======================================================================= T h e F i d o N e w s Volume 28 Number 37 September 12, 2011 ======================================================================= +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | Published by | | | The FidoNews BBS | | FidoNet BBS community | | | _ | | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | < Well it wasn't exactly unexpected. Ever since I -- a Swede -- was > appointed editor in January 2002, a minority of people in zone 1 > have constantly tried to obstruct and reverse this appointment > with all means available to them. Yes, there were some who were against the appointment. However, the complaints did not really start until we started getting empty issues of the Fidonews. It is an editor's responsibility to find articles to print in the snooze, or any other publication for that matter. That did not happen, and thus the complaints got louder. It has nothing to do with the fact that you are a Swede, or any other nationality for that matter. It does not even matter that you are not a Zone 1 node. Who cares where you reside or what your beliefs are, as long as you do the job for which you volunteered. You did not do so. > Five years ago they started their own competing magazine, and we > all thought everything would calm down. Unfortunately it didn't. > Once again they went back to the FIDONEWS echo. Are you sure it was that long ago? BTW most of us carry both echos, and the Fidogazette had, and has, content. Had you bothered to come and visit the echo and read the Gazetter, you would know this. > The last couple of months the aggression escalated to beyond what > can be regarded as decent. The personal insults in the FIDONEWS > echo, against anyone still believing that the Fidonews editor > *can* be someone from outside zone 1, went far beyond all > imaginable limits. Yes it did, but mostly after the moderator (you) kept belitteling a certain "senile old man" and other words to that effect. That went on for months, until said "senile old man" had enough, an returned the favour. You said to me in a previous message that you had tried to stop the insults the last month, but there was little evidence of that, and if true, I wonder what things would have progressed to had you not done so. You won your war of words. Bob left, but the insults continued. All we wanted mostly was a moderator for the echo that had some balls, and would do something to clean it up, starting with himself of course. Arguing with the moderator, as I have done quite a bit over the last 2 weeks, in the echo, would be cause for a vacation at most, and a warning at minimum. Michiel at least had the decency to send me a netmail when I said something in the IPv6 echo after your little dig in there. While I am not happy that this was done, and had absolutely no idea it was in the works, I am not surprised, and for the same reasons you mention. BTW, you can publish all the above in the "international version of" the Snooze if you want, and whichever editor reads this, also has my permission to do so in their respective publications. FIDONEWS Vol 28 No 37 Page 5 September 12 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sustainability Part I. Richard Webb, 1:116/901 This seems to be quite the buzzword these days. We hear about sustainable agriculture, etc. etc. Some questions have been raised over the last decade or so re the sustainability of Fidonet. Let's first look at what it actually means in the world of Fidonet, then we can look at what we need to do to maintain it. But, more important, first we have to define what sustainability itself means. Sustainability at least in the parlance of the sustainable agriculture movement means practices and techniques that do no harm to the environment while providing the products of agriculture in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of the population. For Fidonet that means coordinators and others engaging in practices which encourage people to remain part of Fidonet, and to actually participate. There comes a point in any complex endeavor, especially a communications network when that traffic it handles can no longer be routed effectively because resources aren't available. In an endeavor such as Fidonet, we maintain those routing systems by keeping their operators truly interested in maintaining them, or venues where conversation of interest can take place. Those places are the special interest echoes. Many a sysop joined Fidonet back in its halcyon days specifically for access to a