F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.33 (15-Aug-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 | | | | \ \\ | | | | (*) | \ )) | Editors: | | |__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: | | | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Sylvia -- max@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..................................................... 1 2. Articles...................................................... 2 A few comments after one year out of Fidonet................ 2 Subject: Denis McMahons Article............................. 5 KART RACING ONLINE!......................................... 5 dare_ink mdm em_ilia.................................. 6 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 6 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== FidoNews 11-33 Page: 2 15 Aug 1994 This weeks issue of the snooze is quite short: only four articles. The editorial is going to be short too. A couple of the local sysops in our net met yesterday for a confab on PGP and a few beers. Turned out to be lots of beers, supper, and about 12 hours of conversation on dozens of topics, but we did make a few decisions about PGP. By this time next week, a PGP key will be available for both Max and I. While it does not make much sense to send encrypted articles to the snooze, it does seem to make a lot of sense to encourage digital signatures. We are not going to publish the digital signatures or keys accompanying articles, but in the future we will note which articles were accompanied by either or both. We will set up a library for them, and make them available for FREQ. When a digital signature was included, we will check it and note the fact. Also, over then next week or two, I hope to rewrite artspec. I am going to include specifications for a machine setup version of the snooze for door/hypertext systems, and hatch it out with the snooze. I am not sure yet if the machine specification version will be hatched out in the same file echo, or if we should create a new one. Using the same area seems simpler, but objections and opinions should start now. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== A few comments after one year out of Fidonet A FEW COMMENTS AFTER ONE YEAR OUT OF FIDONET by Jack Decker - aa931@detroit.freenet.org I haven't been reading Fidonews for a while. I don't much care to read profanity, and for a while there was a lot of it here, so I just stopped reading for a while. A word to the wise - you may believe in the freedom to express yourself however you want, but if you want people to read what you write and give it the consideration it deserves, consider not using profane language. After all, others have the freedom to stop reading at the first profanity that they encounter in your article, and some will. Anyway, I had a little time last night so I decided to FTP some recent issues of Fidonews from ftp.fidonet.org, and see if anything has changed since when I was in Fidonet. How time flies - it's been almost exactly a year since I received my last Fidonet mail packet. It appears that things have changed, all right - for the worse! The power mongers are still harassing decent sysops. The size of the nodelist and the geographic restrictions are still thorns in the side of Fidonet. And then, we have Steve Winter. Yes, Steve Winter. If you are branded as "false christian scum" by Steve Winter, consider yourself in good company, because you are FidoNews 11-33 Page: 3 15 Aug 1994 probably doing something right. Steve purports to be a follower of the Bible. Well, here's something he must have overlooked: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ... Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ... Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Excerpts from Romans 12:14, 12:17, and 12:19-21) Now, I do not purport to know what Steve Winter is thinking. But let me raise just one possibility. Suppose that he were not a Christian at all, but rather an anti-Christian of some sort? What would be the best way to discredit Christians? One way would be to pretend to be one of them, and then go around spreading the most hateful messages you can, cursing anyone who dares to disagree with you, and in general make yourself as obnoxious as possible, all while claiming to be the only _true_ Christian on the net. I am not saying that this is what Steve is doing... he may, for some reason (that I cannot fathom) honestly believe that he is a true Christian and that his actions are somehow serving the cause of Christ. But, on the other hand, in my own mind I am willing to entertain other reasons for his actions, since he certainly doesn't seem to be following any Christian teachings that I know of. I was cursed and damned to Hell by Steve Winter quite some time ago, for daring to point out some glaring errors in his doctrine. While I definitely believe in Hell and do not want to go there, I am quite confident that Steve Winter doesn't have the power or authority to send me there. I have a feeling that in the end, all the curses he has thrown at others are going to wind up coming right back upon his head, especially given that he is in direct violation of the Scriptures by cursing anyone. And I truly believe that I would be in much greater danger of Hell fire were I to follow Steve's teachings, and his example of dealing with others. That's really all I wanted to say, except for one other thing. Some folks have wondered why the nodelist is not fragmented, so that sysops only have to receive the segment for their zone or region. If you wonder why no one has taken this proposal seriously, bear in mind that a great deal of Fidonet software actually checks the nodelist to see if a node exists, and will refuse to send outgoing mail to what it considers a non-existent node. Now, that situation could be changed by the software authors, BUT bear in mind that if you are ever allowed to send mail to unlisted nodes, then the threat of being removed from the nodelist suddenly becomes less imposing. I think that some of the control freaks are VERY apprehensive about the size of the nodelist, because they know that there is growing momentum to do something about it, and any solution that is more than just a band-aid on the problem requires that sysops only be required to maintain a partial nodelist, which implies that you cannot block FidoNews 11-33 Page: 4 15 Aug 1994 outgoing mail just because a node is not listed in your copy of the nodelist. That further implies that an NC could in fact assign node numbers to nodes that aren't listed in ANY nodelist, and they could still send and receive mail. And THAT, of course, means that there could be nodes in the net that don't comply with the geographic requirements of POLICY 4. Oh, the horror of it! Folks might actually be able to spend their time communicating with each other, rather than wasting their time fighting with the dictatorial