F I D O N E W S -- | Vol. 8 No. 24 (17 June 1991) The newsletter of the | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: _ | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS /|oo \ | (415)-863-2739 (_| /_) | FidoNet 1:1/1 _`@/_ \ _ | Internet: | | \ \\ | fidonews@fidonews.fidonet.org | (*) | \ )) | |__U__| / \// | Editors: _//|| _\ / | Tom Jennings (_/(_|(____/ | Tim Pozar (jm) | ----------------------------+--------------------------------------- Published weekly by and for the Members of the FidoNet international amateur network. Copyright 1991, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact FidoNews. Paper price: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5.00US Electronic Price: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . free! For more information about FidoNews refer to the end of this file. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ..................................................... 1 A smorgasbord of possibilities ................................ 1 2. FIDONET NEWS .................................................. 6 3. ARTICLES ...................................................... 12 The 2nd Asian BBS Sysops' Conference in Taipei, 1991 .......... 12 By Vince...and Thanks ......................................... 14 Who *are* these guys? ......................................... 16 Public Key Encryption Standard Anyone? ........................ 20 Message Master - a Classic Window's Message Editor ............ 21 SIGN FRIENDS PROGRAM-New Version Released ..................... 22 WorldCon 1991 Important Announcement .......................... 23 A Draft Elections Policy ...................................... 32 A Word from the Bible - The Re-Birth of Water IS Baptism ...... 35 4. RANTS AND FLAMES .............................................. 38 Fidocult: Occult Mania Hits FidoNews .......................... 38 Speaking In Verse: Desired Editorial Policy for FNews ........ 39 5. CLASSIFIEDS ................................................... 42 6. NOTICES ....................................................... 43 The Interrupt Stack ........................................... 44 7. LATEST VERSIONS ............................................... 46 Latest Software Versions ...................................... 46 FidoNews 8-24 Page 1 17 Jun 1991 ====================================================================== EDITORIAL ====================================================================== A smorgasbord of possibilities ... by Tom Jennings This editorial is kinda long, so I've broken it into sections: I MADE A MISTEAK: FidoNews compression method UNPLEASANT DIGRESSION: Content, policy, censorship in FidoNews BACK TO FIDONEWS: Suggestions to authors on content MY TRAVEL PLANS: I'll be out of town for 6 weeks PROGRAM VERSION LIST: It should be split off as a separate project NEW SECTIONS: ... added to FidoNews UNFINISHED PROJECTS: Things we need in FidoNews ---------------- I MADE A MISTEAK: Between taking over a new, complex system on short notice, and not asking the right questions, I managed to create FidoNews in a compression format that a signifigant portion of the net could not decompress. My sincere apologies! It was definitely not intentional. Starting with this issue, FidoNews will again be compressed in the near-universal ARC format. Again, my apologies to all the non-MSDOS systems out there. (And oooh are we touchy -- with few exceptions, I was informed of my mistake by being accused of all sorts of conspiratorial wrong doing, which is very exciting, but unfortunately wrong. "Thank you" to the two or three who informed me in a civilized manner.) --------------------- UNPLEASANT DIGRESSION: This will be the only time I'll directly address this, so it's OK to read. I'm getting lots of complaints regarding Steve Winter's articles. Some were simply flames that didn't qualify as articles except the filename convention. I think it's funny (and depressing in oh so many ways) that I'm the one defending a fundie christian's writings. Does it mean I like it or agree with him? Nope. I might even have rude things to say about it, if I wasn't editor of this rag (sic). (You think that's contradictory? Maybe you should find out what an editor is for.) The "reasonable" rules you would use to strike his writings from FidoNews are the same ones that you'd use to strike anything else that some person or group complaining loud enough didn't like. The proposed "rules" received in the mail would turn FidoNews into a somewhat less dry version of COMPUTERWORLD or DATAMATION. FidoNews 8-24 Page 2 17 Jun 1991 Policies involving people's personal/social aspects should be determined by setting very broad limits of acceptable behavior, not by defining a "norm" and making things adhere to it. (I agree that the stuff in question is an extreme.) It's a slippery slope -- if by policy you eliminate "extreme stuff", you'll find that there were things less-extreme that are now under scrutiny; and so on ad infinitum. A dangerous long-term policy for a vehicle that changes hands periodically. We are setting precedent here for the future. Fact: I am not going to give in to censorious types (even though you insist you are not, you are). * * * * * I found this Letter to the Editor in the S.F. Bay Guardian, a weekly newspaper in the Bay Area. [Regarding the inclusion of a weekly horoscope column in the S.F. Bay Guardian) "[...] "Some people no doubt read them because they know good advice when they see it, and of course, a