT TEXT: Word-Star style "justification"
(inserting spaces into sentences so that a paragraph
is perfectly rectangular) is extremely hard to read,
and consumes needless space. Please don't use it!

* NO FUNNY CHARACTERS: This includes formfeeds, returns
without linefeeds, linefeeds without returns, tabs and
other oddities.

The only control codes (character codes 0 through 31
decimal) allowed are carriage return (CR) and
linefeed (LF). The only exception is: Control-Z
"end of file" terminator characters are tolerated.
Not required.

* NO GRAPHICS CHARACTERS: Believe it or not, not
everyone in the world has an IBM PC. Please restrict
yourself to printable ASCII characters in the range
20 hex to 7E hex (space to tilde).

* LINES TERMINATED: Each line in the article should
be terminated with a 'newline' -- either the MSDOS
standard (CR/LF) or the unix standard (LF only).

-----------------------------
SUBMISSION FORMAT:

Below is a sample article properly formatted. Features of
it are discussed further below.

--article file example begins below this line--
*A Sample Article [this is in LINE 1 starting at COLUMN 1]

This is My Title
by Joe Schmoe, [Netmail/email address]
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 11 7 Dec 1998

And here is my article. Note that it is flush left (zero indent).
Also note that the right margin is at column seventy so that it
won't overflow "most" text windows. Each line has a newline. Note
the *'ed first line. My article will be listed in the table of
contents exactly as it appears after the * above.

Figure 1. Table 1.
+-------+ ========
| A Box | Alpha
+-------+ Bravo

Note that we am not using any funny-o characters. This ensures
that the final article will look the same to every user, no
matter what sort of hardware he has.

This is the last sentence of our article.

--article file example ends above this line--

The FIRST line of text is the Table of Contents line. It MUST
begin with an asterisk * as shown above. NO BLANK lines above
title line are permitted. If you do not follow this instruction
exactly, the article will not be listed in the Table of Contents.
This Table of Contents listing method works for all submission
file types.

* Everything that follows the *'ed line will appear in
the body of the newsletter. The *'ed line will be
stripped out of your article text so if you want it
repeated as your title in the article BE SURE to REPEAT
it on a second line without the *.

* Next should be the title or name of your article,
your name, and contact information (network
address(es), Postal Service address, etc). Try to
keep it to one or two lines each.

* Put a blank line between paragraphs. Paragraphs that
all run together are very difficult to read, and may
be rejected.

* If you want to put in a table or a figure, go right
ahead. We do not rearrange text if you follow these
submission guidelines, so your table or figure should
remain exactly as you entered it. Try to limit them
to ones that make the communication CLEARER.

* Don't put a lot of blank space at the top or bottom.
The FidoNews-generator programs will visually
separate articles automatically.

* Please check for basic errors in spelling, grammar,
and punctuation. We're not publishing a textbook, but
you don't want it to embarrass yourself do you?

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 12 7 Dec 1998

* Don't use FidoNews to grind your personal axes
against other FidoNet members. An article presenting
a side of an internal dispute is one thing. An
article defaming or perseverating over several
Issues is another. Articles that merely quote
endlessly from other sources to no particular effect
are also not a good idea.

* Don't republish copyrighted material from other
sources WITHOUT the permission of those sources.
Include the permission in such articles.

* Remember that FidoNews is no better or worse than
the articles submitted to it. If you want FidoNews
to be a useful newsletter, get involved and submit
useful articles. It's up to YOU to make it work.

-----------------------------
SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

FidoNews is published on Monday of every week.

| To assure the best possible chance of being published in
| this week's issue, the deadline for file submission to
| the FidoNews Editor via FILE-ATTACH is at 0800 UTC/GMT
| on the previous Saturday.

| The deadline for submissions via NetMail, E-Mail, or in
| the FIDONEWS Echo is 1800 UTC/GMT the previous
| Friday.

Submissions which miss the deadlines will be processed the
following week. Submission by deadline is not a guarantee
of appearance in that week's FidoNews but it is likely
depending on volume of submissions.

As well, submissions may be missed due to changes in the
personal schedule of the FidoNews Editor, but should be
published in the following issue.

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

ECHOLADE - refreshing echomail

. -- -- -- -- -- ECHOLADE - -- -- -- -- .
| A refreshing extract from Fido's echoes |
| Purloined without permission by D Myers |
` -- -- -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- -- -- -- '

Todd Cochrane on the subject of supporting the OBO:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Give the man a chance. Personally I think it is time a lot of us
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 13 7 Dec 1998

started pushing our way into roles within this organization the old
guard has sat on there ass for years and accomplished nothing.

