F I D O N E W S -- Vol.13 No. 5 (29-Jan-1996) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editors: | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Don -- don@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 QFBBS09.ZIP................................................. 2 Internet Killed The Fidonet Star............................ 3 The Modem Problem........................................... 4 ** The Free Ride is Over! ***............................... 5 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 5 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== FidoNews 13-05 Page: 2 29 Jan 1996 There is an article in today's snooze that I am embarassed to print. Why? because it is nothing more that a string of foul mouthed, small minded insults against somebody that has worked hard for fidonet for many years. It is somewhat typical of this net, and one of the reasons fidonet is falling apart. Mr. Juda recently took down his internet gate. He removed it specifically because of the harrassment by a small group of cyber terrorists. The fact is, though, that he ran that gate for years on his own nickle, and on his own time. What thanks does he get? An idiot that will not sign his name (C.I.A is probably as good an alias as any for this well known braggart) goes on a name calling spree and brags about how much better a job s/he would have done if only they had been given a chance. Well, there were all the chances in the world. Still are. Talk is cheap, and indicative of the mind that created it. Whatever fights Mr. Juda and C.I.A have had in the past are irrelevant. There was a lot of work done by Mr. Juda on our behalf, and he deserves, at the very least, a thank you. He does not deserve to go out the door with some cyber-boor shouting insults. So, Mr. Juda, thank you. I do not know you, and I have never corresponded with you. However, I have used the service you provided, and you deserve the thanks of at least this fidonetter. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== QFBBS09.ZIP Pedro Jaramillo (1:102/160) Hello ALL! This is the latest release of QFBBS.EXE, please upgrade/delete your old copies: QFBBS.EXE v.0.9 FILE_ID.DIZ Edit, Build, Format, Optimize, Reconstruct, Wrap, Import, Export, Cut, Copy, Paste, Etc. Interactive tool to READ and EDIT the ZIP description file (FILE_ID.DIZ) SYSOPS AND BBS USERS BENEFIT WITH THIS PROGRAM. This FILE_ID.DIZ was instantly created with this amazing program. Reg. Only $19 MAGIC NAME : QFBBS Your friend, Pedro Jaramillo FidoNews 13-05 Page: 3 29 Jan 1996 Internet Killed The Fidonet Star... Is this the beginning of the end? by Ronald Hass (2:240/5311.25 and rhass@rzbd.fh-hamburg.de) Since spring 1995 the Internet began to boom. Articles concerning the subject popped up in FidoNews whereas subjects concerning Fidonet became rare. Since summer 1995 the FidoNews began to drip across Fidonet. Every other week it didn't reach my boss node. Then came three issues together, two of them late. We got used to it. Since fall 1995 FidoNews ceased to come at all. To keep the archive of my boss node up to date I FTPed them via the Internet every week and uploaded them. What a weird idea: I had to use the Internet to get the major publication of the Fidonet! Was it worth the effort? Reading the issues became pretty boring as nothing of interest was submitted anymore. Where have all the authors gone that felt commitment to their hobby? Where have all the arguments gone about Steve Winter and Bob Germer, "four letter words" in FidoNews, ANSI art, etc.? When I FTPed the last issue of 1995 my heart jumped when I saw the size of the file. Something had changed! There must be quite a bit of articles in it, maybe the engaged authors came back! I unpacked the file and sent it to the printer as I have done it all the years. Usually I read the Snooze in the train when heading home after work. This time I couldn't wait to see what's in there... A mere outcry from the editors! Nothing had been submitted this week! Don and/or Sylvia (never really found out who was writing the editorial) had posted a chat log from just before Christmas from their BBS to fill the gap. The essence of this "article" was the essence of Fidonet! To calm myself down I thought the reason might be the holiday season. Everybody is busy with Christmas, nobody has time to write. It's going to change with the first issue of 1996. In fact it didn't. I don't want to review any articles in the first two issues of 1996. Fact is that the third issue was an empty one again. Sylvia obviously was fed up with the job of editoring nothing and quit her job. This was the one and only nevertheless important information contained in FidoNews 13-03. Did anybody notice? How long will it take until Don gets the same feeling? I don't blame him. Fidonet is breaking apart. Netmail is even more unreliable these days than it has ever been. I get the impression that echomail in certain FidoNews 13-05 Page: 4 29 Jan 1996 echoes is not routed worldwide properly anymore. SysOps seem to stick to local communities. When their systems are of the bigger kind they HAVE TO offer Internet access these days to their - in the meantime mostly paying - "customers". The interest in keeping up a worldwide