Boldly Go Collection/version40.iso/TS/05B/TELEDX10.ZIP/OPUS

Text File | 1992-02-08 | 11.3 KB | 360 lines

                                Opus/FidoNet

Opus, or FidoNet, is an amateur electronic mail system.  As
such, all of its partici- pants and operators are unpaid
volunteers.  From its early beginning as a few friends
swapping messages back and forth (1984), it now (1989)
includes over 5,000 systems on six continents.

FidoNet is not a common carrier or a value-added service
network and is a public network only in as much as the
independent, constituent nodes may individually provide
public access to the network on their system.

FidoNet is large enough that it would quickly fall apart of
its own weight unless some sort of structure and control were
imposed on it.  Multinet operation provides the structure.
Decentralized management provides the control.







FidoNet systems are grouped on several levels, and
administration is decentralized to correspond with these
groupings.  This is a summary of the structure and specific
coordinator positions.

The smallest subdivision of the net is the individual system.
The system operator (sysop) of a BBS is responsible for
creating a policy for running his (or her) BBS and dealing with
users.  The sysop must mesh with the rest of the FidoNet
system to send and receive mail, and the local policy must be
consistent with other levels of FidoNet.

A BBS's sysop is responsible for the actions of any user when
the the rest of the net is affected.  (If a user is annoying,
the sysop is annoying.)  Any traffic entering FidoNet through
a specific BBS, if not from the sysop, is considered to be from
a user and is the responsibility of the sysop.







                     Networks and Network Coordinators

A network is a collection of nodes (BBSs)in a local geographic
area, usually defined by an area of convenient telephone
calling.  Networks coordinate their mail activity to decrease
cost.

The Network Coordinator is responsible for maintaining the      The Network
list of nodes for the network, and for forwarding netmail       Coordinater is
sent to members of the network from other FidoNet nodes.  The   the "Boss BBS"
Network Coordinator may make arrangements to handle outgoing    in the area for
netmail, but is not required to do so.                          the network!






                      Regions and Regional Coordinators

A region is a well-defined geographic area containing nodes
which may or may not be combined into networks.  A typical
region will contain many nodes in networks, and a few
independent nodes which are not a part of any network.

The Regional Coordinator maintains the list of independent
nodes in the region and accepts nodelists from the Network      A nodelist is
Coordinators in the region. These are compiled to create a      simply a listing
regional nodelist, which is then sent to the Zone               of member BBSs,
Coordinator.  A Regional Coordinator does not perform           their locations,
message-forwarding services for any nodes in the region.        and their phone
                                                                numbers.
                         Zones and Zone Coordinators

A zone is a large geographic area containing many regions,
covering one or more countries and/or continents.

The Zone Coordinator compiles the nodelists from all of the
regions in the zone, and creates the master nodelist and
difference file, which is then distributed over FidoNet in
the zone.  A Zone Coordinator does not perform
message-forwarding services for any nodes in the zone.

                                 Definitons

FidoNews:

FidoNews is a weekly newsletter distributed in electronic
form throughout the network.  It is an important medium by
which FidoNet sysops communicate with each other.  FidoNews
provides a sense of being a community of people with common
interests.  Accordingly, sysops and users are encouraged to
contribute to FidoNews.  Contributions are submitted to node
1:1/1; a file describing the format to be used is available
from 1:1/1 and many other systems.


Geography:

Each level of FidoNet is geographically contained by the
level immediately above it.  A given geographic location is
covered by one zone and one region within that zone, and is
either in one network or not in a network.  There are never
two zones, two regions, or two networks which cover the same
geographic area.



Zone Mail Hour:

Zone Mail Hour (ZMH) is a defined time during which all nodes
in a zone are required to be able to accept netmail.  Each
Fidonet zone defines a ZMH and publishes the time of its ZMH
to all other Fidonet zones.  See sections 2.1.8 and 10.2.

Zone Mail Hour has previously been referred to as National
Mail Hour and Network Mail hour.  The term Zone Mail Hour is
more accurate.

Nodelist:

The nodelist is a file updated weekly which contains the
addresses of all recognized FidoNet nodes.  This file is
currently made available by the Zone Coordinator not later
than Zone Mail Hour each Saturday, and is available
electronically for download or file request at no charge.  To
be included in the nodelist, a system must meet the
requirements defined by this document. No other requirements
may be imposed.



