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FidoNet Newsletter, Volume 11, # 07

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Tim Pozar

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Feb 28, 1994, 9:58:18 PM2/28/94
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F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No. 7 (14-Feb-1994)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | |
| FidoNet BBS community | Published by: |
| _ | |
| / \ | "FidoNews" BBS |
| /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: |
| | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet addresses: |
| |
| Sylvia -- m...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Donald -- don...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Tim -- po...@kumr.lns.com |
| Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) |
| edi...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies and other boring but important details, |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================

1. Editorial..................................................... 1
2. Articles...................................................... 2
"Foreign" languages in the snooze........................... 2
Whining..................................................... 3
REENACT - The Living History Echo........................... 5
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 5
========================================================================
Editorial
========================================================================
FidoNews 11-07 Page: 2 14 Feb 1994


Well, here we go. Three articles in the mail, and every one
better than any editorial we had in mind.
========================================================================
Articles
========================================================================
"Foreign" languages in the snooze

by Juergen Hermann
Internet j...@ccave.ka.sub.org
PhoneNet 49-721-826310 (FAX, V.32bis)
FidoNet#2:2476/554 (as of NodeList.035, no guarantees beyond that)

Some people complained (whined?) about the appearance of articles in
languages other than English. Well, here are some counterarguments...

There are articles aimed at a certain limited audience, like announcing
a new echo where Spanish is the language to be used. Why should this
announcement be translated to English, when even in this form it's of
no use whatsoever to a poor soul whose only means of (written)
communication is English? What if I find the time to write a new
episode of the never-ending story how one guy can fuck up whole regions
in Z2, with a wink of his blue eyes? Hardly anybody of the often-cited
"majority of FidoNet" (read: Z1) gives a damn about that, so why
shouldn't I write it in German, sparing me some useless effort?

You may suggest to put such articles into regional newsletters, but
fact is that such newsletters aren't working since there's never enough
input. It hasn't happened recently, but there were weeks we got an
empty Snooze!

And as Chris Farrar showed us in his article in Snooze #1105, many
people even have problems with their mother tongue: they are either
lazy -- which is tolerable in echomail contexts, but not with articles
for a newsletter -- or incompetent. One could ask whether an article
with such errors like swapping "their" with "they're" and "its" with
"it's" is in fact written in English, if only for the sake of the
argument.

Finally, if you're that upset about all that outlandish gibberish, do
the same some people have done because of the sometimes poor
signal/noise ratio of the Snooze -- ask your feed to cut your link.
After all, it's just a hobby! <evil smirk>

--
"Jeder Mensch ist in den meisten Laendern dieser Erde ein Auslaender."

FidoNews 11-07 Page: 3 14 Feb 1994


Whining

by Jerry Schwartz 142/928
This Is My Title (So there, I did too read ArtSpec.Doc)

I see by scanning my \JUNK directory that it's been several
months since I last wrote an article for FidoNews. My job has
undergone some changes, and unfortunately for you all it now
gives me a little more free time. As usual when such leisure
grips me, I blew through several issues of FidoNews in one
sitting. This kind of time lapse reading almost always motivates
me to contribute my own dollop of unwholesomeness. Not all of
this article is humorous or worthless tripe, so please keep
reading: there may be some worthwhile tripe in it.

It seems that whining has become the preoccupation of FidoNews
and its correspondents, which is really a shame. In defense of
those to whom God speaks directly, at least they know how to
issue a good, old-fashioned, thundering denunciation. If their
words had the power that their rhetoric deserves, various male
generative organs would long since have shriveled up and fallen
off.

One recent contributor berated the editors for sloppy
punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. I agree with the
thrust of his message: the editors should lead by example, and
even if we don't know where we're going we should still put on
clean underwear and comb our hair. Unfortunately, this
contributor made many of the same errors as those very editors he
was upbraiding. (English is normally capitalized, for example,
and while it may be bad form to end a sentence with a preposition
it is worse form to leave it out altogether.) Perhaps he is from
that part of Canada in which abusing the Queen's English is a
patriotic duty, in which case he did a better job in English that
I could ever have managed in French.

