±±±±±±Ü ±±Ü ±±±Üܱ±±Ü ±±±±±±Ü ±±±±±±Ü ±±Ü ±±±Üܱ±±Ü ±±±±±±Ü ±±±±±±Ü ±±Ûß±±Û ±±Û ±±Û±±Û±±Û ±±Ûßßßß ß±±Ûßß ±±Û ±±Û±±Û±±Û ±±Ûßßßß ±±Ûßßßß ±±±±±Ûß ±±Û ±±Û ßß±±Û ±±±±±Ü ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ßß±±Û ±±±±±Ü ±±±±±±Ü ±±Ûß±±Ü ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Ûßßß ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Ûßßß ßßß±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±±±±±Ü ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±Û ±±±±±±Ü ±±±±±±Û ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßßßßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßßßßßß ßßßßßß --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------------------+ | EDITORS FILE | | | +---------------------------------+ by John Dodson, Node id ->CANTINA. Welcome to the August issue of RIME Times! This is a great issue and as they say in the trade, we have something for everybody! Ed interviews one of our very popular RIME conference hosts, Lyle Davis. James Spinelli continues with another one of his thought-provoking articles, this time on freedom of speech and how it relates to the BBS community. You will enjoy this month's humor articles, one by Jim Prohs and another by Jeff Woods. "Who's Who in RelayNet" is back with an interview of Skip Ross, our conference coordinator. In addition to Doug Maclean's 'C' column this month, we learn about how his family was almost attacked by 50,000 Hell's Angels! We also have an article from what must be RIME's youngest sysop, 12 year old Scott Drassinower. EXEC-PC better start looking over it's shoulder, Scott is catching up fast! Which reminds me... and this may be stating the obvious. RIME is certainly made up of a very diverse group of sysops. RIME is also growing quite rapidly, we are now over 520 nodes. I believe this growth and diversity comes from the open and helpful way new sysops are invited to join. I think this 'attitude' is a credit to the folks who administer the network. By being both a quality network AND an open network, RIME is able to attract the Scott Drassinower's, Skip Ross's, Lyle Davis's and Doug Maclean's that make this such a fun place to be! A BIG Thanks to all you contributors... you did it again! See you on the next relay! +---------------------------------+ | MEET THE CONFERENCE HOST | | | +---------------------------------+ by Lyle Davis, Node ID ->RUNNINGB as told to Ed Lazarowitz Lyle E. Davis, host of the Global Conference, is a retired broadcaster/journalist of 25 years. During his broadcast career he specialized in radio with frequent journeys into print media as well. He started as an announcer in Omaha, Nebraska, moved into sales and management in Illinois. His management career continued with stations in Santa Barbara, Ca. and Escondido, Ca. until the late 1970's. During the Vietnam Page 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- War he served as a war correspondent for a number of radio stations, as well as several newspaper chains. Several of his documentaries have won wide acclaim in the industry, including an award for "Best Radio Documentary in Southern California" (for a documentary dealing with the recall of Escondido's Mayor - "The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back".) Following production of his documentary "Vietnam Diary I & II" he was frequently asked to appear and speak before civic and service club groups. In the early 1980's he returned to the talent end of broadcasting, serving as KFMB's (radio) "Eye in the Sky" in San Diego, Ca. He headed up KFMB Traffic Control for 3 years before finally retiring. Since then, he and his Scottish-born wife, Mary (whom he refers to as "SWMBO" [She Who Must be Obeyed]), have owned and operated a fishing resort at Dixon Lake in Escondido, Ca. Just recently, he also acquired a new beach resort at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, Ca., known as "Lyle's at the Beach". At age 51, Lyle and Mary recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. They have two sons, Scott, age 27, who lives in Hawaii, and Kenny, who lives in Carlsbad, Ca. Both are single and loving every minute of it. "I've written 5 books on our Family History," complains Lyle, "and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever gonna be grandpa! Those two guys of mine have so darned many good lookin' women that they are showing no inclination whatsoever to settle down, get married, and have kids!" Lyle took over the Conference Host task for the Global Conference about a year ago. "It was a fairly good conference when I first joined," he says. "But there were two guys that were making outrageous racist statements and goading the other users into no-win debates and harangues. Very quickly the conference was beginning to deteriorate into a series of hate-filled messages. I contacted Bonnie Anthony of the Steering Committee and suggested that the direction of the conference needed restructuring and that we had a couple of problem users that needed some attention. Next thing I knew I was Conference Host. With Bonnie's help we convinced one of the bad users to move along to another network and the other one to behave himself. Since then we've had zero problems". Lyle says he manages his conference with a gentle, but firm, hand. "We have a generally laid back conference, with a wide variety of member nations and a wider variety of viewpoints. We do have serious discussions- -we have a fair amount of joking amongst ourselves. About once a month we post the conference rules; that seems sufficient. Once in a great while we'll have someone start to cross the line and I'll speak to him/her via routed or R/O and that usually takes care of it. Everyone on the conference knows me and seems to have confidence in me to fairly moderate the conference. We have a really great working relationship with all of our users." "One of our users described our conference best, I think. He called us "a continuous party with an ongoing cast of characters". That's probably a pretty fair description of the Global Conference. Page 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lyle is just one of the many international 'shining stars' that populate the Global Conference. Why not take a minute, and wander over there the next time you access the network. