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FidoNews · Vol 14, No 50 · 15 December 1997

     F I D O N E W S --       Volume 14, Number 50          15 December 1997
     +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
     |  The newsletter of the     |   ISSN 1198-4589 Published by:          |
     |    FidoNet community       |   "FidoNews"                            |
     |          _                 |        1-904-409-7040    [1:1/23]       |
     |         /  \               |                                         |
     |        /|oo \              |                                         |
     |       (_|  /_)             |                                         |
     |        _`@/_ \    _        |                                         |
     |       |     | \   \\       |   Editor:                               |
     |       | (*) |  \   ))      |        Christopher Baker  1:18/14       |
     |       |__U__| /  \//       |                                         |
     |        _//|| _\   /        |                                         |
     |       (_/(_|(____/         |                                         |
     |             (jm)           |     Newspapers should have no friends.  |
     |                            |                    -- JOSEPH PULITZER   |
     +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
     |               Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23             |
     +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     |  MORE addresses:                                                     |
     |                                                                      |
     |    submissions=> cbaker84@digital.net                                |
     +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     |    For  information,   copyrights,   article   submissions,          |
     |    obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ          |
     |    please refer to the end of this file.                             |
     +----------------------------------------------------------------------+


      ONLY 10 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS or 6 DAYS TILL SOLSTICE!


                        Table of Contents
     1. EDITORIAL  ................................................  1
        Ah, the holiday poetry begins  ............................  1
     2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR  ....................................  2
        Bah Humbug - another slant on Christmas poems  ............  2
        Sobering Santa stuff?  ....................................  3
     3. ARTICLES  .................................................  5
        Open letter from 1:395/8  .................................  5
        A MicroSoft Christmas  ....................................  6
        Sysop's Night Before Christmas  ...........................  8
        News from a fellow cyberjournalist  .......................  9
     4. NET HUMOR  ................................................ 11
        Top 12 Reasons We Like Hanukkah  .......................... 11
     5. NOTICES  .................................................. 12
        Future History  ........................................... 17
     6. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING  ................................. 19
        Latest Greatest Software Versions  ........................ 19
     7. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY  ...................................... 23
        FidoNews PGP public-key listing  .......................... 23
     8. FIDONET BY INTERNET  ...................................... 24
     9. FIDONEWS INFORMATION  ..................................... 26
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 1                   15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                                 EDITORIAL
     =================================================================

     This Issue has pro and con Christmas poems and one Hanukkah joke. So
     far that's all that's come in for the effort. There isn't anything
     about Solstice, Ramadan or Kwanzaa, yet. If your favorite hasn't
     appeared, yet, you still have one more week to submit it.

     The ZEC election nominations are underway. A couple of well-meaning
     but obviously confused folks nominated and seconded yours truly for
     the post. Since I don't believe in Echomail [I'm an Etheist {snicker}]
     and don't have the technical wherewithal for such a job, I certainly
     decline the 'honor' for all time.

     Candidates who don't decline [even if they should], can publish their
     platforms and promises right here, if they wish.

     I only hope the ZEC election motivates some action in other venues
     like the quest for an International Coordinator. When that comes
     along, I most certainly will accept the nomination. [evil grin]

     Speaking of the Nodelist, I see we are slipping on our worldwide
     synchronization again. Some international network we are. [sigh]

     Anybody want their Christmas [or other festival] wish published next
     week? Send in your properly formatted text file with the extension of
     your choice [freq ARTSPEC.DOC] before Saturday. Details on submission
     are in the Masthead at the end of every Issue. ARTSPEC.DOC appears in
     the Notices section today in case your system cannot do a
     file-request or you are not a Sysop. You don't have to be a Sysop to
     publish in FidoNews.

     C.B.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 2                   15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                           LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
     =================================================================

     From: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@papillion.ne.us>
     To: "Baker, Christopher" <cbaker84@digital.net (Christopher Baker)
     Date: Sun, 14 Dec 97 14:42:48 -0600
     Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@monarch.papillion.ne.us>
     Subject: Fwd: A Bah Humbug Christmas

     ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE==================

      A Bah Humbug Christmas

        T'was the night before Christmas - Old Santa was pissed
        He cussed out the elves and threw down his list,

        Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks
        I have good mind to scrap the whole works

        I've busted my ass for damn near a year
        Instead of "Thanks Santa" - what do I hear

        The old lady bitches cause I work late at night
        The elves want more money - The reindeer all fight

        Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids
        Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS

        And just when I thought that things would get better
        Those assholes from IRS sent me a letter

        They say I owe taxes - if that ain't damn funny
        Who the hell ever sent Santa Clause any money

        And the kids these days - they all are the pits
        They want the impossible ...Those mean little shits

        I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds
        Assembling dolls...Their arms, legs and heads

        I made a ton of yo yo's - No request for them
        They want computers and robots...they think I'm IBM!

