Hello Alan,

On Saturday February 29 2020 23:22, you wrote to me:

 MV>> Local nets are based on "areas of convenient telephone calling".
 MV>> In the POTS age this usually meant an area where all could call
 MV>> each other by making a local call. Derived from the "prime
 MV>> directive" of not "imposing undue cost on others".

 AI> That was an essential thing back in the '90s.

"was", past tense...

 MV>> http://www.vlist.eu/downloads/policys/POLICY4.TXT

 MV>> In the age of Fido over IP, it no longer makes sense to limit
 MV>> nets to the relatively small area of a classic local POTS call.
 MV>> Nets can now cover a much larger geographical area without
 MV>> violating the prime directive of not imposing undue cost on
 MV>> others.

 AI> That's true from a technical point of view. Region 10 has net 218 that
 AI> looks like a catch all net for nodes from all over the region.

A "catch all" is a solution, but it is not what I had in mind.

 MV>> The logical thing to do is to blow up the existing local nets so
 MV>> that together they cover the entire region.

 AI> Technically we could do that.. but why?

To avoid the situation that "all sysops are equal, but some are more equal than
others".

 AI> I like to be part of a network. If we blow up the existing nets we all
 AI> become RINs or perhaps form one single net in the region. I see no
 AI> reason to do that.

That is not what I had in mind. I did not mean to blow up the nets until each
of them covers the Region. I meant blowing them up so that the empty spaces
bewteen the nets are filled and the nets together cover the region. (without
overlap).

 MV>> No more need for RINs.

 AI> I don't know how or why some nodes are RIN. At the end of the day I
 AI> don't think it matters much if those nodes are RIN or part of a net.

It creates situations where "some are more equal than others"...

 AI> If that works for them and their RC more power to them.

Fidonet was designes as a peer to peer network. Things should work for all, not
just for some.

Cheers, Michiel

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