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised! For further information on the Global Conference, please contact Lyle at node id ->DBORED. +---------------------------------+ | WHO'S WHO IN RELAYNET | | | +---------------------------------+ by John Dodson, Node id ->CANTINA Skip Ross, Network Conference Coordinator Acting as conference coordinator for a 500 node network can be a real challenge! You must have plenty of patience and some finely tuned 'people skills' to deal with the 10 to 15 new conference requests that are made each week. We are lucky to have such a person in Skip Ross. Skip was born and raised just outside of New York City. He is a heavy equipment operator and has been "operating cranes and bulldozers since I got out of school". Skip started his computing hobby with a PC-Junior about five years ago and is completely self-taught. He moved up to an IBM model 80 shortly after it became available (from a go-cart to a Cadillac!) and has been a power user ever since. Skip joined RelayNet about three years ago as a co-sysop for the 'The Stand BBS'. The network was about 40 nodes in number at that time. Skip started his own BBS "Advanced Computer Concepts" about a year and a half ago. ACC is now a three node system with hundreds of users. In October of '89 Howard Belasco, the conference co-ordinator at the time, "tactfully persuaded" Skip to take over the position. Although unsure at first, Skip now enjoys the position and all the exciting ideas that come his way each month. Of the forty to sixty conference requests that are made each month, three to five are accepted. RelayNet is now made up of well over 200 conferences. Keeping up with the many conference requests and additions is a time consuming job. Skip Ross is up to the task and we are lucky have him! If you have a conference idea, send a message to Skip, Node id ->ACC. The commitment of 5 nodes and 2 HUBS (HUBS that do not automatically pick up all conferences that is) are required before your request can be honored. The latest conference listing can be file requested from ->NETNODE. The *very* latest conference listing can be found on Skip's BBS under the name CONFER.ZIP. Page 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------------------+ | HELP! HELP! HELP! | | | +---------------------------------+ by Jim Prohs, Node id ->NITERIDE HELP! HELP! HELP! Dr. Bonnie Anthony, Dr. Bonnie Anthony, from this addiction please set me free. Bonnie, Bonnie, can you please help me? from this computer madness I would flee. Oh, Dr. Anthony! Oh, Dr. Anthony, turn around and look at me. It began only weeks ago when I joined Rime, Now for my family I have no time. One sure sign of this horrible addiction, you see, when your eyes develop red lines like roots of a tree. Oh, Dr. Anthony! Oh, Dr. Anthony, turn around and look at me. My eyes have turned square, My head has gone bare, My butt has gone flat, My gut has gone fat. The swollen knuckles on my hand all pop, My tongue hangs out and my mouth doth drop. And yet from this compulsion I can NOT stop. Oh, Dr. Anthony! Oh, Dr. Anthony, turn around and look at me. I rush home from work and sit in my chair, there I stay for as long as I dare. Moments away from my computer are rare, only when mother natures call can't be bared. The phone bills are crazy, My friends think I'm lazy, IF I don't get some exercise I'll push up daisies. Oh, Dr. Anthony! Oh, Dr. Anthony, turn around..... oh, my gosh she looks like me!!!! Page 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------------------+ | RIME'S 12 YEAR OLD SYSOP | | | +---------------------------------+ By Scott Drassinower, Node id ->CLOUD You are probably reading this and thinking to yourself, "A 12 year old sysop? Yeah right!" No joke. There really IS a 12 year old sysop on the net, and I'm him. A few years ago, my dad bought an Apple ][+. Back then, that was a power users system, complete with 64k RAM! I got very interested in the machine, and how it worked. My dad bought some books that showed how the machine worked, and I soon learned the insides of the machine, and learned how to install an expansion card. Soon the Apple became out dated, and we bought an IBM XT. I learned DOS, and how to write batch files. Of course soon that became outdated, and we purchased a IBM PS/2 60. This is when I became acquainted with my first modem. I had read lots about modems and about information exchanges. I went down to the local Software Etc., and was shown the store manager's BBS. That was then it. I had to have a modem. We bought a simple 2400 baud modem, and the manager gave me an account on his BBS and a copy of Qmodem. I went home, and called his board, and slowly learned how to use PCBoard. I became interested in other boards, so I downloaded several BBS lists, and found some more boards in my area. I slowly filled my dialing directory, with boards all over the country. A new board opened up, Advanced Computer Concepts (sound familiar?). After uploading some files, and giving the sysop some ideas, I was asked if I would like to assume a Cosysop job. I agreed, and about 3 months later, I got a copy of PCBoard 14.2 /E3, and the PCRelay software, then opened up my board, Silver Arrow BBS. I have been running for over a year, and have gone through a name change (now Cloud 9 Online), and over 10,000 calls, and a user base of almost 400 (of which maybe 100 have not called in the past 4 months). I will be moving the machine soon over to a Northgate Elegance 486-25i, and will probably be á testing DESQview 486 for Quarterdeck. That is really about it. I'm very happy with the way the board has turned out, and I have learned a lot, not only about computers, but a lot how to help people. I hope the board has another great year. +---------------------------------+ | THE LIFE & TIMES | | OF A CONFERENCE HOST | +---------------------------------+ By John Dodson, Node id ->CANTINA Last month Ed featured Doug Maclean in his "Meet the Conference Host" column. For those of you who missed the column, Doug hosts 6 RelayNet conferences and gives tirelessly of his time to help others on the network. He is also just a plain nice guy! You may have noticed some message Page 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- spillover from his 'C' conferences in COMMON a couple of weeks ago. (Spillover is what happens when a user seeks a broader audience by posting messages in COMMON.) You might think discussion in a programming conference would be fairly mundane. However, when 