On 2019 Mar 09 08:12:00, you wrote to TERRY ROATI:

 KW> the point that you need to find out what's available, somehow, seems
 KW> to be missed.

completely astounding since that's the whole reason the echolist was created in
the first place...

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     FidoNews 5-33                Page 7                   15 Aug 1988


     Mike Fuchs
     1:1/201

               EchoList - The EchoMail Conference List
                        (It's bAAAAaaaack...)

     Ever wonder what all those EchoMail conferences are about?
     Ever wonder if there was already a conference on some
     specific topic?  Well that's why the EchoList was originally
     created.  And that's why I've resurrected it.

     For those of you who might not be familiar with it, a little
     history...

     The EchoList is an informal listing of EchoMail conferences,
     as described by each conference's moderator.  It is now a
     monthly publication which attempts to document certain
     interesting information about EchoMail Conferences;
     "interesting" to people who would like to participate,
     interesting to EchoMail Coordinators and those who route the
     conference traffic, and potentially interesting to the
     Conference Moderator.  The base product of the EchoList
     database is the detailed Conference listing.  But, as needs
     are identified which can be satisfied with the available
     information, additional reports and analyses can be
     developed.

     The EchoList was originated by Thomas Kenny, who maintained
     it as a text file completely manually.  It was a time
     consuming effort, and was updated on a very sporadic and
     infrequent basis.  The last edition published this way was
     December 1987.

     Several people (myself included) were working with Thomas on
     developing ways to automate the maintenance, and provide a
     structured database that could be used for things other than
     a simple conference listing.  As a result, he assembled a
     specification for submitting messages that would be used for
     updating the list.  Unfortunately, Thomas decided to drop
     out of FidoNet before any of the code was completed.  He
     continues to have my gratitude for all he put in to getting
     the EchoList as far as he did.

     Since I was interested (for purely personal desire) in
     having an EchoList, I picked-up that last 1987 EchoList,
     built an R:base database and application, and keyed the
     whole thing in.  The result is a semi-automated update
     application, and some nice report generation facilities.
     There's a lot more to be done.  It's still a VERY labor-
     intensive task.  But, I'm happy to say I've been able to
     publish all updates received for the last 3 months on-time.
     Now, I'm going to try and ruin that by inviting more
     updates...

     HISTORY LESSON OVER...
     That's why I wrote this article.  It has been pointed out to

     FidoNews 5-33                Page 8                   15 Aug 1988


     me that there are a lot of people who don't realize the
     EchoList is available.  Most importantly, there are a lot of
     Conference Moderators who don't know, and as a result their
     conferences aren't in, or will soon be dropped from, that
     list.

     You see, one of things that seems to be widely agreed upon
     is that, in order to be really useful, an EchoList needs
     some control criteria.  Hating bureaucracy as I do, I've
     only implemented two (at this point).  First, in order to be
     listed, a conference must have a responsible party to whom
     questions can be directed; that person is the Moderator.
     Second, since reference information is only valuable if it's
     up-to-date, an EchoList conference entry must be updated via
     message to me on a regular basis.

     So there's the reason for the article.  A number of
     conferences have already been dropped because they had no
     moderator identified.  (How anybody's supposed to join a
     conference when there's no one identified to contact, I'll
     never know, but so be it.)  The other thing is that most of
     the entries' last-update dates are VERY old.  Starting with
     this next EchoList, I will start enforcing a purge criteria.
     An awful lot of conferences will be dropped as a result.
     Many are dead wood anyway.  But there are many such
     conferences I know are alive and well, and I hope this
     article gets the message to those moderators.  If you
     frequent a conference important to you, how about letting
     the moderator know about the EchoList?

     Oh yeah, I lied.  There is one more control, but it is for
     the Moderators themselves.  A Moderator can submit an entry
     that becomes password protected.  From then-on, the
     moderator has some feeling of control over the information
     listed in the EchoList for their conference.

