Good ${greeting_time}, Carol!

13 Nov 2017 18:27:02, you wrote to me:

 CS>>> 1. Which FTSC projects/products interest you the most? (can be
 CS>>> several). Need not come with exact document name as some of them
 CS>>> span several.
 AV>> All, at least because I run the ftsc.org site containing them.
 CS> grin, I like these questions because they arent the normal. They
 CS> seem to bring out more of 'who we are' than the standard ones.
 CS> Probably most here didnt kow you maintain the site.

Alas, I don't maintain the site - I only run it. That means, I maintain the
server (actually, the container which may migrate among different servers),
where the FTSC site resides.

As that was reminded by Fred, the position of site maintainer is vacant, and
whether there would be any volunteers, they are welcome.

 CS>>> 3. If you have been a *C and experienced a site that needed
 CS>>> alternative to normal delivery, how did you deal with it?
 AV>> Does the "site" mean "node" here?
 CS> Yes. I'm not expecting something as wild as me at sea for months

That's not really wild... Properly set and tuned node may work in "autopilot"
mode for months or even years, and the only duty of the sysop is to be in touch
via netmail.

 CS> Like possibly node/site has to be emailed instead of netmailed
 CS> due to frequent travel or something like that. Idea is 'out of
 CS> the normal pattern'.

The short answer: no. If the node is a part of Fidonet, it _must_ accept
netmail. How to do that - that's another question.

 CS>>> If you have not experienced that, what do you think you would do?
 AV>> I have such experience, and (just a small) part of my knowledge is
 AV>> being (slowly) written as a FSP.
 CS> Works for me! BTW, I am in on some of that if I catch your meaning.

Well, yes... English in not my native language, but I'd try to do my best
explaining this.

People who want to get Fidonet links (primarily for echomail feeds) have
different types of Internet connections: most are behind dumb NATs, some
connections are additionally limited on which outer services are allowed
(especially in corporate networks) and some are just enormously expensive
(mobile connections being the most obvious example). So, to provide these
downlinks with echomail, we have to find methods of circumventing all the
restrictions they have.

 CS>>> 5. How good do you think you are at working with others, especially
 CS>>> if their view is opposite to yours? How do you handle that?
 AV>> That heavily depends of the opponents' experience and competence:
 AV>> I'd consider more seriously the person who writes FTN software or
 AV>> runs a large distribution node, than a chatterbox from a two-human
 AV>> "network" (or even "region").
 CS> Fair enough that this is your call.

Yes - that's fair and it works.
I'm not a golden sovereign for everyone to like me.

 AV>> Two numbers to compare:
 AV>> gremlin@nb:~/dev/husky/hpt > git log | grep ^commit | wc -l
 AV>> 68
 AV>> gremlin@fido:~ > grep ^link ~/fido/etc/links | wc -l
 AV>> 202
 CS> Smile, you may have to explain that to the average person here trying
 CS> to figure out who to vote for as the RC calls come out. Most are not
 CS> *nix admin or use husky.

Actually, I don't care... We (in R50) have active development of the FTN
software, but nobody else want to participate in FTSC.

Guess, why.


--
Alexey V. Vissarionov aka Gremlin from Kremlin
gremlin.ru!gremlin; +vii-cmiii-cmlxxvii-mmxlviii

... that's why I really dislike fools.
--- /bin/vi