'C' programmers start discussing the relative value of 'Basic' programmers, look out! The insulting messages, by a couple of users, escalated to the point where Doug felt he needed to make an appeal to those involved to 'cool down'. His request only served to focus the abuse on himself! Doug then made a request that one of the abusers be removed from the 'C' conference, which was honored by the BBS sysop. After a short period of time, one of the abuser regained access to the 'C' conference with reinforcements (one of which was recruited from the WARZONE conference!). Meanwhile, the membership of the conference is posting messages backing Doug and the whole conference turns into a crusade! The fun and games end when Doug gets a long insulting message in the 'C' conference threatening to harm is family and dog (Doug has no dog, but has five cats and some would argue that this is enough justification to heap abuse!). The same day he gets a long insulting message in COMMON. This message is in "poem" form and the abuser rambles on about how he is like a buzzard, "mellow" from overuse of drugs, recently elected to the presidency of a large biker club and how he is going to send 50,000 bikers to torture and kill Doug! The abuser ends the message by threatening to use a home made nuclear device against Doug! Needless to say, the "three musketeers" have been denied access to the network. Such is the life of a conference host. The last time we checked, all seems to be returning to normal in the 'C' conference... of course the 'Pascal" programmers have yet to drop by! +---------------------------------+ | CONFERENCE NEWS | | | +---------------------------------+ by Skip Ross, Node id ->ACC Here it is time again for a new batch of conferences. Please read the list carefully as there are many very good conferences here! Also, I will send the updated Conference List with this packet to all the nodes that requested to be on the auto-send, so look for CONFER.ZIP Any node not currently on the auto-send list for the conference list may send a routed message to me at Node ID ->ACC asking to be added to the list. NAME: Remote Access Software NUMBER: 213 DESCRIPTION: This conference is for the Sysops and users of the newest BBS softwares available, Remote Access HOST: John Murray Node ID ->COBRA ACTIVITY: NEW Page 7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NAME: Poetry Corner NUMBER: 214 DESCRIPTION: Poetry Corner is a conference where anyone who writes Poetry, or would like to share one of their favorite poems, is welcomed and encouraged to do so. HOST: Inez Harrison Node ID ->DORSAI ACTIVITY: NEW NAME: United Sysop Associations NUMBER: 215 DESCRIPTION: This conference deals with the issues of concern to Sysops, local meeting information, discussions between various Sysop organizations such as USA, CASA, and others HOST: Shawn McCullar Node ID ->NEWDIM ACTIVITY: NEW NAME: ACOA (Adult Children Of Alcoholics) NUMBER: 216 DESCRIPTION: Online meeting and discussions of ACOA issues, such as dysfunctional families, living with alcoholic parents or mates, trouble with anger, co-dependency, etc... HOST: Dr. Bonnie Anthony Node ID ->RUNNINGA ACTIVITY: NEW NAME: Phobias NUMBER: 217 DESCRIPTION: Support group for people with phobias or those who want to learn more about them. HOST: Andre Rouleau Node ID ->ONLINEI ACTIVITY: NEW Also, please welcome Mike Coticchio back as the Host for the Small Business/ Work at Home conference (network #70). We are also pleased to announce that Daniel Norcott, a representative for Lotus Development, has taken the position of Host for the Lotus Support Conference (network #65). +---------------------------------+ | A COMPARISON: | | WRIGLEY FIELD TO RELAYNET | +---------------------------------+ By Jeff Woods, Node id -> During my move to Canada, I couldn't resist. This die-hard Cub fan drove 300 miles out of his way to see the Cubs lose at Wrigley Field. While I was there, it occurred to me that there are certain similarities and parallels that can be drawn between RelayNet and good Old Wrigley. 1. Many fans would like to take the lights out of Wrigley. Many users would like to punch the lights out of Matt Giwer. Page 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Wrigley is sometimes called the Friendly Confines. RelayNet is simply friendly. 3. Most people will go out of their way to get to Wrigley. Most people will go out of their way to get around the bylaws. 4. Cubs. You either love them or you hate them. The SC. You either love them or you are history. 5. More lies are told at Wrigley than anywhere else (like "Harry Caray is NOT drunk", or "August is our month.") Nobody lies on RelayNet (I type this from Wrigley right now). 6. There are more Cub fans outside of Chicago than in Chicago. There are no HUBs in Chicago at all. 7. At Wrigley they debate about natural grass. In the debate conference, they smoke it. 8. People will attend the funeral of Harry Caray to mourn. People will attend the funeral of Howard Belasco to make sure. 9. Wrigley Field has a group of proud "Bleacher Bums". RelayNet has a group of "Bummed Beachers". 10. At Wrigley, you only get three strikes before you are out. +---------------------------------+ | BEGINNERS CORNER | | | +---------------------------------+ by Dane Beko, Node id ->BABBLE Using Ez-Reader with the MarkMail door Last month, we discussed the use of the MarkMail door to collect your new messages, new files listings and new bulletins. This month, we're going to discuss the use of an off-line message reader to process that file that you downloaded from the MarkMail door. The program is called Ez-Reader. The author is Eric Cockrell of Thumper Technologies in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's just one of several off-line message readers compatible with the MarkMail door and its competitors, the Qmail and the Tomcat! doors. Some of the other reader programs are Qmail, Qmail Deluxe, Session Manager and a few more. The MarkMail door and Ez-Reader are really the only ones used here in Orlando. The MarkMail door generates a file by the name of BBS_ID.QWK where BBS_ID is the name of the bulletin board. For example, on FABulous, the name is FAB.QWK and on BABBLE BBS, it's BABBLE.QWK. Ez-Reader uses this file. You need to download EZ130.ZIP which is the latest version. Page 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installing