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Volume 6, Number 15 10 April 1989 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Contributing Editors: Al Arango FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Copyright 1989 by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No article will be rejected which is properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 Reflections on the Anarchist Principle ................... 1 Daisy, The Apple CP/M BBS ................................ 10 Groupmail and Confmail replacement released .............. 15 VETNet is ALIVE!!!!! ..................................... 20 2. COLUMNS .................................................. 27 The Veterinarian's Corner: Vaccinations .................. 27 When the Topicops Came Calling ........................... 28 3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 35 Latest Software Versions ................................. 35 And more! FidoNews 6-15 Page 1 10 Apr 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Tom Jennings 1:125/111 The following is the opening essay in "THE BLACK FLAG OF ANARCHISM AND OTHER ESSAYS", available from Employee Theft Press, ($2.50 from 1369 Haight St, San Francisco CA 94117) -- all funds from the sale of this pamphlet go to "WITHOUT BORDERS ANARCHIST CONFERENCE & FESTIVAL", to be held in San Francisco this July 20 - 25. Reflections on the Anarchist Principle by Paul Goodman "Anarchism is grounded in a rather definite proposition: that valuable behavior occurs only by the free and direct response of individuals or voluntary groups to the conditions presented by the historical environment. It claims that in most human affairs, whether political, economic, military, religious, moral, pedagogic, or cultural, more harm than good results from coercion, top-down direction, central authority, bureaucracy, jails, conscription, states, pre-ordained standardization, excessive planning, etc. Anarchists want to increase intrinsic functioning and diminish extrinsic power. This is a social- psychological hypothesis with obvious political implications. "Depending on varying historical conditions that present various threats to the anarchist principle, anarchists have laid their emphasis in varying places: sometimes agrarian, sometimes free- city and guild-oriented; sometimes technological, sometimes anti- technological; sometimes Communist, sometimes affirming property; sometimes individual, sometimes collective; sometimes speaking of Liberty as an almost absolute good, sometimes relying on custom and 'nature'. Nevertheless, despite these differences, anarchists seldom fail to recognize each other, and they do not consider the differences to be incompatibilities. Consider a crucial modern problem, violence. Guerrilla fighting has been a classical anarchist technique; yet, especially where, in modern conditions, *any* violent means tends to reinforce centralism and authoritarianism, anarchists have tended to see the beauty of non-violence. "Now the anarchist principle is by and large true(1). And far from being 'utopian' or a 'glorious failure', it has proved itself and won out in many spectacular historical crises. In the period of mercantilism and patents royal, free enterprise by joint stock companies were anarchist. The Jeffersonian bill of rights were anarchist. Progressive education was anarchist. The free cities and corporate law in the feudal system were anarchist. At present, the civil rights movement in the United States has been almost classically decentralist and anarchist. And so forth, down to details like free access in public libraries. Of course, to later historians these things do not seem to be anarchist, but in their FidoNews 6-15 Page 2 10 Apr 1989 own time they were regarded as such and often literally called such, with the usual dire threats of chaos. But this relativity of the anarchist principle to the actual situation is of the essence of anarchism. There *cannot* be a history of anarchism in the sense of establishing a permanent state of things 'anarchist'. It is always a continual coping with the next situation, and a vigilance to make sure that past freedoms are not lost and do not turn into the opposite, as free enterprise turned into wage-slavery and monopoly capitalism, or the independent judiciary turned into a monopoly of courts, cops, and lawyers, or free education turned into School Systems." Footnote(1) "I, and Other anarchists, would except certain states of temporary emergency, is we can be confident that the emergency is *temporary*. We might except certain simplistic logistic arrangements, like ticketing or metric standards or tax- collection, if we can be confident that the administration, the 'secretariat', will not begin to run the show. And we might except certain 'natural monopolies', like epidemic control, water-supply, etc." First published in ANARCHY 62 (April 1966) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 3 10 Apr 1989 Gateways to and from FidoNet <tm> Technical, Administrative, and Policy Considerations Randy Bush 3 April 89 Copyright 1989, Randy Bush. All rights reserved. The right to distribute for non-commercial use is granted to FidoNews. What is a Gateway to/from FidoNet? ---- -- - ------- ------- -------- A gateway is a collection of software and procedures whereby net mail and/or echomail may be transferred between FidoNet and another computer communications network. Gateways are bi-directional, as folk always want to reply to others' mail. Gateways exist now. o There are a number of software packages for gating between uucp-based systems and FidoNet, the most well-known being the UFGATE shareware package. These packages gate both net mail and echomail, and are often used to provide FidoNet access to/from Internet via the uucp network. These tend to go through much effort to make FidoNet look as much like Internet as possible. About 25 uucp gateways are scattered around FidoNet. o Rhodes University has developed a complete system between a Cyber-based NOS network and FidoNet. This system handles both net mail and echomail, and is also strongly based on the Internet standards, and almost views FidoNet as a transport mechanism to get to/from Internet. It is used to gate a fairly localized cluster of mainframes to FidoNet at a single point, and has made special arrangements for further routing and forwarding of mail. o WWIVnet has developed gating software based on the ForDog package for the MS-DOS-based WWIV systems, and some other package for the Mac-based Tabby systems. The MS-DOS system uses Binkley or another FidoNet mailer handles the protocol transfers to make the WWIV system look like a FidoNet system to other FidoNet nodes. WWIVnet gates are said to be scattered around the US and Canada. o A number of FidoNet-based systems have been developed for various flavors of UN*X. These vary from encapsulated Fido- worlds within UN*X (i.e not true gates at all), to FidoNet front ends for UN*X mail systems. o RBBS-net seems to have developed gateway software for the MS-DOS-based BBS network, but I do not know enough to characterize it. All of these gateway systems can and are being run in a safe and FidoNews 6-15 Page 4 10 Apr 1989 cooperative fashion, and are providing a nice cross-cultural exchange with benefits for both sides of the gates. At this time, there are also other nets which, because they are based on technology similar to FidoNet, are dumping mail onto and taking mail off of FidoNet willy nilly, with little thought to the technical, administrative, or social consequences. Often, this is done with good intentions, not realizing they are providing a disservice to both nets. What are the Characteristics of a Good Gateway? ---- --- --- --------------- -- - ---- -------- Like good contracts, good gateways should be fair to both sides. There is the need to preserve both the technical and sociopolitical integrity of all parties to the transaction. Technically, both networks will have specifications and requirements for transfer protocols, message and echomail formats, control data files, etc. Beyond the borders of the gateway software, each universe should be completely and safely maintained. o Messages and echomail should completely conform in format and content to the technical specifications of each side of the gateway. o Addressing of messages and echomail should completely conform to that of the network in or through which the messages are traveling or resident at all times. o A normal user should be able to enter new messages destined for the other side of the gate and to reply to gated mail with relative ease. o If FidoNet uses a network A as an intermediate to get to/from a network B, or if network C uses FidoNet to get to/from network D, then the inter-net transitions should be auditable, but local customs and technalia of the intermediate network may not need always be enforced. Socially, the customs and fashions of each network should be maintained in that network. o There must be administrative liaison and control between the two networks so agreements may be made and enforced and disputes may be adjudicated. o If the networks being gated overlap geographically, then systems should not have to pay significant costs to move mail between the two networks when it is between two nodes that are in the same general locale. o Gating is not simple, technically or