coordinators in the net (who, no doubt, just love being able to pick fights with others. They were probably schoolyard bullies in their youths). As someone pointed out, Tom Jennings is really the only person who actually has the power to do something about these abuses, but he believes in total anarchy so he refuses to touch it. Well, what you are seeing is the result of anarchy. At best, things slide along for a while but it only takes one or two real jerks to gum up the works and make life miserable for a lot of people (at least their life on the net). I think in a way, though, that those who believe that Fidonet is anarchistic are deluding themselves. Portions of it are pretty free-wheeling, but documents like Policy 4 are not indicative of an anarchy. I think that either true anarchy (no policy document at all) or a democratic form of government (where things are voted on from below rather than mandated from on high) would be better than what Fidonet has now, which in my opinion is quite possibly the worst of all worlds. Just my opinion, which probably doesn't count since I'm no longer in Fidonet. In closing, I have a question. I have on occasion seen mentions of Fidonet echoes being made available via the Internet, but not on any formal basis. I am curious to know if there is any way to obtain Fidonet echoes, even if only on a read-only basis, via the Internet. It would seem that this would be a natural thing to do, but I'll bet the power-mongers oppose it because they would see it as a another loss of control. Still, I wonder if you will ever be able to telnet directly to a Fidonet BBS from the Internet, and read Fidonet echoes that way. Technically, this should be quite possible, but politically??? Anyway, if you know of a way to do this, please send me e-mail at my Internet address. Jack Jack Decker | "What were once options are now mandates!" aa931@detroit.freenet.org =or= ao944@yfn.ysu.edu ("o", not a zero!) "Why are insurance companies allowed to discriminate against certain classes of people, when no other business can get away with it?" FidoNews 11-33 Page: 5 15 Aug 1994 Subject: Denis McMahons Article From: Michael Seneco (1:141/536) Hi Donald and Sylvia, First, as a note, I think your both doing a great job sorting through and dealing with the muck. Kinda like that NASA Robot that got stuck in the Volcano in Alaska this week. Your doing a good job. However, also like to robot, you now need someone to pull you out of the mud. I am inclined to agree with my esteemed fellow sysop Denis McMahon from zone 2. It's time to remove the snooze from the mud. The snooze should be an avenue and venue to exchange ideas, information and other items of genuine use to sysops. However, this little recent delve into the `mud pit' has proven another need, the need for a National Enquirer type of electronic weekly newspaper. Ya know, like a supermarket type rag for those, `less worthy' articles. So anyway the purpose of this is little typing frenzie is to encourage the snooze to leap from the mud pit!, Hose themselves off, and electronically print wothwhile articles!! Ya know, republician stuffed shirt type stuff!!! And anyone else who might be interested in publishing an alternative type of weekly or bi-weekly can contact me at 1:141/536 and maybe we can get something together. I would even accept submissions from Steve Winter... or Winters.... or summer, or summers.... whoever!!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- KART RACING ONLINE! KART RACING ONLINE! by Ray Killough, FidoNet (1:3612/63), CIS (71720,173) Kart_Racing Moderator The Kart_Racing echo is now available throughout Region 18! Why not join us in exchanging technical information, race announcements and results, introducing new products and much more. Any message related to the topic of Kart Racing is encouraged. The main goal of the echo, which originates from Serendipity BBS in Pensacola, FL is to promote the organized sport of kart racing. We welcome folks that are interested in finding out what it's all about to those who have been at it awhile. By the way, this is a bona fide motorsport and not the same thing as going down to your FidoNews 11-33 Page: 6 15 Aug 1994 local concession track for a few laps on a rental kart. There are many classes of karts, from slow to FAST and affordable to well... Actually this is about the most economical form of motorsports available to the average person. This sport is unique in that it attracts a wide range of age groups. There are those from 8 to 80 who actively participate. It is also very much a family oriented sport, much like little league baseball only instead of mom and dad sitting on the bleachers they too can participate. Of course, the classes are divided so kids and adults aren't necessarily racing against one another. And safety is the number one concern of all! Strict rules must be adhered to and no one is allowed on the track without a safe kart and the appropriate personal safety equipment. Some of the faster classes of karts are easily capable of speeds in excess of 100mph, yet the number of serious injuries remains surprisingly low. As soon as the message/user base builds to a healthy number, we have plans to distribute the echo to Region 10. Our long term goal is to then have it available on the National Backbone. Please give us a try! As Moderator of the echo, if I can be of any assistance please contact me at either address above. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dare_ink mdm em_ilia Q: what do you do with obstacles? A: walk around them, regarding them as sculptures Q: yeah-but- Zakiya Hooker sez to not let obstacles get you down, ] rather get down with the obstacles.[ q: like sculpture in progress Q: Does it bother you that fido net may change whole lots, technically and soon? A: nope. gotta like it. fidonet isn't a bunch of specs anyway. fidonet is people. as long as the mail gets 'round somehow, we're us. or you, and me, but we are. the "them" got lost in traffic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== FidoNews 11-33 Page: 7 15 Aug 1994 ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) more addresses: sylvia -- 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Rev. Richard Visage -- 1:163/409 Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com David Deitch -- 1:133/411.411 (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 max & Don voice: (519) 570-3137 Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international volunteer electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors. OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail address, or trade for copy of your 'zine. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the FidoNews 11-33 Page: 8 15 Aug 1994 previously listed address. SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. "the pulse of the cursor is the heartbeat of fidonet"... -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------