Some folks are whining that FidoNews should be entirely in
English, and citing Policy. Well, some of the articles I've read
don't seem to be in ANY language at all, so Spanish and French
should be a welcome relief. It IS too bad that we can't
accomodate the extended character sets, as one correspondent
observed. I remember when a major international echo was briefly
cross linked with one whose language was (perhaps) Thai; it would
have been easier to sight read a ZIP file than to make sense of
the results. Personally, I wish we could offer timely
translations of FidoNews and, for that matter, echomail; but I've
been there and done that (in another context), and it was so
difficult and error prone that the target audience begged me to
stop.

I thought about running this article through my Spanish
translator, but decided that it was already too long and too
senseless in English. Besides, I think the translation program
has some hidden dictionary of idioms which is intended to get
FidoNews 11-07 Page: 4 14 Feb 1994

stupid Anglos into trouble; some of the most innocent English
phrases gave rise to an awful lot of snickering from the Latin
American community. I was also going to have my modem translate
it into Taiwanese, but the ITU protocols give it a French accent
it just can't seem to shake.

I will admit that it was something of an eye opener to see the
articles in French, Portuguese, and Spanish appearing without
translation. I didn't like the way it made me feel, and we
English speakers should all pause and think about that. But to
threaten to drop the FidoNews because of it is ridiculous. I
seem to recall that Policy exhorts us not to be too easily
annoyed. I'd hate to see the reaction of those folks if
something SERIOUS happened, like (for example) if they had to
apply for a JOB in a foreign language the way millions of
immigrants to the USA have over the years.

Someone was whining about the NodeList (quality thereof). I find
it hard to get too exercised about the size of the NodeList;
perhaps it's because I stopped using 8" floppies a while back.
The size of the NodeDiff is far more important, since I pay for
that each week. If a mailer answers the phone, fine; if there is
no answer, well that works out all right for me but I know it
costs people money in some places where the phone company is less
obliging. Nonetheless, to interpret Policy so strictly as to
demand constant polling of every node to determine if it is up,
down, or sideways seems absurd to me. Take a risk: crash that
mail; or, if you're chicken, route it. Nothing's perfect.

The commentary about the role of the moderator raised a good
point: with the advent of Planet Connect and other "flat"
topologies it will become difficult to cut a node's feed in some
cases. As a moderator myself I've already anticipated but not
yet experienced that. I don't have a good answer, either.
However, peer pressure isn't likely to be a reliable solution.
Just the other day I had to deal with (of all things) a CHAIN
LETTER posted by (of all things) a SYSOP. I'm hoping to hear
back that someone hacked his system or in some way appropriated
his name, since the alternative is unpleasant to contemplate. If
it ever became necessary for me to cut a node's link, and that
node had a Planet Connect dish, I'm not sure what I could do.

And finally, it's time for my own dry white whine: modem flags.
There is now a fine crop of weeds in the modem garden, and it is
starting to cost me, personally, money. I own a ZyXel modem
which has a proprietary 19.2 protocol. It seemed like a good
idea at the time, and it is a fine product in many ways. The
problem is that the new V.FC 28.8 modems are too similar yet too
different, and if I call one of them I waste my dime: we never
connect.

I was here first! But that's not the real issue: the real issue
is that I can't identify those other modems except by examining
my phone bills. The nodes that I called 100 times without ever
getting a session are probably using those V.FC modems. Since
FidoNews 11-07 Page: 5 14 Feb 1994

neither a Z19 flag nor a V.FC flag has been ratified, I can't use
the standard techniques to modify my setup when calling them. If
I knew who they were I could force my modem to 14.4, the highest
speed we have in common. If I could identify the other Z19
modems reliably, I could force 14.4 with any non-ZyXel V.32bis
node. But as it stand now, I can't.