administratively. Unless each net anticipates significant use of the gateways, and the anticipated gain is seen as greater than the FidoNews 6-15 Page 5 10 Apr 1989 anticipated pain, then one side or the other may reasonably decline to do the necessary work. What Technical Standards Exist? ---- --------- --------- ------ Before we develop new specifications, social protocols, and standards, we should see what exists already. o FidoNet Technical Standards exist already for the data formats and the communication protocols for net mail and echomail. All conforming gateway systems mentioned above conform to these standards. These are named FSC-nnnn, or more recently FTS-nnnn. o The SRI-NIC has published standards for message formats and communication protocols that are used between a significant number of networks that already gate to each other. These are often referred to as the Internet standards and named RFCnnnn or IDEAnnnn. o The ISO and CCITT have standards for message formats and communication protocols which are used between a significant number of systems. These are based on X.nnn specifications, eg. X.400. Other standards undoubtedly exist and should be investigated by anyone desiring to build a gateway system. The game of 'my standard is better than yours' has been played for decades with no conclusion other then demonstrating the stupidity of war. What matters is that each net's standards are maintained within that net. What Administrative Standards Exist? ---- -------------- --------- ------ Most networks have formed administrative procedures and guidelines which regulate if and how other networks may gate to/from them. The most notable exception is the uucp/Usenet which, having no formalized administrative rules for anything else, imposes none on gateways. Before we recoil in horror, note that uucp/Usenet is three to four times the size of FidoNet, is over twice FidoNet's age, and has a significantly better signal- to-noise ratio. The SRI-NIC provides a procedure for registering Internet domains. A domain is somewhat like what we are considering a network. This Internet registration procedure ensures that the network has o administrative responsibility and control, and o at least two registered sites which provide address mapping FidoNews 6-15 Page 6 10 Apr 1989 for the network being gated. FidoNet is a registered domain of Internet. Our domain is called fidonet.org. The administrative responsibility is the FidoNet IC's. The registered 'nameservers' are at lynx.cs.orst.edu and k9.cs.orst.edu, both at Oregon State University, though this is bending the two nameserver policy a bit. DECNET, ARPANET, ... all have applicable standards, but, as they are strictly limited to formal commercial relationships, they are of little interest here. What Administrative Policies are Needed by FidoNet? ---- -------------- -------- --- ------ -- -------- What does FidoNet really need to state in terms of administrative requirements on a network wishing to gate to/from FidoNet? FidoNet needs a means of ensuring that a formal relationship exists which may be used to negotiate technical standards between the two nets, internet adjudication of disagreements both technical and social, and enforcement of decisions. Similarly, the other network will likely want such assurances as well. Therefore an agreement should be reached stating: o who is administratively responsible, o who is technically responsible, o what technical and administrative documentation exists, and o both parties will abide by eachother's rules when in the other's house, and o how grievances are to be stated and adjudicated. In addition, it will be advisable for FidoNet to place some requirements on a network wishing to form official gateways. Some of these requirements and their motivations are: o If the other network geographically overlaps a significant portion of FidoNet, then the other net should be of sufficient size that gateways can likely be recruited in most areas where the nets overlap. Thus, systems should not have to pay significant costs to move mail between two nets that happen to be in the same locale. o If the other network geographically overlaps a significant portion of FidoNet, then there should, at a minimum, be gateways in each FidoNet zone where they overlap. o If the other network geographically overlaps more than one zone of FidoNet, then that net should have its own gateways between the zones, and not use FidoNet to move the burden of interzone PTT costs. FidoNews 6-15 Page 7 10 Apr 1989 o If the other network geographically overlaps a significant number of the regions in a FidoNet zone, then there should, at a minimum, be gateways in each FidoNet region where they overlap. o If the other network is geographically localized, then special arrangements may be made whereby there traffic is gated to/from FidoNet at one or more places by special arrangement as if the other network were a FidoNet node or local network (in the intra-FidoNet sense) itself. o Gating of net mail, i.e. user-to-user messages, must be implemented and easily used. Gating of Echomail is optional. o Mail must be bi-directional. If someone in the other net can send mail to a node/user on FidoNet, then that FidoNet node/user must be able to reply. o If echomail is gated, then, unless special circumstances are recognized by the responsible administrators, it must be gated bi-directionally. o If a conference is moderated (in the Usenet sense, similar to Dutchie's Conference Mail's moderation or GroupMail) on one network, then it should be moderated on all other networks, or at least the gateway into the network where it is moderated should ensure that correct moderation is done by forwarding or whatever is appropriate. For inter-net gateway systems in the process of formation, it is assumed that some of the above requirements may be waived during a startup period at the discretion of the administrative bodies. Observe that if FidoNet were to try to take a shortcut which has been suggested and simply require Intetnet registration of gating networks, then, of the current networks gating to FidoNet correctly (see above), only the Rhodes system could conform technically. Eg. the uucp gating packages gate to uucp which has no administrative center and is not registered with Internet. To require Internet registration would further neither the goals of Internet, nets wishing to gate to FidoNet, nor FidoNet itself. What Technical Requirements should FidoNet Place on Gating Systems? ---- --------- ------------ ------ ------- ----- -- ------ -------- Each network will have its own specifications for communication protocols, data formats, message conventions, addressing, etc. Though more generally used standards are to be preferred, what really matters is that each net be self- consistent and integritous and that gateway systems maintain that integrity. From the FidoNet perspective, the following attributes of a gateway system seem to be mandatory. FidoNews 6-15 Page 8 10 Apr 1989 o Conformance to FidoNet message format as specified in current FidoNet technical standards (eg. currently FSC-0001) must be maintained while messages are within FidoNet. o Information to assist message comprehension and processing by gateway systems and/or other networks may be contained within the message body, either hidden behind ^A lines or not. If such information is needed, then conformance to current Internet standards (eg. currently RFC822) is recommended. o The FidoNet message header must contain valid FidoNet addresses at all times the message is on FidoNet. Valid FidoNet addresses are addresses of specific FidoNet nodes in the current FidoNet nodelist. o The source and/or destination address in the other net should be embedded in the text body of the FidoNet message, either hidden behind ^A lines or not. Conformance to current Internet standards is recommended where appropriate, but addressing conventions in the other net may preclude this. o A message must contain sufficient information that the originating system and user may be easily determined. o A FidoNet sysop and/or normal FidoNet BBS user should be able to enter messages destined for users in the other network and reply to gated mail using current FidoNet software. o If echomail is gated, then the echo messages should conform to all current FidoNet standards for echomail. For example, currently an echomail message should: - have a correct tear line - have an origin line of the proper format with a FidoNet origin of the gating FidoNet node - have seenbys of only FidoNet nodes - have a path line that goes back at least to the gating node o If echomail is gated, then an echomail message must contain sufficient information that the system and user of origin may be trivially determined, whatever net may have originated it. o The origin of gated echomail should be determinable in a regular way sufficient that the gating software can provide easy construction of private net mail replies to echomail messages which would return to the echo messages's originator through the appropriate gateway, which may or may not be different than the gateway through which the echo message came. It is acknowledged that this may require hand editing on the part of the user composing the reply. o If echomail is gated, and the other net has no equivalent, it may use net mail and/or net mail mailing lists. Messages coming into