F I D O N E W S Volume 16, Number 42 18 Oct 1999

F I D O N E W S Volume 16, Number 42 18 Oct 1999
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet community | "FidoNews" |
| _ | 1-717-732-6820 1:270/720 |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
| | | \ \\ | Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720 |
| | (*) | \ )) | [email protected] |
| |__U__| / \// | |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+

Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
Dr. Thom and Mr... hide? ................................. 1
2. NET HUMOR ................................................ 5
Seat of Power ............................................ 5
3. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 6
Trick or Treat Cows ...................................... 6
4. NOTICES .................................................. 7
Future History ........................................... 7
5. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 8
Fidonet-related sites .................................... 8
Fidonet Via Internet Hubs ................................ 9
6. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 12
Masthead ................................................. 12
FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 1 18 Oct 1999

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

Dr. Thom and Mr... hide?

Prologue:

Echo Holders in the Village of Fido have long relied on the
machinery of Dr. Thom's Laboratory to protect their tenuous
holdings. But the Holders have long been warned that vigilance is a
necessary price for this protection, for certain Raiders have
studied the workings of Dr. Thom's machinery, and know when an echo
lies unwatched. Could the whisperings of the Elder Echo Holders
be true... that one of the newer raiders, Mr. Tom, has gone into
hiding rather than face the Elders who have discovered that Mr. Tom
is the evil Alter Ego of Dr. Thom?

Cast of Characters:

Thom LaCosta - Thom is the operator of "The Other Robot," which
maintains a data base of echo tags, echo moderators, and echo rules
as used in Zone 1. Thom is also nodelisted as Echolist @ 1:1/21 in
recognition that his echolist is considered definitive (i.e. a
moderator listed in his echolist is considered official despite
any claims to the contrary). Thom received this administrative node
number primarily because he had the only operating echolist at the
time that Adrian Walker dropped his efforts. Thom currently
moderates 35 echoes himself, according to Elist 109.

Tom Knowles - Tom is a user on Thom LaCosta's BBS who began
moderating about 9 months ago. In the echo MODERATOR, he has become
a controversial figure, known mostly for his authoritarian style of
moderation. He invites critics of his moderation to leave the echo
and maintains that echo participants have no say in the tone he sets
for the echo. Tom appears to be in hiding right now as he is
accused of being, in reality, Thom LaCosta. Tom is currently listed
as moderator for seven echoes.

Ruth Argust - Ruth is a famous Super-Bitch, best known for moving
her net from Region 10 to Region 12 when Bob Kohl threatened to
dissolve her net. Ruth has noted that Tom seems to have unusual
access to Thom's equipment, including special access to the elist
robot and access to Timed, a sysop editor which only operates
locally on a BBS. Ruth draws her evidence from the very posts of
Tom Knowles in the MODERATOR conference, so fabrication is out of
the question, and maintains that the most likely explanation is that
Tom Knowles and Thom LaCosta are one and the same. Neither Thom nor
Tom have addressed this accusation to date. Ruth moderates nine
echoes on Fidonet.

Bobby Queen - Bobby has never met an echo he doesn't like, as
evidenced by the fact that he is currently listed as moderator for
133 echoes. Bobby operates primarily by searching the echolist for
echoes about to expire, either because the moderator forgot or is no
FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 2 18 Oct 1999

longer active. He acquires the echoes by emailing a moderator
update immediately after the echo expires, thereby causing the robot
to accept his update as a new listing. Bobby was surprised that Tom
Knowles was able to elist some of the echoes he was after, and notes
that this would be possible if Thom LaCosta made the changes before
the expired listings were available to the public.

Bob Moravsik - Bob has nothing to do with what's going on here, but
I thought I'd give him honorable mention because his reputation as
an "echo raider" exceeds Bobby's. Bob, however, only has 20 echoes
listed... he's just managed to raise more hell with what he has :)

The Story:

The history of Tom Knowles actually comes in two parts. First, his
echo acquisitions as detailed by Bobby Queen recently in a public
post:

---------------
Elist902 Tom Knowles first appeared and elisted the following
echos... BGFAX
ECHOPOL
MODERATOR

I had been querying the robot that month and all 3 were in my list of
ones to update.