special interest echo which fit the theme of his or her board, and would help draw the users he wanted. Back in Des MOines, Iowa where i lived when I first joined Fidonet, the board for musicians and production professionals was a member primarily for those echoes. The local board for the self help and human services folks carried the usual twelve step echoes, disability related conferences, etc. OF course, a sysop would then pull in more echomail to suit the various interests of those users he/she wished to keep coming back along with those that fit the theme of the system. Now, let's look at some comments sent to me in netmail by our good zc2. AS we all know, for years Ward has been the inveterate nodelist tracker, both in Fidonews and in echomail. HE says: "I've been going with a fine comb through the zone-1 segment and the situation is dramatic. The result of my searching is that there are about 300 individually listed sysops left, don't look at the number of nodes but at the number of single names. That means the number of actively participating people is way below that ... 100? More? Less?" Good question! But don't think Ward's just picking on zone 1. HE continues: "Then I did the same thing with the zone-2 segment and I must conclude that there barely is more than that number, including Russia maybe the double. It leaves me with the uncomfortable feeling that we have less than 1,000 nodelisted sysops left, down from around 36,000 in 1995." Yes we have some returnees from the past. But, the real question is why they left? After all, with broadband connections and all the ways to participate you'd think they'd remain connected. The question is why they don't. Even when I rejoined back in 2007 or so if I loaded up the nodelist in qedit it gave me the dreaded "entire file not loaded" message before it displayed the contents. That no longer happens if I open the raw nodelist with qedit. That means that even with some new blood joining, and old hands returning we're still losing more than we're gaining. For some the problem is internet service providers not allowing customers to operate servers, but there are other methods of remaining connected, even without running a net connected server. Email tunneling might be an option, or, as I understand it, binkd in client mode. So why don't they remain with us? They don't remain, because they themselves don't find content of interest. You can have the biggest darned blowtorch transmitter in the world, but if your radio station doesn't have the content the listeners want to hear they won't tune in, and if they don't tune in then advertisers don't want to buy air time on your station because they won't reach any potential customers. You can have the finest chef from France in the kitchen of your restaurant, but if the atmosphere isn't pleasant and the serving staff friendly you won't have customers. All though our FTSC chairman and I find ourselves in disagreement on this point, it's about the content! Nobody gives a damn about the damned protocols if they don't convey anything worth reading, and responding to! Everybody that didn't just crawl out from under a rock knows that if you want your business to have repeat customers you've got to get 'em in the door the first time to see what you offer them, and once you get 'em to show up and check you out you'd better have something they want or they'll go elsewhere. More on that next time! FIDONEWS Vol 28 No 37 Page 6 September 12 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------- News from Fidonews.Ca by Janis Kracht, 1:261/38, janis@filegate.net Fidonews.ca now sports a mailing list where you can have a subsription to FIDONEWS delivered to your email inbox. Just go to http://www.fidonews.ca/ and click on SUBSCRIBE. You'll have a choice to subscribe to FIDONEWS or FIDOGAZETTE or both :) Once you've entered your email address, you'll get a reply back from the list robot. Make sure you confirm your subscription by replying back to that initial response. FIDONEWS Vol 28 No 37 Page 7 September 12 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================= B B S S O F T W A R E L I S T ================================================================= BBS Software List Updated 29 July 2011 Maintained by Andrew Leary, 1:320/119 Editors Emeritus: Robert Couture, Janis Kracht, Sean Dennis M=Mailer T=Tosser B=BBS D=Door C=Comm/Terminal P=Points E=Editor I=Internet U=Utility #=Info F=TIC/SRIF Processor *=Software is available and may be registerable, but no longer supported or updated. @=Website is operating but is no longer updated. ?