F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.50 (12-Dec-1994) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | Small animal psychology and | | (_| /_) | Spiritual guidance Department: | | _`@/_ \ _ | Rev. Richard Visage 1:163/409 | | | | \ \\ | | | | (*) | \ )) | Editor: | | |__U__| / \// | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | _//|| _\ / | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | (_/(_|(____/ | Tim | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | Sylvia (sylly) -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.uwaterloo.on.ca | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim Pozar -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | David Deitch -- 1:133/411.411, deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org | | submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial apology again....................................... 2 2. Articles...................................................... 2 Open a Door to The Future................................... 2 Comments on FidoNews Vol.11 No.49: a letter to the editor... 3 A Fan club of One?.......................................... 5 New Echo - ALTERNATIVE NATION............................... 6 Swamp Swine Zine............................................ 7 Hacked "Terminate" circulating in BBS's..................... 9 DEAR MADAM EMILIA........................................... 11 AreaTags problem in region28................................ 14 Aid For Ukrainian Students.................................. 16 FNFILTER, a FidoNews Filter for Sight-Impaired Readers...... 17 InterSports................................................. 19 Wheelsnet Article........................................... 20 blind sysops................................................ 21 ya snooze, ya lose.......................................... 21 only* children in Fido ;-)))................................ 22 Press Release - Stop Moosaphobia now!....................... 24 Fido speed.................................................. 25 FidoNews 11-50 Page: 2 12 Dec 1994 In response to Tom Rightmer's article about "Gutter Language" 25 Secure sessions.............................................. 26 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 27 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== I blew it over Jesse Thurin's article. Fortunately, i do not have the last word. Madam Emilia doesn't have the last word this week either. Who's "jm"? i would like to know wht "jm" stands for before i get it tattooed on my ankle. Amazing i've never asked that before. Newbies are the future. I'm getting mad about statements made in echo's about "fifteen year-olds", like they're some kind of category or plague.. they're not. I hate ageism. I don't mind being called a "child", it's not an insult. "Adults" have learned things, but in some cases they forget more than they ever knew. Forgetting how to be playful causes wars. Anyway, there's extra articles this week because some of them should have been in last week, but we were away at a job and didn't get all of the net mail. To anyone who's articles were held in limbo until now, who hasn't yet received net mail, please accept apologies for the delay, and thanks for the submissions. BTW, if anyone is too nasty to our beloved Fido Phool i will personally bop them in the nose. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Open a Door to The Future by Andy Wilson This article was written by an individual who likes to play door games on Bulletin Boards. I'm new to the world of both bulletin boards and writing but with the inspiration of a friend, I decided to try to express feelings on Fidonet about doors, games and just advice on what to play and what not to. So now lets enter the world of the bulletin board. On this journey I'm going to show you what I have already discovered out there, so fasten your seat belt and fire it up. On my very first trip to a bulletin board I logged on and answered questions about myself, just like every body and was given 29 minutes to do whatever. The first place I went was an option called "On-Line Games" and off I went. I was now hooked on a new type of game that I had only dreamed about and now I was there. There are three aspects which make games great for me -- good graphics, sound and the participation of other players. These bulletin board games had no real graphics like my CD-ROM can give and certainly had no sound, but the games had people playing, real people. This isn't much of a surprise to most people but to me this was. On most other games, you get the computer playing and you can train your reflexes so that time and time again you can beat the FidoNews 11-50 Page: 3 12 Dec 1994 computer and it gets boring. Even though these games are missing two of the three aspects which make a good game, the final aspect of gaming with lots of players participating in the same game makes up for the loss of the others. Recently I decided to go out and buy one of two games which had sound and graphics but they were lacking this final feature which I had grown to enjoy. Now, on a big bulletin board you can play a game with people not in the same room as me and perhaps not even on the same continent. Trade Wars 2002, L.O.T. of The Red Dragon and DOOM are the games I was introduced to with this wonderful feature first. So far I think the game that is the best is the Doom series because it can be played with people far away and it gives you sound and great graphics. However on my computer I can't play Doom so I live on daily doses of the games I mentioned before -- L.O.T. of The Red Dragon and Trade Wars 2002. Those games are played with true bulletin boards and everybody that plays is given a daily dose of the game that they are playing so things are even. On a multi-node bulletin board you can inter-act with other players playing at the same time, form aliances and make enemies while playing. My friend and I are playing excellent text games with lots of action a nd depth. This proves that all texts aren't bad, and this coming from a person with a biased attitude against text. Also, the more players playing the game, the better the game is. So get onto a game soon and enjoy the many wonders that are coming down your alley. All you need is a modem and a bulletin board's number and you can now play. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments on FidoNews Vol.11 No.49: a letter to the editor by Dallas Hinton, 1:153/715 proud FidoNet node (RC 17) I would like to make two points in this letter, the first dealing with Mr. Kolin's unfortunate excommunication, and the second to do with FidoNews itself. First, I would like to draw your attention to the article on Page 9 titled "How can the ZC ignore this?". There are several problems with this article, not the least of which is that it is unclear who is the author. It would appear from the physical layout that it was written by Mr. Satti, Z1C, but he tells me that is not the case. The last name, appearing at the end of the article, is that of Rick Johnston, RC12. It seems unlikely that he wrote it either. Regardless of who actually authored the article, I take exception to its publication. This article is a thinly-veiled attempt to garner public sympathy for Mr. Kolin's rejected appeal of his excommunication for falsifying a nodelist segment. As such, it has no place in our FidoNews. If Mr. Kolin has a problem with the Z1C's ruling on his FidoNews 11-50 Page: 4 12 Dec 1994 appeal, the correct procedure is to appeal to the IC. According to my reading of Policy 4.07, no-one else can make that appeal for him and no-one else can hear that appeal. Why, then, is space being wasted in FidoNews by those who do not even have all the facts of the case? Second, I would like to ask the editors of FidoNews just what they think the purpose of this journal is? I cannot believe that publishing articles such as Mr. Kolin's pseudo-appeal or the juvenile ramblings of the self-styled Rev. Richard Visage aka "Doc Logger" (whoever he may be) are doing much to further FidoNet either technically or socially. For many years I have recommended FidoNews to new sysops and potential FidoNet nodes as a way of finding out something about our great hobby. Lately I have found myself embarrassed to admit that such a journal exists. Allow me to comment on the table of contents: Editorial The usual whine about too much or not enough time and too many or too few articles, although without the folksy plant information this month. Discriminatory Discrimination A well-written discussion of discrimination as it applies to both FidoNews and life. RAMMING ECHOS [sic] An article purporting to deal with a serious problem but which actually serves to demonstrate the author's complete ignorance of Policy, the IC's interpretation of policy, and the realities of echomail in the 1990's. Swamp Swine Magazine This item should be labelled as 'poor quality innuendo and trash masquerading as political satire'. SYNDICATE-NET While I sympathize with those who wish to advertise their new network, I question whether it is necessary to use OUR network's official journal to do so. How can the ZC ignore this? As I stated earlier, this attempt to subvert due process has no place in FidoNews. Fidonews for the Blind The sort of article that belongs in FidoNews. Even though it isn't directly about FidoNet, it is about the technical issues surrounding our journal. In Consideration of Others As above. A chat with our resigning FidoNet Z6C, Mr. Honlin Lue Interesting. I would have preferred a slightly different format, but enjoyed the article, nonetheless. FidoNews 11-50 Page: 5 12 Dec 1994 Fidonews Information In normal terms, the "masthead". While the overall average this week is not as bad as most weeks (four good articles, four pieces of junk, one marginal editorial, and the usual masthead), still this is not the sort of journal which serves FidoNet. It is not the kind of material I am please to show to new (or existing) members. It does not further the cause of FidoNet, engender pride, educate, or even entertain. In fact, if this journal were printed on paper, I'd be ashamed to use it for training my dogs. Please, Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Tees, reconsider your current editorial policies. Either improve at the job or stop doing the job; anything but this! ======== End text =========== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rick Moen (1:125/27) Subject: A Fan Club of One? Dear Sylvia -- I was sitting around here, trying to put off doing uncountable important things, when it suddenly occurred to me that, very likely, hardly anyone ever writes to you who's not upset about something. I thought I'd find a need and fill it. ;-> I like your and Donald's stuff. Don't let the idiots get you down! (Note for the benefit of Jesse Tharin-clones: No, Mr. Moen didn't write a smilie. He's speaking a depraved California dialect that includes disgusting, lewd phrases like "semi-colon dash greater-than". To preserve some tattered remnants of decorum for this netmail, no translation will be provided.) As I'm sure you know, a popular pastime among those with too little significance and too much time is to loudly and publicly take offence. This gets them attention, lets them act the self-righteous martyr, and beat their breasts about their various holy causes. The _rational_ response to hypersensitivity is to make sure one is _impartially offensive_. This is the tack I usually take, in my role as Fido Phool. However, it occurs to me that an equally attractive solution might be to _accept blame_ for anything and everything. Therefore, in the spirit of economy of effort, I'm offering my services to FidoNet as a central guilt repository. Pissed off over jests about "dominatrixes"? Blame me. Annoyed over dimwit jesters using non-PG-rated terms like "pissed"? I'm the one to sandbag for it. Accordingly, I would be honoured if you would recognise this vital function in _FidoNews_: Official net.scapegoat: Rick Moen, the Fido Phool, 1:125/27 FidoNews 11-50 Page: 6 12 Dec 1994 There! Let it never be said that I haven't done something for the good of FidoNet. Cheers, The Fido Phool (You're welcome to print this, if and only if you wish. I double-dare ya! ;-> ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ New Echo - ALTERNATIVE NATION By Bob Stephenson, moderator (1:275/165) Just a quick one to let everyone know about yet another new echo: . =ALTERNATIVE NATION= Echo Description: Alternative/Grunge/Punk music discussion area (or, "You Can Now Take Off Your Asbestos Suit"). ALTERNATIVE NATION was created in direct response to all the Kurt Cobain etc....messages that I see floating around quite a few other echos, but without a home of their own. As an Alternative fan, I thought it'd be good to have a place to talk about the music/bands/lifestyle we love without the hassle of getting flamed by those who just don't get it... ALTERNATIVE NATION is open to one and all, just bring an open mind and a sense of humor! Things considered on-topic are Cobain ('bout time..), bands, concerts, reviews, CD's, videos, - just about *anything* related to the Alternative/Grunge/Punk scene. ALTERNATIVE NATION is distributed by 1:275/165. Any systems wanting more info and a copy of the echo rules should send netmail to Bob Stephenson (moderator) at 1:275/165. Please note that at the time of this writing, my last name