They are arguing over the exact same issues now as they were 6-7
years ago. I have been at this as long as anyone probably longer
than most yet the same people same idiotic ideals keep pulsating
thru and personally it is way beyond time to move forward

Maybe you ought to get on the bandwagon and help this thing move
forward instead of bitching all the time. There was a time when
Sysops helped one another and it was like a unwritten oath that you
were to help your fellow sysop.

Today all i here is me me me me me me etc... Get a grip instead of
bitching ask butch if he needs any help and offer assistance instead
of criticizing him..

I am very glad he put John in his place it was time that John get
knocked around a bit he is to big for his own britches..
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dave Hamilton on the subject of sysop-level elections:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
DS> The best thing he could do is to return Fidonet to the sysops by
DS> trashing P4, breaking up the "inner circle", and immediately
DS> calling for a ZC election.

Who would vote? 30% of R12 sysops?

I don't disagree with a lot of what you say, but I think you are one
step ahead of what needs to be done. What is the point of Satti
turning Fido over to the sysops when they don't even know who he is?
Or who their RC is? Or their NC?

Fidonet needs to be promoted INSIDE of Fidonet before it is promoted
outside. Then we can know if there is anything left to salvage.

It may be that all that will survive is the IP-listed nodes and the
WWB; I don't know. What I DO know is that rigor mortis has set in to
the vast majority of sysops, and even the active ones are leaving.

Sure, let's have sysop-level participation. But first, let's find a
way to wake the sysops up.

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

Hello Henk,

As a point of interest, the Zone 1 Nodelist Segment now contains a
special section listing IP Nodes. This segment is using the 1:1/3xxx
series of numbers and appeared first in NODELIST.331
Zone 1 is using the flags proposed by Lothar Behet (2:2406/301) in his
recent FTSC submission to designate the IP protocols in use by those
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 14 7 Dec 1998

nodes.
I have been designated as the IP Segment Coordinator for Zone 1 and
will be accepting further listings upon notification from nodes that
wish to be added to this segment.

Best Regards,

-=David=-
RC13

[email protected]
TCP/IP Node from 0715GMT to 0900GMT at kraut.dynip.com using Argus
v3.162

... Well begun is half done.
--- ProBoard v2.15 [Reg]
--
e-mail : [email protected] | files: [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Fidonet: 1:2613/404 and 1:13/0

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

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 15 7 Dec 1998

=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================

What's Not Happening - Fallen Star

.-- -- -- -- -- -- WHAT'S NOT HAPPENING -- -- -- -- -- --.
| There isn't always something happening on Fidonet, but |
| there's always something which isn't happening. This |
| column is dedicated to the lost causes which make Fido |
| what it isn't today. Published semi-occasionally... |
`-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --'

A FALLEN STAR

If a star falls where no one can hear, does it make a sound? The
publication which charts the movement of the stars, BACKSTAT.NA,
footnoted a change in the Fido Echomail Constellation last week:

------------------
Zone Hubs:
Eastern Star George Peace 1:270/101 [email protected]
Southern Star John Souvestre 1:396/1 [email protected]
North Star Ken Wilson 1:12/12 [email protected]
------------------
Bob Seaborn, the NorthWestern Star, has fallen,,,

The rumblings between the Southern Star and the NorthWestern Star
have portended this change. John Souvestre and Bob Seaborn engage
in constant wranglings over such cosmic issues as the importance of
low-volume echoes, backbone listing protocol, suitability of Gecho
as a tosser, whether Bob joined NAB or John joined Fidospine...

So what's not happening here?

To my knowledge, there's been no change in echomail connections
related to the fallen star, no change in traffic patterns... nothing
except a change in the listing. Bob Seaborn has still not conceded
that he's part of NAB, John Souvestre does not concede that he's
part of the FidoSpine, and George Peace and Ken Wilson continue
their strong tradition of not commenting on the proceedings.

A star has fallen, but without impact...

-------------- Hold the Presses! --------------

In a late reading of the echoes, I find a post by Bob Seaborn
conceding that he is an NAB Zhub. Now that he's paid ritual homage,
will his star rise again? Or will John Souvestre reciprocate with
an announcement that he's a FidoSpine Zhub. Will the echoes
continue to move? Will Lisa Gronke ever figure out the topology?
Stay tuned to the BACKBONE echo for the continuing Star Opera...