=Software's updating/support status is unknown. O=Software is open source. This list contains BBS-related software that is available for registration (not necessarily supported), open source software and actively developed/supported software by its author. Software listed may be available for DOS, Linux, OS/2 (eComStation), Windows (16 or 32 bit) and OSX. .- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -. |Software: Author |Type |URL, Contact, Ver, Notes Help Node| `- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -' ==> FRONT-END/INTERNET MAILERS Argus |MI*? |http://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/argus/ | | v3.210 on Mar 29 2001 BinkleyTerm XE |MO* |http://btxe.sourceforge.net | | 2.60XE Beta-XH7 on Oct 22 2000 BinkD |MI? |http://2f.ru/binkd/ | | maloff@corbina.net | | v0.94 on Jul 24 2000 (Outdated) | |http://www.filegate.net/r50/aftnbinkd/ D'Bridge |MTCPE|http://www.net229.org/dbridge.htm 1:261/3830 Nick Andre |I | v3.62 on June 4 2011 FIDO-Deluxe IP |MPUI |http://www.fido-deluxe.de.vu 2:2432/280 Michael Haase | | m.haase@gmx.net | | v2.4 on Sep 26 2003 FrontDoor, FD/APX: |MITPC|http://www.defsol.se 2:201/330 Definite Solutions |? | sales@defsol.se | | v2.26SW & v2.33ml FD, v1.15 APX Husky Project |MTPUI|http://husky.sourceforge.net/ |O? | v1.9 RC2 on Apr 20 2010 Taurus |MI |http://www.fidotel.com/public/forums/ (based on Radius) |? | taurus/index.htm | | v5.0 Jun 12 2006 | | T-Mail |MI |http://www.tmail.spb.ru (Russian only) |? | v2608 on Dec 12 2001 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> MAIL TOSSERS Crashmail II |TO |http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/ | | FastEcho |T |http://www.softeq.de/old/Products/FastEcho/ | | fastecho.html | | v1.46.1 on 13 Nov 2007 | | Registration keys are free and available | | by request from the author Fidogate |TUI? |http://www.fidogate.org | | v4.4.10 on Aug 27 2004 | | FMail |TO*? |http://fmail.sourceforge.net/ | | v1.60 on Mar 8 2008 | | Source code only! Squish |T* |http://www.filegate.net/maximus_bbs/ | | v1.11R2 on Jan 1 2009 | | Source code available in the Maximus BBS | | archive: http://maximus.sourceforge.net +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> BBS SOFTWARE BBBS |BICTM|http://www.bbbs.net 2:22/222 | | b@bbbs.net | | v4.01 on January 28 2007 EleBBS |BO*? |http://www.elebbs.com | | v0.10.RC1 on Jun 9 2002 Enthral BBS |B |http://enthralbbs.com 1:250/501 Linux/BSD/OSX | | v0.429/Alpha on 14 October 2010 | | Fidonet filebone SCENEENT Ezycom BBS |BT |http://www.ezycom-bbs.com 3:690/682 | | v2.15g2 on Nov 16 2009 GT Power |B |http://www.gtpowerbbs.com/ | | v19.00 Hermes II Project |BT |http://www.hermesbbs.com/ Macintosh-based | | malyn@strangegizmo.com | | v3.5.10b3 Maximus BBS |BO* |http://www.filegate.net/maximus_bbs/ | | v3.03 | | Source code available at: | | http://maximus.sourceforge.net/ MBSE BBS |BIO? |http://mbse.sourceforge.net 2:280/2802 | | mbroek@users.sourceforge.net | | v0.92.0 on Oct 16 2007 Meltdown BBS |UIO |http://meltdown-bbs.sourceforge.net/ | | v1.0b on Apr 26 2004 Mystic BBS |BO* |http://www.mysticbbs.com | | v1.07.3 on May 13th 2001 RemoteAccess BBS |B? |http://www.rapro.com 1:261/3820 | | bfmorse@rapro.com | | v2.62.2SW Renegade BBS |B |http://renegadebbs.info 1:129/305 | | v1.10/DOS on 3 Oct 2009 Spitfire BBS |B? |http://www.buffalocrk.com/ | | mdwoltz@buffalocrk.com | | v3.6 on Aug 20 1999 Synchronet BBS |BTIO |http://www.synchro.net 1:103/705 | | v3.16 on 31 Dec 2006 Telegard BBS |B* |http://www.telegard.net | | v3.09g2-sp4/mL on Dec 19 1999 WildCat! Interactive |MTBEI|http://www.santronics.com Net Server, Platinum| | sales@santronics.com Xpress: Santronics | | Software, Inc. | | +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> TIC PROCESSORS/FILEFIX/SRIF Allfix |FIUT |http://www.allfix.com/ 1:140/12 Bob Seaborn | | v6.0.22 on 26 January 2011 NEF/pk |F |http://nefpk.8m.com/ | | v2.45b2 on 5 March 2000 TinyTIC |FO |http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/ | | 1:120/544 VIReq |FO |http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/ | | 1:120/544 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> BBS DOORS/UTILITIES Cheepware |DU |http://kd5col.info/cheepware.html Sean Dennis | | sdennis72@gmail.com 1:18/200 | | Fidonet filebone CH-WARE DDS (Doorware |D@ |http://www.doorgames.org Distribution System)| | ruth@doorgames.org Ruth Argust | | Jibben Software |D* |http://www.jibbensoftware.com/ | | bbs-door-games.cfm | | scott@jibben.com | | 1995-99 Release dates John Dailey Software |DU? |http://www.johndaileysoftware.com Shining Star |D* |http://www.shiningstar.net/bbsdoors/ | | nannette@shiningstar.net | | Doors are still registerable via website Sunrise Doors: |D |http://www.sunrisedoors.com Al Lawrence | | al@sunrisedoors.com | | Tel: (404) 256-9518 T1ny's Software |DU |http://www.tinysbbs.com/files/tsoft/ Shawn Highfield | | shighfield@gmail.com 1:229/452 | | Fidonet filebone CH-WARE The Brainex System |D |http://www.brainex.com/brainex_system/ | | stanley@brainex.com | | 1994-99 Releases Trade Wars |D* |http://www.eisonline.com/tradewars/ | | jpritch@eisonline.com | | v3.09 (DOS-32) in 2002 Vagabond Software |DU* |http://http://vbsoft.dhakota.org | | d@dhakota.org | | Last update: Apr 11 2008 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> POINT SOFTWARE CrossPoint (XP) |P? |http://www.crosspoint.de (German only) | | pm@crosspoint.de | | v3.12d on Dec 22 1999 FreeXP |P |http://www.freexp.de (German only) | | support@freexp.de | | v3.42 on Jun 27 2010 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> SYSOP MAIL EDITORS GoldEd+ |EO*? |http://golded-plus.sourceforge.net/ | | v1.1.5 (Snapshot) on Apr 29 2010 | | NOTE: Unstable versions released often SqEd32 |E |http://www.sqed.de 2:2476/493 | | v1.15 on Dec 15 1999 | | Website is in German and English +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> INTERNET UTILITIES JamNNTPd |UIO |http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/ | | 1:120/544 Internet Rex |UI? |http://members.shaw.ca/InternetRex/ | | telnet://xanadubbs.ca 1:342/806 | | v2.29 on Oct 21st 2001 TransNet |UIO? |http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mressl/ | | transnet/index.html | | transnet@ressl.com.ar | | v2.11 on Sep 13 2007 Ifmail |UIO |http://ifmail.sourceforge.net | | crosser@average.org MakeNL |UO |http://www.filegate.net/coordutl/ | | v3.2.9 on Feb 1 2010 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ ==> INFORMATIONAL WEBSITES/BBS LISTS Telnet/Dialup BBS |# |http://www.telnetbbsguide.com 1:275/89 Guide | | Maintained by Dave Perrussel | | This is probably the most updated BBS | | list on the Internet for a general | | BBS list. Synchronet BBS List |# |http://www.synchro.net/sbbslist.html | | Maintained automatically | | This list is specifically for | | Synchronet-based BBS systems and is | | automatically updated nightly. The BBS Corner |# |http://www.bbscorner.com | | This website is more than just files, | | it's an encyclopedia of knowledge for | | BBS sysops and people who want to | | become sysops. This site is run by | | the same person who does the Telnet | | BBS Guide. +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ File Archives: http://archives.thebbs.org http://sysopscorner.thebbs.org (site is no longer maintained) http://www.simtel.net http://www.bbsfiles.com http://hobbes.nmsu.edu (OS/2 specific) http://www.filegate.net/ (FTP access via port 60721) http://www.tinysbbs.com/files/ Note: Most also provide FTP access (use ftp instead of http above) The BBS Software List is published monthly in the FidoGazette. If you have corrections, suggestions or additions to the information above, please contact Andrew Leary with your information via the FIDONEWS echo or netmail at 1:320/119. FIDONEWS Vol 28 No 37 Page 8 September 12 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= FidoNews Article Submission (Updated August 3, 2011) FidoNews, founded in early 1984, is the newsletter of the FidoNet computer network, for both its Sysops and users. It is passed to its readers electronically via the FidoNet and other computer networks and to non-network readers as well as to the InterNet. Fidonews welcomes articles, editorials, and features of interest to the Fidonet Community. To have your article included in Fidonews, simply send it via netmail to 1:261/38 or via internet email to gary.perkins@setxbbs.synchro.net. Here are some guidelines you can use to help me make it easier to format your article for Fidonews: 1. Use standard ASCII text. Most word processor formats can't be used by the Fidonews software. In addition, the Fidonews software won't accept most ASCII control characters nor any characters above ASCII 127 (this, unfortunately, includes all those neat box drawing characters). 2. Start your lines at the left of your screen when typing. The software puts in a left margin automatically, and I have to manually remove any left margin appearing in your document. 3. Keep your line length to under 70 columns for tables or charts (or if you include an ASCII illustration). Regular paragraphs exceeding this 70 column limit can be reformatted during the editing process, but tables and charts are normally distorted beyond recognition by a simple reformatting. 