it is fairly simple. First, create a sub-directory on your hard disk and call whatever you'd like. For our purposes here, I'll call it C:\EZ. Then unzip the EZ130.ZIP file into that sub-directory. After doing so, you should have the following files: CONFIG EXE 64966 2-23-90 10:53a CONVERT EXE 22832 12-21-89 2:39p EZ-RDR DOC 117192 5-15-90 6:41p EZ-RDR EXE 174166 5-15-90 6:12p EZ-RDR HST 29877 5-15-90 6:23p EZ_Q&A DOC 5211 5-15-90 6:30p INSTALL EXE 41792 5-15-90 6:01p MONO BIN 4000 5-15-90 6:05p ORDER FRM 3015 5-15-90 6:08p README 2040 5-15-90 6:11p SYSOP FRM 3114 5-15-90 6:08p TED COM 2984 11-13-88 10:56p UPGRADE FRM 2419 5-15-90 6:09p The first step is run the INSTALL.EXE program. This will install Ez-Reader and allow you to configure it for your system. When you first run install, the program will ask a series of questions about your setup, the paths to the download and upload directories, etc. It will ask you if you have a color monitor, if you are using a RAM disk, and some more. The prompts are self-explanatory. Once you've answered the questions, the INSTALL.EXE program will tell you to run the config.exe program. This configuration program will setup your editor, set colors, set paths, hot-keys, taglines if you want them, etc. Run config.exe next. The following menu will appear: CONFIGURE Archive Colors Editor Flags Hot Keys Paths Replies Save Taglines The highlight bar will be on Archive so just press Return. Here's the sub- menu: ARC files Archive: PKPAK.EXE A Unarchive: PKUNPAK.EXE ZIP files Archive: PKZIP.EXE -EX Unarchive: PKUNZIP.EXE -O Page 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: It's not really important to define the ARC extraction programs as they're not used by the MarkMail door. It's important to define the PKZIP and PKUNZIP files though. If you don't have these programs in the DOS path, make sure to type in the complete pathname of each of them. For example: C:\utils\pkzip.exe and C:\utils\pkunzip.exe. That way, Ez-Reader can find them when it's uncompressing the .qwk packet and compressing your replies. You can back out of any menu at any time by hitting the Escape key. After ensuring that the pathnames are correct, hit the Escape key and proceed to the next menu item, Colors. These I'll let you define as obviously, everyone's preference is different. Suffice to say, that the screen examples will change with the color selection so that you can see what it will look like. The third menu choice is Editor. This is where you would define what the complete path and name of the program that you'll use to enter or reply to messages. The menu looks like this: Editor: C:\EZ\SLED.COM Options: Reply filename: MESSAGE.TXT Message filename: MESSAGE.TXT Does the editor accept two files on the command line [Y/N]?: N Ez-Reader will default to TED.COM in the sub-directory that you unzipped Ez-Reader into. My recommendation is that you *NOT* use TED.COM as it doesn't have word wrap and most other basic text editor functions. The majority of the people who use Ez-Reader use Qedit, SLED or Norton's Editor (among others) as their text editor. You could also use WordPerfect if you wanted to but that would be overkill! Anything that can save text in an ASCII file should work. Let's dissect the Editor screen: 1. Editor: This is the complete path and filename of the editor that you're going to be using. For our example, we'll use c:\ez\sled.com 2. Options: This entry is for the editor that you're using. In Qedit, for example, you could load a macro file from Qedit's command line. This is where you would put any command line options for your editor. Leave it blank if you don't have any. 3. Reply and Message Filename: The easiest to do here is to make the filenames the same for both. When you press F9 from within Ez-Reader to either reply to a message or enter a new one, EZ shells out to whichever editor you've defined. If you're replying to a message, EZ will pass the message filename to the editor as well as the filename of your reply. You Page 11 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- should quote small snippets of the message that you're replying to to give the addressee an idea of what you're referring. It helps to jog his memory. If you define the reply and message filename as two different names, then you'll have to answer NO to the last question and then manually cut and paste which parts of the original that you want to include in your reply. If you put the same filename for both reply and message (like in the example above) then you'd answer YES to the last question and then Ez- Reader will put both the original and your reply to it in the same window. Just delete the parts that you don't want and continue. The one filename method is most assuredly the easiest and the fastest. 4. Does the editor accept more than one filename on the command line (Y/N): Again, if you have defined the same filename for both reply and message, then answer NO. The next screen is FLAGS: FLAGS Add sound effects: YES Read Direction: FORWARD Beep if personal message: YES Read previously read mail: NO Print header in reply: NO Output to video RAM: YES Erase the work directory: YES Auto-increment taglines: YES Enter info before/after Message: AFTER Add tagline to end of Message: YES Press the to toggle options Most of these are self-explanatory. The documentation will give you examples on the various meanings of each of these so I won't go into detail on them. The next one is Hot Keys but since we're just trying to get you up and running with Ez-Reader, I'll let you work on this one as you like. The next one is PATHS, this is where you define where EZ can expect to find the .qwk packets, where it should put your replies, etc. PATHS EZ-Reader: C:\EZ\ Download: C:\DOWNLOAD Upload: C:\UPLOAD Save File: C:\SAVE\@CONF@.TXT Page 12 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Address Book: C:\EZ\ADDRESS.BK The Ez-Reader path would be where you installed Ez-Reader. In our example, this would be C:\EZ. The download and upload paths would be the same as the ones that you use with your communications software. Wherever you download to, put that in the Download: entry and the same for your uploads. The Save file is the sub-directory where you want to save any messages in. The @CONF@.TXT is a new feature in EZ where it will (if set to this) read the current conference name and create a save file with