Dateline August 23, 1986 ------------------------ From: Shane O'Neill (800/1) To : All COLLIE SYSOPS Re : Assignment of Net Hosts ----------------------------- Hello COLLIE sysops! As most of you are already aware, the COLLIE Development team has decided to assign a Net Host to each Region in the COLLIE nodelist. Which, right now, consists of one Net Host in each state represented in the nodelist. What is a Net Host and what are his/her responsibilities? Follow the bouncing ball: Definition: A Net Host is a 'Representative' of several other COLLIE nodes. Think of it in terms of being a Representative in the House of Representatives, but there is only one Representative from each state and the House of Representatives is actually the CollieNet. Why a Net Host? We felt that, since we will be becoming FIDO compatible in the netmail area as soon as either COLLIE 2.0 or Perspective (depending on your votes) are distributed, we sensed that we should become more diverse and lay some of the responsibilities upon the Collie Sysops and allow me a little breathing room. In addition, the Net Host System is a good way to involve sysops and allow the CollieNet to become more active. Also, perhaps COLLIE Sysops will become more 'unified'. Mind you this is only an experiment, but we expect it to better the CollieNet in many ways. What are the RESPONSIBILITIES of a Net Host? Since being a Net Host is a very important position, it needs to be held by RESPONSIBLE and DEPENDABLE sysops who we can rely on. We wish only to have the most dependable sysops in this position. Now this position is demanding in a sense because it involves sending long distance netmail to Collie Boards periodically. Here is a rundown on a Net Host's responsibilities: o Your COLLIE should be run as much as you can (try for 24 hours and ALWAYS run both netmail events) o Every other Sunday (see an Alpha site for start date) a netmail message must be sent to 800/1 (On The Brink) including a Region Report (ie Region 804 Report for Pennsylvania). This Region Report should tell me (at 800/1) the following things should they be applicable: - Has any Collie Board in your Region (state) decided to discontinue running Collie? - Are there any pertinent changes in any of these boards? (ie Data/Voice number changes, hours of operation changes, modem speed change, temporary halt of COLLIE running? - Send all suggestions/comments/criticisms/questions/etc that any of these sysops may have in your netmail message as well. - ANY OTHER information you feel may be important!! This means one message every two weeks, so it will cost you about $1-$2 a month extra on your phone bill providing you are using AT&T. o Of course all this means you must somehow setup some sort of system for communicating with 'your' nodes. You may want to ask them to send you netmail on a specific day or two on any changes/etc they may have. You can tell them that if they do not send you a netmail message on the particular day(s), you will assume they have no changes/quirks/problems/questions/comments/etc for those two weeks. I URGE that if they fail to send you a netmail message (or however you plan on communicating) for 4 or 6 weeks that you PLEASE check up on their board to see that they are still actively running COLLIE! There are many ways you can setup your 'system'. Please do not make it hard on yourself. There are several good ways to go about it. NOTE: The above responsibilities ONLY PERTAINS to the NETHOSTS!! I do understand that it is hard to get a netmail message to my board EVERY other week on a regular basis because of vacations, hardware failure, etc. I stress that you acquire the phone numbers of the sysops in 'your' group so you can call them in case of emergency. Please try to get a netmail message every time one is due! If you are having trouble getting a netmail message to my board, please call me voice at 703-569-1279 between 10am and 8pm. Now since they are a few REGIONS in our nodelist that only have ONE node, the one-node-region will of course NOT have to report every other week unless that one node (which will be the nethost) has any changes listed above. But if another node is assigned in that REGION, you will have to send a netmail message every other week. The development team (mostly myself) has picked a Net Host for MOST of the existing REGIONS. I understand that NOT everyone who is chosen will want to be a Net Host. So please read the list below, and if you are picked as the Net Host, please send a message to 800/1 either accepting or rejecting the offer. If i do not receive a response in 3 weeks, I will assume it is a 'no'! There are also a few REGIONS where I have NO IDEA who would want to be/who is qualified to be a Net Host. I have indentified those REGIONS below and anyone in one of those REGIONS (and ONLY one of those REGIONS) who would like to become the Net Host, please send me a message at 800/1 informing me. Let me tell you the decisions I made were EXTREMELY tough in most of the REGIONS, so bear with me. This list below IS NOT FINAL yet!! Key to COMMENTS: ???? = No Net Host assigned! Please inquire at 800/1 **** = This Net Host is DEFINITE! Already assigned. No comment = Awaiting response from Sysop! REGION STATE POSSIBLE NET HOST COMMENTS: ====== ================= ================= ========= 804 Pennsylvania Dental_Connection **** 807 New_Jersey Jr._Connection 810 Georgia AIBBS 817 Maryland Avi-Technic 823 Virginia On_The_Brink **** 825 New_York BackStreet **** 829 North_Carolina Wolf-Comm 836 Tennessee ???? 838 Ohio ???? 842 Indiana ???? 846 Illinois Micro_Systems 848 Alabama Telcomm_BBS 856 Michigan Guardian_Collie_P1 858 Florida ???? 860 Texas ???? 870 California Blackmoor_Castle ???? 874 Minnesota TC-Colossus 876 Oregon The_ROSE 878 Kansas Aztec_BBS **** 882 Nevada ???? 898 Utah Bonneville_BBS 1002 Oklahoma The_Dark_Cavern 1020 CANADA ???? Please make sure that: If your board is listed as the Net Host that you please respond to me at 800/1 As Soon As Possible!