4. Separate paragraphs with a blank line. This is how my text editor recognizes paragraph endings, so I have to add blank lines manually if you don't. 5. Title your article as you'd like to see it in the Table of Contents. If you don't, I'll make up a title for you, but I'd rather have the article appear as you wish. 6. Include your name and node number (or internet address) under the title. I'll grab it from your message, if necessary... but, again, I'd rather have the article appear as you wish. 7. Check your own spelling and wording. Though I feel free to reformat your article so it conforms to technical requirements, I generally leave the wording (and spelling) alone as I don't want to distort what you have to say. 8. Send your article before Sunday in order to see it in that Monday's edition. Normally I put the newsletter together Sunday Evening and send it out... and I normally check email and netmail before I finalize the edition. So if I get your article before Sunday evening, I'll include it... but send it by Saturday to be safe :) 9. If you're not sure whether you should write or send in your article, I would encourage you to send it anyway. Chances are, if you write of something of interest to yourself, it'll be of interest to others. Besides, Fidonews is a better publication when it's written by a variety of people :) Janis Kracht Temporary-Fidonews Editor FIDONEWS Vol 28 No 37 Page 9 September 12 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================= Credits and Information ================================================================= Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Editor: Gary Perkins, 1:393/31, 1:261/38 | | Fidonet History Column: Richard Webb, 1:116/901 | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince | | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, | | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, | | Doug Meyers, Warren D. Bonner, Frank L. Vest, | | Bjorn Felten | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright (C) 2011 Gary Perkins. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the Editor. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= 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 Editor, or file-requestable from 1:261/38 [1:393/31] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators should have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it. Deadline for article submission is Saturday, 22:00 EST. Below are some subjects and the file extension for the article as set in the configuration file for the making of Fidonews. Please help by putting the file extension of the correct subject on the file name if known. Ideas for Subject areas: Subject File | Subject File --------------------------------|---------------------------------- From the *C's *.css | Rebuttals to articles *.reb Fidonet Regional News *.reg | Fidonet Net News *.net Retractions *.rtx | General Fidonet Articles *.art Guest Editorial *.gue | Fidonet Current Events *.cur Fidonet Interviews *.inv | Fidonet Software Reviews *.rev Fidonet Web Page Reviews *.web | Fidonet Notices *.not Getting Fidonet Technical *.ftc | Question Of The Week *.que Humor in a Fido Vein *.hfv | Comix in ASCII *.cmx Fidonet's Int. Kitchen *.rec | Poet's Corner *.poe Clean Humor & Jokes *.jok | Other Stuff *.oth Fidonet Classified Ads *.ads | Corrections *.cor Best of Fidonet *.bof | Letters to the Editor *.let If you don't know or are not sure, send your submission. Put a .TXT on it and I'll try to figure out where it should be in Fidonews. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from the following sources: + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | File request from 1:261/38 | | 1:1/0 or 1:261/38 | | current issue FIDONEWS | | back issue, volume v, issue ii FNEWSvii.ZIP | | | | On the web: | | http://www.filegate.net/fidonews/ | | | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ----------------------------------------------------------------- =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The dog-with-diskette was originally rendered for Tom Jennings and is used with permission. "Disagreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or something to amuse ourselves and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings FIDONEWS Vol 28 No 37 Page 10 September 12 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Published with MakeNews by Janis Kracht