that name. IE; if you're in the MAIN area of a board and hit the key to save the message, then the following would appear: C:\SAVE\MAIN.TXT. If you're in the Hard Drives conference, C:\EZ\HARDDRV.TXT may be the filename. The address book is a feature that is enabled only in registered versions of Ez-Reader. The next menu is Replies. This is a personal preference here so I'm not going to discuss it. Please read the documentation on this portion. The next step is to save. This will save all of the settings that you have just entered into a file called EZ-RDR.CFG. This file will be read by Ez- Reader every time that it's executed. Your next step will be to call a board that has the MarkMail door, open it and download a packet of mail. Once off-line, run the EZ.BAT file, highlight the .QWK packet that you want to read, and press return. Ez- Reader will uncompress the packet, sort it and then bring up the first conference for you to read. If you want to reply to a message, press 'R'. If you want to enter a new message, press 'E'. There is always help by pressing F1. I hope that with this short introduction and the Ez-Reader manual itself, you'll be able to configure EZ and use it without any problems. We'll demonstrate and actually use Ez-Reader at the BBS/Modem SIG meeting in August. In the interim, if you have any questions or problems with either Ez-Reader or the MarkMail, leave a message in the MarkMail or EZ-Reader Relaynet conferences! See ya there. D.B. [Editor's Note: By the time this edition of RIME Times went to press, a newer release of Ez-Reader, 1.31 had been released. All of the items discussed in the above article are 100% valid with the new release. The only noticeable difference will be in the lengths and date/time stamps of several of the files extracted from the .ZIP file, EZ131.ZIP. We apologize for any confusion this may cause.] Page 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------------------+ | 'C' TUTOR | | | +---------------------------------+ by Doug Maclean, Node id->RUNNINGB Last month we looked at a program in 'C' to merge several ASCII text files into a single file and sort the lines. Here is the same file in C++ using a class and member functions to process the linked list. #include #include #include #include class LinkList { class LinkItem { friend class LinkList; private: LinkItem(char *buf); // initialize a node char *str; // data member of class LinkItem *next; // ptr to next node }; public: LinkList() {croot = clast = ccurr = NULL;}; void firstnode() {ccurr = croot;}; void lastnode() {ccurr = clast;}; char * operator ()() {return((char *)ccurr->str);}; void operator =(char *); int operator ++(); private: static LinkItem *croot; // always points to the start static LinkItem *clast; // always points to the end static LinkItem *ccurr; // sliding current ptr }; LinkItem::LinkItem(char *buf) { str = new char[strlen(buf)+1]; strcpy(str,buf); next = NULL; } void LinkList::operator =(char *buf) { LinkItem *pt = new LinkItem(buf); ccurr = pt; Page 14 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- if(croot != NULL) { if(strcmp(buf,croot->str) <= 0) { pt->next = croot; croot = pt; return; } if(strcmp(buf,clast->str) > 0) { clast->next = pt; clast = pt; pt->next = NULL; return; } for(ccurr=croot;ccurr;ccurr=ccurr->next) if(strcmp(buf,ccurr->next->str) <=0) { pt->next = ccurr->next; ccurr->next = pt; return; } } else { croot = clast = pt; pt->next = NULL; return; } } int LinkList::operator ++() { if(ccurr != clast) { ccurr = ccurr->next; return 1; } else return 0; } The above is the header file used to define the class structure. Notice how the operators ++ and = are overloaded to make the programming easier the actual program. #include #include #include #include #include #include #include "merge.h" Page 15 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- #define MAXLINE 128 main(int argc,char **argv) { LinkList lst; char dest[64]; FILE *fn; char buf[MAXLINE]; char *ch; if(argc < 3) { cerr << "usage [...] dest\n"; exit(4); } strcpy(dest,argv[argc-1]); /* save destination file name */ while(argv++,--argc> 1) /* loop thru all file names */ { cout << "file: " << *argv << "\n"; if((fn = fopen(*argv,"rt")) == NULL) /* open a file to process */ { cerr << "Error opening: " << *argv << "\n"; exit(1); } /* get a line of text and convert to NULL terminated string */ while(fgets(buf,MAXLINE,fn) != NULL) { for(ch=&buf[strlen(buf)];--ch >= buf;) if(*ch < 0x20) *ch = '\0'; lst = buf; /* add current line to linked list */ } fclose(fn); /* be polite and close the file */ } cout << "dest: " << dest << "\n"; ofstream outfile(dest,ios::out); if(!outfile) /* open destination file */ { cerr << "Error opening destination file: " << dest << "\n"; exit(2); } /* loop thru sorted list and write to destination file */ lst.firstnode(); do outfile << lst() << "\n"; while(lst++); outfile.close(); cout << "All files sorted and merged into " << dest << "\n"; exit(0); } Page 16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you can see, the assignment of a new node is handled by the statement lst = buf; The looping through all of the nodes is also very easy. We overloaded the () operator to return the string held by the node and can use it directly in the output stream. The bottom of the loop contains a while statement to control the do loop. The incrementation and test can be done with one step. The output file is handled by defining a file and using the << operator which is overloaded to send the output. Compare this article to the pure 'C' implementation in last month's column. Next month we return to 'C' to start a series on recursive programming. Coming events: 'C' TSR, recursion revisited, PWB programming ASM interfacing with 'C' OOPS inherited classes Systems Object oriented programming Brief Useful macros Genetics Legal issues +---------------------------------+ | TIDBITS FROM PAUL | | | +---------------------------------+ by Paul Elder, Node ID ->CAPCON If you have WordPerfect 5.0 and also use Extended Memory, trying to print to a laser printer such as a LaserJet II will cause problems. In fact, WordPerfect truly hates this type of combination and will only print part of the page. Next time you start up WordPerfect, try it this way and you won't have that nasty bug biting you again: WP /n +---------------------------------+ | YOUR RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF | | SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF THE PRESS | +---------------------------------+ by James J. Spinelli, Node ID ->VMC Over the course of my nearly three-year tenure here on RIME, I have encountered many discussions among users and sysops dealing with what they perceive to be a fundamental First Amendment right to say whatever they please in whatever manner they please. While this perception may be well intentioned, at times there is a basic flaw in its implementation, at least as it pertains to a BBS network such as RIME. Page 17 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article will address our basic rights as defined by the First Amendment, but will also examine those rights within the framework of the community we all know as the BBS network. The First Amendment to the US Constitution, the first of the Bill of Rights, says in part that "Congress shall make no law... abridging [limiting] the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances." A similar provision is found in the constitutions of many states. According to many surveys, we believe freedom of speech and the press is the one fundamental personal right or liberty. We might be able to do without the right to carry weapons or the right to a grand jury in a federal case or several other rights. But inability to speak and write and publish freely is, we think, simply inconsistent with our democracy. And so the courts have held, but with exception or within limits, because this is a world crowded with people with conflicting interests, no freedom is absolute. Freedom of speech does not exist in the abstract. You as an individual, despite the words quoted above from the First Amendment, are not free to stand on a street corner and urge your listeners to follow you now and kill the President of the United States, or the governor of your state or the mayor of your city, or anyone else, for that matter. You may discuss -- from the street corner or in the columns of a newspaper (above or underground) or in pamphlets distributed by hand or through the mail, or even as a message in this network -- the beauties you see in a monarchy or in a society where all persons have two or more spouses. But if you urge the commission of a crime, you may very likely be charged with a crime yourself: inciting to riot, bringing about or seeking to bring about murder or arson, etc.. It's one thing to urge people to have several spouses, but to actually have more than one is to commit the crime of bigamy. Governmental interference with freedom of speech takes several forms. On the one hand are laws that attempt to control speech or publication before the event. One the other are laws that impose penalties after the event. The courts will declare unconstitutional both controls and penalties unless they are generally applicable, are specific enough for all to understand and can be justified as an exercise of the police power, which includes the public's right to protect itself from harmful writings. A few examples may be helpful. A law requiring the preliminary showing of motion pictures to a state (or municipal) licensing board is constitutional if its purpose is only to protect the public from films that are offensive to public morals or accepted standards of decency, but the courts do not hesitate to substitute their judgment for that of the licensing board if they disagree with it. United States Customs officials have the right to challenge the importation into the US of books and magazines they regard as obscene or subversive, Page 18 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- but they must obtain judicial support of their opinion by going to court first. The Postmaster General, using his power to grant magazines a second-class mailing privilege, had unsuccessfully tried to deny permits to magazines he found objectionable, but he has successfully denied the use of the mails to people trying to promote schemes that defraud the public. Activists recently indicted for various crimes against the flag have defended their actions as a form of symbolic speech, and the reaction of the courts to this assertion is becoming clearer. A particular challenge to the concept of freedom of the press has arisen with the increase in the amount of printed matter on our newsstands and via electronic media that would certainly have been classified as obscene and pornographic not too long ago. In trying to strike a balance between the public's right to read what it chooses and its right to protect itself against material that is offensive by the standards of the community, the courts have frequently been forced to walk a narrow line. Unable to lay down a satisfactory general rule as to what is and is not obscene, they have found it necessary to examine each case on its own merits. The result is that unscrupulous publishers can print and distribute material that is clearly prurient with the knowledge that, practically speaking, they run only a moderate risk of prosecution and conviction for their violation of obscenity statutes. More or less the same situation exists in regard to films. Control of material broadcast by radio or television has not been seriously challenged in the courts. The number of radio frequencies and television channels is relatively limited, and Congress has given the Federal Communications Commission broad powers to supervise what is transmitted by the limited number of broadcasters and telecasters it licenses. (Of course, with the substantial increase and permeation of cable television recently, things are undergoing some changes. In addition, as we're beginning to see, the FCC is extending its controlling influence over common carrier services, such as the so-called "Dial-a-Porn" services.) Here is an instance in which controls are imposed over what kind of material may be broadcast by the media and in which stiff penalties will be assessed if the controls are violated. The radio and television media have much less practical freedom than do publishers of newspapers, magazines and books. Because the renewal of its license to broadcast depends on approval of a federal regulatory agency, a radio or television station will normally exercise a very considerable degree of self-censorship simply to protect its economic interests. The result may be a bland diet for the public, but, on the other hand, the threat of outside