F I D O N E W S         Volume 16, Number 03         18 January 1999
    +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    |  The newsletter of the     |   ISSN 1198-4589 Published by:        |
    |    FidoNet community       |   "FidoNews"                          |
    |          _                 |        +27-41-515-913    [5:5/23]     |
    |         /  \               |                                       |
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    |       (_|  /_)             |                                       |
    |        _`@/_ \    _        |                                       |
    |       |     | \   \\       |   Editor:                             |
    |       | (*) |  \   ))      |        Henk Wolsink    5:7104/2       |
    |       |__U__| /  \//       |                                       |
    |        _//|| _\   /        |                                       |
    |       (_/(_|(____/         |                                       |
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                       Table of Contents
    1. EDITORIAL  ................................................  1
    2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR  ....................................  2
       FIDODOWN  .................................................  2
    3. ARTICLES  .................................................  3
       The *real* stranglehold on Fidonet  .......................  3
       An old friend of mine died last week  .....................  6
       ROLLER_JAM  ...............................................  7
    4. NOTICES  ..................................................  8
    5. FIDONET BY INTERNET  ......................................  9
    6. FIDONEWS INFORMATION  ..................................... 13
    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 1                   25 Jan 1999


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

    Greetings,

    Does Zone 1 have probelms?

    Why is it, how people want to continue take an amateur network such
    as FidoNet and claim it their own.

    I'm not fully conversant to what has been happening with or how the
    various systems, such as George Peace's work within Zone 1.  But
    why one person should try and make it difficult for the free
    distribution of information is beyond me.

    What is a hub trying to achieve?

    Instead of standing together and building up a network, no, we need
    to break it up so that people cannot enjoy it fully.

    I would appriciate some feedback, on how the various hubs, such as
    George's system, operate within Zone 1.  I know, George is a very busy
    man, so if I do not receive details from him, no sweat.
    Thanks in advance.

    Happy reading,

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

    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 2                   25 Jan 1999


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


    FIDODOWN
    By: Kent Anderson,   [email protected]

    To the Editor:

    Thanks for publishing the very frightening statistics on the
    shrinkage in the Fidonet nodelist.

    These figures become even more alarming if one looks behind them and
    realizes that over one third of the nodes listed are not BBS's open to
    the garden variety user. They are administrative, mail only or private
    nodes.

    Many, many cities, towns and villages in Zone 1 have no BBS at all,
    and to participate in any way, a user must telnet into a Fido BBS. We
    owe a huge vote of thanks to those SysOps who provide these services.
    It may not be too long before that is the only way for a participant
    to access Fidonet.

    It is almost unbelievable to me that one who has experienced the
    chaos of the Usenet Newsgroups can prefer them to the moderated
    echoes of Fidonet. We all need to become evangelists in this regard,
    and spread the word about Fidonet and echomail. If we do not, it will
    certainly perish.


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

    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 3                   25 Jan 1999


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


    The *real* stranglehold on Fidonet

    John Souvestre, echomail controller, manipulator
    by Gary Gilmore, 1:2410/400

    Once again, John Souvestre power-trips, and we all lose for it.  I
    give you this:

     Area : Z1_RBC
     Date : Sun Jan 10, 17:20
     From : George Peace                                         1:270/101
     To   : John Souvestre
     Subj : Low Traffic
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     JS>Butch can't seem to find time to post in public, except for the
     JS>occasional proclamation.  George will wait till it's all over with
     JS>and then tell everyone what mistakes they made.  Ken and Bob will
     JS>follow the crowd in the long run.


    As usual, John, you've done your best to play politics in the
    shadows. As usual, you're afraid to venture out in the open until
    you've gathered up your fan club and instructed them how to act.
    As usual, you're using an amassed history of small incidents to
    develop a certain course of events that will once again return you to
    control. King John and JohnBone at any cost. Pardon me if I don't bow
    before you.

    Guess what. I'm not going to wait for your little game to play out.
    I'm damned tired of the games YOU have been playing. I'm damned tired
    of the acusations YOU have been tossing about. And most important,
    I'm damned tired of being slandered and defamed by the likes of YOU
    and your band of yes-men.

    I brought democratic reform to FidoNet. I pounded on tables and
    exposed you and your cronies when you wanted to shove unilateral
    policies in SysOps' faces without due process. I was the only thing
    standing in the way of your total control of FidoNet.

    Well Johnny, I'm finally done dealing with your petty games and
    accusations.

    Poof. Now there are three ZHubs. Your skapegoat is gone.

    -!- FLAME v1.1/b
     ! Origin: Pennsylvania Online! 717.657.9785 (1:270/101)

    One of the best, and most impartial ZHubs around (as well as the
    father of our current "Fidonet via Internet" method), bullied until
    he could take no more by "King John", and there we go.  John has yet
    again saved all us poor dumb sysops.
    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 4                   25 Jan 1999


    Tired of this sort of "leadership" from John?  Tired of his "GMD"
    making decisions about YOUR echomail?  (Like killing mail because
    JOHN thinks it's too old)  Tired of John making moderators jump thru
    HIS hoops?