        If you think that's bad...just picture this
        Try holding those brats...with their pants full of piss

        They pull on my nose - they grab at my beard
        And if I don't smile..the parents think I'm weird

        Flying through the air...dodging the trees
        Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees

        I'm quitting this job...there's just no enjoyment
        I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 3                   15 Dec 1997


        There's no Christmas this year...now you know the reason
        I found me a blonde.. I'm going SOUTH for the season!! >>

     ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE===================


     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 15:26:16 -0500 (EST)
     From: BB Oros <bboros@ncinter.net>
     Subject: Sobering Santa Stuff

     1)  No known species of reindeer can fly.

          BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be
          classified, and while most of these are insects and germs,
          this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only
          Santa has ever seen.

     2)  There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the
         world.

          BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim,
          Hindu, Jewish & Buddhist children, that reduces the workload
          to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population
          Reference Bureau.  At an average (census) rate of 3.5
          children per household, that's 91.8 million homes.  One
          presumes there's at least one good child in each.

     3)  Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with.

          This is due to the different time zones and the rotation of
          the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems
          logical). This works out to 822.6 visits/second.

          This is to say that for each Christian household with good
          children, Santa has .001 second to park, hop out of the
          sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings,
          distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat
          whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get
          back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.

          Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly
          distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to
          be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will
          accept), we are now talking about .78 miles/household, a
          total trip of 75.5 million miles; not counting stops to do
          what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus
          feeding & etc.

          So Santa's sleigh must be moving at 650 miles/second, 3,000
          times the speed of sound.  For purposes of comparison, the
          fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe,
          moves at a poky 27.4 miles/second.  A conventional reindeer
          can run, tops, 15 miles/hour.

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 4                   15 Dec 1997


     4)  The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting
          element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a
          medium-sized lego set (2 lb.), the sleigh is carrying 321,300
          tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as
          overweight.  On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more
          than 300 lb.  Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see #1)
          could pull 10 TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job
          with 8, or even 9 reindeer.  We need 214,200. This increases
          the payload - not counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430
          tons.

          This is four times the weight of the ocean-liner Queen
          Elizabeth.

     5)  353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles/second creates
          enormous air resistance.

          This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as a
          spacecraft reentering the earth's atmosphere.  The lead pair
          of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy.
          Per second.  Each.  In short, they will burst into flame
          almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them,
          and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire
          reindeer team will be vaporized within 0.00426 of a second.
          Meanwhile, Santa, will be subjected to centrifugal forces
          17,500.06 times greater than gravity.  A 250-lb. Santa
          (seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his
          sleigh by 4,315,015 lb. of force.

          If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's
          dead now.

     Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!!!

      -30-

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 5                   15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                                 ARTICLES
     =================================================================


     Open letter from 1:395/8
     Larry Black, 1:395/8

     Dear Bruce, Jim, and Chris,

     I wish to thank all of you for supporting me in my time of need.  At
     this time, I am still unable to comply with Crashmail, Zone Mail Hour,
     Etc., Etc., due to reasons beyond my Control.  However, as an old-time
     member, and one of the local Founders of 395, I was very active in
     helping Fido acquire new nodes, and always supported the Efforts of
     new sysops, which was extremely Difficult in the Killeen/Fort Hood
     area, due to the large turnover of military personnel in our Unique
     situation.

     Every day, I watch as we Lose more and more sysops and more and more
     nodes around the world to that Hi-Tech THANG called the Internet!!  To
     me, it is TOTALLY incomprehensible that a few remaining Hobbyist
     Sysops that helped build THE WORLD'S GREATEST AMATEUR MAIL NETWORK
     must be STUCK in a rut with a Policy that was enacted in the 8-bit
     days of computers.  Meanwhile, the World is moving Forward on the
     Internet, which does NOT have such Draconian restrictions!  For the
     last two years, we have watched many of the Amateur mail networks that
     I and the others have participated in rapidly Disappear (RBBS-Net,
     Egg-Net, Etc., Etc.,), mostly due to the fact that they attempted to
     clone the archaic policies of the larger Fidonet and Refused to adapt
     to the changing technology around them.

     I find it strange that Zone 2 has somehow managed to elude parts of
     the archaic Policy 4, mostly due to the infighting over the one simple
     rule that Fido has.  Zone 2 meanwhile has an Internet Site that allows
     sysops with a Node Number to directly pick up mail over the Internet
     and has made changes to allow its users to directly participate in
     online conferences through the Internet.  Perhaps if we were less
     restrictive and worried less about who has node numbers and Zone Mail
     Hours, and were more concerned about maintaining sysops in the
     nodelist instead of watching a shrinking nodelist, we could provide a
     more REALISTIC and REAL TIME Echolist by having numerous Internet
     Sites that provide access to Users and Sysops for realtime response
     throughout the world.