FidoNet from this type of net mail or mailing FidoNews 6-15 Page 9 10 Apr 1989 list should properly gate into the appropriate echomail conference, and replies should work correctly as well. Conclusion ---------- It is hoped that, given a philosophy and guidelines such as those outlined in this paper, FidoNet will continue to expand its links to other networks to the benefit of FidoNet and networking in general. It is hoped that this paper will be of some help to those constructing gateways to/from FidoNet, and to the administrators of FidoNet and other nets who are considering gating to/from FidoNet. This paper, the purported facts contained, and the philosophy espoused are the sole responsibility of the author, and are quite likely technically incorrect and are undoubtedly morally bankrupt. Should you have constructive correction or criticism, please contact: Randy Bush FidoNet: 1:105/6 1:105/42 randy@dawggon.fidonet.org uucp: { mcvax!uunet, tektronix }!oresoft!dawggon!randy Internet: randy@oresoft.uu.net randy@m2xenix.uucp Telemail: RBush FAX: +1 (503) 245-8449 TWX 910-464-4779 ---------- FidoNet is a trademark of Tom Jennings and Fido Software, to whom we all owe much thanks for the origin and spirit of FidoNet. DECNET is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. -30- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 10 10 Apr 1989 Raymond Lowe 3:700/13 D A I S Y THE Apple CP/M Bulletin Board System * * * It seems that there have recently been quite a few queries in the net about Daisy, the Apple II BBS of which I am the author, so for all those interested here are some details about Daisy. Daisy who? ---------- A couple of years ago I was talking to my friend Ken Lo about Bulletin Board Systems, and about how hard they were to write. This was not a surprising topic of conversation as we are both programmers, both BBS users and the conversation in question was via messages on one of the local RBBS. I thought that BBS were probably pretty hard to code, and were way beyond the capabilities of the Apple ][+ which was then my main computer (I've since moved up to a //e). Ken disagreed, he thought it wouldn't be that hard to produce a BBS. So after some discussion we decided to attempt the development of what we referred to at the time as an "Apple Fido". We decided to use Apple CP/M and Turbo Pascal v2 for the development as these were the most advanced systems available to both of us. With Ken working on the low level serial card drivers, we found it necessary to drive the UART directly using memory mapped registers, and me on the high level code it wasn't long before the first Daisy was running. You can well believe that the first call I received using Daisy was quite a thrill for me. Even if a major bug did mean that every character the user entered was displayed on a separate line. That, and many other bugs, were soon found and fixed - it wasn't long before the very first version of Daisy was released. Of course it was some time before anyone actually USED Daisy to run a regular BBS. But the thrill of coding and debugging kept us happy as we quickly developed a whole range of features for the system. FidoNews 6-15 Page 11 10 Apr 1989 Though it started off as a deliberate backward engineering of Fido Daisy soon took on a life and character of its own. Today Daisy includes many features seen in Fido, Opus and other BBS together with quite a few features all of its own. For Users --------- From the point of view of a remote user the overall look-and-feel is very much that of Opus or Fido. Most of the commands they are already familiar with will work as they expect, and they can use the system just fine without ever learning anything about the Daisy specific features. This only applies to users though; Sysops will find Daisy rather different from what they may have seen before. As I had never seen any BBS from the Sysop side when I started writing Daisy I had to design everything from scratch. For Sysops ---------- The first level of Sysop control is through a point-and-press interface available all the time the system is waiting for callers. This gives options such as "Start local session", "Edit user list", "Event" and the "Terminal mode"; though not all are available while a remote user is on-line. During a session, be it from the local console or remotely via modem, an on-line Sysop menu gives high-level users access to another level of commands used to control message areas, message renumber, access privilege levels, multiple bulletins and similar things. At the most detailed level all basic configuration information, detailing which drives are to be used and so on, is controlled by a text file which can be created using any normal text editor. In fact all these configuration options are entirely optional, it is perfectly possible to run the BBS by just entering 'BBS' at the CP/M prompt and letting it run. The program automatically generates any files it really needs. Daisy Mailer ------------ Of course if you write a program on the basis of it being an "Apple Fido" pretty soon people start expecting it to be able to do FidoNet mail. Well after quite a lot of prodding I finally got around to starting on a mailer for Daisy. Working from the early Fidonet Technical Standards Committee documents I built up all the code I needed to automatically send message back and forth from Daisy to Fido and Opus systems. FidoNews 6-15 Page 12 10 Apr 1989 Now the Daisy Mailer is an optional extra which plugs into the BBS and does all the packing, calling, transferring and unpacking of messages. It handles type two mail packets, file attaches and routing perfectly. Echomail support is built-in and in the most recent versions can receive ARCmail. As Daisy is fully NetMail aware mail calls can be accepted at any time, so it qualifies for the #CM: continuous mail flag if correctly configured. Ah, but... ---------- Unfortunately there is one catch if you want to use Daisy for its FidoNet mail capability; the Mailer has not been tested by the FTSC and hence has not been 'validated' by them as being Net compatible. This means that officially a Daisy BBS cannot be assigned a node number in the nodelist. Of course this doesn't stop you from using it as a Point system, and I've used Daisy as a point without any problems, but if you want a regular node number you're out of luck. My early attempts to get the Mailer tested and validated were to no avail; not because it was tested and failed those tests, but rather because I could never get anyone to answer my messages requesting that it be tested. More recently, around the new year, I sent a full set of Daisy and the Mailer on floppies to an Apple user in the U.S. at the request of James Deibele who is apparently now responsible for 'foreign' mailers. As the Apple user in question is not a CP/M user I don't expect she'll get anywhere very fast (how soon do you think you'd be able to get Opus running if you were not a MS-DOS user and didn't even have a DOS bootable disk?) So the Daisy Mailer may or may not be tested and validated Real Soon Now. Despite all that if you have a friendly NC, as I have, you can probably get yourself hooked into the network for Echomail and such. Requirements ------------ To run Daisy you need the following: * An Apple ][ series computer or compatible FidoNews 6-15 Page 13 10 Apr 1989 * Z80 card and CP/M software * Super Serial Card or compatible serial communications device. * External 300/1200 or 2400 baud Hayes AT compatible modem. * Clock cards, either Time ][ or TimeMaster, are optional. * A large capacity RAM card configured as a ramdisk is recommended for running the BBS, it is considered essential for running the Mailer. * You'll also want as MUCH on-line disk storage as possible; floppies are okay but three would be better than two. Copyright --------- Daisy and its associated documentation and utilities are not PD, they are the copyrighted property of the authors. Free use and distribution is, however, permitted - and encouraged. The only restrictions are 1) you mustn't sell it (make money out of distributing it), 2) distribute modified versions without the authors permission. Getting Daisy ------------- The following Daisy files can be FileRequested from Electronic BBS, 3:700/18, 2400, 23 hours a day (not during NMH). DSY2-D.ARC 32940 02-11-89 Documents, manuals DSY2-X.ARC 35061 07-19-88 Extra files, help DSY2HTCS.ARC 57701 11-09-88 Daisy v2H for Time II, code DSY2HMCS.ARC 57872 11-09-88 Daisy v2H for Timemaster //, '' MSGUTL25.ARC 22793 01-03-89 Message utility v2.5 /w source PACKUSR4.ARC 12326 12-28-88 Pack user list v4 MLR034.ARC 40442 02-11-89 Mailer v0.34 NODECOMP.ARC 23311 02-11-89 Nodelist compiler SCHED0-5.ARC 13968 07-19-88 Scheduler v0.50, timed events FILER7.ARC 28110 01-06-89 Filer sub-system DSYST130.ARC 11131 09-04-88 Statistic program for Daisy DSY2G-S.ARC 89663 08-22-88 Source code of Daisy V2g The Daisy support echo, echo key DAISY, is also available from 3:700/18 or 3:700/0(Mail Gateway), it has quite a low turnover. The Daisy support board is Daisy Information Gateway 3:700/719(700), +852-3-765-6899, 1200 baud, 24 hours. You won't find this in your Nodelist for reasons as given above. FidoNews 6-15 Page 14 10 Apr 1989 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 15 10 Apr 1989 Dutchie Conference manager 2.91 released Henk Wevers 2:500/1 This week DCM, short for