MM>> Requiring a host node to have a phone line that can
 MM>> receive calls at ZMH is not an onerous requirement.
 MM>> If all nodes in a net are IP-capable then the net can
 MM>> be quite large so fewer hosts in a region/zone would
 MM>> be required than today

 JB> yeah, that requires reorganisation and loss of political
 JB> power and the Z1 people take the politics seriously -
 JB> what else can explain their two echomail distribution
 JB> systems.

two?!!? i can count no less than 5... only two "at the top"
though... then again, those "top two" are linked by a
"bridge node"... seems to me that they may unknowingly be part of
yetanother distribution system >

[trim]

 MM>> It is not the mailer's responsibility to determine
 MM>> which node a message should be sent to. It is the
 MM>> mailer's responsibility to select the most appropriate
 MM>> transport mechanism to use to send a message to a
 MM>> particular node

 JB> yeah, what's a node  if the same system is in the
 JB> nodelist three times with three different phone
 JB> numbers (maybe with different brands of modem) but
 JB> all attached to the same messagebase is it one node
 JB> or three?

a messagebase does NOT a node make... remember, fidonet does not require a
bbs, message bases or files areas for one to be a node... contrary to
popular belief or what P4 may happen to state WRT bbs'... it only takes two
(three for active participation) things to be a full node in fidonet...

  1. a mailer
  2. a message tosser
  3. an editor/reader for local use (optional)

PKTs used to be read/treated like QWK mail... in fact, other than the
format and access method, there is little difference between them...

)\/(ark