few really believe. A lot more, like me, just think they're fun -- like fortune cookies. "Then there are the few tiresome cranks who object, wanting to censor our newspapers. I hope you simply ignore them. "These people never see how they damage their own cause. They come across as anti-free speech, generate sympathy for those they would censor, make it easy to dismiss them as dogmatists pushing a different belief system, don't change any minds, and worst of all, implicitly suggest they can only address the matter by gagging the opposition." Rick Moen Secretary, Bay Area Skeptics Rick, by the way, happens to be FidoNet 1:125/41. I don't believe in a right to convenience. "Convenience" has become the unspoken universal goal for Middle America; we'll give up anything for it, even basic rights, let any power monger who comes along make any decision for us as long as it's convenient in the short term. Sorry, not from me. Enough said on this subject. Which brings me to what was originally my FIRST item: ---------------- BACK TO FIDONEWS: FidoNews 8-24 Page 3 17 Jun 1991 I request that authors try to limit themselves to issues related to communications. FidoNet is a communications medium, with which we can discuss anything that gives us pleasure or fills a need. FidoNews is sort of a meta-FidoNet, a thing about a thing. It should relate to the FidoNet as a whole, which of course means it will contain things from the FidoNet's members, which of course may be on any subject. FidoNews is of limited size and scope. Things within it should somehow relate to communications, the closer to the workings of FidoNet the better, but obviously anything related to computer networking, legal and ethical issues, technologies, etc are especially welcome. To reiterate, the written policy has not changed; FidoNews will continue to run most everything received. However I request that you try to keep to issues related to *communicating* electronically. FidoNews will change. It will take time. Have patience. Are you beginning to see the pattern yet? I will gladly spell out my intent and goals and methods in as much detail as I have them -- but for now I'll just let you think this over. Which brings me to the next item: --------------- MY TRAVEL PLANS: I will be out of town by the time you read this, and will not return until the last week of July. Yup, about 6 weeks (possibly less). Camping in the deserts of New Mexico, somewhat aimlessly, though I'll visit friends in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Driving my propane-powered white 1963 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country Station Wagon [whew], probably the only one about, with Fornicalia license plates that say "FIDONET". Say hi if you see me, and be warned if you shoot at me I may shoot back (I shoot 3-gun combat competition regularly so watch out). I've been planning this trip since last year. The editorship came up at the last minute, so this conflict couldn't be helped. Tim Pozar will be taking over in the mean time. He may be less willing to put up with flaming so be warned :-) Probably he will place tempests in teapots on the back burner until I return. I'll probably call in to see how things are going (I think I have production automated) and possibly editorialize from afar, as I'll be taking my Tandy 200 with me. (I wrote a terminal program with CRC XMODEM in 8085 assembly language; about 200 more instructions and I'll have an FSC-0001 packeter for it. Probably will be the smallest FidoNet interface (1800 bytes) around!) But I'm off subject here. FidoNews 8-24 Page 4 17 Jun 1991 -------------------- PROGRAM VERSION LIST: A list of FidoNet utility versions appears in the back of every FidoNews. It has become an important and popular feature of FidoNews. (I think Vince Perriello (the previous editor) came up with it.) To make a long story short -- the utility-version-list has become a project unto itself. Editing FidoNews is enough work by itself. It needs to be done by someone else, and shipped here for inclusion in FidoNews. FidoNews will run the most recently-received version; when changes are made, I'll replace the old file with the new. I will warn you now, it's a responsibility, and needs to be taken seriously. Whoever does it will receive a dozen or more messages a week, and you will need to edit the FIDONEWS.VER file accordingly (and request additional information where required, etc) and mail a copy here for inclusion. It's complicated by the fact that I'll be out of town. Think about it however in the mean time. ------------------------ NEW SECTIONS IN FIDONEWS: Date: Sun, 09 Jun 91 18:23:38 pdt From: Bob.Davis@f114.n106.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Bob Davis) Subject: Fidonews To: kumr!pozar Dean Lachan told me you are involved in reworking the layout of Fidonews. We've been having a lively discussion in ZEC conference on a number of topics, among which is the viability of Fidonews as a communications medium of official news in Fidonet. Fidonews has historically been filled with a wide range of diatribe that causes a lot of people to skip it. Some have said that you can look in the table of contents and figure out what's important. I disagree. Look at the TOC for Fidonews.817. Its not obvious that Tony published the Backbone Procedures in there. May I suggest that future Fidonews incorporate a section or chapter devoted strictly to fidonet business commmunication? It would be clearly labeled as FIDONET BUSINESS or something similar and