Then he took a break because he might have thought that someone might
figure out what was going on. Then he reappeared...

Elist907 Tom Knowles reappeared and elisted the following
echos... REC
ZEC

Again I had been querying the robot and those 2 were on my list also.
:)

Elist909 He reappeared and this time elisted the following 3
echos... FIDONET
JUNO
Z1_BACKBONE

Again all 3 were on my queries that month and all 3 were updated on
the 1st. That is one thing about Tom Knowles that you will notice.
Also that month his updates showed up funny on the eladd.txt in that
months packet. :)

Elist910 or as he put it out elist109 He again reappeared and elisted
the echo... WORDSTAR
---------------

Of course, Tom's ability to successfully raid echoes does not
conclusively prove that he's an alter ego of Thom LaCosta, nor even
that Thom is working in concert with him. However, there are two
eye-raising points to be drawn from this record.
FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 3 18 Oct 1999

Anyone who can beat Bobby Queen to an expired echo listing has to be
noted as a master of the technique. And yet, Tom Knowles was never
heard from prior to his first elisting.

And a look at the echoes he raided indicates an uncommon interest in
administrative echoes, which are normally of zero interest to
non-sysops.

How so odd that a new face should appear from nowhere and show
mastery of techniques which would be known to Thom LaCosta and gain
control of echoes which might be of interest to Thom LaCosta...

The second part of the story focuses on Tom's moderation of the
MODERATOR echo. There is actually more in the postings of Tom
Knowles to suggest a common identity with Thom LaCosta than in the
history of his echo acquisitions. In reading of the posts of the
last few weeks, I am struck as to the similarities in writing style
between Thom and Tom. Tom likes to quote the rules he has written
as totally sufficient and completely justified on his own
authority... Thom takes the same attitude in his activities. Tom
likes to promote the concept of "voting with your feet" as the
ultimate recourse - Thom has used the same arguments in the past.
Tom uses an unusual "slashed" style in his sentences which I've
noted in Thom's posting in the past. It goes something like this:
"If you don't agree with/can abide by the rules..."

None of these observations are conclusive, but there's enough
coincidence here to raise an eyebrow.

Then there are events which just don't make sense unless one
suspects a ruse. Tom posts from Thom's BBS, and yet several people
report that there is no Tom Knowles listed in the Baltimore area.
Could Tom be posting under an alias... or telenetting in from some
other location? Is Thom's BBS even telenettable?

Tom has Thom post the echo rules in his behalf, ostensibly because
he can't figure out how to upload a text file to the BBS. But is it
logical to believe that a user who shows a complete command of
elisting procedures and may even have access to Thom's operating
system could be too clueless to upload a text file? Even if Thom's
BBS doesn't support this capability, terminal programs such as
Telemate can accomplish this.

Of course, none of these speculations are conclusive... but one item
seems conclusive to this editor... as posted by Ruth Argust in the
MODERATOR echo:

---------------
Tom Knowles wrote in a message to C.A. Klingel:

TK> @MSGID: 1:261/1352.0 80315d81
TK> @REPLY: 1:2410/351.0 380094be
TK> @PID: timEd 1.10+
TK> @TID: GE 1.11+
TK> @CHRS: IBMPC 2
FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 4 18 Oct 1999

Hey I didn't know that a user on a BBS could use TimEd! Wow, news to
me. How do you have that configured since it's impossible!

TimEd can only be used locally. Did you know that Thom LaCosta also
uses TimEd to post under the same node number?

Watch it, neither of you have updated for the Y2K bug.

I think that the jig is up.

*ruth*
---------------

Though one echo participant pointed out that a remote user could
conceivably use TimEd through a Doorway program, this is unlikely.
First, most Doorway programs launch a secondary copy of COMMAND.COM
to give a remote user access to MSDOS while the BBS is still
running. This secondary copy of COMMAND.COM has much less
conventional memory available to it than is required by many
programs, so it may not even be possible to run TimEd through such a
program. Secondly, giving a remote user access to MSDOS enables
them to do such things as formatting the hard drive, downloading the
user passwords, installing themselves as sysop... in other words,
Thom would be unlikely to give such access to anyone unless his BBS
security is incredibly lax. It's more likely that Tom Knowles was
sitting at the keyboard of Thom's system in order to use TimEd to
quote a message to C. A. Klingel... a likely event if, indeed, Thom
and Tom are actually the same person.