     The Truth is that I, as well as most of the older Fido sysops around
     the world, became a part of the Net not for Chit-Chat with other
     sysops, but so we could get Responses from PC Hardware Manufacturers,
     specifically Modem Manufacturers, and other communications tools about
     PC Hardware, so that when I need a new init string, I didn't have to
     sit on the phone for 14 hours at my expense to get a new AT&F string.
     And of course, we were able to interact with shareware/software
     authors around the world, which is a Good thing, in what was a super-
     timely manner of only 3-5 days.  In the days of 2400 baud modems, that
     was a Wonderful thing!  In today's modern world, using this wonderful
     thing called the WORLD WIDE WEB, every large and small PC hardware,
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 6                   15 Dec 1997


     modem, shareware, software, etc., company has an online WEB-SITE
     providing people around the world with INSTANTANEOUS access to
     drivers, fixes, and help!!  Don't you think it's strange that us
     hobbyist sysops, using our sizzling fast Pentium computers and light-
     speed 56K modems still have to wait the same original 3-5 days (BTW, I
     have a Skylink satellite dish in my back yard for downloading Fidonet
     mail that used to cost me an annual subscription that I would gladly
     donate to a dedicated hobbyist if he paid the shipping cost.  However,
     It's still cheaper (aka FREE) to get Fido echoes from zone TWO over
     the Internet!).

     I realize that all of you will see that this is irrelevant, so if you
     wish, because I am not in compliance, you may pull my node number.
     However, I would like to HUMBLY request an independent node number.
     If this is impossible, you may use the Internet gateway, (providing
     that it's still working) to send me mail at Larry.Black@ToadNet.com.

     Thank You.

     Larry Black
     1:395/8_???
     86:8406/5

     P.S.  Instead of people at the top, Region Coordinator, Zone
     Coordinator, etc., dictating Archaic policies to us poor hobbyist
     sysops on the bottom run, maybe should allow the lowly sysops, who
     have kept the Net together for years, to become part of the decision-
     making process, by requesting that the lowly sysops provide input,
     recommendations, and suggestions, to modernize our network.  Elections
     are a wonderful thing, but rather meaningless if we can really make NO
     changes.  I feel BADLY that this network that I helped SUPPORT and
     BUILD is disintegrating before my eyes because no-one is willing to
     ROCK the BOAT or make changes for fear of being singled out as a BAD
     GUY or ROGUE!

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     From: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@papillion.ne.us>
     To: "Baker, Christopher" <cbaker84@digital.net (Christopher Baker)
     Date: Fri, 12 Dec 97 17:07:20 -0600
     Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@monarch.papillion.ne.us>
     Subject: Fwd: *** Have Yourself a Microsoft Christmas***

     ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE==================

     *** Have Yourself a Microsoft Christmas***

     'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
     Not a creature was stirring, except Papa's mouse.
     The computer was humming, the icons were hopping,
     As Papa did last-minute Internet shopping.

     The stockings were hung by the modem with care
     In hope that St. Nicholas would bring new software.
     The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
     While visions of computer games danced in their heads.
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 7                   15 Dec 1997


     PageMaker for Billy, and Quicken for Dan,
     And Carmen Sandiego for Pamela Ann.
     The letters to Santa had been sent out by Mom,
     To santaclaus@toyshop.northpole.com -

     Which has now been re-routed to Washington State
     Because Santa's workshop has been bought by Bill Gates.
     All the elves and reindeer have had to skedaddle
     To flashy new quarters in suburban Seattle.

     After centuries of a life that was simple and spare,
     St. Nicholas is suddenly a new billionaire,
     With a shiny red Porsche in the place of his sleigh,
     And a house on Lake Washington that's just down the way
     From where Bill has his mansion. The old fellow preens
     In black Gucci boots and red Calvin Klein jeans.
     The elves have stock options and desks with a view,
     Where they write computer code for Johnny and Sue.

     No more dolls or toy soldiers or little toy drums (ahem - pardon me)
     No more dolls or tin soldiers or little toy drums
     Will be under the tree, only compact disk ROMS
     With the Microsoft label. So spin up your drive,
     From now on Christmas runs only on Win95.

     More rapid than eagles the competitors came,
     And Bill whistled, and shouted, and called them by name.
     "Now, ADOBE! now, CLARIS! now, INTUIT! too,
     Now, APPLE! and NETSCAPE! you are all of you through,"

     It is Microsoft's SANTA that the kids can't resist,
     It's the ultimate software with a traditional twist -
     Recommended by no less than the jolly old elf,
     And on the package, a picture of Santa himself.

     Get 'em young, keep 'em long, is Microsoft's scheme,
     And a merger with Santa is a marketer's dream.
     To the top of the NASDAQ! to the top of the Dow!
     Now dash away! dash away! dash away - wow!"