Dutchie Conference manager, has been released. DCM is a full replacement for the Confmail/PKARC combination and has optional many of the features of Groupmail without its drawbacks. DCM was the last program needed to complete the Dutchie software packet so no third party programs are needed for a complete mailer/editor/conferencemail setup. Although DCM is part of the Dutchie packet it can be used in cooperation with almost all other mailers available for FidoNet operation. Confmail replacement -------------------- DCM replaces confmail completely and even has a powerfull build in archive program so you do not need programs like PKARC/PKXARC or ARC for your conference setup. One relatively small program replaces all. In addition to the known Confmail features DCM offers a lot more in about 85 Kb. o Two control files Two control files tell DCM how to perform its tasks. As those files are already present in a Dutchie environment Dutchie users need no extra configuration files. o Smart tossing/scanning DCM will toss/scan in one run. This means that fewer diskaccesses have to be made. As the complete Dutchie package uses standard dosscalls that are a bit slower than some of the tricks confmail 4.0 plays (but less risky) the overall speed is about the same as that of Confmail. If you have a lot of 'passthru' conferences, DCM wins. o Smart Passthru conferences. If you pass some conferences without reading them DCM will never unpack the messages in those conferences into a local directory. You do not need a directory for these conferences. It speeds up the scan/toss process too. o Smart zonehandling If you are processing echomail between zones DCM will help you out. All seen-bye lines will be stripped off except the important ones (your own and the other gates address). This zonehandling capability is standard in the dutchie package. o Smart pointsupport DCM handles (like the rest of the Dutchie program) points transparantly. Just set it up and forget about FidoNews 6-15 Page 16 10 Apr 1989 them. o smart scanlists. a typical scanlist looks like this: 500/2 3 4h 5c 6 512/3 .1S .2 .3 1:105/42 As you can see short notations are available, and points are indicated by a dot in front of their pointnumber. An 'H' attached to an address means that the attache file message to this node must have the HOLD flag, a 'C' means that it must have the crash flag. S means a 'split' conference and this one switches on Groupmail like features that will save you lots of diskspace and transmission time. We will discuss that later in this article. If a full zone address is available and the zone is another than your own zone DCM will act as a zonegate for this Conference. In addition to or in stead of this list of nodes you can tell DCM to find the nodes in an ascii file by placing a @filename.ext on this line. If you have standard distributions you can point to the same file from different conferences. The dutchie package has support programs to send canned messages or files to a distribution list so you can inform all nodes that get the conference with one simple command in a batchfile or on the commandline. o smart flags The flagfield controls DCM Functions per conference. Among them are f.i. R for renumber, K:<n> for killing messages older than n days and M:<n> for the maximum number of messages to keep in this Conference. Access to the conference is controlled by the L:<n> and S:<n> flags, who control Accesslevel and Accesskeys for the automated JOIN and DISJOIN functions that are build into DCM as an AREAFIX replacement. o smart JOIN/DISJOIN build in functions DCM has build in JOIN and DISJOIN functions for unattended joining and disjoining a conference. These functions are easy to use yet versatile. They generate welcome messages and succesfull joining a conference (by means of dutchies service requests) will result in a working conference on the requesting node. All changes on both nodes involved are performed, including creation of directories, changes in the areas file, welcome messages and a 'rulesfile' created on the requesting node. For full appriciation of this function you will need Dutchies mailer program, but the function can easely be performed by other mailers in cooperation with a small program to be released in the near future. o smart archiving DCM has build in archive and dearchive programs modelled after the PAK series. An environment variable controls the backward compatibility with older archive FidoNews 6-15 Page 17 10 Apr 1989 programs but if your echomail is exchanged with other systems using DCM you can switch to a better 'crunching' system. o Smart duplicate and topology problem detection DCM will detect duplicate messages that arrive on your system and get rid of them before they hurt the network. DCM will also scan the PATH list at the end of each message. If there is a topology problem DCM will remove the message and inform you about the problem so you can take corrective measures. Groupmail functions ------------------- DCM addresses the same drawbacks in current conference mail processing (pointed out by a lecture of the echomail coordinator last FidoCon) as Groupmail but has a totally different solution for these problems. Lets quickly review the problems that we all have with the current way of handling conference mail: o there is a copy of each messages present on your disk for every node you scan to. o The number of seenbyes often exceeds the contents of the message itself. Those designproblems in confmail lead to excessive disk use and unneeded connection time. Both translate in money unneccesarely spend on diskspave and phone costs. When the echomail topology is under control in a network you can switch to the split conference mode of DCM by merely adding an S at the end of the node in the scanlist. Other than Groupmail, you can switch to the new system on a per node base and you do not need to convert the whole conference. From this you can also see that switching back and forth between the new methode is very easy, just append or erase the trailing S. The best place to convert to the new format is on a BOSS node. He has tight control over the topology and will benefit most. When switched to the new methode almost all seenbyes are stripped off and there will be only one copy of the message on you disk. This works two ways, the messages are shorter and there are a lot less. An example: a Boss serving 20 points, who all have 5 conferences with ca 40 messages a day yield a total of 20 * 40 = 800 (packed) messages a day. The new system only has 40 (packed) messages on your disk and they are about 50% shorter. Not bad and on hughe echomail processors this adds up. There is a small drawback to this approach, there is FidoNews 6-15 Page 18 10 Apr 1989 an attached file for every conference. On high speed half duplex modems this will reduce the overall through put. The Dutchie Mailer 2.91 will solve this problem in cooperation with DCM and send those small archives as one big archive, real time. In the next few months we will release a 'condense' program that will condense those files into weekly, monthly and yearly archives. Nodes wishing to get a backlog of the conference then can filerequest the old messages. More ---- I have not discussed all features of DCM, you should try it yourself. The program is copyrighted, but there is no fee charged. It will be released with a conversion program for an easy switch from confmail to DCM. Availability ------------ We expect that the 2.91 release will reach the USA this or the next week, it will be put on the software d istribution backbone, so in a few days it will pop up everywhere in fidonet. There is more ------------- DCM is the last program we needed to complete the Dutchie Personal Mailer software packet from the Netherlands. Its a complete fidonet capable software packet with an european touch. The complete packet contains: Dutchie, the mailer Dutched, the full screen editor Install, a 5 minute install program Packer, the most versatile packer available Sched, an intelligent scheduler DCM, dutchies conference manager XMIT a batch/commandline file sender REQ a batch/commandline file requestor MSG a batch/commandline message sender Dutchlat an intelligent nodelist translator Dutchcom the nodelist compiler Dutmain a full screen nodelist maintenance prg Third party software avaiable: Dmenu A very friendly full screen shell around dutchie for points Dutchlog The best log analyzer available FidoNews 6-15 Page 19 10 Apr 1989 Password a service request to allow nodes to change there own session password on another dutchie mailer more .... Current version is 2.90c. Next version will be 2.91 DCM is the first 2.91 version that has been released, the others will follow during april and may. