HI TOm,

On Wed 2036-Dec-31 17:21, Thom LaCosta (1:261/1352) wrote to Richard Webb:

 RW> BUt in many ways at that time, we had the better content!!!

TL> Yep...and then the content providers left....perhaps because of the
TL> Fido Administration, Moderators of the immediate nature of the
TL> Internet...most likely a combination of all of that.

WOuld agree.  THE content was often the users of said
content themselves, trading information, resources, etc.


 RW> WE sure fiddled while rome burned around us with that one.

TL> But if we really had a BBS up to please ourselves, we might have
TL> overlooked the restof the world....it's kinda like self-abuse....if
TL> you concentrate on that, ya might not notice girls.

True, but I was one of those guys who didn't put the system
up to massage my ego at the time.  WHen I started off
(switched from a point to mail only) I was in central IOwa.
Plenty of systems devoted to various topics of interest
connected to fido, but busy enough that those who just
wanted a point feed might have trouble getting in.  SO, I
went mo and took referrals from local sysops of those who
wanted point feeds.  Being a cm mail-only I could accomodate them well.

THen I moved back to southeastern Iowa to go to work for a
small recording studio in the town where I grew up.  Unless
you  bought aol no internet access.  NO fido boards.  I
brought fidonet to burlington, showed folks how to use the
internet email gateway at 1:1/31.  GOt folks connected, was
almost to the point where I needed to add a second line so
that I could handle feeding other local systems their echoes of choice and
still accomodate my users .

THIngs changed, my co-sysop was unable to manage things as
well, I was traveling more and didn't want to just leave a
system sitting in a corner of my dad's basement unattended
for weeks at a time.  Also, there was now an isp in town.
sO I pointed off another board who took over pulling
backbone traffic.  FInally he went dark too, and I found I
missed fidonet.


 RW> YOu got that right, and I"m still beating that drum TOm.  I
 RW> point out that if you pick up a copy of Part 97, (the fcc
 RW> rules governing ham radio for the uninitiated) you don't see
 RW> "hobby" mentioned there once. YOu see a whole lotta language about
 RW> a "service" however.



TL> In a permissive society, who cares about responsibility?  Once we
TL> get used to being given everything and expect that as out right, why
TL> would we work? 

But the benefits of that permissive society still only
accrue to those who work for them.  Many get to thinking
there truly is such a thing as a free lunch however.  I
wouldn't have been near as effective assisting that hospital after the
hurricane had I not spent the hours training and
improving my knowledge.  THough a bit of discomfort that
week sleeping on the floor, eating not the greatest food and being just
otherwise quite uncomfortable (along with losing
my house, sound reinforcement equipment and recording
studio) I'm still glad I was able to help those folks out.
THe old "thanks for being there for us" cliche actually had
some meaning when expressed to my wife and I by many of the
employees and patients after it was over.

TL> I tried to start an alternative to Fidonews....but the Fido
TL> Politicians made sure that was a dead issue....I will not name
TL> them....so I got totally turned off to that part of Fidonet.

Can understand that.  i contribute to fidonews every once
in awhile if I think I have something worth saying to the
general membership.  I'm told my contributions even generate some actual
talk about fidonet in the fidonews echo, but
most of the blather there I find not worth my time to wade
through.

tHere's supposed to be another z1 alternative, but other
than two issues when it first hit the scene it's been zip
every since.

 RW> Janis should have them, and ROss moves ham-fdn through his
 RW> system as well.  Iirc he feeds you these days.
 RW> VIew their complete archives at www.emcomm.org as well.

TL> I'll take a peek.

Yep, some good stuff there, think you'll like the philosophy expressed.  IN
fact, I just submitted the January 2009 issue of emcomm Monthly to the
ham-fdn coordinator (and my primary feed) for hatch late last night
.
IF you're looking janis's system look for the hamnews file
area and emcomm*.zip, * usually being the number of the
month.

I hatch those with a replaces, so emcomm01.zip for 2009 will replace
emcomm01.zip for 2008, but I archive each year's
here.  I've got issues going back to 2006, as those from
before were lost on the hard drive in my recording studio.

73


           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+