     And Mama in her 'kerchief and I in my cap,
     Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
     When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
     The whir and the hum of our satellite platter,
     As it turned toward that new Christmas star in the sky,
     The SANTALITE owned by the Microsoft guy.
     As I sprang from my bed and was turning around,
     My computer turned on with a Jingle-Bells sound.

     And there on the screen was a smiling Bill Gates
     Next to jolly old Santa, two arm-in-arm mates.
     And I heard them exclaim in voice so bright,
     Have a MICROSOFT CHRISTMAS, and TO ALL A GOOD
     NIGHT.

     ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE===================
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 8                   15 Dec 1997


     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     --- Following message extracted from 374SYSOP @ 1:18/14 ---
         By Christopher Baker on Sat Dec 13 20:42:07 1997

     From: Genie Bohn
     To: All
     Date: 11 Dec 97  04:52:00
     Subj: From the archives

      A   S Y S O P S   N I G H T   B E F O R E   C H R I S T M A S
      -------------------------------------------------------------

     Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the nodes
             The modems were buzzing from many abodes.
     And the new soundcard I'd hid by the chimney with care,
             Had been returned by my spouse who had found it there.

     I knew kids had long since been poured in their beds
             While visions of new Apogee games danced in their heads.
     My spouse fell asleep in a chair next to me
             The computer was mine, I shouted with glee!

     When a ring on Node 1 woke me quick from my throes
             For the name on the logon thrilled me to the toes
     Away to the keyboard I tore like a flash
             Fell onto the table - broke a mouse with a crash.

     The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow
             Shone bright on the RIP screen from a user we know.
     And what to my wondering eyes did I see?
             But one SANTA CLAUS typed so very hesitatingly.

     In the NEWUSER script answered "YES" to real name,
             "North Pole" as location, the "XT" was a shame.
     He read all the rules and then to the bulletins he went.
             So perfect his logon, I was slow to get bent.

     I thought: "Download a file, you ain't got all night!"
             The menus were boring in plain black and white.
     But no interest in files this user displayed,
             And I knew that this guy might get an upgrade.

     He read all the Main Conference, then paused for a sec
             Made me wonder if the guy worked with a full deck
     And then, in a twinkling a message he typed
              When I read it, the tears from my eyes I did wipe.

     THANK YOU SYSOP, FOR THE ACCESS - YOU HAVE A GREAT BOARD
             I thought at this time the sub he couldn't afford
     HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, AND A BETTER NEW YEAR
             At least for a lockout he had nothing to fear.

     MRS CLAUS SENDS HER BEST AND THE ELVES SEND A GREETING
             Maybe we should invite this guy to our next meeting.
     I'LL ONLY CALL ONCE A YEAR, BUT I'LL UPLOAD A FILE!
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 9                   15 Dec 1997


             Just once a year? How many boards does he dial?

     After saving this message, to the RIPNet! echos he went,
             Joined the EUROPE echo quickly, and read with intent,
     Through RIPSYSOP and RIPCHAT and RIP Q&A he flew
             Even left a few messages to people I knew!

     Then upload he did - 'twas some warm Christmas text
             Made me wonder in awe at just what he'd do next
     I sprang to the kitchen a poured me a drink
             Stirred it quick with a dirty spoon right from the sink.

     Then back to the keyboard, but he'd logged off with a BYE
             No chance for a chat with this SANTA CLAUS guy.
     But I heard in the distance as I turned off the light,
             MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT!
         -----------------------------------------------------------

      Origin: Flamingo BBS, Melbourne, FL V34+ (407)242-8184 (1:374/46)

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     Journal X Press Release
     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

     FOR MORE INFORMATION:
     Kevin Bertram - (703) 938-6901 kevin@journalx.com
     Shane Ham - (202) 785-3916 shane@journalx.com

      Journal X Webzine Sends Press Release to Gain Publicity
      "We hope nobody sees through this sham," says editor.

     Journal X, a webzine devoted to politics and culture from the
     twentysomething perspective, sent a press release today in the hopes
     of gaining free publicity. Editor Kevin Bertram and Associate Editor
     Shane Ham dreamed up the idea in order to increase readership for
     their fledgling internet publication.

     "All kinds of people and organizations publicize themselves by
     convincing the media that advertising is news," said Bertram. "If it
     works on Entertainment Tonight, it should work for us."

     "Our budget is tight to say the least," said Ham. "If we can con one
     or two reporters to do a 'news' story on us, we can get our name and
     URL out without spending a penny."

     "We just hope we can find reporters who are gullible enough to fall
     for it," added Bertram.

     Journal X is a webzine devoted to political commentary, original
     fiction, and reviews of everything from movies to computer games. The
     entire staff is composed of young men and women in their twenties. It
     is published every Thursday morning, and it can be found on the World
     Wide Web at http://www.journalx.com .

