F I D O N E W S         Volume 15, Number 52        28 December 1998
    +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    |  The newsletter of the     |   ISSN 1198-4589 Published by:        |
    |    FidoNet community       |   "FidoNews"                          |
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    |        _`@/_ \    _        |                                       |
    |       |     | \   \\       |   Editor:                             |
    |       | (*) |  \   ))      |        Henk Wolsink    5:7104/2       |
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                       Table of Contents
    1. EDITORIAL  ................................................  1
    2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR  ....................................  2
       The Twit Responds - Reply to Bob Moravsik by Douglas My  ..  2
    3. ARTICLES  .................................................  4
       ECHO TALK - Doc Logger on Coordinator Activity  ...........  4
       BBS = Bulletin Board System  ..............................  4
       Revitalizing Middle Tennessee Net BBSes  ..................  6
       FIDONET IN THE 2ND MILLENIUM  .............................  6
    4. NOTICES  .................................................. 10
    5. FIDONET BY INTERNET  ...................................... 11
    6. FIDONEWS INFORMATION  ..................................... 14
    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 1                   28 Dec 1998


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

    Greetings,

    Hope you had a good Christmas and did not indulge yourself into
    too many nice things. ;-)  If you did, you may find yourself a
    few pounds/kg havier.

    I would like to thank all of YOU who contributed during the past year
    and hope sincerely, that you will continue doing the great work in
    1999.

    Why we have seen nothing from the ZC's & IC during the past year?
    Whatever it was, lets hope that we WILL see something from those
    gentleman during 1999.

    Have a great time and if you intend to blow away some of your hard
    earned cash on fire crackers and the likes, do it in such a manner
    that nobody gets hurt and keep them crakers away from your pets.
    Any animal for that matter!

    Like if you did not know, this IS the last issue for 1998 and will
    see you all in 1999.

    Happy New Year,

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

    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 2                   28 Dec 1998


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


                             The Twit Responds
                     Ref:  "The Tampering of the Elist"
                   Reply to Bob Moravsik by Douglas Myers

    > Some of you may have read the drivel posted by Douglas Myers

    Please note that I didn't need to resort, as you do, to calling
    individuals a "twit" or "tamperer" to present my arguement.  Let the
    readers decide who is posting drivel here :)


    > Most of his article describes the world through the eyes of a person
    > to argues that reality is what he claims.
      ^-- who

    Did you expect me to argue that reality is not what I claim?


    > The real issue (and only issue) is:  "Do the Elist keeper resolve
    > disputes ?"                           ^-- Does

    Actually, the elist keeper has been called upon to resolve several
    disputes lately.  There was a dispute over listing multiple
    moderators, a dispute over allowing listings with spaces, a dispute
    over the way listings were permitted to expire, and others.  The
    elist keeper was expected to resolve each one.


    > What's LaCostaPol ?   Its this secret set of rules that only Thom
    > LaCosta knows.

    Where's the secret?  Thom has stated consistantly that he recognizes
    the moderator of an echo as the individual responsible for
    maintaining the elist entry.  If it's a secret, it isn't very well
    kept.


    > There are two sides to this issue.

    > 1. Moderators "control" conferences and the elisting is their
    >    property.   This is not supported by any Fidonet policy or the
    >    laws of any nation (Remember, Fidonet is international)

    Nor has such been argued by me.  In fact, I believe that moderators
    must ultimately serve the echo participants or they will either be
    driven from the echo or abandoned to the echo.  What is actually at
    issue is the question of who speaks for the echo participants.  The
    moderator is recognized by the NAB, FidoSpine, and Elist Keeper.
    Each of these bodies looks to the moderator field in the elisting to
    determine who this spokesman is.  If you choose to call him
    "trustee" or "steward" or "owner" or whatever, that's fine... but he
    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 3                   28 Dec 1998


    or she should be listed in the moderator field for the world to
    know.


    > 2. Moderators serve the participants.

    > If one takes the later then the elist password is seperate from the
    > moderator.

    You make this assertion, but offer no arguement as to why the
    password should be denied the moderator.  The password is little
    more than a housekey - if it's lost or stolen, then it's appropriate
    to change the locks.


    > Without guidance from Satti (who has the power to extend Fidonet
    > policy), LaCosta should not have compromised the Elist security.
    > THAT IS THE ONLY ISSUE.

