Hello Vladimir.

11 May 06 11:48, you wrote to me:

 MV>> As for the real name issue, since I discovered that many so
 MV>> called international echos are gated into the InterNet and its
 MV>> content is indexed by the search engines, I am having second
 MV>> thoughts about it. I am not all that enthousiastic about finding
 MV>> on the InterNet what I wrote five years ago in Fido: under my
 MV>> real name...

 VD> Yes but this gates only FIDO-to-Internet, not return back (at commnon
 VD> case). So - mail from Internet to FIDO is difficult.

But it is the Fido *to* InterNet part that bothers me. These ever getting
better search engines are a mixed blessing. The allow me to find things,
which is good, but they also allow everyone else to find things about me.
Like some stupid remark I made in a FidoNet echo five years ago. One may
have the illusion to be among friends and not having to weigh every word on
a gold scale when chattering in FidoNet but it is no longer so. Thanks to
this gating *into* the InterNet the whole world can - and does - listen. It
is like having a mike in the local bar and blurping everything all over
town.

The gating into the InterNet has made what once was an asset: use of real
names only, into a liability.

[..]


 MV>> Yeah, I know these blurbs. What you describe is how it *was*.
 MV>> Connect FIDONEWS or FN_SYSOP and see how it is now. :-(

 VD> I read many our echoes and I see this moderate status - it is very
 VD> good. May be moderators in these echoes are absent or no working?

Learn from the experience of others. In the past users wehere limited to a
few points to connect to the network. Long distance calling cost prevented
them from seeking a link far away from home. This is no longer so where
InterNet is widely available and so it is difficult if not impossible to
permanently cut off a user. In a few years the situation at your end wil be
like that too.

Trust me, the big advantage of Fidonet: moderation is at an end.

 VD>>> Second advantage FIDONET is basic absence of any necessity for
 VD>>> continuous connection of the user to the Network:

 MV>> Yes, that is how it was designed. But with a continues
 MV>> connection, it works a lot better...

 VD> Yes, but this is not necessary.

It is not necesary for usenet either. So it is not an advantage specifiv for FidoNet.

 MV>> Again: that is how it *was*....

 VD> I see this now, so - _is_.

On your side, maybe it still _is_. In a few years that too will be history.

Michiel

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