     The Politics and Culture department carries both conservative and
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 10                  15 Dec 1997


     liberal commentators that write about the world with a cynical but
     humorous edge. The Fiction and Reviews department carries short
     stories, diaries from young people living in New York and San
     Francisco, and Journal X's most popular feature, movie reviews.

     "The previous two paragraphs are the critical ones," said Bertram.
     "We're hoping that it will move reporters to open their browsers and
     look at our zine. Once they do that, my phone will be ringing off the
     hook with interview requests."

     Journal X editors brushed aside naysayers who predicted their press
     release scam would fail. "Just open up the newspaper," said Ham. "It
     is filled with articles that couldn't even be considered news in the
     bizarro universe. If you can read about the woman who turned her doll-
     making hobby into a marginally profitable home business, you should be
     able to read about the best new webzine on the net." He added that he
     hoped his upbeat tone and superlative descriptions of Journal X would
     convince reporters that a story about the webzine would indeed be
     interesting.

     "Sure this is a cynical ploy," said Bertram, "but everyone else does
     it and it works very well for politicians and celebrities. We just
     want our piece of the pie."

     Kevin Bertram and Shane Ham are both available for interviews.

     # 30 #

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 11                  15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                                 NET HUMOR
     =================================================================

     From: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@papillion.ne.us>
     To: "Baker, Christopher" <cbaker84@digital.net (Christopher Baker)
     Date: Fri, 12 Dec 97 17:13:12 -0600
     Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@monarch.papillion.ne.us>
     Subject: Fwd: Top 12 Reasons Why We Like Hanukkah

     ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE==================

     Top 12 Reasons Why We Like Hanukkah

          12. You can't be nailed to the menorah

          11. More elephants in the Hanukkah story

          10. No roof damage from reindeer

          9. Never a silent night when you're among your Jewish loved ones

          8. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Rebbe

          7. Betting Hanukkah gelt on candle races

          6. Yes, Rivka'le, there is no Santa Claus

          5. Naked spin-the-dreidel games

          4. Fun waxy buildup

          3. No awkward explanations of virgin birth

          2. Cheer optional

          1. No Irving Berlin songs

     ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE===================

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 12                  15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                                  NOTICES
     =================================================================

     FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines

     FidoNet address 1:1/23

     Updated 1 Jul 1997 by Christopher Baker
     Updated 29 May 1991 by Tom Jennings
     Based on the original work by Thom Henderson

     | denotes a change since the last update |.

     "Fido" and "FidoNet" are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings,
     Box 410923, San Francisco CA 94141, USA and are used with
     permission.

     --------
     SYNOPSIS:

     FidoNews is the newsletter of the FidoNet computer network, its
     Sysops and users.  It is passed to its readers electronically via
     the FidoNet and other computer networks and to non-network
     readers as well.

     This document intends to tell you how to write and submit
     articles for publication in FidoNews. Much of it describes the
     technical specifications which an article must meet in order to
     be included in the newsletter, as well as broad (very) guidelines
     on content. (Of course you realize articles can be submitted only
     electronically.) Please read it carefully. The article you save
     might be your own.


     ------------
     INTRODUCTION:

     FidoNews was originally founded in early 1984 to include all
     parts of the lives of its member Sysops and users, which of
     course means not just technical matters. We do not have fixed
     goals of maximum distribution or maximum readership (i.e. lowest
     common denominator) but only to meet the needs of our individual
     network members. The success of this venture has always been
     contentious at best (ahem).

     In any case the grand experiment continues. Twelve years later
     (at this writing) and over 30,000 Nodes in the network, the
     editorial policy, or lack of one, of FidoNews has shown to
     best fit our ever-changing and unpredictable needs.


     --------------
     SUBJECT MATTER:

     Articles on any subject of interest to FidoNet members and users
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 13                  15 Dec 1997


     are welcome and encouraged, not necessarily of a technical
     nature, though priority may be, but not necessarily, given to
     articles of importance to the FidoNet, its technology and its
     uses; other networks such as uucp and the Internet; social
     aspects of communications; ethical issues; other related matters.


     --------------
     ARTICLE LENGTH:

     Try to keep articles short. The longer it is, the less likely
     people are to read it. Consider splitting long articles (more
     than five pages) into smaller articles to be run serially.
     Exceptions will be made at the whim of the editors.

     For practical reasons, we will attempt to keep FidoNews to a
     "reasonable size", which is of course a highly subjective and
     variable thing. As of May 1991, the goal is under 100,000 bytes.
     Decisions regarding content may be made based upon this, though
     in general it shouldn't be an issue.