Someone needs to get going and create some new modem flags.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

REENACT - The Living History Echo

REENACT - The Living History Echo
by Gerald Todd 1:261/1151

Across the country, men and women portray for us a little bit of what
life was like "back then." In museums, forts, ships, parks, schools,
and many other places, these people take us back in time to meet
Johnny Reb or Billy Yank, to meet one of Roger's Rangers, or a
family from the prarie. These people show us where we came from,
and the way we lived. They show us the tools, the food, the weapons,
and they show us the beliefs, the traditions, and the songs of our
heritage. These people are "Living Historians."

REENACT would cover all aspects and periods of historical recreation.
Topics would include: Military reenactments, sources, equipment, event
schedules, museum and Park Service events, research, buy and sell,
recruitment, and more.

But REENACT isn't an echo, yet. This is an attempt to see what sort
of "market" there is out in Fidoland to support such an echo. If you
are a sysop that would be interested in carrying such an echo for
yourself, or your users, please netmail me at 1:261/1151. If you are
not a sysop, but would be interested in the REENACT echo call
Modem Ready the RBBS at 410-360-8007 (14.4k). If there is a fair
response, I will begin private distribution of the echo, and work
towards getting it on the Fidonet "backbone."

Thank you,

Gerald Todd

----------------------------------------------------------------------

========================================================================
Fidonews Information
========================================================================

------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------

Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello,
Tom Jennings
FidoNews 11-07 Page: 6 14 Feb 1994


IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been
changed!!! Please make a note of this.

"FidoNews" BBS
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
Internet addresses:
Don & Sylvia (submission address)
edi...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca

Sylvia -- m...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Donald -- don...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Tim -- po...@kumr.lns.com

(Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience)
FidoNews
128 Church St.
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
N2H 2S4

Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international
amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual
articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The
contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the
rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those
of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews.

Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or
distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in
other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews
(we're easy).


OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each
PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere,
mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.)

INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in
directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding
FidoNet, please direct them to dei...@gisatl.fidonet.org, not the
FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously
volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.)

SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.

"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
FidoNews 11-07 Page: 7 14 Feb 1994

trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.

Asked what he thought of Western civilization,
"Giddy girls pee through car windows".
[-Allison Barkley, co-editrix
of the unfettered mind}
-- END
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Remember Campers!!!

To send mail from an Internet site or smart UUCP Site TO a user
that calls a Fido-Net system.

You need to know the name of the person and node number of the
Fido-Net system that the person uses.

The address of a FidoNode looks like this: 1:105/302.0. Usually
the 1: and .0 are left off, but they are there by default. (In
Europe it is 2: and in the Pacific Basin it is 3:.) That
address can be translated as "Zone 1, Net 105, FidoNode 302,
Point 0." or p0.f302.n105.z1. Add the FidoNet domain of
.fidonet.org to the end of that, chop off the p0 (it is again,
a default) and you have f302.n105.z1.fidonet.org - the "Fully
Qualified Domain Name" of a FidoNode. Another example is
1:105/4.3 which would be written as p3.f4.n105.z1.fidonet.org
(since there is a point number other than 0, we have to specify
it). Note also that we are only using zone 1. This will also
work for zones 2 and 3, just use z2 or z3 as appropriate.

FidoNet uses full names of the callers. Multi-part name folks
(eg. First Last, ie. "Dale Weber") will have a period '.'
seperating their names. So, lets say you wanted to send mail
to Dale Weber at 1:105/55.0, you would address your letter to:
Dale....@f55.n105.z1.fidonet.org.

************************************************************************
Submissions to comp.org.fidonet should be addressed to
po...@kumr.lns.com
************************************************************************

--
Internet: po...@kumr.lns.com
Snail: Tim Pozar / KKSF / 77 Maiden Lane / San Francisco CA 94108 / USA
POTS: +1 415 788 2022 Radio: KC6GNJ / KAE6247

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