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

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 16 7 Dec 1998

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

Future History

16 Feb 1999
13th Anniversary of the introduction of EchoMail by Jeff Rush.

12 May 1999
12th Anniversary of Fido Operations in Zone 4;
10th Anniversary of the creation of FidoNet Zone 4.

24 Jul 1999
XIII Pan American Games [through 8 Aug 99].

9 Jun 1999
Tenth Anniversary of the adoption of FidoNet Policy 4.07.

10 Sep 1999
10th anniversary of Zone 5 operations.

26 Oct 1999
Thirty years from release Abbey Road album by the Beatles.

31 Dec 1999
Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed.

1 Jan 2000
The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec.

1 Jun 2000
EXPO 2000 World Exposition in Hannover (Germany) opens.

15 Sep 2000
Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens.

21 Sep 2000
10 years of FidoNet in +7 (xUSSR)

1 Jan 2001
This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E.

-- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this
Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor.

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

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 17 7 Dec 1998

=================================================================
FIDONET BY INTERNET
=================================================================

This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the
FidoNews Editor as of this issue; see the notice at the end.

FidoNet:

Homepage http://www.fidonet.org
FidoNews http://www.fidonews.org [HTML]
http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html [ASCII]
WWW sources http://travel.to/fidonet/
FTSC page http://www.goldware.dk/ftsc
Echomail [pending]
WebRing http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fnetring.html [TFN]
General http://owls.com/~jerrys/fidonet.html
http://www.trak-one.co.uk/foti
List servers:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/fidonet-discussion

============

Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org

Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html

Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/

Region 13:

Net 264: http://www.net264.org

Region 17: http://www.nwstar.com/~region17/

Region 18: http://techshop.pdn.net/fido/

Region 19: http://www.compconn.net/r19

Zone 1 Elist http://www.baltimoremd.com/elist/

============

Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org

ZEC2:
Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fbone.ch/echolist/

Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish)

Region 23: http://www.fido.dk (in Danish)

Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (German)
Fido-IP: http://home.nrh.de/~lbehet/fido (English/German)

Region 25: http://www.bsnet.co.uk/net2502/net/
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 18 7 Dec 1998

Region 26: http://www.nemesis.ie
REC 26: http://www.nrgsys.com/orb

Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm

Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (French)

Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (German)

Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (Italian)

Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (Spanish)
REC34: http://pobox.com/~chr

Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/

Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html

Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (Greek/English)

Region 42: http://www.fido.cz

Region 48: http://www.fidonet.org.pl

Region 50: http://www.fido7.com/ (Russian)
Net 5010: http://fido.tu-chel.ac.ru/ (Russian)
Net 5015: http://www.fido.nnov.ru/ (Russian)
Net 5030: http://kenga.ru/fido/ (Russian & English)
Net 5073: http://people.weekend.ru/soa/ (Russian)

============

Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org

============

Zone 4:

Region 90: http://visitweb.com/fidonet
Net 903: http://www.playagrande.com/refugio
Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (Spanish)

============

Zone 5: http://www.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/index.htm

============

Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org

Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (Chinese)

============

Pages listed above are as submitted to the FidoNews Editor,
and generally reflect Zone and Regional Web Page sites. If
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 19 7 Dec 1998

no Regional site is submitted, the first Network page from
that Region is used in its place. Generally, Regional pages
should list access points to all Networks within the Region.

TCP/IP accessible node access information should be submitted
to the FidoNews Editor for inclusion in their Region or Zone.