censorship is unlikely to materialize. Any legal challenge to the controls over radio and television would most likely come about as the result of objection to specific censorship of a particular program on the ground that it was obscene or subversive. If and when such cases arise, the Supreme Court follows the procedure adopted in Page 19 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- censorship cases involving books and motions pictures, which is not to question the public's right to protect itself against obscenity or subversion but to decide in the individual cases before it whether the challenged radio or television program is, by any reasonable standard, obscene or subversive. The most troublesome cases involving freedom of speech and press have arisen from efforts by the national and state governments to protect themselves against frankly revolutionary individuals and groups. What occupies the attention of the courts in all cases of this kind is the problem of whether the speech in which these groups indulge is likely to lead to illegal action. When do valid dissent and debate aimed at influencing people's beliefs influence their conduct instead and cause them to do something the law forbids? So far the courts have taken a lenient view, reflecting the philosophy about their role expressed by the eminent former federal jurist Learned Hand when he said: "The most important issues [as concerns free speech] arise when a majority of the voters are hostile, often bitterly hostile, to dissidents against whom the statute is directed; and legislatures are more likely than courts to repress what ought to be free. It is true that the periods of passion or panic are ordinarily not very long, and that they are usually succeeded by a serene and more tolerant temper; but, as I have just said, serious damage may have been done that cannot be undone, and no restitution is ordinarily possible for the individuals who have suffered." Up to now, I have provided you with a very broad framework of the First Amendment. Of course, it has not been my intention, either directly or indirectly, to provide for any type of in depth discussion or definition of our freedoms of speech and the press. Hopefully at this point you have sufficient grasp as to what the fundamental concept of the First Amendment serves. What I would like to do now is to establish as basis for you to understand how the First Amendment applies to you as a sysop or user of (a) an individual BBS and, (b) an international BBS network. Principle #1: As a sysop, you have the right to run your BBS as you see fit. Corollary Principle #1: As the ultimate administrative body, net- work management has the right to run the network as it sees fit. [What can be said now applies both to individual BBSs and to BBS networks. You may simply substitute the words "board" (or "BBS") for the word "network" and "sysop" for "management" in what follows.] Page 20 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- At least for administrative purposes, along with legal accountability and liability, the network belongs to management. As such, management has the legal right and responsibility to run it in the way it chooses. Network management has no "common carrier" status or obligation to maintain or transmit everybody's messages. By the same token, management has no legal obligation to admit every applicant into the network. Management has the right, indeed sometimes even the obligation, to delete messages, to limit subject matters and to set a policy that defines and restricts the particular types of speech that are engaged in within the network. There will, of course, be complaints from some network users. But, despite these complaints, no one has a First Amendment right to post messages on the network, and no one has a First Amendment right to say whatever he/she pleases on the network. Management has every right to promote certain points of view at the possible or potential exclusion or expense of other points of view. Management has every right to delete and edit certain kinds of messages. These activities are not and do not constitute "censorship" in any form in terms of one's First Amendment rights. Just like the publishers of magazines and newspapers, network management is the ultimate "publisher" of all of the information on the network. As such, management has the right to shape the contents and style of the network in any way it deems appropriate and fair. Although the First Amendment does not govern management's relationship with its network users, it does prevent the government from dictating the contents of the network -- at least up to this point in time. This, of course, does not mean to suggest that the network is permitted to run wild. There are both federal and state laws, for example, that regulate such things as copyrights and obscenity, along with various statutes that protect private property. However, no governmental agency can interfere or intervene based solely on the political or social ideas that are communicated on the network, no matter how potentially controversial such communication may be. The key here is the word "ideas," not the specific words or images used -- for example, ideas can be communicated in an obscene manner, which might very well subject the specific contents to some form of regulation. In conclusion, it has been said that "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one." While I have no intention of disputing this concept, I would like to point out that a BBS network is, indeed, a very powerful tool for the expression and communication of information and ideas. It should be used to its most full capabilities. While doing so, don't forget your rights. But, by the same token, don't forget your responsibilities either. In our next article, for the September issue, we'll begin a discussion near and dear to me -- the sysop as "information resource manager," and the legal implications of this role. Page 21 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------------------+ | FARMERS | | DISCOVER COMPUTERS | +---------------------------------+ by Phillip Brown, Node id ->IVYTECH Part One: It's the eve of a new decade, and times are changing. Even on the family farm. Just a few years ago, most folks scoffed at the notion of installing computers in their home offices to monitor and track their farming operations. Not