not include any political comment or rebuttal. [...] Bob FidoNews 8-24 Page 5 17 Jun 1991 You've got it -- a new section in FidoNews called "FidoNet News". "FidoNet News" contains only items pertaining to technical and policy issues of operating FidoNet -- technical standards, policy changes, vote results, that sort of thing. This section will appear even when empty -- to allow scanning the Table of Contents for net-related news and facts. ------------------- UNFINISHED PROJECTS: There are a number of things I want to start or change in FidoNews. Since I won't get to do them until I return, I'll list them here so you can think about them ahead of time. ABSTRACTS: Called "reviews" in magazines, but they are really "abstracts", brief descriptive mentions of other publications, electronic and otherwise, of potential interest to FidoNews readers -- EFF's Effector, BOARDWATCH Magazine, Computer Underground Digest, and such like. What they cover, how to get, publication schedule, etc, rather than pass judgment good vs. bad (you're all grown up kids and can make your own decisions on that). FIDOCON: FidoCon '91 is about to happen -- I will be there, but I'm only one person, so -- we need reporters!!! Don't try to cover it all, just pick one thing and write even just one or two paragraphs. You'd be surprised how interesting and effective VERY SHORT reports are! It would be great to have a few dozen 2 - 3 paragraph reports on things happening at FidoCon, rather than a few long overviews. Don't worry about duplication; two people covering the same event can be interesting. Don't worry about your writing, I'm not your grade school english teacher -- it's content that counts! Bye! Have a good trip! (hey, that's your line...) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 8-24 Page 6 17 Jun 1991 ====================================================================== FIDONET NEWS ====================================================================== ################################################################ FidoNetNews -- a weekly section devoted to technical and factual issues within the FidoNet -- FidoNet Technical Standards Committee reports, *C reports, information on FidoNet standards documents and the like. ################################################################ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- /* Probably a lot of you have never seen it -- the junk in the nodelist meant for us huminz to read. Here an excerpt from NODELIST.158. Somebody bug 'em and get the /0's to send me copies of this sort of junk -- PROPERLY FORMATTED AS AN ARTICLE (see ARTSPEC.DOC) -- for inclusion. (Unlike this one, which rquried a lot of editing on my part.) It's your network ... --tomj */ ;A FidoNet Nodelist for Friday, June 7, 1991 -- Day number 158 : 27592 ;A ;A The FidoNet(r) NodeList, a listing of the systems within FidoNet. ;A ; /* Boring copyright clipped. */ ; ;S NOTICE -- NOTICE -- NOTICE -- NOTICE -- NOTICE -- NOTICE ;S -------------------------------------------- ;S ;S | Vote Result: Proposed New Policy ;S | -------------------------------- ;S | ;S | Matt Whelan ;S | International Coordinator ;S | ;S | Voting has closed on the proposed new FidoNet policy. The ;S | "WorldPol" proposal was ignored by a majority of eligible voters ;S | (non-votes outnumbered votes by 229 to 195), and rejected by a ;S | majority of the remainder. ;S | ;S | To be accepted as FidoNet policy, the proposal needed a 'Yes' ;S | from at least half of the votes cast. It received slightly less ;S | than 40 percent. 'No' votes accounted for nearly 50 percent, and ;S | the remainder were 'Abstain' votes -- effectively a vote against ;S | any change. ;S | ;S | Three FidoNet zones voted against the proposal, two voted for it, ;S | and one failed to vote. ;S | ;S | Final vote tally: FidoNews 8-24 Page 7 17 Jun 1991 ;S | ;S | Zone YES NO ABSTAIN ;S | ;S | 0 -- 1 -- (IC, in accordance with world totals) ;S | 1 17 65 -- ;S | 2 46 12 23 ;S | 3 3 14 -- ;S | 4 11 -- -- ;S | 5 -- 3 -- ;S | 6 -- -- -- ;S | ;S | Total 77 95 23 ;S | ;S | %Vote 39.5 48.7 11.8 ;S | ;S | ------------------------------------------------------------- ;S | ;S | Date: Fri May 31 1991 19:21:03 ;S | From: Harry Lee ;S | To: All ;S | Subj: Here's The Big Secret ;S | ;S | The following is the current state of the voting for Z1C: ;S | ;S | Rgn Pwd ;S | 10 Shark ;S | 11 Marduk ;S | 12 EastCan ;S | 13 Spyders ;S | 14 Compendium ;S | 15 WildWest ;S | 16 AnotherTerm ;S | 17 Eileen ;S | 18 NoWay ;S | 19 LakeParty! ;S | ;S | George Peace has been unanimously elected Zone Coordinator. ;S | ;S | Congratulations to George, and thanks to Jesse and John for caring ;S | enough to run. ;S | ;S -------------------------------------------- ;S ;S You can request from 1:1/0 the most recent nodelist/nodediff by using the ;S "magic name" of NODELIST or NODEDIFF. ;S Please request from your local network or region coordinator if possible. ;S ;S Please check the END of the nodelist for additional technical information. ;S ;S ; /* One bazillion lines of nodes clipped out here. */ ;S FidoNews 8-24 Page 8 17 Jun 1991 ;S ;S ;S The following flags define special operating conditions: ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S CM Node accepts mail 24 hours a day ;S MO Node does not accept human callers ;S ;S ;S The following flags define modem protocols supported: ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S V21 CCITT V21 300 bps full duplex ;S V22 CCITT V22 1200 bps full duplex ;S V29 CCITT V29 9600 bps half duplex ;S V32 CCITT V32 9600 bps full duplex ;S V32b CCITT V32bis 14400 bps full duplex ;S V33 CCITT V33 ;S V34 CCITT V34 ;S V42 CCITT V42 ;S V42b CCITT V42bis ;S H96 Hayes V9600 ;S HST USR Courier HST ;S MAX Microcom AX/96xx series ;S PEP Packet Ensemble Protocol ;S ;S NOTE: Many V22 modems also support Bell 212A. ;S ;S If no modem flag is given, Bell 212A is assumed for 1200 bps ;S systems, CCITT V22bis is assumed for 2400 bps systems. ;S ;S ;S The following flags define type of error correction available. A ;S separate error correction flag should not be used when the error ;S correction type can be determined by the modem flag. For instance, ;S a modem flag of HST implies MNP. ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S MNP Microcom Networking Protocol error correction ;S V42 LAP-M error correction w/fallback to MNP ;S ;S ;S The following flags define the type(s) of compression of mail ;S packets supported. ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S MN No compression supported ;S NOTE: The only compression method standard in ;S FidoNet is archiving, using the standard SEA ARC ;S format, with archive names defined by the ;S specification for ARCMail 0.6. The absence of the ;S MN flag indicates that ARCMail 0.6 compression is FidoNews 8-24 Page 9 17 Jun 1991 ;S supported by this node. ;S ;S ;S The following flags indicate the types of file/update requests ;S supported. ;S ;S |----------------------------------------------------------| ;S | | Bark | WaZOO | ;S | |-------------------------|-------------------------| ;S | | File | Update | File | Update | ;S | Flag | Requests | Requests | Requests | Requests | ;S |------|------------|------------|------------|------------| ;S | XA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ;S | XB | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ;S | XC | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ;S | XP | Yes | Yes | No | No | ;S | XR | Yes | No | Yes | No | ;S | XW | No | No | Yes | No | ;S | XX | No | No | Yes | Yes | ;S |----------------------------------------------------------| ;S ;S ;S The following software is qualified to use the ;S appropriate file request flag: ;S ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | File Req Flag Software Package | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XA Frontdoor <1.99b | ;S | Dutchie 2.90c | ;S | Binkleyterm >2.1 | ;S | D'Bridge <1.3 | ;S | TIMS | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XB Binkleyterm 2.0 | ;S | Dutchie 2.90b | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XC Opus 1.1 | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XP Seadog | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XR Opus 1.03 | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XW Fido >12M | ;S | Tabby | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | XX D'Bridge 1.30 | ;S | Frontdoor 1.99b | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S | | ;S | None QMM | ;S |---------------------------------------| ;S ;S ;S ;S The following flag defines gateways to other domains (networks). FidoNews 8-24 Page 10 17 Jun 1991 ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S Gx..x Gateway to domain 'x..x', where 'x..x` is a string ;S of alphanumeric characters. Valid values for 'x..x' ;S are assigned by the FidoNet International ;S Coordinator. This flag is not authorized for use by ;S any node unless specifically authorized by the IC or ;S FidoNet Inter-Network Coordinator. Registered ;S domain gateways include: ;S uucp to be used only by nodes in a list of ;S authorized fidonet.org sites available at ;S 1:1/31. ;S ;S ;S The following flags define the dedicated mail periods supported. ;S They have the form "#nn" or !nn where nn is the UTC hour the mail ;S period begins, # indicates Bell 212A compatibility, and ! ;S indicates incompatibility with Bell 212A. ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S #01 Zone 5 mail hour (01:00 - 02:00 UTC) ;S #02 Zone 2 mail hour (02:30 - 03:30 UTC) ;S #08 Zone 4 mail hour (08:00 - 09:00 UTC) ;S #09 Zone 1 mail hour (09:00 - 10:00 UTC) ;S #18 Zone 3 mail hour (18:00 - 19:00 UTC) ;S #20 Zone 6 mail hour (20:00 - 21:00 UTC) ;S ;S NOTE: When applicable, the mail period flags may ;S be strung together with no intervening commas, eg. ;S "#02#09". Only mail hours other than that standard ;S within a node's zone should be given. Since ;S observance of mail hour within one's zone is ;S mandatory, it should not be indicated. ;S ;S ;S The following flag defines user-specific values. If present, this ;S flag MUST be the last flag present in a nodelist entry. ;S ;S Flag Meaning ;S ;S Ux..x A user-specified string, which may contain any ;S alphanumeric character except blanks. This string ;S may contain one to thirty-two characters of ;S information that may be used to add user-defined ;S data to a specific nodelist entry. The character "U" ;S should NOT be repeated, eg, "UXXX,YYY" not "UXXX,UYYY". ;S ;S This flag is NOT to be used for advertisements, or ;S non-essential information. If you have questions ;S concerning the use of this flag, please contact your ;S Regional Coordinator, or request the file USERFLAG. FidoNews 8-24 Page 11 17 Jun 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 8-24 Page 12 17 Jun 1991 ====================================================================== ARTICLES ====================================================================== By : Yoshi Mikami The 2nd Asian BBS Sysops' Conference in Taipei, 1991 /* AARGH!! This article had no