Sunday September 04 2016 04:36, you wrote to me:

 AI>> I don't know where you got the idea that FN_SYSOP and FIDO_SYSOP
 AI>> are general chat echoes but you are wrong.

 LL> A bunch of folks chatting in an open echo sure looks like a general
 LL> chat echo to me.

It is a bunch of sysops chatting amongst themselves in the case of those two
echoes.

 AI>> There is nothing sinister or anti-democratic about that.

 LL> Of course not.  I get them both just fine.

Yes, I know. I don't think there is anything sinister or anti-democratic about
that either. A little sneaky maybe but no big deal.

 AI>> Most fidonet sysops have spent their time and money over the
 AI>> years making the fidonet echoes available to all and they still
 AI>> do that today.

 AI>> I don't find the fact that sysops have an echo of their own
 AI>> limiting.

 LL> Sysops have all the echoes that are and that there can possibly be
 LL> in Fidonet.  Not just some, a few, many, or most, but ALL.

Sysops are not that different than users. They have a node number and software
that is available to anyone who wants it. They may connect to or disconnect
from areas as they see fit.

 LL> Isn't that amazing?  Sharing those echoes with users (probationary
 LL> sysops) would enable Fidonet to grow, rather than shrink.

Fidonets numbers peaked around '96 or there about. It has been shrinking ever
since. I don't expect that to change but until the last pkt has been tossed I
support and enjoy fidonet.

It was a blip on the radar like so many things in life but I am glad to have
been and continue to be a part of it.

 LL> So it is best to share ALL with ALL, wouldn't you agree?

Yes, all within echo rules, wouldn't you agree?

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20160322