Yo! Alexander:
Monday May 19 1997 13:00, Alexander Bilan wrote to Bill Cheek:
 AB> I don't doubt that there are those who snub the net, theres always 
someone
 AB> who has it in for non-traditional methods of communications.
 AB> For those that snub it, thats their problem. And if they are users of 
this
 AB> medium (bbs') then to me, they just fall into the hypocryte catagory.
Frankly, the only people who "snub" the Net are those who either don't have 
access to it, or who don't know how to use it, or who don't have the hardware 
to use it for all it's worth.
I guess there will always be people to snub a steak dinner on the premise 
that you should love animals; not eat them.  So there will always be some 
controversy and resistance to change and upward mobility.  People were 
resistant to Henry Ford's Model A, too.....and Wilbur & Orville's new fangled 
flying machines......
 >> 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 home.
 AB> From a users standpoint, the bickering at management level is something
 AB> that has been with fido since the day I started. The very first FidoNews 
I
 AB> read had something about some *C's haggling/argueing/mudslinging.
 AB> =) However, yes, if forced to give up Fido, so be it, life rolls on.
Fido always has had it's internal strife, to be sure.  But POLICY4 was 
hammered into stone long ago, and prevails to this day.  The strife and 
bickering of now has to do with EchoMail......the thing that has become the 
sum and substance of FidoNet, whereas POLICY4 and Fido history are 
exclusively centered around NetMail.  In other words, the only governing 
document we have that has any teeth and meaning doesn't deal with echomail at 
all.
 >> 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> Which I applaud. No one (well, at least those not afraid of change) has 

 AB> problem with educating folks about alternate routes/methods of doing
 AB> things.
Especially when it's the SAME thing........   :-)
 >> Are you an American?  Or a citizen of another "free country"?  If so,
 AB> Canadian. Eh. =)
Well, that's "free" enough.  You guys got your governmental problems; we got 
ours.  I'm not sure whose is worse, but it beats the snot out of Iraq, I 
guess.
 >> 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> 10-4.  But chaulk that up to laziness on my part. =)
Now you're an HONEST man, anyway......!!!   :-)
 AB> Just as twit filters exist in QWK readers, I would be extremely
 AB> surprised to learn that filtering would not exist with decent mail
 AB> readers/software for the i-net.
Excellent filters reside in the better newsgroup reader/editors.  You can 
even filter profanity in the text, if you want.....  You can filter text, 
subject lines, and writers........
 >> 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> Very true. I do see it going on, and have done so myself. We just come
 AB> back to filtering out what we don't want.  =)
There it is!  Freedom at it's finest.  What one man doesn't want....might be 
wanted by a dozen others.  One should leave one's wants at the door when 
entering a newsgroup; else crank out his filters.
 >> No reason why not other than personal choice.  You know....freedom.
 AB> And laziness. ;)
Yes.....lest we forget!   :-)
 >> 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.
 AB> Yes I have. And I do see those as a viable alternative when the time
 AB> comes. For my *current* situation, I get e-mail through the bbs end of
 AB> things and as such, mailing list subscriptions are a no-no.
Really?  Mail list material comes in as e-mail.  If you can get e-mail, you 
can get on a list.  It would be kind of foolish of a SysOp to outlaw it.
 AB> To which I will add, this is a matter of low cost choice for me, and
 AB> the fact that I have a choice still. As I mentioned earlier, if push
 AB> came to shove, I would become part of an ISP for all the bells and
 AB> whistles. The above is not an attempt at avoiding the internet.
Then it is a matter of time........   :-)    One can eat beans for real 
cheap. But after a while, he'll develop scurvy and rickets.  To move up to 
fruit and hamburger definitely costs more, BUT......there is more value and 
benefit.
Likewise, the Internet.  It costs a little.  It takes a little time to get 
the hang of it.  It takes a little time and cost to build up a system that's 
capable of running the 'Net, impervious to the shitballs, junk, and 
superfluous stuff that's out there.  But the rewards, man, the rewards!!!!
Networking is an investment.  Simple as that.  The more you put into it, the 
more you can get out of it.  Good ol' FidoNet was once the ONLY way for the 
average person to network.  Now it is at the bottom of the list of a variety 
of ways.  And for all I can tell, it just might drop off the list altogether 
in the next year or two.
The Internet ain't going anywhere but UP.........  It's the next frontier.
Bill Cheek ~ bcheek@san.rr.com
Windows 95 Juggernaut Team ~ Microsoft MVP
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