title, and was filled with tab characters! Soon I'll get tired of manually editing and will just ignore them. Please make sure your articles conform to ARTSPEC.DOC! -- tomj */ This is the official report by the Organizing Committee of the 2nd Asian BBS Sysops' Conference held in Taipei, Taiwan, in June, 1991. The 2nd Asian BBS Sysops' Conference in Taipei, 1991 ---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 12, 1991 By: Yoshi Mikami, representing the Organizing Committee, Taipei, c/o FidoNet 6:720/13 The 2nd Asian BBS Sysops' Conference was held on Saturday, June 8, 1991, in Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, at the Taipei Office of Tsing Hua University. Sixty-six people registered themselves as participants of the conference: 50 from Taiwan, 9 from Japan, 6 from Korea and one from Hongkong. Several jounalists were covering the conference, as they were expected to write about this conference in the computer and BBS magazines in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, just like last year. These and other unregistered participants made the total number of attendees close to 90. Honlin Lue of the Organizing Committee kicked off the meeting at 1:45 PM with the explanation in Chinese (*) of the objective of the conference: free exchange of the information and experience of using computers to communicate with the people of the world. Honlin, Jimmy Tsai and Yoshi Mikami were the moderators of this year's conference. The abstracts of all speakers were available in both hard copy and soft copy formats. This year's organizing committee consisted of Mathew Hsia, Bandit Ho and Tad Sekineh as well as the people mentioned in this paragraph. Toshiyuki Omi, Soon Pack Park and Jim Lin were the Country Coordinators for Japan, Korea and Taiwan, respectively. (*) Jimmy had set up two mini-FM transmitters to provide simultaneous Chinese/English and Japanese/English translations for the audience to hear via their portable FM radios. The translation team, headed by Tad Sekineh, consisted of Alexandre Chang, Franke Ojeda and Tad himself. Our conference policy was to let the speakers use the language that they feel comfortable with. Shuichi Fujita first spoke of the BBS Scene in Japan. He covered the broad areas of both amateur BBSes and commercial networks (NIFTY-Serve, PC-VAN, etc.), the statistical data by region of the amateur BBSes, the most frequently used BBS host programs, and his experience of participating in bringing up the International Fido Network in Japan last year. Joji Sawai added his comments about the PC Tokyo (PCT) User FidoNews 8-24 Page 13 17 Jun 1991 Group activities and distributed the PCT Newslatters. Sang Kil Lee of Korea then described the Korean BBS Scene. Citing a recent Sysops' meeting sponsored by POS-Serve (starting its service later this summer under license from NIFTY-Serve) in Seoul, he mentioned that they were excited over a possibility of coordinating a future Asian BBS Sysops' conference in Korea. His speech and abstract gave the audience a detailed look at the use of computers by the Korean people. Ray Tracy of Taiwan as a third speaker made a powerful speech about the Taiwan BBS Scene in Chinese. He introduced the wide use of FidoNet here, the multiplicity of various echo boards and TTN-Serve, Taiwan's first commercial system. Tracy spoke of Taiwan's BITNET, UUCP connection and radio packet network also. It was a good, comprehensive analysis of the Taiwan network status. One-hour intermission from 3:00 PM was meant for the participants to freely meet with each other. Books and magazines on BBSing from Taiwan and Japan were displayed on the side tables inside the conference hall. It was also a "Sing Along" time for those who cared to participate. A children's song, originally from Germany ("Hanschen klein, Hanschen klein, ..."), was sung in Japanese ("Butterfly, butterfly, stop by the rape flowers! ..."), in Chinese ("Buzzy bee, buzzy bee, ...") and in Korean (it sounded more like a cicada than a bufferfly or buzzy bee). China's Tang Dynasty 5- and 7-character line poems ("Spring slumber cannot be awaken by the dawn" and "The moon has fallen, the crows have become inactive and the sky is full of frost") were also recited and sung by the volunteers. Those who had brought notebook PCs with them demonstrated the Chinese, Japanese and Korean systems that were placed in one computer. Paticipants were surprised to get donations: "2nd Asian BBS Sysops' Conference" yellow vests by Actyiu Yiu, "Chinese poem reciting" cassette tapes by Claude Shen, and "I Love Taipei" bumper stickers from IBM Taiwan. The second half of the BBS conference started at 4:00 PM. From the other Asian countries and regions, Daniel Mok of Hongkong and Charlie McDermott of Okinawa spoke of their experiences in their respective areas. Hongkong and Okinawa are Taiwan's dearest neighbors, important for international communi- cation links. Julie Chu of Taiwan was the only female speaker of the day. Julie talked enthusiastically about her experience of running a Fido BBS in Taipei since last year. She expects more female users and sysops to join the BBSing world in the future. There were about ten female participants in the conference. There apparently was ample interest among the Korean commercial BBS operators to participate in this conference. Dong Soo Lee of the Korea Economic Daily's KETEL and Byung Gyu Chung of DACOM's PC-Serve gave a 15-minute talk each about their services. There were a great deal of technical questions asked