functioning Fidonet is ceasing. WWW is offering glossy magazines like www.hotwired.com. Who needs FidoNews? Internet E-mail IS reliable. Who needs Fido Netmail? BBSes decay to support centers where you call for the latest printer driver or to chat with other users in your local community. And even here the Internet offers glossy alternatives like "Internet Relay Chat" and FTP sites like ftp.xxx.com which often are cared for far better than the corresponding BBS. CompuServe, AOL and all the others are close at hand. The same modem that served you for years as your feed to the Fidonet now takes you to the data highway and connects you even to The White House. Did they ever offer a Fido node? I am afraid we have to accept this development if we like it or not. I want to thank Donald and Sylvia for the good work they have done during the past years. I read every issue of the Snooze within the last four years and enjoyed it. I shall keep up to it to the last bit even if it hurts. I want to thank Tom Jennings for the whole of it. I still enjoy what is left of Fidonet although the lights slowly go out. And I want to thank everybody in Fidonet to whom I had contact even if it was just reading. I derived a lot of pleasure and knowledge from it. Last but not least I want to thank my Fido boss at 2:240/5311. He was and still is my mentor for years and introduced me to the wonders of "modeming". I wonder if somebody's left to read this... Cheers to everybody, Ron ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Modem Problem by David de Regt Hello, all, I'm David de Regt, SysOp of Gargoyle Heaven at (203)454-9841. I'm new at this, so if the answer is just under my nose, don't be surprised. I run Frontdoor 2.12 Shareware and it always connects at 2400 when sending mail. It runs the BBS at 14400, but anything to do with mail, it sends it at 240 CPS(2400 speed). Does anyone have any tips to fix this? I need HELP!!! If so, send them to 1:141/245. FidoNews 13-05 Page: 5 29 Jan 1996 ** The Free Ride is Over! *** BY C.I.A. CASINO NETWORK (1:2623/58) I, for one, say Good Riddance, Burt. If "The Gatekeeper" does not wish to act as a *real* Internet Email Gateway, get out of the way and let US do it! Your anal twit filtering and restrictions hampered communication.. It's not bad enough netmail/email has to rely on the feeble routing structure, but then to have every message sniffed for acceptibility, is ridiculous. I know I'll hear the whines and cries about how hard, expensive, etc, your job is/was... I'll hear the standard cop-out "You don't like it, do it yourself" - which is exactly what I plan to do... It's very incredibly simple, install linux, get a cheep SLIP, YOU GOT FULL USENET for the cost of yer SLIP! As far as personal email, thats relatively simple too, under a Unix, like BSD or Linux. Again, through a cheep SLIP account, this time, you need only have an ISP who assigns your slip in their hosts file - my system was, for example, fbn..com, I could get email as root@fbn, or any user name.... I am currently waiting for another company to open, one a little less anal than the one I was on.. You leeched off the IEEE long enough. For a $30 a month SLIP acct, I can blow yer lame gateway a-way, friend... No, I have no interest in pandering to the entire globe - anyone who is a local call may be offered the service... *I* have no desire to port usenet to fido - Unix is superior to DOS, and Usenet is superior to FTS. That really made me realise how incredibly anal your policies were, was not so much the volume control, by disallowing uuencode and mailing lists, but you admitted to me in UFGATE a few months ago, August or so perhaps, that you had been (unbeknowst to yourself) "accidently" deleting the ENTIRE fidonet domain's incoming email JUST TO TWIT ONE PERSON - Brent Hamm!! (No, I didn't save the msg, so you're safe from me, but I do recall sending copies to Alan Boritz and ... Bob Moravsik, who I wouldn't be surprised to find still have the msg ;) Enjoy your retirement, old man.. Internet is ready to fill your void. Thank you for finally moving out of the way for it to do that :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== FidoNews 13-05 Page: 6 29 Jan 1996 ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editor: Donald Tees Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings, Sylvia Maxwell "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) more addresses: Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 154 Victoria St. S. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2b5 voice: (519) 570-4899 Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR 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 1996 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds. 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. 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 previously listed address. SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file FidoNews 13-05 Page: 7 29 Jan 1996 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. ' ' disgreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or semethin to amuse ourselves,, and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -- END -------------------------------------------------------------------