Hi Mark,

>> All true.. In the way-back-past  I didn't like to use
>> REPLACE with the pdn files in case someone needs an earlier
>> version of code but these days.. 

> no doubt... i feel about this much the same way i feel about the main mail
>movers supporting automated uplinking, area renaming, and area removal /across
> the board/... if you have areas that you don't want removed or altered then
>move them to another grouping that doesn't fall under the
"global" maintenence
> umbrella...

It gets a little tricky with FDN coordinators and individuality...  In
other words, if someone is taking the time to collect and collate files of
a particular type, and taking the time to release them, I really think it's
up to the FDN Coordinator to decide how his FDN is organized.  If on the
other hand, the tags are just taking up space I do agree with you.  There's
a bit of housecleaning that can be done 

If people don't like a particular area, they can easily un-link it.  We do
try to _not_  duplicate services in each of the FDNs on the Filegate.  Once
in a while you'll see file come through like the conv2028.zip, in BFDS that
was indeed a dupe of a file released in Utilnet, but there's not much
duping of files going on, at least.

>>> i really should get on the stick and get things updated
>>> to use the filegate stuff instead of the old defunct
>>> filedist or whatever it was stuff that my
>>> system is still configured for...

>> Yeah  Get filegate.zxx from
>> http://www.filegate.net/info/filegate.zxx (ASCII text file,
>> not an archive, the extension wass supposed to mean 'all
>> zones' )

> 'k...

>> I'll be sending out a new one Sat. night/Sunday.

> maybe i'll wait till you get a new one online and then i'll mess with getting
> everything in order... i run my system pretty much as automated as i can...
> when the new filegate.na and .no (or whatever they are called) files are
> hatched and arrive on my system, my system is already reading them once they
> are put in place in the fileecho...

Filebone.na, and Filebone.no were replaced with one file: filegate.zxx...
just one file.  I'll be doing some trimming .. a shame to see gamesnet and
fs gone
:(  They were really popular.. I'm still hoping some game-minded individual who
knows where these file live, will approach me 

>>> does filegate also carry the original SDN stuff? where can
>>> i get an info packet via the internet?

>> Ah.. SDN.. Ray Kaliss gave up on the SDN long ago.  The child
>> of that distribution is WIN_FDN where shareware authors (ASP
>> people) still send me material for that FDN.  Or.. did you
>> mean SDS :)

> the info packet i was speaking of is for filegate...

There's an info packet at http://www.filegate.net/info/fdninfo.zip for
those thinking of starting an fdn.. and there an FAQ that I wrote,
FILEGATE.FAQ that answers a lot of questions about distribution, and then,
there's our policy, FGPOL006.TXT. :)  I believe I include all of those
files in fginfo.zip.


I've been asked if there is a tutorial for file distribution.. the closest
I've come to that is at http://www.filegate.net/zone1/filehelp.htm ... it's
by no means complete.. but it's a start :(

> maybe it is/was SDS that
>i'm thinking of... that's where the RemoteAccess, FrontDoor, and FTSC stuff is
> carried, IIRC... i still have some of those areas on my system named in that
> manner...

Yes, ftsc, fd, and others were in the original (and now defunct) SDS FDN. 
I still have it listed, and I still have all the files (I always hope
).  The ftsc _does_ use that file echo to release new files, as
you know, but that's the only area that is active.  What it needs now are
people who will commit to releasing new versions of software in that FDN,
such as perhaps the new Linux Maximus port, etc. etc. :)

Take care,
Janis

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