    I'm not sure why Fidonet Policy should need extended here.
    Certainly it doesn't require an act of Congress if some apartment
    manager decides to change a lock after a tenant vacates... and the
    new tenant might even feel that security has been enhanced :)

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

    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 4                   28 Dec 1998


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


                . -- -- -- -- -- ECHO TALK -- -- -- -- -- .
                | Food for thought from Fido's echomail.  |
                | Purloined without permission by D Myers |
                ` -- -- -- -- -- --  -  -- -- -- -- -- -- '

    Doc Logger on the subject of Coordinator activity:
    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    I think your appraisal of the role of *Cs lets them off too lightly
    when you suggest that they haven't been obstructionist. Every action
    that Satti has taken towards Region12 or members of our region has
    been exactly that. Kohl and Hinton engaged in exactly the same
    activities, getting their knickers in a knot when nodes sought to
    join an environment where they were made welcome. It may be an
    academic point to ask how many nodes gave up in disgust when they
    encountered a Bob Hall, a Dave Hunter, a Hans Toby, a Gary Gilmore,
    or any of a raft of other people who forgot that the point was
    communication rather than turf wars.

    I'd bet my stuffed armadillo collection that you could lay all of
    the missing Montana nodes at the doorstep of an NC whose overweening
    control ambitions throttled the net...ditto for net243.

    When the ZC is paralyzed by incompetence, the tribal sense of
    belonging is lost because the sysop peasantry see the organization
    in terms of fading, semi-literate relics clinging to power which
    they weild capriciously. Even a fractional amount of initiative on
    the part of a *C can bring spirit to the enterprise, and conversely,
    a bunker-hiding *C can create the opposite effect.

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



    BBS =3D Bulletin Board System
    OSP =3D Online Service Provider

    Okay, now read the first two lines 3 more times. Now take a look at
    your system which you are running or logging in to. Is it more like a
    "BBS' or an "OSP", well most of you should say "OSP", as this is what
    it really is.

    The "BBS" part is still there, if you see or run an effective
    Bulletins section of the system, then call that section BBS, as the
    rest of the system is an Online Service Provider.

    It is not changing the "BBS",it is changing the name to a better well
    understood name. "BBS" is nolonger a "BBS" anymore! "BBSes" years ago
    used to only have local bulletins, but for the past 15 years or more,
    many systems do not even have 1 useful bulletin!

    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 5                   28 Dec 1998


    Why is a "BBS" called a "BBS" when there is no Bulletins?? why? When
    you can call it an "OSP" and it sounds more like what it really is.

    Do you know where the "BBS" term came from? Well I bet most of you
    probably have no clue, it is quite simple, in the 1970's "BBS" were
    used for that very reason, to pass out bulletins to whom ever wanted
    to know, and that was all. Then one day some programming decided to
    add some extra features to their "BBS" like email support, and public
    msgs sections, eventualy it became what you see today. But today, it
    is no longer a "BBS" it is undoubtably an "OSP". The term "OSP" was
    used back then, but nobody understodd what an "OSP" was, yet they
    know what a "BBS" was, so everyone continues to use the term "BBS".
    No that term is over used in our online culture, this needs to be
    changed to it's proper term.

    I'm not saying an "OSP" has too offer internet services, but still
    can offer BBS-email (OSP-email) , online games, public message domains
    (echomail) and so on. An ISP does not offer personal online games, msg
    conferences, inter-ISP games, and so on. This can work with almost
    every feature of a "BBS" or we should say "OSP".


    Overall, if you think about what a "BBS" is today, it can offer a lot
    and I do mean a heck of a lot more services than any ISP can offer to
    it's customers (users) and most "BBS"'s of today are free, if not
    really cheap for extra and special accesses.


    It all just makes more sence this way. We can be powerful systems once
    again. The time is here. The technology is here. The market is here
    more than ever. Lets use it.


    All an "OSP" needs to be called an "OSP" is, what all "BBS"s have now.
    and if there are _NO_ usefull bulletins, then is _NOT_ a "BBS" at all.
    A "BBS" has bulletins. An "OSP" has any other online service
    available, and this DOES NOT have to be an internet service; just
    services like online games, public message domains, multi-node chat,
    local private email. Sounds familair?

    Just think, try to explain "BBS" to someone who never loged on to one.
    What do they think is on it? bulletins. Are people always attracted to
    bulletins? no. If you say "OSP" what will they think? "humm sounds
    interesting, I wonder what services they offer.", and voila you get
    some new users. And from there, it is your system that should attract
    them.

    Please try to inform other users and SysOps in your area somehow on
    what an OSP is and that BBS is only a section of an OSP. Work
    together, and this old, yet not used very often term will be in it
    correct place.

    Doesn't it just make more sence?