Excessively Annoying Behavior:

It is difficult to define this term, as it is based upon the
judgement of the coordinator structure.  Generally speaking,
annoying behavior irritates, bothers, or causes harm to some
other person.  It is not necessary to break a law to be
annoying.

There is a distinction between excessively annoying behavior    <GENERAL 1 8>
and (simply) annoying behavior.  For example, there is a
learning curve that each new sysop must climb, both in the
technical issues of how to set up the software and the social
issues of how to interact with FidoNet.  It is a rare sysop
who, at some point in this journey, does not manage to annoy
others.  Only when such behavior persists, after being
pointed out to the sysop, does it becomes excessively
annoying.  This does not imply that it is not possible to be
excessively annoying without repetition (for example,
deliberate falsifi- cation of mail would likely be
excessively annoying on the very first try), but simply
illustrates that a certain amount of tolerance is extended.









Commercial Use

FidoNet is an amateur network.  Participants spend their own
time and money to make it work for the good of all the users.
It is not appropriate for a commercial enterprise to take
advantage of these volunteer efforts to further their own
business interests.  On the other  hand, FidoNet provides a
convenient and effective means for companies and users to
exchange information, to the mutual benefit of all.










                         Sysop Procedures: The Basics

As the sysop of an individual node (BBS), you can generally
do as you please, as long as you observe mail events, are not
excessively annoying to other nodes in FidoNet, and do not
promote or participate in the distribution of pirated
copyrighted software or other illegal behavior via FidoNet.

          Responsible for All Traffic Entering FidoNet Via the Node

The sysop listed in the nodelist entry is responsible for all
traffic entering FidoNet via that system.  This includes (but
is not limited to) traffic entered by users, points, and any
other networks for which the system might act as a gateway.
If a sysop allows "outside" messages to enter FidoNet via the
system, the gateway system must be clearly identified by
FidoNet node number as the point of origin of that message,
and it must act as a gateway in the reverse direction.
Should such traffic result in a violation of Policy, the
sysop must rectify the situation.






                                 Private Netmail

The word "private" should be used with great care, especially
with users of a BBS.  Some countries have laws which deal
with "private mail", and it should be made clear that the
word "private" does not imply that no person other than the
recipient can read messages.  Sysops who cannot provide this
distinction should consider not offering users the option of
"private mail".

If a user sends a "private message", the user has no control
over the number of intermediate systems through which that
message is routed.  A sysop who sends a message to another
sysop can control this aspect by sending the message direct
to the recipient's system, thus guaranteeing that only the
recipient or another individual to whom that sysop has given
authorization can read the message.  Thus, a sysop may have
different expectations than a casual user.










                              Excommunication

A system which has been dropped from the network is said to
be excommunicated (i.e. denied communication).  If you find
that you have been excommunicated without warning, your
coordinator was unable to contact you.  You should rectify
the problem and contact your coordinator.














                                  Echomail

Echomail is an important and powerful force in FidoNet.  For
the purposes of Policy Disputes, echomail is simply a
different flavor of netmail, and is therefore covered by
Policy.  By its nature, echomail places unique technical and
social demands on the net over and above those covered by
this version of Policy.  In recognition of this, an echomail
policy which extends (and does not contradict) general
Policy, maintained by the Echomail Coordinators, and ratified
by a process similar to that of this document, is recognized
by the FidoNet Coordinators as a valid structure for dispute
resolution on matters pertaining to echomail.  At some future
date the echomail policy document may be merged with this
one.







                              Using Off-line Readers


Off-line readers are a method by which you may read messages    Two very popu-
from a BBS while off-line (i.e. not logged on.)  You start by   lar offline
logging on to a bulletin board, briefly, to download your       readers for
messages. Then, by using one of the off-line reader programs,   Opus/Fido
you may spend all the time you need reading messages,           system are:
entering replies and any new messages you may come up with.
When you are finished, you log back on to the BBS, briefly,     1. Silver
in order to upload your replies and any new messages you may       Express
have created.
                                                                2. BlueWave

















The process of uploading and downloading messages may be done
in one phone call.  Log on to the BBS, upload your new
replies, download the new messages that have been entered
since the last time you were on, then log off the BBS. Those
of you who call long distance may prefer this approach as it
helps to reduce long distance changes by doing the whole
process in one phone call.



















The use of an off-line reader may save you telephone charges
by also shortening your daily total on-line time, and, at the
same time, it allows more users per day to access your local
BBS.






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