1237b1f3558f
dos_internet



Hello Mark - 

--8<--cut 

CA>> I _may_ be mis-remembering this 

ml> not so much mis-remembering but understanding of what
ml> others who didn't understand were telling... plus a mix of
ml> some small part of "truth"... 

CA>> but in the days when BBS charged for access to FIDO on a
CA>> per reply basis (something like $.03 as I recall?) 

ml> hunh? fidonet is non-commercial and no one is/was supposed
ml> to be charging for access to fidonet... charging access to
ml> the bbs is/was a different matter... many confused or
ml> blended the two... and to charge for replying to someone(!)
ml> oh my! 

There were many who charged for access to FIDO at the start.
There is someone who setup satellite access to FIDO who was
charging last I knew. I don't recall his name but I'm sure you
know who I am referring to. 

CA>> all netmail was billed at a higher rate. 

ml> yes, this is kinda true... the only time billing was needed
ml> to be implemented on a cash basis (instead of credits to
ml> spend/use on the bbs) was when the bbs system was set to
ml> dial directly to the destination system... even then, it
ml> wasn't all that expensive per call and even cheaper if the
ml> sysop actually scheduled his system's dialouts... this was
ml> also back in the day when the routing of netmail was not so
ml> commonly done... with confusion about the rules of privacy
ml> and the lack of settings that a sysop could set to prevent
ml> accidental viewing of other's netmail... and that fidonet
ml> is/was a hobby and some didn't want to have to be
ml> professional about their fidonet activities... 

CA>> I think all netmail was what is called 'crash mail' now? 

ml> "crach mail" is a flavor of netmail... there are actually
ml> three flavors plus a couple of extra sides... 

ml> normal (aka routed) == sent to next system for further
ml> processing direct == sent directly to destination system
ml> when schedule allows crash == sent directly to destination
ml> system right now 

Seems a bit un-necessary to have multiples. 

ml> in routed netmail, there are the "extra sides" to mix
ml> metaphors... there is hub routed, host routed, echomail
ml> routed (travels along with echomail bundles... most common
ml> used today) and possibly one or two more... the sender has
ml> no real control over the route that routed netmail may take
ml> in getting to the destination... the receiver has some
ml> control only in that they can ask that their stuff be made
ml> available at a certain system for them to gather from there
ml> (generally their echomail hub) and at any system in the
ml> route, the "flavor" of the netmail may change based on that
ml> intermediate system's netmail policies... 

And more complexities. Someone was busy. 

CA>> It was sent directly to the BBS via long distance land
CA>> lines and not routed through normal FIDO nodes? 

ml> this is where many had problems offering netmail to their
ml> users... they thought that they HAD to send netmail
ml> direct/crash when they didn't if they would set up proper
ml> routing... echomail routing came from a simple practise of
ml> sending and receiving everything from the systems you
ml> connect to... the idea of upstream and downstream is a
ml> misnomer at best but it does work in certain cases of
ml> describing flow... 

I would guess that some thought they _had_ to while others were
aware of the lack of privacy. 

CA>> Could be that many only remember the 'crash mail'? It also
CA>> seems that netmail is 'lost' more often than normal
CA>> 'traffic' from what I read in the Z1B and NAB echos over
CA>> some time. :-\ 

ml> routed netmail has always had small problems and
ml> glitches... see above for a basic listing of why and
ml> remember the hobby nature and necessary professionalism
ml> factors... netmail doesn't have quite the problems it used
ml> to... a lot of past routing problems were also (sadly)
ml> based in ego clashes... 

Yes, I know. Netmail being dumped deliberately. Read and then
selectively deleted. Lots of fun. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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