-----------oOo-------------

Fidonet Via Internet Hubs

Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed | Basic Rate
-----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------
1:12/12 | Ken Wilson | FTP | T1 | $24mo.
1:13/25 | Jim Balcom | FTP | 56k | $20mo.
1:106/1 | Matt Bedynek | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 64k | $5/$15mo.
1:106/6018 | Lawrence Garvin | FTP,VMoT | 64k | $5/mo.
1:107/451 | Andy Knifel | FTP, VMoT, UUE | 33.6 | n/c
1:124/7008 | Ben Hamilton | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 64k | $10/$20mo.
1:140/12 | Bob Seaborn | FTP | T1 | $5/$20
1:270/101 | George Peace | FTP | T1 | $30mo.
1:271/140 | Tom Barstow | UUE | T1 | n/c
1:275/1 | Joshua Ecklund | UUE | 28.8 | $10/yr.
1:280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo.
1:2401/305 | Peter Rocca | FTP,UUE | T1 | unkn
1:2424/10 | Alec Grynspan | FTP,UUE | T1 | n/c
1:2604/104 | Jim Mclaughlin | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 33.6 | $1mo.
1:2624/306 | D. Calafrancesco | VMoT | 33.6 | $15yr.
1:345/0 | Todd Cochrane | FTP | T1 | n/c
1:346/250 | Aran Spence | FTP,UUE | T1 | $10mo.
1:396/45 | Marc Lewis | UUE | 33.6 | $26/yr.
1:3651/9 | Jerry Gause | FTP,VMoT | 33.6 | $3/$6
1:396/1 | John Souvestre | FTP,VMoT | T1 | $15mo.
2:33/505 | Mario Mure | VMoT,UUE | 64k | n/c
2:254/175 | Alex Kemp | UUE | 56k | n/c
2:284/800 | Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c
2:335/610 | Gino Lucrezi | UUE | 33.6 | n/c
2:469/84 | Max Masyutin | VMoT | 256k | n/c
2:2411/413 | Dennis Dittrich | UUE | 64k | n/c
2:2474/275 | Christian Emig | UUE | 64k | unkn
3:633/260 | Malcolm Miles | FTP | 33.6 | n/c
4:905/100 | Fabian Gervan | VMoT, UUE | ??? | n/c
5:7104/2 | Henk Wolsink | FTP | 28.8 | n/c
--
* FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol
* VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various)
* UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers
[I'm only cataloging transfer methods, eg, ftp, email, telnet.
Specific programs using these protocols are no longer being listed.
Contact the system operators for details of which programs they have
available.]

Compiled by C. Ingersoll, 1:2623/71, (609)814-1978, [email protected]
Posted on the 1st of every month in FN_SYSOP, R13SYSOP and Fidonews.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 20 7 Dec 1998

=================================================================
FIDONEWS INFORMATION
=================================================================

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

Editor: Henk Wolsink

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

"FidoNews Editor"
FidoNet 5:5/23
BBS +27-41-515-913, 2400/9600/V.34/V.90

more addresses:
Henk Wolsink -- 5:7104/2, [email protected]

(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews Editor
P.O. Box 12325
Port Elizabeth,
6006
South Africa

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

FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
does not diminish the rights of the authors. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in
these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of
FidoNews and/or the Editor.

Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright 1998 Henk Wolsink. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For
use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or
the Editor.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or
file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal
address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request
FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific
back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSFnn.ZIP] for a
particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP
where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the
current year [8], i.e., FNWSJAN8.ZIP for all the Issues from Jan 98.

FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 21 7 Dec 1998

Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number
1 - 15 for 1984 - 1998, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in
size from 48K to 1.4M.

INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via:

http://www.fidonews.org
http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm
ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/
ftp://ftp.irvbbs.com/fidonews/
ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/Fidonet/Fidonews

And in non-English formats via:

http://www.hvc.ee/pats/fidonews (Estonian)
http://www.fidonet.pp.se/sfnews (Swedish)

*=*=*

You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to:

[email protected]

with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist

and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the
email distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist
with no message to the same address above.

*

You may retrieve current and previous Issues of FidoNews via FTPMail
by sending email to:

[email protected]

with a Subject line of: help

and FTPMail will immediately send a reply containing details and
instructions. When you actually make a file request, FTPMail will
respond in three stages. You find a link for this process on
www.fidonews.org.

*=*=*

You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at:

http://www.fidonews.org

STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request -
Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from:

ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/

Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents
FIDONEWS 15-49 Page 22 7 Dec 1998

for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 13 Megs.

=*=*=*=

The current week's FidoNews and the FidoNews public-key are now also
available almost immediately after publication on the FidoNews Editor
homepage on the World Wide Web at:

http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html

There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and
to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an
email link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable
from 5:5/23 [5:7104/2] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators
also have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it.

"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141,
and are used with permission.

"Disagreement is actually necessary,
or we'd all have to get in fights
or something to amuse ourselves
and create the requisite chaos."
-Tom Jennings