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 20 10 Apr 1989 VETNet is ALIVE!!!!! By: Todd C. Looney Vietnam Veterans' Valhalla 1:143/27 7:406/27 300/1200/2400 Bauds (408) 293-7894 The sysops of the Vietnam Veterans Valhalla bulletin board are both Vietnam combat veterans; I served during the war as a Medical Field Surgeon in the U.S. Navy attached to an Emergency Field Evac Hospital and later a long-range recon team near Dac To, and spent more than my fair share of time in a VC/NVA prison camp across the border in Laos, and Nancy my wife, who is a veteran of a different sort having fought HER war *years* after I returned to the United States, battling the problems I brought back from that little country tucked thousands of miles away in Southeast Asia. Nancy and I have, for the most part, conquered all of the problems of that traumatic past through years of hard work! Many of the men and women who returned from that war continue to carry it's memories and nightmares with them today. Although most Vietnam veterans live a successful, happy life, there are those whose every day is a bitter struggle to survive, trying to find some way to either escape the horrible memories, or to come to terms with themselves so they and their families can begin to live a normal life!! We feel it is our responsibility as caring and empathetic individuals to share ourselves with those Vietnam combat veterans of both kinds; the ex-military soldier-at-arms, and their wives, friends, and lovers, with the hope that somehow the knowledge and understanding we gained from the years encompassing our own struggle might be of some help to those who are still fighting their war!!! THE VIETNAM VETERANS' VALHALLA BULLETIN BOARD IS DEDICATED TO VIETNAM VETERANS, THEIR WIVES, FRIENDS, & LOVERS! And to the memory of the 58,000 men and women who never came home Our system has been successfully operating for nearly 3 years now, and received well over 37,000 calls! We also founded and coordinated the International Vietnam Veterans' EchoConference (IVVEC) which can be seen on more than 200 bulletin boards across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Please contact our system, or one of the nodes listed below who carry our conference and join in. You don't need to be a veteran of any kind to participate. We welcome you with open arms to learn who we are and what we are all about! Nancy and I are looking forward to meeting you all, as are the Sysops of the nearly 200 VETNet BBs systems below: IVVECLST.009 ================================================================== OFFICIAL NODELIST - INTERNATIONAL VIETNAM VETERANS ECHO CONFERENCE ================================================================== FidoNews 6-15 Page 21 10 Apr 1989 20 January 1989 As of the above date, these are the net/nodes currently receiving the IVVEC Echo. If you have any ADDITIONS, DELETIONS, or CHANGES to report, please Contact Woody Carmack at 1:153/130 (1-604-462-8753 Data) or leave a message in the IVVEC. We will acknowledge receipt of your note. ================================================================= NET/ MAX NODE BBS NAME City/State/Country Phone BAUD ================================================================ 632/350 Yarra Valley BBS Melbourne Austr AU 61-3-848-331 1200 114/113 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-894-1470 2400 114/13 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-894-1470 2400 153/123 DAETECH Burnaby BC 1-604-420-2641 9600 153/130 Vietnam Veterans In Canada 9600 HST 1-604-462-8753 Headquarters, Vietnam Veterans In Canada 153/501 Valley Hub Clearbrook BC 1-604-850-0021 2400 153/508 Ebenezer Christian BBS Mission BC 1-604-826-6607 9600 153/133 Hot Line Data Network Langley BC 1-604-533-0421 2400 220/20 Old Frog's Almanac Nanaimo BC 1-604-758-3072 2400 103/507 Philosopher's Log Anaheim CA 1-714-535-1258 9600 200/100 The Board Room Belmont Shores CA 1-213-498-6425 2400 161/502 Wildcat Benicia CA 1-707-746-5820 2400 161/66 Generic BBS Citrus Heights CA 1-916-722-3659 2400 203/66 Generic BBS Citrus Heights CA 1-916-722-3659 2400 161/1 Nerd's Nook Concord CA 1-415-672-2504 9600 202/401 jabberWOCky Escondido CA 1-619-743-9935 2400 161/34 Now and Zen OPUS Fair Oaks CA 1-916-962-1952 9600 161/56 Nat'l Family Forum Freemont, CA 1-415-651-4147 2400 161/7 Mover Mouse BBS Fremont, CA 1-415-883-1644 2400 200/200 CSULB Long Beach, CA 1-213-494-8737 1200 161/39 Nightline Mather AFB, CA 1-916-362-1755 2400 161/509 Enterprize Pinole, CA 1-415-758-1650 2400 FidoNews 6-15 Page 22 10 Apr 1989 161/11 The Byte Boutique Sacramento CA 1-916-483-8032 2400 161/5 River City II OPUS Sacramento, CA 1-916-646-9678 9600 161/943 Eagle's Nest Sacramento, CA 1-916-334-2822 9600 10/215 Silver BBS San Diego, CA 1-619-226-4502 2400 125/31 Echo Coord San Francisco CA 1-415-621-5206 9600 143/27 Vietnam Veterans Valhalla San Jose CA 1-408-293-7894 2400 Todd Looney 24Hrs 365Days FrontDoor v2.0 CM Headquarters, Vietnam Veterans Valhalla 143/86 Cat's Tail BBS S T O P San Mateo CA 1-415-349-8245 2400 125/78 Living Sober BBS San Mateo, CA 1-415-342-2859 2400 125/12 The Grape Vine Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-546-4938 2400 125/7 Survival Forum Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-545-0746 9600 HST 103/501 Mount Silverthorn Tustin, CA 1-714-544-3369 2400 104/28 Pinecliff BBS Boulder, CO 1-303-444-7073 2400 128/13 COSUG-Colorado's User Clrdo Spg CO 1-404-548-0726 2400 128/16 Firenet Leader Colorado Spring CO 1-303-591-9600 2400 104/739 The Phoenix Parker, CO 1-303-841-9570 2400 104/51 P2 B2 South Denver, CO 1-303-329-3337 2400 141/488 Alice's Restaurant Branford CT 1-203-488-1115 2400 141/250 Wilton Woods Wilton, CT 1-203=762-8481 9600 135/27 Bitsy's Place Miami Beach FL 1-305-865-0495 1200 135/35 The Way Out BBS Miami, FL 1-305-665-3283 1200 363/9 Wit's End Orlanda, FL 1-305-894-0807 1200 363/10 Midas Touch Orlando, FL 1-305-648-1133 1200 366/38 Jolly Green Giant Shalimar, FL 1-904-651-3875 9600 18/43 Athens Echo Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 9600 370/10 OnLine OPUS Athens, GA 1-404-548-0726 2400 370/5 Athens Forum Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 9600 12/7 HPCUA Honolulu HI 1-808-422-8406 9600 FidoNews 6-15 Page 23 10 Apr 1989 12/1 Aura Net Honolulu, HI 1-808-533-0190 2400 115/761 ICS/TRIX 1 OPUS Chicago, IL 1-312-761-7887 2400 115/529 Elk Grove Repeater Elk Grove Vlg IL 1-312-529-1586 2400 115/20 North Shore BBS Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 2400 115/429 Chicago Business Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 2400 232/4 Runways End OPUS Peoria, IL 1-309-691-5416 9600 HST 11/202 The SouthSide BBS Indianapolis, IN 1-317-882-9330 1200 227/1 Michiana TechLine Mishawaka, IN 1-219-258-0286 9600 227/150 The SX Project Whiting IN 1-219-659-2711 2400 108/90 DATANET Information System Erlanger KY 1-606-727-3638 2400 108/50 The ZOO BBS Independence, KY 1-606-283-2040 2400 321/109 PIONEER VALLEY PCUG #1 Amherst, MA 1-413-256-1037 9600 HST 321/201 Mountain Top Dalton, MA 1-413-684-2886 2400 321/203 VETLink #1 Pittsfield, MA 1-413-443-6313 2400 Headquarters, Berkshire Veterans' Center G. Joseph Peck 109/722 Ronnie's Roadies BBS Camp Springs MD 1-301-736-0135 1200 109/648 Falcon's Rock College Park, MD 1-301-345-7459 2400 13/33 Avi-Technic Lutherville, MD 1-301-252-0717 9600 13/30 The Futurists BBS Perry Hall, MD 1-301-529-0716 9600 261/628 Liberty Hall Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 2400 261/628.1 Systemhouse Link Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 2400 109/717 The Tin Badge BBS Silver Spring, MD 1-301-589-2016 1200 1/214 Region 14 Echo Coor Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3398 2400 1/314 Software Dist Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3469 2400 282/1 Midwest Echo Star Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3469 9600 151/20 Metro Link Charlotte, NC 1-704-541-8626 2400 151/60 VMC-BBS Lewisville, NC 1-919-945-4850 2400 151/100 NC Central Raleigh, NC 1-919-851-8460 9600 FidoNews 6-15 Page 24 10 Apr 1989 151/1000 REDCON Raleigh, NC 1-919-859-3353 2400 14/662 Friend's BBS Omaha, NE 1-402-896-2669 2400 Headquarters, Joan Renne 132/101 BBS Source Archive Nashua, NH 1-603-888-8179 2400 150/803 Jersey Vertex Moorestown, NJ 1-609-869-0139 2400 305/101 NASW New Mexico Las Cruces, NM 1-505-646-2868 2400 381/401 Border Connection Santa Fe NM 1-505-678-1318 2400 107/105 NY Transfer Staten Island, NY 1-718-442-1056 2400 108/105 Global Time Systems Cincinnati, OH 1-606-341-7910 2400 157/1 Auer Register Cleveland, OH 1-216-883-0578 2400 110/20 EDS Data Dayton, OH 1-513-455-2431 2400 157/501 The PC-Key BBS Girard OH 1-216-545-9205 2400 385/4 Info-Net Lawton, OK 1-405-357-6181 2400 385/6 Bink's Barn Lawton, OK 1-405-357-2473 2400 147/14 Dark Star TBBS Oklahoma City, OK 1-405-691-0863 9600 148/120 Genetic Research Vat Toronto ON 1-416-480-0551 2400 11/700 FCAU IBM Net Toronto, ON 1-416-427-0682 9600 221/156 Waterloo CBCS PUBLIC Waterloo, ON 1-519-746-5020 9600 221/157 Waterloo CBCS Echomail Waterloo, ON Unpublished 9600 105/16 Net 105 EchoMail Hub Portland, OR 1-503-761-3003 2400 105/61 Shotgun OPUS Portland, OR 1-503-760-4521 2400 157/506 Beacon Hill OPUS Transfer, PA 1-412-962-9514 2400 362/1 The Mines of Moria Chattanooga, TN 1-615-344-9601 2400 362/501 Coconut Telegraph Chattanooga, TN 1-615-698-4858 2400 18/7 Flash Port Memphis TN 1-901-525-2710 2400 18/6 POSSM Mail Echogate Memphis, TN 1-901-353-4563 9600 HST Jerry Hindle 24Hrs 365 Days BinkleyTERM v2.0 All NAMVET News Letters online for FReq. MAIL ONLY 130/5 CUSSNET UTA Arlington, TX 1-817-273-3966 2400 136/200 The Chai Way II Austin, TX 1-214-358-3738 2400 FidoNews 6-15 Page 25 10 Apr 1989 124/4210 Hardwired Dallas TX 1-214-437-4075 9600 124/4214 *CHRYSALIS* Dallas TX 1-214-895-9054 2400 124/4106 CHAI Way II Dallas, TX 1-214-250-3323 9600 124/110 Flying Dutchman Dallas, TX 1-214-642-3436 9600 124/117 NCC-1701 Node 1 Dallas, TX 1-214-240-8821 2400 124/4117 NCC-1701 Dallas, TX 124/14 Chrysalis Dallas, TX 