Epilogue:

The most likely outcome of this story is a weakening of the echolist
system as a means of identifying the actual moderator of a system.
Certainly, Tom Knowles authority as a moderator is non-existent by
now, and Thom's credibility as echolist keeper is diminished by the
knowledge that he'll use his position for the trivial acquisition of
echoes. At this point, it almost doesn't matter whether Thom posts
on the subject - his silence won't cause the growing conviction that
he posed as Tom Knowles to diminish. The evidence supporting this
seems too conclusive.

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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 5 18 Oct 1999

=================================================================
NET HUMOR
=================================================================

Seat of Power
(Thanks to Roy Reed)

Bill Clinton, Hillary, and Al were in a plane crash, and
ascended to heaven. They appeared in a large white room in which
God was sitting on a great, white throne.

God addresses Al first.

"Al, what do you believe in?"

"Well I believe that the combustion engine is evil and that we
need to save the world from CFC's and if any more freon is used,
the whole world will become a greenhouse, killing all humanity"

God thinks for a minute and says "Okay, that's acceptable, come
and sit at my left."

God then addresses Bill.

"Bill, what do you believe in ?"

Bill replies; "Well, I believe in power to the people, I think
people should be able to make their own choices about things and
that no one should be able to tell someone else what to do ."

God thinks for a second and says" Okay, that sounds good, come
and sit at my right."

God finally addresses Hillary; "Hillary, what do you believe
in?".

Hillary replies, " I believe you're in my chair ."

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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 6 18 Oct 1999

=================================================================
COMIX IN ASCII
=================================================================

Trick or Treat ( ** )
Cows... |e e|
\ / ____*===*______*
(__) OO * Givenchy *\
|oo| | * * * \
/----|-|__|-| /**************** *
/ | || // *************
* ||----|| || || \_/||
^^ ^^ || || || ||
Frankenstein's v| v| v| v|
Moonster Haute Cowture

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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 7 18 Oct 1999

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

Future History

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.

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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 8 18 Oct 1999

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

. -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- .
| FIDONET-RELATED SITES |
` -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- '
Last update: Oct 8, 1999

FidoNet
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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 9 18 Oct 1999

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(Chinese)
----------------------------------------------

Please send updates, corrections and suggestions to
Joe Jared, 1:103/301, [email protected], and
complaints to [email protected] .

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

Last Updated: 10/11/1999

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v-email flag [email protected]
Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed | Basic Rate
-----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------
Zone 1 | | | |
10/3 @ Brenda Donovan | FTP,UUE,BinkP | T1? | $??/$10
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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 10 18 Oct 1999

280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo.
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3651/9 | Jerry Gause | FTP,VMoT | 33.6 | $3/$6
3803/1 @ Ben Ritchey | UUE | 56k | n/c
--------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 2 |
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284/800 | Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c
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292/2003 | Eric Vaneberck | BinkP | 768k | n/c

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--------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 3
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640/954 | Rick Van Ruth | FTP,VMot,UUE,BinkP| 56K| n/c
774/605 | Barry Blackford|BinkP,VMoT:10023,ifcico,FTP |33.6| n/c

--------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 4
905/100 | Fabian Gervan | VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 128k | n/c
902/18 | Javier Tejedor | UUE | 33,6 | n/c
FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 11 18 Oct 1999

--
* FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol
* VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various)
* UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers
* BinkP = front end mailer for TCPIP networks

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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 12 18 Oct 1999

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

FIDONEWS MASTHEAD

Fidonews Staff:
Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, [email protected]
Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, [email protected]
Columnist: Joe Jared, 1:103/0, [email protected]
(Fido Via Internet Hubs column)
Editors Emeriti: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell,
Donald Tees, Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg,
Henk Wolsink

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

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FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 13 18 Oct 1999

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"Disagreement is actually necessary,
or we'd all have to get in fights
FIDONEWS 16-42 Page 14 18 Oct 1999

or something to amuse ourselves
and create the requisite chaos."
-Tom Jennings

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