now. As operating procedures and marketing tactics change, expand and become more complex, more and more farmers are discovering that computers are valuable tools in their operations. Among other things, they are using computers to store bookkeeping records and planting histories, to maintain acreage and conversation data to calculate chemical applications and feeding costs. And now, Doug Stevens, who is Instructor/PC Coordinator at Indiana Vocational Technical College, is suggesting that computers also be used as a networking -- or communication -- device among the farm community. With that thought in mind, the computer lab at Ivy Tech is offering a computer "Bulletin Board" to area farmers -- and others interested in agriculture. In addition to listing the traditional "buy-sell-or-trade" items found on any bulletin board, this one offers agriculture-oriented programs and spreadsheets. The index includes information about such things as fencing costs, corn-drying costs, livestock, cash-grain crops, sorghum and tobacco, as well as general data about equipment, building materials, and farm chemicals. The system offers educational information and educational games for children and for adults, along such lines as languages and math. It also contains a message base which enables callers to leave private and public messages. Stevens describes the system as "neat" and "simple to operate". "If you have a telephone line, you can get into it," he says. Access to the bulletin board is free, except for those who must make a long-distance telephone call. Each participant is limited to one hour per day on the system. But that's adjustable, Stevens says. The system allows only one caller at a time. Even though the service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Page 22 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- some farmers wait until the early morning hours to tap into the system, Stevens adds. +---------------------------------+ | NAME THAT AUTHOR! | | | +---------------------------------+ by Ed Lazarowitz, Node id ->CAPCON Well, I've always said that I know when to call it quits. Due to the incredible lack of response towards this column, it has been cancelled. Again this month, not a single RelayNet user guessed the correct authors of last month's quotes: "An alcoholic is someone you don't like who --Dylan Thomas-- Drinks as much as you do." "In our country we have those three --Mark Twain-- unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, Freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either." "Communism is like one big phone company." --Lenny Bruce-- +---------------------------------+ | NOTES FROM | | ADMIN | +---------------------------------+ RelayNet is now 520 nodes strong! An Explanation of the New Bylaws: On Tuesday July 16, 1990 the Steering Committee of RIME announced an addition to the bylaws of our network. These bylaw changes were necessitated by the unprecedented growth that we have experienced in our network over the last six months. Since December of 1989, we have grown from approximately 250 nodes to over 500 nodes. As a consequence of that growth, our hubs are now handling mail packets in excess of 1 meg per day. In order to assist our hubs with that burden we would like to ensure that the mail that they transfer daily is of the highest quality possible. We have noticed that many users of the network, sysops included of course, have in their zeal to be original, added signatures to the bottom of their messages. More and more software packages also add their own configurable tagline that is not configurable. In the interest of reducing unnecessary bytes in messages and therefore in each mail packet, we have instituted the new rules. Page 23 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every sysop is asked to turn off any configurable tagline that the software they use adds. Some software does not allow you to turn off the information that it adds to the bottom of a message. That is fine. However, if your software does allow you to configure a tagline addition to a message, you must now turn that tagline off. Many users add signature lines to their messages. That is also fine. However, these signature lines must now be no more than two lines and cannot contain any ansi graphics or any control characters that produce a noise. The signature line must be no more than two lines from the end of the message text. And of course, no PCBoard variables are allowed anywhere in a message whether it is the signature, header or in the body of the message. We hope that you all will understand the need for these changes in our bylaws. They are there to help us ensure that the mail that flows through our network is of the highest quality without adding an unnecessary burden to our sysops. +---------------------------------+ | AS SEEN ON THE BIT STREAM | | | +---------------------------------+ TAGLINE OF THE MONTH: "Infrared turn signals seem to be catching on!" (As seen on a post by Mark Adams) WORST TAGLINE OF THE MONTH: "Asphalt: rectal trouble" (As seen on a post by Burt Fisher) THE THREAD THAT LOST CONTROL: Tie: Photo Radar (Started on COMMON and then spread to UPLINK) New name for the COMMON Conference DEODORANT - Discussion on whose computer room/cubicle was in worse shape MALFUNCTION OF THE MONTH: (The following was found this month in COMMON. Names have been removed to protect the innocent.) I didn't know COMMON had a 10 line limit. Why is that? Let me see here. 4 5 6 7 8 Page 24 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUG RELAYNET INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER 1990 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 10 11 12 13 Doesn't seem to stop at 10. +---------------------------------+ | NOTICES | | | +---------------------------------+ The RIME Times is published monthly by the membership of RelayNet International Message Exchange as its official newsletter. Users and Sysops are encouraged to contribute. Submissions and questions may be directed to the editors John Dodson, node ->CANTINA or Ed Lazarowitz, node ->CAPCON. (c)Copyright 1990, The RelayNet International Message Exchange. Permission is hereby granted for unlimited distribution and duplication, provided such distribution and duplication are strictly for non-commercial purposes only. All other rights reserved. RelayNet and RIME are registered trademarks.