    Please pass this information on to your NEC, ZEC, and other local
    SysOps.  thanx
    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 6                   28 Dec 1998


    **PS: and remember this**
    "call your system what it really is, not something it isn't!"

    written by Joel Gathercole aka Greenie
    -BBS World Magazine - 26/12/98

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


    Revitalizing Middle Tennessee Net BBSes

    An Attempt at Revitalizing Net 116 BBSes
    by John Graves, 1:116/35, [email protected]

    In the article in Fidonews Volume 15, Number 8, entitled
    "Revitalizing a Small Part of Fidonet" by Neil Hoener, 1:128/103,
    Mr. Hoener describes one of the ways that Pikes Peak Net is trying
    to revitalize their BBSes. The Pikes Peak Net asked Hilgraeve Inc.
    for permission to include icons for their BBSes along with an
    upgrade for HyperTerminal 3.0.

    For those who may be unfamiliar with HyperTerminal, it is the basic
    terminal program Microsoft includes with Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0.
    Shortly after Windows 95 was released, Hilgraeve began offering an
    upgrade to the version included with Windows. This upgrade is free
    for personal use and can be registered for business use for a small
    fee. This upgrade turns HyperTerminal into a full-featured terminal
    program that is quite suitable for calling Fidonet BBSes.

    Inspired by that article, I contacted Hilgraeve and asked for
    permission to create an install program that would upgrade the
    HyperTerminal software that comes with Windows to Hilgraeve's
    HyperTerminal 4.0 Personal Edition and include "connectoids", links
    that can be placed on the Windows desktop or anywhere on a Windows
    95/98/NT computer, to allow users to call Middle Tennessee Net BBSes
    with a simple click of their mouse.

    Within 36 hours, a representative of Hilgraeve contacted me and gave
    me their permission. Hilgraeve is quite willing to allow Fidonet
    Sysops to bundle our BBS connect icons with the upgrade of their
    product. All they ask is that we send them a copy of the finished
    install for them to keep for their records and that we do not charge
    for the upgrade.

    We are planning to advertise this upgrade via flyers distributed at
    local computer stores and on our WWW pages. We'll send a copy free
    of charge to anyone requesting it. While we will make this available
    on floppy disk upon request, we think most of the distribution will
    be done by downloads from web pages and file attaches in email. As
    a result, the cost to our net will be minimal. I urge anyone searching
    for a way to increase callers to their BBS to give this method a try.

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


    FIDONET IN THE 2ND MILLENIUM
    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 7                   28 Dec 1998


       - An Article by Pete Snidal, Sysop of 1:353.910
            - Compuglobal Hypermeganet BBS -

       Okay, I know the title's a little too catchy; but it says
    something important.  Fidonet _does_ have a place in the next
    millenium.  The internet hasn't killed what Fidonet does, and it
    certainly hasn't replaced it. This little article intends to
    discuss a few things I think we need to consider as owner/
    operators of Fidonet systems.

       Here is what Fidonet does best: It provides low-cost access
    to a broad range of Forums/discussion areas which foster
    communication between computer users all over the planet.  These
    Fidoechoes are spam-free, friendly, and easy to use.  They cover a
    very broad potential range of subjects, and are moderated to ensure
    a fair to good selectivity of information (staying on topic.)

       If we, as sysops, can hold onto this basic idea, and try to
    provide at least one system in every possible calling area which
    operates with this basic aim in mind, Fido will live on for a long
    time.

       There's room for gameboards out there, I suppose, but I think
    it's important to keep the worldwide conference connectivity aspect
    in the foreground.

       What does this mean to the average sysop?  It means that, if we
    want to see Fido stay in business, we must publicize its availabilty
    in our area, and we must have our systems set up so that any
    would-be users who call them will be greeted by user-friendly,
    properly configured software presenting a good basic set of
    Fidoechoes covering a wide range of interests.

       I think it's important to offer a good general list of echoes in
    the smorgasbord; areafixing and configuring a few echoes you
    personally may not be particularly interested in will bring more
    participants to Fido, and will have to improve the quality and
    quantity of participation in _all_ echoes in the long run.
    Including your favourites.

       Preferably, the Message Menu will show a hierarchical listing of
    available echoes, starting at the first level with no more than a
    screenful of headings, such as:

            Local Messaging
            Environmental Issues
            Hobbies
            Humour
            News Postings
            Politics
            Technical Subjects
            Writing

       and probably a further set of special interest echoes, such as

            Health
    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 8                   28 Dec 1998


            Women's Issues
            Men's Issues
            Teen Stuff
            Kids Stuff

       and from this main message menu, the user should then be able to
    make a choice and get a breakdown of any of the given headings to
    all the echoes which are relevant.  Politics, for example, could
    break down into National Politics, Provincial Politics, Local
    Politics, Party of Your Choice, etc.