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

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Twelve Drummers Drumming

.-} .-} .-}
|_| |_| |_|
(_) (_) __ (_) .---.
| \ .--. | \.' '. | \/ \
|\_|--o ) |\_|--o ; |\_|--o |
|:| '--' |:|'.__.' |:|\ /
|:| |:| |:| `---`
|:|_ |:|_ |:|_
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-.
|M| |E| |R| |R| |Y| |X| |M| |A| |S|
(_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_)
/\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\ /\Y/\
[XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX]
||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||
||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||
_|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Eleven Pipers Piping
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_) ,/_)
(") (") (") (") (") (") (") (") (") (") (")
/I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\ /I\
(/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\) (/^\)
||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||
||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||
_|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_ _|||_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten Lords A-Leaping

w w
w 0__ \0__
\0__ w /|_ w /_
/_ __0/ '\/ / \0_ '\/ / w
'\/ / /_ ` /_ ` __0/
` `\/ \, _\ \, /_
w ` `\/ \,
\0__ w w
/_ 0__ w \0__
_\ \, /|_ __0/ |_
` `\/ \, /_ _\ \,
`\/ /, `

Nine Ladies Dancing

|~
() () 0` |~
() _/)(\_ () _/)(\_ 0`
_/)(\_ /^^\ () _/)(\_ /""\
/~~\ /____\ _/)(\_ /``\ /____\
/____\ /""\ /____\ ()
() /____\ _/)(\_ ()
|~ _/)(\_ () /^^\ _/)(\_
0` |~ /``\ _/)(\_ /____\ /~~\
0` /____\ /~~\ /____\
/____\

Eight Maids A-Milking

__.----. __.----. __.----. __.----.___
(\(__)/)-' (\(__)/)-' (\(__)/)-' (\(__)/)-' ;--`
`(uu)' _ `(dd)' _ `(gg)' _ `(vv)' _ |
) ( (|) ) ( (|) ) ( (|) ) ( (|) |
(o o) 8~8 (o o) 8~8 (o o) 8~8 (o o) 8~8 ,/
`--'\_ (__).`--'\_ (__).'`--'\_ (__).'`--'\_ _(__)|
`|||~~/\|| `|||~~/\|| `|||~~/\|| `||~|| /\||
^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^
__.----. __.----. __.----. __.----.___
(\(__)/)-' (\(__)/)-' (\(__)/)-' (\(__)/)-' ;--`
`(99)' _ `(66)' _ `(aa)' _ `(ee)' _ |
) ( (|) ) ( (|) ) ( (|) ) ( (|) |
(o o) 8~8 (o o) 8~8 (o o) 8~8 (o o) 8~8,/
`--'\_ (__).'`--'\_ (__).`--'\_ (__).`--'\_ _(__)|
`|||~~/\|| `|||~~/\|| `|||~~/\|| `||~|| /\||
^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^`^

Seven swans A-Swimming

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
/,_ \ /,_ \ /,_ \ /,_ \ /,_ \ /,_ \ /,_ \ _,
|/ )/ |/ )/ |/ )/ |/ )/ |/ )/ |/ )/ |/ )/ / |
// _/ |// _/ // _/ // _/ // _/ // _/ // _/ |
/ (_/ / (_/ / (_/ / (_/ / (_/ / (_/ / (_/ _)
/ ` / ` / ` / ` / ` / ` / ` _/)
\ ~=- \ ~=- \ ~=- \ ~=- \ ~=- \ ~=- \ ~=- /
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Six Geese A-Laying
__ __ __ __ __ __
>(' ) >(' ) >(' ) >(' ) >(' ) >(' )
)/ , )/ , )/ , )/ , )/ , )/ ,
/(____/\ /(____/\ /(____/\ /(____/\ /(____/\ /(____/\
/ ) / ) / ) / ) / ) / )
\ ` =~~/ \ ` =~~/ \ ` =~~/ \ ` =~~/ \ ` =~~/ \ ` =~~/
`---Y-' __ `---Y-' __ `---Y-' __ `---Y-' __ `---Y-' __ `---Y-' __
~~' (__) ~~' (__) ~~' (__) ~~' (__) ~~' (__) ~~' (__)

Five Golden Rings

.-. .-. .-. .-. .-.
((_)) ((_)) ((_)) ((_)) ((_))
'-' '-' '-' '-' '-'

Four Calling Birds

___ ___ ___ ___
('v') ('v') ('v') ('v')
(( )) (( )) (( )) (( ))
-/-"---"---/-"---"---/-"---"---/-"---"--

Three French Hens

(\ }\ (\ }\ (\ }\
( \_('> ( \_('> ( \_('>
(__(=_) (__(=_) (__(=_)
-"= -"= -"=

Two Turtle Doves
_ _
<')_,/ <') ,/
(_==/ (_==/
='- ='-

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree
_
('>
/))@@@@@
/@"@@@@@()@
@@()@@()@@@@
@@@O@@@@()@@@
@()@@\@@@()@@
@()@||@@@@@
@@||@@@
||
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^