    Cancel your accounts with him, and use one of the others (George
    Peace, Ken Wilson, Bob Seaborn, or others that don't link thru
    Souvestre) and send him a real message.

    Get John out of OUR Fidonet business.  "Move the mail, and shut up,
    John".  That's the message we need to send, once and for all.

    Don't think John -is- into power?  How about this threat from John to
    Bob Seaborn in the Z1_BACKBONE echo:

     JS> This is strike three for you on this matter Bob.  Either fix it
     JS> or forget about remaining a NAB hub of any sort.

    Now maybe I'm wrong, but since when does John himself make decisions
    about who's a NAB Hub or not?  According to John himself, anyone that
    moves mail is a "NAB Hub", so what's he threatening here?  Is he
    threatening to keep Bob from moving any mail?  Or is he overstepping
    his bounds (yet again) and threatening to remove Bob as a ZHub.
    (Since it requires a majority of the OBO and ZHubs to make such a
    move, where does John get off making this sort of threat?)

    John's gotten into trouble once already for making arbitrary threats
    like this. He was completely against Bob Seaborn as a NAB Hub in the
    first place, and at the first opportunity, removed Bob from the Hub
    listing in the BACKSTAT.NA file.  Result?  Butch Walker pulled John's
    right to release the BACKSTAT,NA, and took back the production of the
    file.  (Which is why you now see the "Authorized version" tag on them
    now.)

    Need more proof of John's power tripping?  How about this quote from
    the FILE_MOVERS echo (where the FDN heads and Filebone hubs
    congregate):

    JS> There is a balance there.  Giving FDN heads any say at all in
    JS> running the Filebone upsets that balance, in my opinion.

    ..and then we have this:

    JS> I agree fully!  Also, the Filebone Hubs should have more say than
    JS> the FDN heads, in my opinion.  :-)

    Hmm.. the Filebone would be a pretty useless thing without the FDN's,
    yet John doesn't want the FDN coordinators to have any say in how the
    Filebone operates?  He wants to shut out the very people that make
    the Filebone possible.

    Why would that be? ...perhaps because John sees himself as "Filebone
    Hub #1"?  You draw the conclusions, but it's painfully obvious that
    John covets all the power he can wield.  John gets his power from
    writing rules, or whipping out "FAQ's" (and treating them like stone
    tablets from the mountain), or whipping up a frenzy amongst his
    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 5                   25 Jan 1999


    supporters.  (Many of which are downlinks, and I'd venture that
    they're afraid to say "Boo" to John anyway.)

    John uses his GMD program to force YOUR echomail to fit the "specs"
    that he deems proper.  (Although some of his "specs" are not adopted
    Fidonet specs, mind you.)  How about the fact that John himself
    decides how old is "too old" where echomail is concerned, and stops
    it in transit.  Who gave him this power?  Where is there any Fidonet
    policy that says he has such a right?  Doesn't matter... John
    decided, and you've let him.

    It's high time that this sort of abuse of OUR echomail be stopped,
    once and for all.

    John (at least once) has pulled an echo from distribution because
    -he- didn't like it.  Is that what we need?  (Though he did hide
    behind a smokescreen of excuses for why he did it, and what his
    authority was to do it.  All weak excuses indeed.)

    John will get his power, or at least influence by any means,
    underhanded, by "rules" or "FAQ's" (which he usually writes), from
    behind the scenes, or in whatever manner he finds handy at the time.

    We will only be free from this oppressive influence when John is
    removed from the NAB, and his "power" over OUR echomail is diminished
    by such an action.  I urge you to write to these people and request
    that John Souvestre be removed immediately as NAB ZHub:

    Overseer of Backbone Operations:
                     Butch Walker        1:157/2    [email protected]
      Zone Hubs:
                     Ken Wilson          1:12/12    [email protected]
                     Bob Seaborn         1:140/1    [email protected]

    Many cry and wail about putting Fidonet control back into the hands
    of the "grunt sysop", but John Souvestre has no such desire.  Oh, he
    might say he does, but don't be fooled... anything that would remove
    his death-grip on the control of OUR echomail, or his influence on
    file distributions is completely out of the question for him.  He'll
    be totally against it, and will work against it either in public or
    behind the scenes (where he's most comfortable) to stop it.  You can
    turn that around.  Spend 5 minutes writing to one (or better yet) all
    of the above people with a simple statement;

            "I wish to see John Souvestre removed as a NAB Zhub"

    Only then can we really begin to put the "power" and "control" of OUR
    echomail (and file distributions) back into OUR hands.  It's up to
    -you-.

    I'll sit back now, and await the diatribe by John (or his followers)
    that's sure to follow.  He'll name call, slander, and try to
    generally discredit me or anyone that agrees with these views.  Don't
    be swayed by his "turn the tables" or "switch the topic" tactics.
    He's a master at it, and it's his forte.  That's how he's kept his
    power so long.  By bullying, blustering, and doing what some call his
    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 6                   25 Jan 1999


    "Spin master" technique.  Expect it, but don't be fooled by it.
    If I'm lying, then so must George Peace. Allow me redirect you to
    his words above:

    "I pounded on tables and exposed you and your cronies when you wanted
    to shove unilateral policies in SysOps' faces without due process. I
    was the only thing standing in the way of your total control of
    FidoNet."