       What is Very Important is that the front-end software be
    intuitive as possible, and that it gives access to a good general
    interest range of message areas.  The intelligent would-be user
    can be counted on, I think, to make a fairly decent effort to figure
    out the navigation, if given half a chance.  It isn't important that
    it be GUI or even graphical, I don't think, since text conferencing
    is the basic issue here - if he can't bother to take the time to
    read the instructions, or is completely rodent-dependent, what
    contributions will s/he make to the conferences anyway?

       Something we have to consider is that the new user, unlike
    ourselves, must at first depend on the front-end software to
    navigate the message base.   We who have long ago graduated to
    offline readers, such as Harvey Parisien's excellent OFFLINE, or the
    even better alternative of TIMED, sometimes tend to forget what it
    was like to dial our first bbs and try to navigate around the
    message base.  If it was too difficult, as many of them are, we most
    likely jumped into a game door, and thus were lost to Fidonet as
    conference contributors, in some cases pretty well forever.  Other
    prospective users, having discovered that the Internet, as well as
    the real game computers such as Nintendo et al, do games so much
    better and thus also are lost forever.  So it's very important to
    present a properly set up front end of good quality, with a good
    basic set of conferencing echoes to the new user from the git-go.

    A really necessary item in bbs front-end software is that it offers
    the user a chance to see a L)ist of messages available in any base,
    showing one line per message of such information as originator,
    destination, and title.  Without this option, software which
    replies to the R)ead a Message command with a request for a message
    number is pretty meaningless.  And if the user has the good humour
    to offer up a message number at random (unlikely - alt-h is more
    likely) and unluckily picks a private message, s/he gets nothing for
    his/her trouble, and is now getting really discouraged.  Listing of
    messages is a very important feature.

       The best example of good front-end software, offering this
    feature, hierachical menus, a good shot at intuitive user-friendly
    navigation, and still selling for the amazing price of * FREE *, is
    my personal favourite, Maximus 2.03.  If it scared you once, and you
    shone it on because of all those scary *.ctl files and stuff, have
    another look at it now. You've likely become much more computer-savvy
    since then, and it'll look a whole lot simpler.

       Why am I writing this?  Well, although a grunt sysop in a small
    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 9                   28 Dec 1998


    town in interior British Columbia, I'm currently on a visit to the
    Big Smoke, Vancouver - home of net 153.  I brought a computer along,
    and thought I'd peruse the nodelist, and see what good ideas I could
    take home with me for my own system.  And I've found a few good
    ideas, but what I've found a lot more of is reasons why Fidonet is
    dying.  Poorly configured systems with badly-chosen, in a word,
    crappy front ends.  Message menus running to many screens of very
    limited-interest technical echoes which should show to the new user
    as one item on the first hierarchical menu screen.  No choices of
    the most basic echoes of general interest, such as WORLDTLK, ANEWS,
    LOC.BUYSELL (a BC-wide echo), BC_CHAT, BC_TEEN, ALTMED, FUNNY,
    or SIMPSONS.  No indication that other echoes are possible, if the
    interest is expressed, let alone a list of these.

       There are a number of echoes we all should carry as "bait" to
    encourage would-be's to become regular users of Fidonet, whether
    we personally have any particular interest in them or not.  Check
    the 'bone list for ideas.

       I ran into 'way too many "attitude" systems, with the sysop's
    cunning bulletins basically saying this-is-my-system-and-I-don't-
    care-if-you-ever-call-back-get-screwed.  I have no quarrel with this
    attitude, if the number of the bbs is not publicized on the nodelist
    and/or on the various lists of bbs's available, but if you're
    showing this kind of attitude on a bbs representing Fidonet, I for
    one really wish you'd change your listing to private, since that's
    obviously what you had in mind in the first place.  In other words,
    don't invite people to Fidonet, and then tell them to screw off.

       The only thing that's going to save Fidonet is attracting and
    holding contributors to the echoes.  This is good for all of us, and
    good for them as well.  Fidonet's conferencing is a valuable
    resource which a lot more people would be using if they were
    introduced to it through properly configured, hospitable local
    bbs's, and those of us who care should really do all we can to make
    this service available to prospective users.

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

    FIDONEWS 15-52               Page 10                  28 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 15-52               Page 11                  28 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]
    General     http://owls.com/~jerrys/fidonet.html
                http://www.nrgsys.com/orb/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/r13.htm

      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 15-52               Page 12                  28 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 15-52               Page 13                  28 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 15-52               Page 14                  28 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 15-52               Page 15                  28 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 15-52               Page 16                  28 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
    should 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

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