of the Korean personal computers and answered. Completion (Wansung) vs. combination (Johab) methods of representing Korean Hangeul characters, 2-bul vs. 3-bul types of keyboards, Iyagi and Nambuktongil ("Unity of South and North") terminal emulator FidoNews 8-24 Page 14 17 Jun 1991 programs, etc., were all discussed. Toshiyuki Omi made closing remarks of the conference in Japanese, thanking the participants and the Organizing Committee members. Our Asian countries using the double-byte character sets are entering an interesting period of time, with the availability of ETen in Taiwan, DOS/V in Japan and Saedong Gilshi in Korea. We are now more interested in each other's activities. A suggestion of having the next meeting in Korea is a good sign of having more people interested in what we know we do best: helping others to communicate with the people of the world. After the formal part of the conference was over, a free discussion was held regarding the next conference. Several opinions were expressed openly, including the desires to have the next meeting in Korea, to keep the June conference in Taipei (because of the COMPUTEX Taipei computer show) and to hold a fall meeting elsewhere, etc. A hesitency was noticed among the Korean participants because they were not sure at this time if a good organizing committee of several interested people can be set up in Seoul, while the names of the BBS conference participants from Korea entirely changed from last year to this year. The Japanese participants seemed to be more interested in travelling to other countries than holding the BBS conference in Japan. For those who had paid for dinner, there were all kinds of opinion and business card exchanges, and private meetings during the 6:00-8:00 PM dinner party time. The late afternoon squall, typical of the Taipei weather, had almost stopped for all participants to take taxis or busses to go back to their hotels or homes, in the warm summer evening. It was again a good BBS conference in Taipei for the Asian sysops, full of fun. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sir Dep aka Jim Deputy 69:1300/6969 1:103/158 By Vince...and Thanks Thanks for the memories Vince...I think you've done a excellent job riding herd on FIDONEWS. In thinking back over the time you discussed, we've had 3 ZC's, we are working on our 3rd ZEC, P4 has been implemented, I tempo rarily removed SYSOP from the domain of FidoNet for FidoNet's *C conference rules violation, until an equitable agreement could be worked out. I've taken a group of 5 adult oriented local echoes, and parlayed them into a fully blown private network with links listed in 8 countries, and well over 300 discreet nodes. Sometimes I wonder how it keeps going. FidoNews 8-24 Page 15 17 Jun 1991 We've seen the demise of IFNA, something I was not very happy over. Mostly because of the apathy involved in its demise. IFNA had some really good things it could have done for FidoNet and Networking in general had it been allowed to do them. We've seen Echopol 1 abandoned, but still technically enforced, and then finally thrust upon us by command. We've seen Gateway Poll put in place by dictatorial edict. And in the same FidoNews it was violated by the same person who is today our ZEC. We've seen elections that would make the Democrats and Republi cans green with envy! Especially because they didn't think anyone could get any dirtier at it that they could. I hadn't realized that there was even a draft of WorldPol ready, let alone an election was being held on it. I've tried to get out of main-stream FidoNet Politics because of health and finances. But, even trying to stay out, it seems that it's impossible. For example I've just picked up FidoNews 821. Today is June 10. I like alot of what I seen in WorldPol. I have a couple of points of contention with it. One is what about a part of policy for "minor" sysops? I'm not advocating not allowing them in, but I am definitely advocating some sort of parental responsibility clause, and possibly agreement. I've seen several networks nearly taken apart by kids with no parental supervision. Speaking of kids, P4 pushed for the removal of the PVT systems, and for them to either go to points, or become fully listed nodes. I see that now the BACKBONE is getting ready to declare the Off-Line readers that were developed to help with this are about to become illegal. Real progress. More on kids, last month I got a message from my 1:103 NEC stat- ing that he knew I was linking echoes to 1:202, and that I should not use my Zone 69 connections to 'illegally' send them fidonet echoes, and by-pass their Echomail Cost Recovery Scheme. After advising him that the business of Adult Links was not the busi ness of the Net 103 NEC, I demanded he show proof of his accusa tions, or retract his statement and apologize. To date he has done neither. At the time, I was linking Net 103 to SDS, and also linking the NEC to several echoes. I've since talked to several Net 202 sysops and they would also like to know more about the Echomail Recovery Plan that they are supposed to be under. The other part is the discrimination clause. I like alot of what I see there. P4 gives the local networks some rights to a local policy. This allows for variations as to how a system applies for a node number, it allows for probably 400 different variations on how various networks allow "minors" into them, and it allows for variations to keep people out of local Networks. FidoNews 8-24 Page 16 17 Jun 1991 For example, the