    George has probably worked closer with John Souvestre than anyone,
    and is privy to far more "inside" information than anyone.  His
    statement would seem to bear out what I've mentioned here, wouldn't
    it?  (Perhaps we should be worried more about what we don't know than
    what is obvious from John's actions, no?)

    Given the choice of the two, I think anyone would trust George's word
    over John's.  (Unless, of course, you're part of the "John can do no
    wrong" party.)

    Remove John, and remove the self-proclaimed king from the throne he
    has stolen from us when we weren't watching.  Again, I urge you to
    write & send your netmail (or email) today, and send it direct, just
    to avoid any potential "problems".

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


    An old friend of mine died last week.

    OPUS 1.03 Makes Last Event Exit
    Storrs, CT, USA <FidoNews>

    Sometime in the wee hours of January 4, 1999, OPUS v1.03 quietly
    curled up its toes and died peacefully in its sleep.  It was 11 years
    old.  The quickness of the end came as a surprise to its long-time
    friend and last remaining sysop, Lee Ayrton.  "It was well known that
    OPUS 1.03 had difficulty with leap years," said Mr. Ayrton in a
    prepared statement, "And we knew that OPUS wouldn't make it past The
    Great Rollover, but we didn't expect v1.03c to go so soon."

    Forgotten by most of its former sysops and users, OPUS 1.03 lived on
    at 1:320/455 on a small hard disk with its companions, Binkley and
    QMail.  "OPUS was its usual self the day before, handling a caller
    just fine," said Mr. Ayrton, "And now it is gone.  It was a fine
    program, one that I've known for over a decade, and I shall miss it."
    OPUS 1.79a has now taken over the BBS duties.

    While no autopsy was performed, it was assumed that the same internal
    date calculation difficulties that had caused problems in 1990 were
    responsible for its inability to load this year.  OPUS 1.03 had twice
    undergone post-release patching.  Efforts to resuscitate the aging
    BBS by reinstalling version b in place of version c were fruitless
    and v1.03 made its last Event Exit at 10am on January 4th.

    OPUS v1.03 remained robust, caller-friendly and flexable to the end.
    In spite of its reputation for repeatedly biting new sysops during
    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 7                   25 Jan 1999


    initial set-up, OPUS 1.03 was once the choice of thousands of FidoNet
    sysops and was well known for its wry sense of humor -- and its habit
    of greeting other OPUS BBSi with the exchange "YOOHOO/2U2".  Once
    supported by scores of developers, it learned to run external doors,
    allowing on-line games and other tricks that it hadn't been designed
    to do.

    OPUS 1.03 is survived by three later releases.  It was predeceased by
    three earlier releases and by v2.xx.  No services are planned.

    Lee Ayrton (1:320/455)
    [email protected]

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


    ROLLER_JAM!
    By: Bobby Queen, 1:3667/5, [email protected]

    For those of you considering whether or not to contact your REC to
    request the new echo ROLLER_JAM I just wanted to post the scores for
    this weeks game.  This beginning week featured the New York Enforcers
    vs the Florida Sun Dogs.  The Enforcers won by a score of 25 to 24.
    Next week the Florida Sun Dogs will be against the California Quakes.
    If you missed this weeks game then you missed a good one.  One of the
    referees got his arm broken while trying to break up a brawl.  I told
    you ROLLER_JAM was going to be more intense than Roller Derby was. If
    you are interested in seeing more about ROLLER_JAM on the WWW their
    address is www.rollerjam.com.  Or at least thats what I think it was.
    :)  I was too busy watching the action.

    They also have a fan club where you can get a newsletter and to find
    out about that just call 1-877-ROLLERJAM.  This is a toll free number.
    You can also get tickets through this number if you are going to be in
    the Orlando area and want to watch it live at Universal Studios.  Hawk
    from American Gladiators is one of the announcers.  So send in those
    requests today and lets get this echo backboned and get started talkin
    about the matches.

    And of course for the men those girls fighting are well worth the 2
    hour show. :)  See you in ROLLER_JAM which will be available soon at a
    HUB near you!


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

    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 8                   25 Jan 1999


    =================================================================
                                 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 16-03               Page 9                   25 Jan 1999


    =================================================================
                           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/

    Not sure where the following should be placed:

                  http://www.angelfire.com/biz/snwvlly/fido.html

    ============

    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)
    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 10                  25 Jan 1999


        Fido-IP:  http://home.nrh.de/~lbehet/fido (English/German)

      Region 25:  http://www.bsnet.co.uk/net2502/net/

       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)

    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 11                  25 Jan 1999


    ============

    Pages listed above are as submitted to the FidoNews Editor,
    and generally reflect Zone and Regional Web Page sites.  If
    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.]

    FIDONEWS 16-03               Page 12                  25 Jan 1999


    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 16-03               Page 13                  25 Jan 1999


    =================================================================
                          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 16-03               Page 14                  25 Jan 1999


    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 16-03               Page 15                  25 Jan 1999


    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

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