-= Quoting Mary-Anne Wise to Wendy Buchanan =-
MAW > I guess because I'm a sysop it's easy.. in fact easier for me to send 
t
MAW > by netmail than email.. email I have to log on.. You shouldn't feel
MAW > obligated to pay for netmail.  It doesn't cost the sysop a dime unless
MAW > he sends it direct.
My son (my sysop and NetCo-ordinator for his Zone) and his father (sees the
phone bill) would disagree with this.  It depends on where the sysop gets his
feed from to bring all the mail into his machine for us to go and pick up.  
f
a sysop is lucky and can get it local, great, but I would guess that most 
sysops
have to go long-distance either intra-state (more expensive) or inter-state
(less expensive).
I'll agree with the statement that it doesn't cost the sysop, unless he sends 
netmail direct, but it does/can cost the sysop to get the mail and have it on
his machine for us to get.  Remember also, that he is probably paying to
transmit any netmail that we have sent.  It goes out when he picks up, so if 
he calls long-distance to pick-up, he's also sending our mail that we have 
written to each other by a long-distance call.
There are a lot of folks that also go long-distance to be able to pick up 
from their sysop. I'm in Albany, GA and son is in Sanford/Goldston, NC, and I 
know that he has others calling in long-distance - from VA, TX and the NC 
coast,
there may be others.
When a sysop says that he/she can't carry an echo for only one person, it is 
probably because he doesn't want to pay for the additional charge to his 
phone bill, depending on how active the echo is, even a minute a day adds up 
to 30 additional minutes a month on the phone bill.
If an echo is listed on the FIDO BACKBONE it can be picked up by any and all 
sysops, contrary to what they might tell us.  They just have to go and get 
t.
As far as I know, I'm the only one getting 5 crafting echoes.  He doesn't
archive those msgs, they just pass right through to me.
I know that some sysops do charge a monthly fee, but remember that they do 
have phone bills to pay and equipment to upgrade and maintain so that we can 
stay in touch.
If anyone is sending a "donation" to the sysop, you have earned a well 
deserved pat on the back, and your sysop may be around for a while.
This is probably more than any of you wanted to know, so I will step off my 
soap-box, and duck as the wet noodle comes my way.
Sorry Pat, but I felt like this had to be said.  Please don't swing too hard.
Happy crafting
Donna
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