Hello Alan,

On Saturday September 03 2016 15:13, you wrote to me:

 MV>> According to Janis, echomail is not part of Fidonet.

 AI> Technically that is true isn't it?

The technical side of echomail is documented by the FTSC. I would say that
makes it technically part of Fidonet.

 AI> When I applied for fidonet I sent a netmail to the NC of net 153 and a
 AI> few days leter he replied with the details of my nodelisting. I was a
 AI> nodelisted sysop. Not a single echomail had been sent, recieved or
 AI> even thought of beyond the basic idea.

Be that as it may be, the reality is that without echomail Fidonet would be
dead.

 MV>> Following that reasoning, "we" can not "lose" "our" sysop echo,
 MV>> as "we" never "had" it in the first place.

 AI> Of course we can and it looks like that is what is happening. That
 AI> situation does not make me happy.

Whether it makes you happy or not, the reality is that the days of top down
control of Fidonet are over.

 AI> Fidonet as a whole is important to me whether we are communicating via
 AI> echomail or netmail.

Nothing stops you from continuing to communicate.

 MV>> It is no man's land...

 AI> So it seems. Regardless of that I will stand up for what is important
 AI> to me. Being able to communicate with other sysops from all zones is
 AI> important to me. I prefer myself that the two sysop echoes remain
 AI> restricted to ourselves but if the group decided it should be readable
 AI> by all then I am OK with that too.

 AI> I think it should also be writable by all in a case like that but I
 AI> think we should decide that as a group.

The reality is that the "group" - whoever that is - does not have the power to
enforce any decision they make. The reality is that if David - or someone else
- decides to make these so called sysop only echos available to non sysops,
there is nothing anyone can do about it.

In the old days, there was the golden rule. "He who has the gold makes the
rules". The Fidonet gold being the control over the - expensive - distribution.

But now the golden rule has lost its power. Anyone can have as much Fidonet
gold as he or she wants. Thanks to Fido over the Internet, the cost of
distribution has dropped to almost zero. Anyone can distribute.


Cheers, Michiel

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