use of Handles/Alias'. There is nothing in P4 the denies a person the right to use a handle and or alias. Last summer, I got a call from our local NEC who had convinced the NC that it was improper for a person to use a handle, and they had removed a node from the nodelist based on the fact that one of the CO-SYSOP's regularly used a handle, and refused to use his real name, even though he is better known by his handle than by his name. The system was removed from the nodelist without notice to the SYSOP as to why or for what reason. I also discussed the probable results of a PC against both of them if the sysop were so inclined. The system magically reappeared in the nodelist. I know they understand it. Shucks, I sent my NC a message on May 13th asking for both my system name and the sysop name to be changed. I sent a follow-up message on May 28th, and I see my system name got changed in Nodelist.158. I've just sent my NC a note reminding him that he missed the sysop name change. It's becoming a problem, because most people now try and contact me as SIR DEP and not Jim Deputy. But, it's also been a nice time. TJ are you sure you're ready for this again? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Who *are* these guys? Another Cautionary tale by Charles Herriot (1:163/110) (Special Note to Editor-Being: This article has absolutely nothing to do with Crunch 'N Munch, God, or the ruinously high cost of Jolt. For those who wish to benefit from the full effect of this article; either play sappy violin music as you read about the pathetic demise of the COMMODORE echo; or else put Ina Gada Da Vida on autorepeat on your CD player. There is little in this article that would give a Technoid wet dreams. Roll da flick, Tom.) Corresponding from a secure hiding place deep within the uncharted recesses of Policy3 and Policy4, "Doc Logger" lashes another missive into the jaws of the high speed paper tape punch and then throws untold thousands of toggle switches to get the Imsai 8080 to transmit to Visage's Church of The Dayglo Black Velvet Paintings. Dear Reverend Visage, FidoNews 8-24 Page 17 17 Jun 1991 Your secretary is shrieking at me concerning the small problem with the Porsche we borrowed to deliver last night's echomail. How were we supposed to know that the drawbridge was up and that we would land six counties away in the middle of a sheep pasture? I hate to tell you this, but she's gonna be in a king hell rage when you show up again with lanolin on your breath. I'm sure you can remember the movie "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid". I have been reminded of that movie in the recent past concerning the sad plight of the Commode D'Or echo. As Butch & Sundance traversed sagebrush and mountains they were pursued relentlessly, and they kept asking each other: "Who *are* those guys?". As you are well aware, we've made a few underestimations in our time, not the least of which was the time you bet almost our entire stuffed armadillo collection on the recent ZEC election, but I don't think we missed hearing the speeding train as badly as we did when the California Spam 'N Timmies invaded the Commode D'Or echo. Okay, so maybe using an areatag name like COMMODORE in recognition of the fact that the afformentioned piece of hardware was adopted as our mascot and is also the boat anchor of serious sport fisherman everywhere. And maybe, just maybe, if we'd been firmer with the mongol hordes who descended on the echo and attempted to talk techie to us... perhaps we wouldn't be in serious echomail withdrawal at the moment. Perhaps I wasn't paying as much attention to the messages as I should have... and this has almost nothing at all to do with the fact that I played AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" on the other serial channel as I patiently waited for the cassette deck to load the echomail into my trailing-edge technology BBS running on the Sinclair ZX81. I saw the first couple of messages and pondered to myself: "Who *are* these guys?" and left it at that. When was it that we started the Commode D'Or echo? It must have been at least four years ago and possibly longer because I recall you foolishly losing our entire dental floss ranch on a silly bet concerning the longevity of disco music. We started the echo as a local effort so that we could discuss the more serious issues facing computer users in the frozen tundra... the high cost of whale blubber to keep the hard drives lubricated was a frequent topic of debate. The echo gained a loyal following and by some act of NEC/REC magic it found it's way onto the International Backbone. FidoNews 8-24 Page 18 17 Jun 1991 Nine months after the echo was placed on the backbone, the very first non-local message arrived. It was from some guy in New Jersey who quoted *everything* and appended very little of his own. Remember how riled he got when it was suggested that he book into the Betty Ford Clinic For The Criminally Uninspired to cure his rampant Quotaholism? In no time, he had marshalled more of his buddies to join the echo and, again, I asked myself: "Who *are* these guys?" As politely as we could, we pointed the New Jersoids to the CBM echo where *serious* Commodore techies could do whatever it is that consenting Commodore users do... and I really don't wanna know. We could tell they were a repressed and unhappy bunch when they chose to disbelieve us when we mentioned that most of our echomail traffic was carried by dog-teams across the frozen ice-flows. The Commode D'Or echo