1-214-985-9054 2400 124/200 Dallas Outbound Dallas, TX 1-214-437-4075 2400 124/201 Hardweird Dallas, TX 1-204-931-2987 2400 19/5 Micro Application El Paso TX 1-915-594-9738 2400 106/386 Information Center Exchan Houston TX 1-713-872-4429 2400 106/108 Stormy Weather I Houston, TX 1-713-644-4345 9600 106/111 Shutterbug's OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-880-4329 2400 106/113 The Opus Network Houston, TX 1-713-780-4153 2400 106/114 The Fireside Houston, TX 1-713-496-6319 2400 106/357 TMBBS Houston, TX 1-713-497-5433 2400 106/666 Anything Goes OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-997-2624 2400 106/132 Fast BBS OPUS Katy, TX 1-713-392-0093 2400 382/1 Crystal Palace Lake Travis, TX 1-512-339-8037 2400 382/14 Corona Del Mar Rockport, TX 1-512-729-7026 9600 381/201 Pro Link San Angelo, TX 1-915-944-2952 2400 387/401 Comp-U-Gen II San Antonio TX 1-512-496-9373 2400 387/601 NCOA International BBS San Antonio TX 1-512-653-0409 2400 387/800 NCOA International BBS San Antonio TX 1-800-365-6262 2400 109/604 ShanErin Alexandria, VA 1-703-941-8291 2400 109/639 The RENEX BBS Woodbridge, VA 1-703-494-8331 2400 343/111 Lessor Puget TB Edmonds, WA 1-206-742-8067 2400 343/9 Everett OPUS Everett, WA 1-206-355-1295 1200 FidoNews 6-15 Page 26 10 Apr 1989 138/4 PTC Net Mount Vernon, WA 1-206-757-5248 2400 1/217 Region 17 Echo Coord Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 2400 138/101 Story Board Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 9600 138/3 Region 17 ADVISOR EMERITUS Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-9232 2400 138/49 The Cohort Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-2646 9600 138/35 US HDS Human Service Seattle, WA 1-206-442-8127 2400 138/52 Burrell's Ballpark Tacoma, WA 1-206-752-4672 2400 139/640 Fox Valley Tech Appleton, WI 1-414-735-2513 2400 154/200 PC-Express Greenfield, WI 1-414-327-5300 2400 * 1:261/1004 The PainFrame 1-301-488-7461 UNK * 1:343/26 AFMINS BBS 1-206-488-4309 9600 HST * 1:387/801 The Commo Bunker Phone number not available. * 1:161/208 G.A.D.M. Multi-User Hayward, CA (415) 581-3019 * 1:139/630 APPLEGATE Appleton, WI * 1:261/1007 FINAL FRONTIER (301) 947-4404 * 1:344/117 LSO QuickBBS, Everett WA (206)334-3088 9600 HST * 7:49/0 ALTERNET The Flying Dutchman, Grand Prairie, TX * 7:440/1 Lord Frog Of Swamp (715) 362-3895 * 7:43/15 NITEWING HST * Addr Unk AFIMS BBS *WILDCAT* HST PCP (206)488-4309 * 1:231/70 ISU BBS Terre Haute IN * 1:170/203 The GUNNER'S MATE * 1:347/2 Computers on line * 1:370/11 Classic City Vet's Conference, Athens, GA (404)548-0130 * 1:204/45 SeaHunt BBS (415) 343-5904 * 1:14/703 Telen-Quest BBS (417)882-5108 * 1:154/288 The Inner Circle * 1:19/43 McScott's BBS, Blytheville AR, (502)532-6212 9600 HST * 1:344/9 The Precedent, Everett WA (206)355-1295 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 27 10 Apr 1989 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= The Veterinarian's Corner Excerpts from the ANIMED GroupMail Conference by Don Thomson, 1:102/1005 A brief schedule of vaccinations that should be kept up: Parvo - depending upon area and amount of travel and exposure to other dogs this should be a yearly to twice yearly booster. Parvovirus causes a severe bloody diarrhea with vomitting, and may be life threatening. The virus is extremely hardy, and normal disinfectants will not kill it. The Simi Valley-Moorpark area has a relatively high environmental content of contagious virus. DHLP - Distemper, Hepatitis, Leptospirosis, and ParaInfluenza This vaccine is commonly combined with the Parvo vaccine into what is commonly known as the "6 in 1" vaccine. These should be boostered yearly. Canine Distemper is a multisystemic virus, that may initially appear as a simple 'cold' but later spread into the central nervous system and cause seizures, muscle tremors and even death. We still see cases of distemper, thankfully limited to unvaccinated animals. Rabies - Depending upon which vaccine is used, this must be boostered every one to three years. This is the ONLY vaccination that actually is required by state law. Rabies incidence in the Ventura County area has been limited to rabid bats, primarily in the Camarrillo area and the Ojai foothills. It is serious, and uniformly fatal. DB Thomson, DVM 1:102/1005 9:871/16 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 28 10 Apr 1989 An echo tragedy by Rogers Cadenhead Alpha BBS (393/1) It was another beautiful day on the network, the kind of day where you could almost smell the ASCII wafting through the nation's fiber-optic phone lines. In houses and apartments and computer labs and offices across the nation, fingers contentedly tapped on keyboards under the green or blue or multi-colored hue of computer screens, entering words and sentences and paragraphs that would echo across the nation and even farther through a patchwork chain of bulletin board systems. Call it fate, call it karma, or just call it the genius work of some system operators: the discussion echoes had united thousands of computer users across continents without costing most of them a single penny. It was a beautiful setup, made possible by a few philanthropist sysops who were crazy, rich or both. By April 1989 it was coming into adulthood as a diverse, widespread network with infinite possibilities. But then disaster struck, spreading through the chain like an immunodeficient power surge. You might say it started on a small QuickBBS system in Galliplis Fry, West Virginia, on an echo devoted to farm implements. The main discussion thread on that April week was about modern developments in the spade: Message #1807 "ToolNET" Date: 03-Apr-89 08:53 From: Jacob McDonald To: Mac Harley Subj: Dig It >... If your hand-held digging tool is more than 12 inches >long, it's not a spade, it's a shovel. So I don't think >your argument has any relevance at all to Bubba's >situation ... Mac, Look, I don't know how you fellers in Mississippi label thangs in your hardware stores, but what I'm talking about is a spade. A long spade. I've digertized it and made an .RLE graphic file of it -- call mah BBS and download LONGSPADE.RLE if you wanna take a gander at it. You have to know when to call a spade a spade. And this is a spade. End of discussion. Jake -- QuickBBS v2.03 # Origin: Farmer's Corner WV's down-home BBS (8:555/12) The discussion on ToolNET wasn't particularly interesting at that time, since most of the replies dealt with Bubba Hatfield's search for new spade innovations for his Krum, FidoNews 6-15 Page 29 10 Apr 1989 Texas, farm. But boredom is no excuse for what happened next in a message sent from a Pekin, Illinois, TBBS: Msg#:891 *ToolNet* 04-06-89 07:02:49 From: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK To: ALL Subj: POPULISM After all the troubles with farms and drought these past few years, and the efforts of Jesse Jackson and other politicians to draw needed attention to the plight of rural America, I wanted to talk about populism. Populism -- a sort of anti-establishment, grass-roots, buy butter, not guns political philosophy -- was widespread in the early 20th century. People like Theodore Roosevelt and others led the fight for common people's rights and fairness for the underprivileged as well as the privileged. Populism has all but died as a political ideology in America, but Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower and others want to bring it back. The positive side of populism is people like Hightower, fair-minded politicians who care about the farmer and want to make sure that we don't lose him. But the negative side is David Duke, a former KKK leader whose populist message won him a seat in the Louisiana state Legislature. What I want to know is, will populism be coming back in America, or is it dead as a political force? Do any of you discussing farm tools consider yourselves as populists, or admire politicians that do? -- TBBS v2.0 # Origin: Red's Herring BBS -- A Fishy Database (2:48) As you can probably expect, the reaction to Pumblechook's message was both swift and immense in its ferocity. ToolNET, as moderator Jediah Hereford said time and time again in messages, was devoted to the discussion of farm tools. This message had nothing at all to do with farm tools! From Cleveland, Ohio: Section 8 ... FARMTOOL DISCUSSIONS Posted on: 4/11/89 - 13:12 From: PETE MCDONALD To: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK Msg #120, 11-Apr-89 1:12pm Subject: POPULISM That message is not about farm tools. This discussion, as you would probably know if you weren't as stupid as a milk cow, is about farm tools. Git a clue, Morris! FidoNews 6-15 Page 30 10 Apr 1989 -- ConfMail v1.7 # Origin: Ol' McDonald's Online Farm, E-I-E-I-O (1:817) From Norman, Oklahoma: Message #2234 "TOOLNET" Date: 11-Apr-89 17:56 From: Luke Duke To: Morris Pumblechook Subj: POPULISM I don't know what kinda fancy boy you think you are, but the moderator of this here echo don't allow that kinda political discussion here. Stick to the farm tools or stay off, boy. -- QuickBBS v2.2 # Origin: Sooner or Later BBS - Boomer Sooner! (0:702) From somewhere down under: Message #666 "Farm Tool Network" Date: 10-Apr-89 15:02 From: SEVIL NATAS To: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK Subj: POPULISM You have posted a MSG on this echo that is off-topic. Damn you to hell for all eternity -- and melt your blasphemous modem, too! -- HellFire