     SO, HOW DO YOU UPDATE THE ECHOLIST?
     There are two ARC files that I publish.  One is the EchoList
     itself--which I'll get back to.  The other is ELISTMOD.ARC.
     It is essential that you get a copy of this file, as it
     contains detailed instructions on the update message format
     and contents.  This article is going to be too long as it
     is, so I can't put the whole thing here.  Suffice it to say,
     it's a fairly simple, but strictly structured, message
     format that has to be NetMailed to me at 1:1/201.

     The other file I referred-to is ELISTnnn.ARC, where nnn is
     the edition.  The August 1, 1988 edition is X03, and it
     contains the basic, detailed Conference list, and a few
     ancillary cross-reference listings.  I ship both of these
     files, when updated, to each of the Regional EchoMail
     Coordinators in the U.S., plus the Zone Gates for Zones 2,
     3, and 7 (in hopes they will pass them along).  I have no
     idea whether any of these people pass them along, make them
     available for download, or what.  I just hope they do.  If
     you can't find them locally, you can use the "magic" file

     FidoNews 5-33                Page 9                   15 Aug 1988


     names (specify them without a period or file extension):

       ECHOMOD  - to get the latest EchoList update instructions,
       ECHOLIST - to get the latest EchoList,

     in a SEAdog or WaZoo file request to 1:1/201.  They are also
     first-time-user downloadable from my BBS at (201)506-0472.

     WHAT IS A MODERATOR?
     I needed to establish some definitions for the EchoList, so
     these are MY definitions and others' may vary.  Critical to
     the identification of an EchoMail conference is the
     identification of its Moderator.  A  Moderator is the person
     who defines a Conference, and keeps it on track; making sure
     message content is within reasonable bounds of the topic for
     which the conference exists.  A Moderator should also set
     the base rules of the conference and cut off abuses of the
     media when they occur.  IF A CONFERENCE HAS NO MODERATOR, IT
     WILL NOT BE LISTED IN THE ECHOLIST.  If you know of a
     conference which you feel is important to the community and
     it doesn't have a moderator I seriously suggest you consider
     the job.  Basically, then, the Moderator "owns" the
     CONFERENCE.

     This is specifically contrasted with ECHOMAIL COORDINATORS.
     A dedicated group of volunteers have identified themselves
     as willing to expedite distribution of national EchoMail
     conferences.  There is (identified at the beginning of the
     NodeList) a National EchoMail Coordinator, and one Regional
     EchoMail Coordinator for each FidoNet Region.  These people
     run the National EchoMail Backbone, and facilitate timely
     and accurate distribution of the bigger conferences in the
     U.S.  They "own" that particular distribution channel, not
     the Conferences themselves.

     There are also nodes who can afford to aggregate a large
     number of Conferences and facilitate distribution.  They are
     frequently referred to as EchoMail Hubs, though it's a
     fairly unofficial title, I think.

     SO WHAT'S IN IT?
     I don't want to make this article too long, but as a brief
     overview:

     The minimum information required for an EchoList entry
     includes:  The Symbolic Area Name used by the conference, A
     Title or brief descriptive phrase for the conference, the
     Moderator's Name and the Moderator's Node Number.  Certain
     Moderators do not want to publicize the AREA: name, and the
     ability to supress the display of the Area Name in the
     EchoList is provided.  Perhaps the best way to show all the
     various fields in the EchoList is to show the format for
     submitting additions and updates, so an EchoList update
     message would be...

         To:          ECHOLIST

     FidoNews 5-33                Page 10                  15 Aug 1988


         At:          1:1/201
         Subject:     MODerator UPDate
                  or  MODerator DELete
                  or  COORdinator UPDate
                  or  PARTicipant UPDate

         AREAname      
         TITLe        
         DESCription  
         MODerator    , 
         PASSword     , 
         TOTalnodes   
         VOLume       /
         RESTrictions   
         DISTribution 
         GATEway      
         SEENby       
         PATH         

     Please don't submit an update based solely on this article,
     as there's a lot more documentation in ELISTMOD.ARC.  I just
     wanted to give you a flavor for what's there.  Constructive
     criticism, advice, and other butting-in is ALWAYS welcome.

                                Enjoy,
                        And have fun with it!

      - Mike Fuchs, 1:1/201
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)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it
wrong...
... I don't have the solution, but I admire the problem.
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