     ------------------
     WRITING GUIDELINES:

     We are not all professional writers, nor is that even a goal for
     the FidoNews -- we want real communication to and from real
     people; even at the expense of so-called "good writing", which is
     frequently a tool to exclude. There are a few minimum
     requirements though for any successful writing, even for the
     lowly FidoNews:

     * The subject discussed must be clear to people other than the
       author! Don't assume that people will pick up the context from
       your writing. Tell them explicitly.

     * Why are you writing this? It may seem obvious -- "Review of the
       new Acme 75-baud Modem" -- but it's not. Are you the
       manufacturer? An irate customer? Let us know your point of
       view.

     * Who are you? A good question! Anonymity is acceptable, though
       most people want to take credit for their work. Include full
       contact information including electronic mail addresses.

     * Articles submitted via Netmail or email must contain all the
       technically required lines and delimiters in the BODY of the
       message.  This includes the *[title] line and the 70 character
       width requirement. To indicate the filename type for one of
       these message submissions, place the FILENAME.TYP in the Subj:
       line of your email, Netmail, or Echomail. Those that require
       extra editing may be delayed from appearing in FidoNews.

     * Articles will appear when space becomes available, not
       necessarily the "next" issue. If your article is of a time-
       critical nature, please say so when you submit it; the editor
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 14                  15 Dec 1997


       still has final say.

     * The editor reserves the right to request changes from an author
       to meet these "standards", which you have to admit are pretty
       loose. It is not the intent for this to be a mechanism to
       refuse articles the editor does not like, but simply to keep
       the contents intelligible.

     * If we have a backlog of articles, we may get fussier about
       things. Historically, this has not been a serious problem.


     ---------------------
     SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE

     TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

     If all that hasn't scared you away, the next step is to create a
     text file which contains the text of your article. The resulting
     file should be sent or uploaded to "Editor", FidoNet
     address 1:1/23. The "physical" location (and phone number) of
     FidoNews varies, and hence must be found elsewhere, such as
     within a recent copy of FidoNews itself.


     Filenames must follow the MSDOS standard:

         FILENAME.TYP

         a 1 to 8 character file name (A - Z, 0 - 9)
         a period,
         a 0 to 3 character file type (A - Z, 0 - 9)


     File types are used to distinguish types of submissions, as
     follows:

         .LET Letters to the Editor.
         .ART An article, commentary, open letter, or general news
              item.
         .GUE Want to write a Guest Editorial? [*Name & Node on line 1]
         .RTX Need to make a Retraction of a previous article or notice?
         .COL Want to become a regular contributor with your own column?
         .ANS Answers to the Question of the Week.
         .BIO FidoNet biographies - tell us your | personal | story.
     |   .TRU True stories of FidoNet. |
         .HIS FidoNet history - got an anecdote to share?
         .REV Reviews of related product, services, or programs.
         .JOK Net humor in print.
     |   .FIC FidoNet (computer related) short fiction. |
         .CMX Comics in ASCII. [watch those lines at 70 columns!]
     |        [.CMX that are political will be renamed to .GUE] |
         .PRF Want to Proofread? Get a cookie for spotting errors.
         .AD  Advertising FREE services or events.
         .SAL "For Sale"
         .WAN "Wanted"
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 15                  15 Dec 1997


         .NOT A notice for the back of the issue. Keep them short.
         .INT Internet addresses for FidoNet webpages of general interest.

     If your file doesn't have one of the above extensions, then it
     will lay around taking up disk space until someone takes a look
     at it and realizes what it is. Maybe.

     The name of the file is up to you, though you should use a name
     which is not likely to be "stepped on" by someone else -- the
     system will not guarantee file names are unique. For example,
     FNEWS.ART is probably not a good name for an article.


     --------------
     CHARACTER SETS:

     The character by character contents of the file itself must meet
     the following standards or it cannot be published in FidoNews.
     The FidoNews staff WILL NOT be responsible for making file
     contents conform to these standards.

     * FLUSH LEFT MARGIN: Please do not put a "left margin" on your
       articles. Have the text start at the very first column.

     * RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 70 OR LESS: Less is tolerable, more is
       definitely not.  If your cursor is resting at column 71 when
       your line is ended, you're okay.  One character past that even
       with trailing spaces and MAKENEWS will barf on your submission.
       If your submission is physically rejected, the Editor will have
       to fix it manually or send it back for reformatting.

     * RAGGED-RIGHT TEXT: Word-Star style "justification" (inserting
       spaces into sentences so that a paragraph is perfectly rec-
       tangular) is extremely hard to read, and consumes needless space.
       Please don't use it!

     * NO FUNNY CHARACTERS: This includes formfeeds, returns without
       linefeeds, linefeeds without returns, tabs and other oddities.
       The only control codes (character codes 0 through 31 decimal)
       allowed are carriage return (CR) and linefeed (LF). The only
       exception is: Control-Z "end of file" terminator characters are
       tolerated. Not required.

