From: murph@buscard.fidonet.org (Brian Murphy)
Newsgroups: alt.bbs
Subject: Fidonet sux, fee for access. (was Sad to say...)
Summary: I hate Fidonet!  :-)
Keywords: Fidonet
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 92 16:06:00 EDT
Reply-To: murph@buscard.fidonet.org (Brian Murphy)
Organization: The Business Card (BBS), Lawrence, MA - Data: 508-682-5329

larry@gator.rn.com (Larry Snyder) writes:

> elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us (Edward J. Branley) writes:

> >I got bit by the fidonet bug before usenet, and local stuff declined from th
> 
> most of us started with fidonet, then mature into usenet

Hi, gents!  Mind if I join in?  (special hello to E.J. Branley)

Youse guys haven't LIVED until you've been kicked out of Fidonet!  :-)

I think Larry's right when he say's one "matures" out of Fidonet.  Being an
amateur network as it is, a conscientious system operator really struggles to
get the most efficient service out of that network.

> With the evolution of DOS software and hardware priced within
> everyones reach, like you said just about anyone can get involved,
> which many times is the reason for the distribution problems with
> headers getting re-written, etc.  But, not all sites get a free feed -
> many pay for services like uunet (or us) and a good portion of those
> don't want to have to pay since they go with the attitude they
> should get a free feed (which goes with the fidonet frame of mind)

In a later message, either Larry or Edward mentions that they had to support
their Fidonet NEC's phone bill for echomail (newsgroups).  In my experience,
this shouldn't have been necessary.  I don't know how it is down in Louisiana
but in New England, most of Fidonet's nodes are local calls to one another.
With a proper routing scheme in place, the mail could have hopped from one
node to the next without long-distance phone calls.

It was my opinion that these amateur hobbyists would have jumped at the chance
to really get into their hobby and configure their systems to do this kind of
routing to keep the costs down.  Nope!  All I got as I debated the point was
that "it's only a hobby" and they shouldn't be expected to get that detailed.
<sigh>  I then pointed out that they have Coordinators who volunteer to do
that kind of work.  The Coordinators then pointed out that they had too much
to do as they were involved in extraneous duties as also serving as file
distributors, echo distributors, other networks... on and on.

After suggesting that they remove some of those extra "hats" to get down to
the business of _coordinating,_ suggesting that they were lazy, incompetent,
or just greedy for wanting others to pay for unnecessary long-distance
charges, I was kicked out.   :-)

I don't like Fidonet except that it was fun screwing around with the software
to provide a gateway between Fidonet and the Internet.  I also enjoyed trying
to find ways to increase the efficiency of Fidonet and debating the finer
points of routing.  I was the epitome of the network-dude (dweeb?).

I was amused to find how dogmatic that network can be with their own politics.
They have system operator echos where operators can talk among themselves to
iron out mutual networking bugs.  Come to find out, those echos are only
chit-chat echos for the "old boy" elite where anyone daring to raise serious
topics gets flamed for their efforts.  The final blow for me came when one of
these "old boys" raised a "Policy Complaint" that I wouldn't drop the subject
matter and shut up.  I thought that was swell!  :-)  Instead of cutting the
feed of that echo by the moderator, the "old boys" simply dropped a sincere
node.

Yes, I'm appealing the decision using the appeals process outlined in their
Policy.  It says I have a "right to a speedy decision" in that within 30 days
each level shall render a decision.  While they use their Policy to drop me
from Fidonet, they disregard that same Policy when it comes to making their
decision upon appeal.  Every level has taken beyond the requisite 30 days -
even the very top level - the Zone Coordinator.  He's had the appeal for a
month and a half and preemptorily involves the Regional Coordinators, the
final step while denying me the ZC level of appeal as he tries to reach a
"concensus."

Blah.  I'm rambling.  I'm just glad I've "matured" into the Internet.

I pay a small fee to my Internet host and am passing this cost along to my
users.  It's much more professional this way.  I expect and receive great
service.  This efficiency is appreciated by my users where they are happy to
pay my token fee.  Yes, there is a LOT of Fido boards in my neck of the woods
but NONE of them are run as professionally as my humble system.

                         Your friend in Lawrence, Massachusetts...
                                      - - - Murph


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