v6.66 # Origin: Satan's Hollow -- BBS at the Earth's Core (6:666) These were only a few replies sent to Pumblechook, who received every bit and byte of ASCII abuse that the echo's regular contributors could dish out. Unfortunately, he was not the kind of person who could take a hint. Msg#:903 *ToolNet* 04-12-89 07:02:18 From: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK To: ALL Subj: POPULISM Since this echo is devoted to a rural subject, I thought a discussion about rural politics would be appropriate, so I brought up populism. If you're interested in farm tools, it only stands to reason that you must be interested in farms. If you are interested in farms, you must be interested in farm survival. If you are interested in that, you must be interested in populism, don't you think? If the people on ToolNET want to talk about this, who are you few to say that they can't? Why are there so many FidoNews 6-15 Page 31 10 Apr 1989 restrictions on what can be discussed here? There are only so many things you can say about farm tools, after all, and you won't be interested in farm tools if you lose all your farms, now will you? -- TBBS v2.0 # Origin: Red's Herring BBS -- A Fishy Database (4:28) As you can probably imagine, this reply generated enough message threads to sew a quilt. Message writers discussed Morris Pumblechook's lack of intelligence, his "hoity-toity attitude that belongs with them New York yuppie cream puffs," his lack of masculinity and his dubious ancestry. He had committed the mortal sin on an echo: deviating from the topic. That made him, as one person said, a deviant. From Norman, Oklahoma: Message #3108 "TOOLNET" Date: 14-Apr-89 09:53 From: Luke Duke To: Morris Pumblechook Subj: POPULISM People are paying good money to send these messages all over God's green screens, and you are taking away from valuable discussions about the real topic: farm tools. I don't know if there are any real men in Illinois, but if some of them are on this network, I sure hope fer yer sake that they don't come callin' on you in Pekin anytime soon ... They might want to stuff your RS-232 interface where even AT&T can't reach out and touch. -- TBBS v2.2 # Origin: Sooner or Later BBS - Boomer Sooner! (0:702) Despite the threats and the endless barrage of messages telling him what the topic of ToolNET was and what kind of real man he wasn't, Morris Pumblechook continued to fight. Msg#:922 *ToolNet* 04-15-89 09:31:50 From: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK To: ALL Subj: POPULISM I've given up any hope of actually discussing populism here, but I'd like to propose a revolutionary idea for all of you on ToolNET. If you don't care for a message topic that comes up here, why don't you just skip it? That way, if most people don't care for it, the topic will scroll off. When you reply to a topic you don't like by saying you don't like it, what are you contributing to the echo? Instead of "protecting" it by keeping the subject on the "real" topic, you're taking even more space away from discussions. If FidoNews 6-15 Page 32 10 Apr 1989 you're really so upset about off-topic messages that cost money to send all around, why are you writing some of your own? These echoes give us all a chance to expand our knowledge and communicate with a broad range of people. They are an ideal place for exposure to new ideas, but instead of allowing that to happen, many of you are too busy policing what should be said to actually say anything. You'd rather criticize a topic because it might not belong than contribute one of your own. In the beginning, God created one echo. The discussions were able to go forth and multiply, and all was good with the world. When discussions became really popular, they separated from the first echo, and more echos were born. And all was good with the world. At some point, someone -- perhaps Sevil Natas -- said that enough is enough. No more off-topic messages. As it was telecommunicated. As it was done. And now, echoes are dominated by teletyrants -- topicops -- who are armed with modems and ready to shoot to kill any topic that might not belong. And now, I am an outlaw. I roam the ASCII prairie from coast to coast, and I will post my messages wherever the discussion takes me, even if it's off-limits on the echo where I ride. See you later, officers. -- TBBS v2.0 # Origin: Red's Herring BBS -- A Fishy Database (4:28) This was the last straw for the upstanding members of the ToolNET echo. "This terminal ain't big enough for the both of us," they threatened, but Morris Pumblechook had escaped their clutches. There were no messages on the echo for a few days, not even any about tools, because most people got so riled about Morris that they forgot what they were talking about. The next message posted came from echo moderator Jediah Hereford: Msg#:10090 *ToolNET Echo* 04-17-89 15:05:13 From: THE MODERATOR To: ALL ECHO CONTRIBUTERS Subj: MORRIS PUMBLECHOOK A virus has walked among us, a virus that endangers not your hard disk but the very existence of echoes. Morris Pumblechook tried to subvert the designated topic of this echo, and he will try to do so again to other innocent echoes with users who might not be as vigilant as we were. Thanks to the good work of many of you, Morris was not able FidoNews 6-15 Page 33 10 Apr 1989 to lead us from the path of righteousness into the damnation of inappropriate debate. For that I thank you. But he is still out there calling bulletin boards and trying the same tricks on other echoes. They might not be so lucky. Because of that, I ask you to disguise yourselves and travel among the other echoes, ready to do battle with the infidel wherever he may appear. When an off-topic message occurs, even if under another name that could be Morris using an alias, let him know that we're ready for him. Let him know that we won't let it happen. Let him know that he can't change the subject, no matter what subject. Please do this -- if not for me, for the future of echoes everywhere. May the baud be with you, Jed -- QuickBBS v3.4 # Origin: Spare the Rake, Spoil the Farm (8:109) As The Moderator had asked, many members of ToolNET started calling other bulletin boards throughout the United States and many other countries. They logged on under many different names and waited for Morris Pumblechook to appear. He did appear, under every name from Abramowitz to Ziegfeld, posting messages about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons on the Science Fiction and Fandom echo, posting messages about Star Trek's first series on the Star Trek: Next Generation echo, posting messages about classic radio on the TV echo, and even posting messages about the Rev. Jesse Jackson's political career on the Blacks in Religion echo. When he did, the members of ToolNET attacked him in a flurry of ASCII jihad. They wrote that his topic didn't belong on the echo, that it should be on other echoes, and that he should be smart enough to know that. They threatened to leave the echo and said sysops wouldn't pay to transmit it anymore if he didn't stop posting. It is late 1990, and the war still continues. Many of the echoes have lost a lot of member systems, and some have even died. All the promise that the echoes offered for communication, discussion and friendly chatter has been usurped by topic protection. Some moderators have changed their network software so they can screen all messages before distribution, and they delete irrelevant passages and sometimes entire messages. The beautiful days when screens were bright and message writers were brighter have passed us by. Even the ASCII, which once smelled as fresh as free startup time on FidoNews 6-15 Page 34 10 Apr 1989 CompuServe, has started to harden and clog the fiber-optic trunks of the phone systems. Morris Pumblechook has not been caught yet, but there are hundreds who hunt him. On some desolate bulletin boards where the echoes have no messages or the sysop has stopped getting echoes, Morris posts a sad prairie song: Oh, give me an echo, where the topics can roam, And the callers and lurkers can play, Where seldom is heard A censoring word And the talk is not stifled all day. And the talk Is not stifled All day. THE END WHEN THE TOPICOPS CAME CALLING is Copyright 1989 Rogers Cadenhead. It can be copied and distributed as long as it remains unchanged. Rogers Cadenhead is a BBS user and freelancer writer from Denton, Texas. He can be contacted via Alpha BBS at (817) 566-6146 (node 393/1) or by mail at 915 1/2 W. Sycamore, Denton, TX 76201. If you'd like to see more tragedies of modern telecommunications, or want him never to submit this kind of thing again, let him know. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 35 10 Apr 1989 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12k* Opus 1.03b TBBS 2.1 QuickBBS 2.03 TPBoard 5.0 TComm/TCommNet 3.4* Lynx 1.22 Phoenix 1.3 RBBS 17.1D Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version Dutchie 2.90C* EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.01* SEAdog 4.50* MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 2.0* BinkleyTerm 2.20* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 D'Bridge 1.18* XlatList 2.90* TPB Editor 1.21 FrontDoor 2.0 XlaxNode 2.32* TCOMMail 2.1* PRENM 1.40 XlaxDiff 2.32* TMail 8901* ParseList 1.30 UFGATE 1.03* GROUP 2.07* EMM 1.40 MSGED 1.99* XRS 1.2* * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 36 10 Apr 1989 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 8 May 1989 Digital Equipment Corporations User Society (DECUS) will be holding its semi-annual symposium in Atlanta, GA. Runs through May 12. As usual sysop's will get together and chat. 19 May 1989 Start of EuroCon III at Eindhoven, The Netherlands 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. 