From: elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us (Edward J. Branley)
Newsgroups: alt.bbs
Subject: Re: Sad to say...
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 07:01:22 CDT
Organization: Minas Tirith BBS (Public Access Usenet for New Orleans)

fsspr@acad3.alaska.edu (Sean P. Ryan, Hardcore Alaskan) writes:

> Before I begin here, just a question.  Why did you attribute the entire
> previous message in your follow-up when your points only pertained to a
> very small portion of the previous message?  Don't you realize that
> people out there do pay real money to transmit this stuff to and fro?

Is this gripe directed at me?  If so I apologize.  I normally do try to edit
things out.  That said, maybe next time you've got a gripe you'll take it to
mail instead of flaming the person in public.  Prefacing your remarks with such
a bitch lowers your credibility level, especially when you don't identify the
person you're flaming.

>
> In article <85moqB1w164w@mintir.new-orleans.la.us>, elendil@mintir.new-orlean
> >
> >Hmmm...dunno about other parts of the country, but here in New Orleans, fido
> >sysops are required to pay for echomail feeds.  Anyone can be part of fido f
> >netmail, but echomail requires that you support the NEC's phone bill.
>
> Hmmm...from what I gather calling the local Fido boards, they like to
> put forth the notion that EchoMail is cheaper for all involved than
> NetMail (i.e. let thousands of boards all around the country/world pay
> the cost of moving your personal messages to everyone through an echo
> rather than just the few boards involved in the transfer of NetMail).
>
> For instance, the Fido board I usually call had a note about NetMail
> last month.  I can't recall exactly what it said, but I believe it made
> mention that users who wanted to make use of it had to pay for the
> service.

Your fido sysop has it wrong.  Netmail is now carried via the same transmission
backbone as echomail.  Those personal messages are less than 1% of the total
feed moving across the echomail backbone, which is why it was decided to move
mail that way.  The cost of moving private mail is insignificant compared to
the cost of moving echomail.

Now, direct calls to boards where you want to send private mail can add up,
even at the $0.13/minute or so that most sysops pay these days.  However, there
is no real need to do this, unless the sysop and echomail coordinator in the
area you're in are so inexperienced that they don't understand the system.

>
> >The times of free fidonet feeds are disappearing fast, mainly because
> >of the volume of echomail that is moving through that net.
>
> And never mind the fact that in many echoes, 75-90% of what goes through
> there are personal messages that could be and should be sent through
> NetMail, saving me the time of having to read it, and I'm sure saving
> the board the cost of having to move it as well.

I'd like to see your support for those figures.  I'll grant that many times
flame wars and such stay on echos longer than necessary, but your figures are
extreme.

>
> ************************************************************************
> Sean Patrick Ryan, Hardcore Alaskan*****Internet: fsspr@acad3.alaska.edu
> WWIVnet: 220@9704*CFN: au414*IRC: RadioKAOS, Aoxomoxoa*Ph: (907)488-8365
> BITnet: FSSPR@ALASKA****Snail: P.O. Box 83381, Fairbanks, AK  99708-3381
> ***"I'm gonna Kentucky Fried Chickenize your prostate surgery." - Oswald
> Bates, In Living Color***Disclaimer?  BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!***

Ok, do I get to flame you now for the 6-line sig?  Why are subjecting us all to
moving all of those unnecessary bytes?  Careful of those bricks you throw when
you're standing in front of that big plate glass window.



>Edward J. Branley         elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us<
>Seashell Software, Metairie, LA            +1-504-455-5087<