F I D O N E W S -- | Vol. 9 No. 32 (10 August 1992) 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) | | | Newspapers should have no friends. | -- JOSEPH PULITZER ----------------------------+--------------------------------------- Published weekly by and for the Members of the FidoNet international amateur network. Copyright 1992, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact FidoNews. Electronic Price: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . free! Paper price: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.00US For more information about FidoNews refer to the end of this file. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ..................................................... 1 Editorial: That's not funny! .................................. 1 2. ARTICLES ...................................................... 3 Welcome to the FidoNet Olympics ............................... 3 OH NO OH NO OH NO ............................................. 5 Micromanagement in FidoNet .................................... 8 Democracy ..................................................... 9 Teenagers in Fido ............................................. 10 Problems with getting node numbers ............................ 12 Region 19 ..................................................... 12 Network Quoting Manners ....................................... 16 Unattended Hub Fix ............................................ 17 More Binay Nodelists .......................................... 17 (Improper article format -- no title) ......................... 19 A_THEIST Echo now on Backbone! ................................ 20 Fidonet DNDGAME Echo .......................................... 21 HOLYSMOKE Echo is available on the Zone 1 Backbone! ........... 21 Forward Into the Past! ........................................ 23 Ecclesiastical Proclamation ................................... 24 Limbaugh Religious Festival Proclaimed ........................ 25 Limbaugh Recognized ........................................... 26 Get your Special Title or Proclamation Now .................... 27 3. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .......................................... 28 FidoNews 9-32 Page 1 10 Aug 1992 ====================================================================== EDITORIAL ====================================================================== Editorial: That's not funny! by Tom Jennings (1:1/1) This is the Funny Issue of FidoNews. Ha ha. OK, it was short notice, announced only last week. But I did get two very funny things. The second one will probably generate some ill will unintentionally from people with (1) no sense of humor and (2) people who will take it seriously. A lot of this issue is decidedly not funny, though it's not a response to my call for funny things from sourpusses. It's also a largish issue. It may also be the last "fun" FidoNews for a long time. Stay tuned. But this is another story. GRIPE MODE ON: With the odd address of 1:1/1 I get every damned screwed up message in the world. Will the person with the TICKTALK program stop sending me TIC announcements about files received at 96:1/1!!! I've had it -- I am going to simply start embarrassing people in public here until the offender start checking their installations and stop the constant flow of nonsense mail. I don't mind one-time screwups, it's the week after week deluge caused simply by not watching what you are doing. GRIPE MODE OFF: It's funny how life goes. I've been working at being a full-time computer dropout (burnout is more like it) for about five years now. My income has plunged to what most people would consider the poverty line. Quite voluntarily. I've cut my overhead to amazingly low levels. It's not that I don't like money (I'll take all I can get like anyone else) it's just that I can't do the computer-programmer thing any more. No longer do companies want employees; they want you to live their life, quite literally. Attend company social events, work 60 hrs/week, etc etc. All on their terms. (At Apple, my last "real job", I was told about "team playing" whenever I did something unusual. If you didn't attend the mandatory baseball game visits, bowling etc you got vibed out. I quit.) The line between "work" and "life" has been blurry since 1980 for me, but this past year it's taken on a decidedly strange texture. I used to get paid to make other people money and products; I can no longer do that. It literally was making me sick. My allergies and asthma was getting worse, and I was angry and stressed out all the time. Jobs literally steal your time, energy and life. My asthma is now gone -- gone -- when all the meat-mechanics said I would take their debilitating drugs all my life. Lying ignorant arrogant scum. Solution? Remove all the stress and bad influences from my life. Sounds like a pat response, but it's hard and was a very radical (look it up) move. It took six years. I'd never go back! FidoNews 9-32 Page 2 10 Aug 1992 But now in between occasional software and radio jobs, I spend an incredible amount of time doing... I really don't know what to call it. It's not technical, ie. pure programming. It's not managerial, no one works for me. FidoNet stuff, like FidoNews. Too many things at our house (an intentional community of six to eight plus inner-circle). Volunteering for the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference. Speaking to a bunch of diverse groups about FidoNet, BBSing and BBS networking. Firefighting and handholding and instigating and informing people and nebulous projects in FidoLand (about 20 hours a week's worth of messaging, easy). Getting my local non-techie friends connected to the world of computers and telecommunications. Trying to get started managing and expanding a local internet network. Take care of filling orders for my various publications (net income: $25/month). It's a lot of work. I had convinced myself that I was getting out from all this CRAP computerism. It was driving me crazy. A brief look around and it's obvious I am not doing that. I have managed to get rid of my "previous life" so I guess I did the right thing. (Only I got rid of all my income-producing jobs too! Oh well, can't have everything.) It merely turned into something else. I guess I don't mind. It is worth it I guess. I don't like being considered a repository of ancient history (most of my speaking things are about FidoNet, most of which consists of history) -- I'm not that old dammit, and I haven't felt any older than when I was 20. It's very weird. While the idiocy and flaming drives me nuts, and the idiocy pushes my patience sometimes, it is usually worth it in some non-tangible way. The bottom line is I'm "online" now an absolute minimum of four hours a day. About half my traffic is through the internet. As soon as I can find a tape interface card (Everex EV831) I'm going to install unix on my 386 box, and get a direct internet feed (part of a larger project, partly in exchange for services from me...) Don't worry, I will still run a DOS BBS and do FidoNews as always. Networks are no longer a toy or hobby, it is an absolutely indispensible part of life. It's both good and bad. The creepy people who want to control your choices for their own ends are in FidoNet too, and "regular ole sysops" can no longer sit back and just play techie games, no matter what justification you might have. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. This has been a year for change, in my life and the world. I think the Fidonet is about to undergo a rather rapid and violent change -- hopefully for the better long-term. We'll see... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-32 Page 3 10 Aug 1992 ====================================================================== ARTICLES ====================================================================== Welcome to the FidoNet Olympics by Dave Bealer (1:261/1129) The echoes are kind of quiet these days. Maybe everyone is glued to the Olympics Triplecast. For those of us that aren't, why not have our own Olympics on FidoNet? Here is a summary of suggested events: }} Local BBS Events {{ >> 14.4K Protocol Negotiation << The winner is the first user who can stay awake during the entire protocol negotiation sequence between a V.32bis modem and a tin can. >> 110-step Registration Hurdles << The gold medal goes to the user who completes the "simple" registration procedure in the shortest time. Contestants are advised not to wear glasses or contacts while competing in this event, as they might interfere with the online laser retina scan. >> Modern Hexadecimalon << Competitors attempt to break 16 different FidoNet policies and/or draconian local sysop rules in a single logon session. >> Download Ratio Balance Beam << Users attempt daring massive downloads without (hopefully) losing their download privileges. >> Door Exercises << The gold goes to the user who can enter and play the most door games in a 45 minute logon session. >> Echolocation << The winner is the user who can find the echo he is looking for in the fewest BBS accesses. }} Echomail Events {{ >> Verbal Gymnastics << You won't believe how these competitors can twist and turn the English language into almost unrecognizable shapes. >> Greco-Roman Thread Wrestling << Wrestling for control over the direction an echo conference thread will take. Moderators are ineligible for this event. FidoNews 9-32 Page 4 10 Aug 1992 >> Marathon Messaging << Contestants enter 75 messages in a single echo in one session. Each message must have at least three lines and at least one line must be original (not quoted). The one who enters the 75 messages in the shortest time wins. Penalties will be assessed for each message which actually pertains to the topic of the echo. The use of offline readers is prohibited. >> Power Quoting << The winner will have made the longest continual quotation with the shortest vaguely pertinent reply. The current world record is 382 lines of quotes with a five word reply. >> Tagline Topping << Medals are awarded in the following categories: Annoying, Childish, Funny, Gross and Stupid. There is also a special all-around medal for the tagline which best combines all five attributes. >> Volley Message << The gold medal goes to the first pair of correspondents who nest their quotes so deeply that the leading initials force the message text off the screen entirely. >> Platform Diving << Each contestant ascends to the soapbox and attempts to make insulting comments about everyone and everything in FidoNet. Timing is critical, as the competitor must dive off the platform before his/her access to the net is revoked. >> Heavyweight Ego Lifting << In this event the posturing which procedes the lift can be more important than the lift itself. >> Full Contact Flaming << What would a FidoNet Olympics be without its symbol, the flame? }} Sysop Events {{ >> 5 MB Packet Toss << The gold medal goes to the Sysop whose system can dearchive, toss, sort, link and julienne a 5 MB mail packet in the shortest time. >> Echo Looping << The winner is the Sysop who can cause the most dup-loops in the most different echoes in one day of operation. >> Synchronized Polling << The winning Sysop pair will be the one whose systems synchronize their polls to each other the longest (without getting through). FidoNews 9-32 Page 5 10 Aug 1992 After the events are over everyone will be hanging out at the Olympic Village BBS, chatting online about the competitors who failed their drug tests. And we won't have parted with $125 for the privilege. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F I D O C O N N E W S -- | Vol. 92 No. 1 (8 August 1992) The newsletter of the | FidoCon BBS community | Published by: \ / | \ .---------. / | "FidoConNews" BBS |---------|___________| (214)881-2627 | |-----------| FidoNet 1:1/92 |---------| | '---------' | /|xx \ | (_| /_) | Editors: _`@/_ \ _ | Brief and Msged | | \ \\ | (bs) | I only watch television. | -- Chancey Gardner ----------------------------+------------------------------ Published occasionally by hetereosexual Americans. You may consider this stolen copyrighted material for which no one will bring charges. Sort of like speeding. Table of Contents ----------------------------------------------------------- Editorial.......................................... 1 Tax Games and Fidocon '92.......................... 1 Fidocon '92 Registration........................... 1 New Echo Needs Backbone Support.................... 1 A Day in the Life.................................. 1 Version List....................................... 1 FidoCon News Information........................... 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Editorial: RC's Resign Due to technicalogical advances in modem speeds and call connect rates, the RCs are no long necessary as a buffer between the many networks and the ZC. All 400 or so nets in Zone 1 will henceforth send their nodelist segments directly to the ZC's system. Further, the reduced levels of appeal for policy complaints will insure a more timely response to such conflicts, and help to promote a more congenial atmosphere in which to pay long distance bills for echomail. FidoNews 9-32 Page 6 10 Aug 1992 Most importantly, FidoCon will revert to once every 6 months because it will be such a snap for the ZC to decide on the venue by himself. The editors of FidoCon News wish to applaud these policy changes and we support the candidacies of these leaders in the upcoming election season. Be sure to attend the special elections and policy seminar at this year's FidoCon. /* a note from Thom Jenkins : what the tarnation was that all about ?? */ ----------------------------------------------------------- Tax Games and Fidocon '92 It's always tax time and speaking of tax evasions, your entire trip to Fidocon '92 is at least tax free under the rules for business travel expenses. You can deduct the cost of this conference as one of many items : sales expense, professional organization, subscriptions... the list is endless. Over on Schedule E, there's a section 179 where you can deduct the cost of computer equipment up to $25000 dollars. Around here that's plenty, I think, per year. Use some of it to buy neat stuff at Fidocon '92. There must be plenty of businesses that don't use it all, and you could