Yo! Alexander:
Friday May 16 1997 18:26, Alexander Bilan wrote to Bill Cheek:
 >> Good grief!  19.2-kbps for an Internet connection?  You've got to be
 >> kidding?
 AB> I'd be lucky to see that speed during the day where I work (educational
 AB> institution piped through one straw)
Weird.....but an exception, regardless.  Hardly the "rule"......
 AB> During the worst days I see transfer rates close to 300 bytes/sec
 AB> (often see under 100 bytes/sec). Early morning before anybody gets in
 AB> has a decent 38k bytes a second.  But thats neither here nor there,
 AB> for a home connection I'd be more than happy with consistant 14.4k
 AB> given work conditions. =)
When I *used* to be on an analog modem, (and still am for the front-end 
mailer), my worst thruputs are on the order of 3000 characters per second. 
Figuring a start bit and a stop bit for every character, that's 30-kbps as a 
usual worst case.  And THAT, my friend.....is slooooooow.
 >> The important thing is to be DOING SOMETHING USEFUL AND PRODUCTIVE.
 >> Getting mired and bogged down in the software that helps make it
 >> happen isn't all that germane to a writer; an engineer; a historian; a
 >> scientist; or a janitor just trying to get ahead in Life.  You don't
 >> have to know a thing about a library to check out and read the books
 >> it offers.
 AB>  Bill, I don't think anybody is necessarily snubbing the internet as a
 AB> great resource, or how to be part of it. It certainly is an excellent
 AB> resource. I know I've spend countless hours gathering information on 
given
 AB> topics.
Some people definitely DO snub it.  Read the words.  Most of those who do are 
a lot like Aesop's Fable about the fox and the sour grapes: they don't have 
Internet Access and really don't know what they are talking about. They just 
don't want to change..........
 AB> Would I give up the internet? Not a chance. Would I give up Fido? Not
 AB> a chance. (see below)
You may be forced to give up Fido if the trend since Nov-1995 persists. 
Furthermore, there is a lot of bickering and fighting at the "management" 
level in FidoNet.  If there isn't a resolution soon, the decline will only 
worsen, and it is conceivable that Fido could call the party over and go 
me.
Not that there is any certainty of it......but the signs are not good, and it 
is my intent to disclose to the participants of this echo that there are 
other alternatives......should Fido or this echo go down the tubes.
 AB>  My *personal* beef with the internet and the demise of the bbs
 AB> is that among all the good stuff on the internet, there is hordes of 
.S.
 AB> When I first got Usenet access it was neat, messages messages and more
 AB> messages...BUT there are two problems;
 AB>  1) Theres TOOOOOOO many messages.
 AB>  2) You have to spend time weeding through the B.S. to get to the 
content.
Are you an American?  Or a citizen of another "free country"?  If so, then 
your beef above is without merit.  You CAN learn how to cope with "too many 
messages" and "too much B.S.".  I have.  If I can, so can you.  The right 
tools make all the difference.
 AB> My favorite net to peruse messages? Fido. Why? each echo has a
 AB> specific topic with people who for the most part hold a commom
 AB> interest. There is a comaradere(sp) you don't find in usenet, and
 AB> topics do tend to stay pertinant for the most part.
It can be that way on the Usenet if people want it that way.  You can I could 
converse THERE just as we do here and not a soul could stop us.  
 AB> Its too time consuming to be able to get all the good information out
 AB> of usenet, simply due to the volume.
Then you should try out Forte's AGENT newsreader.
 AB> In fido, things are relatively flame free ;) and you learn to
 AB> recognize trouble makers and go on about business. And catch most
 AB> everything going through the echo. Usenet for me, has fallen to
 AB> perusing for names I recognize, and ignoring most everything else,
 AB> which probably means I miss out on some good input from others.
Why so?  Use a good newsreader and a good search engine and you can make 
quick work of filtering anything you want.  You can be free...same as the 
jerks.
 AB> My own ranking on this; Fido is the hands down winner for messageing
 AB> even with the hiccups it gets on a regular basis.
I agree.  But that does not diminish the reality of the decline of BBS's and 
FidoNet in general.  It is time people see what's coming down and make 
preparations to deal with it.
 AB> The internet is an excellent information resource, extremely
 AB> convenient and efficient way to transfer data, send e-mail, to
 AB> anybody, anywhere on the globe, it is NOT a daily readable message
 AB> forum.
No reason why not other than personal choice.  You know....freedom.
 AB> In the end, I suspect however, most peoples beefs are the fact we are
 AB> losing *YOUR* input and perspective in this base and any other you might
 AB> be active in.
Maybe.  But others' will be lost as well.  Fido cannot compete except along a 
very thin edge of quality as you succinctly highlighted.  But FidoNet is not 
a system of Users like the Internet.  It is a system of BBS's and SysOps.  
Users are quite incidental, believe it or not.  Fido was and remains a 
netmail based system.  Messaging echoes only ride on netmail, and SysOps 
provide that rider at their own expense.  BBS's are getting very expensive to 
operate ... and at their best, are a poor substitute for an Internet 
connection.
You ever hear of "mail lists"?  There are several mail lists for scanner 
enthusiasts.  Mail lists are as close to Fido quality as it gets.  No 
shitballs and lids there.
Like I said.....there ARE choices and alternatives.  And it may be necessary 
to select one before too long....maybe another year...maybe two.  But the end 
is in sight unless something changes.  And I do not forsee that.  It is only 
a matter of time.  Best that we see the handwriting on the wall...and how the 
emperor isn't wearing any clothes.  Eh?
Meanwhile......business as usual for as long as we can......
Bill Cheek ~ bcheek@san.rr.com
Windows 95 Juggernaut Team ~ Microsoft MVP
--- Hertzian Mail+
---------------