24 Aug 1989 FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose, California. Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1/89 for info. 5 Oct 1989 20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 37 10 Apr 1989 ================================================================= REPORTS ================================================================= David Melnik, Chairman Nominations and Elections Committee 1:107/233 Request for Nominations for IFNA Directors for 1989 Election The election to be held this summer will provide for replacement of the following IFNA Director positions: Division Incumbent At-large Incumbent 11 Bill Allbritten -- Ted Polczyinski 13 Irene Henderson -- Kris Veitch 15 Scott Miller -- Mort Sternheim 17 Neal Curtin -- Mark Grennan 19 David Drexler -- Matt Whelan 3 (vacant) -- (vacant) Rules for Nominations In order to nominate someone for a Director position you must be a member of IFNA in good-standing at the time you make the endorsement. You must affix your signature and the date to a document proposing one or more candidates for one or more Director positions. Nominees need not necessarily be IFNA members. You may nominate as many at-large candidates as you wish. Individual nomination documents may be signed by more than one IFNA member, thereby providing multiple nominations for all nominees listed on the form (in fact, this is encouraged). Nomination documents are to be mailed and received by the IFNA Secretary by May 24 1989 at: Linda Grennan 147/1 6204 Reeves Court Oklahoma City, OK 73122 All nominations not reaching the Secretary by May 24 are subject to rejection. Confirmation via netmail is advised. Only those individuals who receive 10 valid nominations, who qualify under all other regulations, and who accept the noimination will appear on the ballot. A sample nomination form follows the Election Rules. FidoNews 6-15 Page 38 10 Apr 1989 (end of Nomination Rules for 1989) 1989 Election Rules (Preliminary) 1. WHO MAY VOTE FOR WHAT? Anyone who is a regular member of IFNA in good-standing as of the specified cut-off date (to be determined) may vote for: o 1 Divisional candidate for the Division in which you reside. o 6 At-large Directors. o All proposed Bylaws Amendments. If there is no one being elected for your Division, you do not vote for any Divisional Candidate. Anyone who is an at-large member of IFNA as of the specified cut-off date may vote for: o 6 At-large Directors. 2. HOW DO YOU VOTE? FOR YOUR DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR: If there is no one listed for your Division, then this section does not apply to you and should be skipped. If there is only one candidate listed, that candidate has already been elected and you should skip this section. To vote for one of two or more candidates IN YOUR OWN DIVISION ONLY, mark an X next to the name of your choice. Note that votes for non-elected Divisional Director candidates will automatically be applied to those candidates in the At-large category. FOR AT-LARGE DIRECTORS: Place an X next to the name of 6 or less At-large Director Candidates. If you voted for a particular candidate to be your Divisional Director, DO NOT ALSO VOTE FOR THAT CANDIDATE AS AN AT-LARGE DIRECTOR as it can invalidate your vote for At-large directors. FOR BYLAWS AMENDMENTS: For each proposed amendment you may place an X in either the YEA or NAY area, according to your choice. You need not cast a vote for any particular amendment if you so desire; in this event your vote will be considered an ABSTAIN. 3. FROM WHERE DO YOU GET A BALLOT? Regular and at-large members of IFNA as of the specified cut-off date should receive a ballot in the mail. Also, ballot information will be published in FIDONEWS and will be available for request from the nodes listed below. It does not matter from which source you acquire your ballot, but it is your responsibility to get a ballot and return it to an official receiver by the due date. FidoNews 6-15 Page 39 10 Apr 1989 NODES WITH BALLOTS AVAILABLE AS "ELECT89.ARC" 1:107/210 (others to be determined) 4. WHERE MUST YOUR BALLOT BE RETURNED BY WHEN? The official due date and site for the return of all ballots shall be stated in the official ballots that are mailed out or that appear in FidoNews. It is expected that additional sites for return will be provided in Europe and Australia and that ballots returned to those sites by the cut-off dates will be considered as officially delivered. (end of Preliminary Election Rules for 1989) SAMPLE IFNA NOMINATION FORM FOR 1989 ELECTION If you are a resident of any of the following divisions, you may nominate one or more individuals to the position of Divisional Director for that one Division only. Note: Any individual nominated for a Divisional Director position will also automatically be nominated as a candidate for At-large Director (assuming all necessary prerequisites are met). DIVISION DESCRIPTION 11 Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Ontario, Quebec, PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland 13 New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia 15 Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming 17 Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories 19 Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, South America, Central America, Carribean 3 Australia, New Zealand NOMINATED CANDIDATES DIVISION NUMBER: _______ _________________________________ _________________________________ Only if you are a member of one _________________________________ of the Divisions listed above. _________________________________ FidoNews 6-15 Page 40 10 Apr 1989 AT-LARGE DIRECTORS _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ NAME SIGNATURE DATE NOMINATED BY: ___________________ __________________ ________ ___________________ __________________ ________ Nominations ___________________ __________________ ________ may only be ___________________ __________________ ________ entered by ___________________ __________________ ________ IFNA Members in ___________________ __________________ ________ good-standing ___________________ __________________ ________ ___________________ __________________ ________ ___________________ __________________ ________ ___________________ __________________ ________ Completed form must be received by IFNA Secretary by May 24 1989. Mail to: Linda Grennan 147/1 6204 Reeves Court Oklahoma City, OK 73122 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 41 10 Apr 1989 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Chairman of the Board Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Vice President-Technical Coordinator Linda Grennan 1:147/1 Secretary Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS Administration and Finance Mark Grennan 1:147/1 Board of Directors Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Bylaws Don Daniels 1:107/210 Ethics Vic Hill 1:147/4 Executive Committee Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 International Affairs Rob Gonsalves 2:500/1 Membership Services David Drexler 1:147/1 Nominations & Elections David Melnick 1:107/233 Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/1 Publications Rick Siegel 1:107/27 Security & Individual Rights Jim Cannell 1:143/21 Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333 IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210 11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1 13 Irene Henderson 1:107/9 (vacant) 14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5 15 Scott Miller 1:128/12 Matt Whelan 3:3/1 16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628 17 Neal Curtin 1:343/1 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871 18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Kris Veitch 1:147/30 19 David Drexler 1:147/1 (vacant) 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-15 Page 42 10 Apr 1989 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) _`@/_ \ _ | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Membership for the International FidoNet Association Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to increase worldwide communications. Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________ State ________________________________ Zip _____________________ Country _________________________________________________________ Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________ BBS Name ________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________ Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________ Board Restrictions ______________________________________________ Your Special Interests __________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in US Funds to: International FidoNet Association PO Box 41143 St Louis, Missouri 63141 USA Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to insure the future of FidoNet. Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. -----------------------------------------------------------------