took on a special meaning when one of our parka pals actually operated a Fidonet BBS (163/227) on his C128, using software written by himself in Basic. (Basic is a programming language preferred by C programmers who have learned how to count, and thus don't get confused by line numbers...ahem.) Even Nanook's pet seal clapped her flippers in admiration that a C128 could be browbeaten into Fidonet mailer compliancy. Alas (please note: not "a lass"), the universe never seems to unfold as it should and the echo was soon invaded by the California Spam 'N Timmies. These new participants in the echo, if they had any reading comprehension at all, quickly announced that it was a "Commodore" echo. "No. No." we said "Commode D'Or... Commode D'Or... as in Golden Toilet." but they wouldn't listen. The reared up on thier hindpaws and *demanded* that we cease talking about 'frivolous' things immediately, or else. Now up here in the frozen north we've always been a friendly bunch and willing to accomodate almost anyone. (Tell Nanook that I'll return his wife later this week.) We figured that the California Spam 'N Timmies bunch could co-exist in the echo with us. We'd ignore their techie-talk, and they could ignore our exchanges about edible underwear, Caribou migrations, and the occasional C128 Fidonet mailer test message. One fellow, who was linked into the net via one of the gateways, announced that he would either change the echo, or destroy it. As usual, we didn't take him all that seriously since he kept signing his name by appending "President, Commodore User's Club". I mean really, a Commodore User's Club... it is to snicker. What we missed in our good hearted attempts to humour these fire-breathing intruders, was that Commodore users are probably the larval stage of Amiga users. You *know* how touchy the Amagatroids are about their toy computers. FidoNews 8-24 Page 19 17 Jun 1991 I guess it must have been Nanook who suggested that they either needed to have more fibre in their diet, or at least to get out and play on the freeway more often. Remember how excitable everyone got that time you brought your pet skunk to the wedding reception? Well, this situation wasn't much different. The California Spam 'N Timmies went hypercritical. We're talkin' major modem meltdown here. One of them, in an effort to show us what *real* Commodore messages looked like, cross-posted about 50 messages from the CBM echo and then proceeded to use some words that had something to do with an act of self-procreation. Another one of them, a fellow who identified himself as the NC of a Fidonet BBS, keep bleating for a ruling from the moderator. I spoke to the moderator and his response was as laid back as could be expected from someone whose front lawn is covered with snow for 11 1/2 months of the year. "No problem" he said, "The dweebs who are whining all live in California. We'll just be patient and let continental drift take care of them." It seemed like a wise course of action, and hey, if an earthquake took them out earlier then that was all the better. In an effort to make them feel welcome I participated in their new game of cross-posting messages. The one I chose happened to be about a yuppie-babe on a date with some vegetables.... a completely on topic and appropriate message for the Commode D'Or echo. I have no idea why a paragraph such as: "She poured a small splash of Genadine into the juicer followed by an over-ample dash of white rum. The pineapples which had rested upon smooth linen napkins winked up at her. She grasped a cherry by it's stem and gently teased the seed from it's depths with her tongue. Using both hands, she plunged the cherry pitter deep into a second cherry and carefully allowed the juices to run across her wrist before she raised her arm and sucked the delicate drops." ... could cause these people to be driven to near-apoplexy. As they went variously insane, they also netmailed all parts of the known Fidonet admin structure with whimpers of outrage. I don't know about you Visage, but it strikes me that these people must have suffered horribly as children by being forced to remain at the supper table until they'd finished all their vegetables. Faster than you could say "There's a skunk in the fridge", incoming WhineMail(tm) from *serious* *C-beings was filling my netmail directory. "Excuse me?" I rejoined, "You want to do what?" I asked incredulously. "You want all of us who have fun in the Commode D'Or echo to desist?" And just for old times sake, I asked myself: "Who *are* these guys?" I didn't worry all that much because as far as I knew at the time, no *EC in his right mind would blunder into an echo and try to enforce content rules, particularly since we were breaking no laws. FidoNews 8-24 Page 20 17 Jun 1991 But, and you'll be amazed by this, those *EC-beings have suddenly gotten religion in a major way. So much religion, in fact, that godlike powers have descended upon their able shoulders. Some of them, and this would have *really* impressed the crowds a coupla thousand years ago, some of them can actually walk and chew gum at the same time. I know, I know... we couldn't really expect any *ECs to read the echo which they were poised to incinerate... the comprehension levels alone would have precluded that, but surely one of them could have asked a few questions of us? Without the courtesy of a message entered in the echo telling us, the echo was taken out behind the ZEC's computer and quietly garrotted. They didn't even return the corpse for