     * NO GRAPHICS CHARACTERS: Believe it or not, not everyone in the
       world has an IBM PC. Please restrict yourself to printable
       ASCII characters in the range 20 hex to 7E hex (space to
       tilde).

     * LINES TERMINATED: Each line in the article should be terminated
       with a 'newline' -- either the MSDOS standard (CR/LF) or the
       unix standard (LF only).


     -----------------
     SUBMISSION FORMAT:

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 16                  15 Dec 1997


     Below is a sample article properly formatted. Features of it are
     discussed further below.

     --article file example begins below this line--
     *A Sample Article [this is in LINE 1 starting at COLUMN 1]

     This is My Title
     by Joe Schmoe, [Netmail/email address]

     And here is my article. Note that it is flush left (zero indent).
     Also note that the right margin is at column seventy so that it
     won't overflow "most" text windows. Each line has a newline. Note
     the *'ed first line. My article will be listed in the table of
     contents exactly as it appears after the * above.

     Figure 1.                       Table 1.
             +-------+               ========
             | A Box |                  Alpha
             +-------+                 Bravo

     Note that we am not using any funny-o characters. This ensures
     that the final article will look the same to every user, no
     matter what sort of hardware he has.

     This is the last sentence of our article.

     --article file example ends above this line--


     The FIRST line of text is the Table of Contents line. It MUST
     begin with an asterisk * as shown above.  NO BLANK lines above
     title line are permitted. If you do not follow this instruction
     exactly, the article will not be listed in the Table of Contents.
     This Table of Contents listing method works for all submission
     file types.

     * Everything that follows the *'ed line will appear in the body
       of the newsletter.  The *'ed line will be stripped out of your
       article text so if you want it repeated as your title in the
       article BE SURE to | REPEAT | it on a second line without the *.

     * Next should be the title or name of your article, your name,
       and contact information (network address(es), Postal Service
       address, etc) Try to keep it to one or two lines each.

     * Put a blank line between paragraphs. Paragraphs that all run
       together are very difficult to read, and may be rejected.

     * If you want to put in a table or a figure, go right ahead.
       We do not rearrange text, so your table or figure will
       remain exactly as you entered it. Try to limit them to ones
       that make the communication CLEARER.

     * Don't put a lot of blank space at the top or bottom. The
       FidoNews-generator programs will visually separate articles
       automatically.
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 17                  15 Dec 1997


     * Please check for basic errors in spelling, grammar, and
       punctuation. We're not publishing a textbook, but you don't
       want it to embarrass yourself do you?

     * Don't use FidoNews to grind your personal axes against other
       FidoNet members. An article presenting a side of an internal
       dispute is one thing. An article defaming or perseverating over
       several Issues is another. Articles that merely quote endlessly
       from other sources to no particular effect are also not a good
       idea.

     * Don't republish copyrighted material from other sources WITHOUT
       the permission of those sources. Include the permission in such
       articles.

     * Remember that FidoNews is no better or worse than the articles
       submitted to it. If you want FidoNews to be a useful newsletter,
       get involved and submit useful articles. It's up to YOU to make
       it work.

     --------------------
     SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

     FidoNews is published on Monday of every week.  Deadline for file
     submissions to the FidoNews Editor via file-attach is 2300 ET
     [0300 UTC/GMT] the previous Saturday.  Deadline for submissions via
     Netmail, email, or in the FIDONEWS Echo is 2300 ET [0300 UTC/GMT]
     the previous Friday.  Submissions which miss the deadlines will be
     processed the following week.  Submission by deadline is not a
     guarantee of appearance in that week's FidoNews but it is likely
     depending on volume of submissions.


      -30-

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

                                Future History

     12 Jan 1998
        HAL 9000 is one year old today.

     30 Apr 1998
        Queens Day, Holland.

     17 May 1998
        Independence Day, Norway.

     22 May 1998
        Expo '98 World Exposition in Lisbon (Portugal) opens.

     14 Sep 1998
        Start of International BBS Week [thru 20 Sep 98].

     22 Sep 1998
        First anniversary of the FidoNews domain of www.fidonews.org.
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 18                  15 Dec 1997


      1 Dec 1998
        Fifteenth Anniversary of release of Fido version 1 by
        Tom Jennings.

     24 Jul 1999
        XIII Pan American Games [through 8 Aug 99].

     31 Dec 1999
        Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed.

      1 Jan 2000
        The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec.

      1 Jun 2000
        EXPO 2000 World Exposition in Hannover (Germany) opens.

     15 Sep 2000
        Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens.

      1 Jan 2001
        This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E.

     -- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this
        Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 19                  15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                         FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING
     =================================================================


     Latest Greatest Software Versions
     by Peter E. Popovich, 1:363/264

     New entry: Tornado, a BBS from Konstantin Klyagin. Welcome to the
     list... ;-)

     -=- Snip -=-

     Submission form for the Latest Greatest Software Versions column

     OS Platform                             :
     Software package name                   :
     Version                                 :
     Function(s) - BBS, Mailer, Tosser, etc. :
     Freeware / Shareware / Commercial?      :
     Author / Support staff contact name     :
     Author / Support staff contact node     :
     Magic name (at the above-listed node)   :

     Please include a sentence describing what the package does.

     Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264

     -=- Snip -=-

     MS-DOS:
     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     Act-Up         4.6      G D Chris Gunn        1:15/55     ACT-UP
     ALLFIX         5.00     T S Harald Harms      2:281/415   ALLFIX
     Announcer      1.12     O S Peter Karlsson    2:206/221   ANNOUNCE
     BGFAX          1.60     O S B.J. Guillot      1:106/400   BGFAX
     Binkley Docs   2.60     M F Bob Juge          1:1/102     BDOC_260.ZIP
     BinkleyTerm    2.60     M F Bob Juge          1:1/102     BDOS_260.ZIP
     BinkleyTerm-XE XR5      M F Thomas Waldmann   2:2474/400  BTXE_DOS
     CFRoute        0.92     O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70    CFR
     CheckPnt       1.0a     O G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     CHECKPNT
     FastEcho       1.46.1   T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400  FASTECHO
     FastEcho/16    1.46.1   T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400  FEX
     FastLst        1.36     N S Alberto Pasquale  2:332/504   FASTLSTD
     FidoBBS (tm)   12u      B S Ray Brown         1:1/117     FILES
     FrontDoor      2.12     M S JoHo              2:201/330   FD
     FrontDoor      2.20c    M C JoHo              2:201/330   FDINFO
     GEcho          1.00     T S Bob Seaborn       1:140/12    GECHO
     GEcho/Plus     1.11     T C Bob Seaborn       1:140/12    GECHO
     GEcho/Pro      1.20     T C Bob Seaborn       1:140/12    GECHO
     GIGO           07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler      1:1/141     INFO
     GoldED         2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GED
     GoldED/386     2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEX
     GoldED Docs    2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEM
     GoldNODE       2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEN
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 20                  15 Dec 1997


     Imail          1.75     T S Michael McCabe    1:1/121     IMAIL
     ImCrypt        1.04     O G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     IMCRYPT
     InfoMail/86    1.21     O F Damian Walker     2:2502/666  INFOMAIL
     InfoMail/386   1.21     O F Damian Walker     2:2502/666  INFO386
     InterEcho      1.19     T C Peter Stewart     1:369/35    IEDEMO
     InterMail      2.29k    M C Peter Stewart     1:369/35    IMDEMO
     InterPCB       1.52     O S Peter Stewart     1:369/35    INTERPCB
     IPNet          1.11     O S Michele Stewart   1:369/21    IPNET
     JD's CBV       1.4      O S John Dailey       1:363/277   CBV
     Jelly-Bean     1.01     T S Rowan Crowe       3:635/727   JELLY
     Jelly-Bean/386 1.01     T S Rowan Crowe       3:635/727   JELLY386
     JMail-Hudson   2.81     T S Jason Steck       1:285/424   JMAIL-H
     JMail-Goldbase 2.81     T S Jason Steck       1:285/424   JMAIL-G
     MakePl         1.9      N G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     MAKEPL
     Marena         1.1 beta O G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     MARENA
     Maximus        3.01     B P Tech              1:249/106   MAX
     Max User Ed.   0.18     O F Larry Cooke       1:300/53    MUE
     McMail         1.0      M S Michael McCabe    1:1/148     MCMAIL
     MDNDP          1.18     N S Bill Doyle        1:388/7     MDNDP
     Msged          4.10     O G Andrew Clarke     3:635/728   MSGED41D.ZIP
     Msged/386      4.10     O G Andrew Clarke     3:635/728   MSGED41X.ZIP
     NEF            2.38     O S Alberto Pasquale  2:332/504   NEFD
     NorthStar      3.31.29  B S A&B Darin         1:285/82    NSTAR
     Opus CBCS      1.79     B P Christopher Baker 1:374/14    OPUS
     O/T-Track      2.66     O S Peter Hampf       2:241/1090  OT
     PcMerge        2.8      N G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     PCMERGE
     PlatinumXpress 1.3      M C Gary Petersen     1:290/111   PX13TD.ZIP
     QuickBBS       2.81     B S Ben Schollnick    1:2613/477  QUICKBBS
     RAR            2.01     C S Ron Dwight        2:220/22    RAR
     RemoteAccess   2.50     B S Mark Lewis        1:3634/12   RA
     Searchlight    4.5      B S Paul Casey        1:343/117   DEMO450.ZIP
     Searchlight    5.02     B C Paul Casey        1:343/117   SLBBS50.TXT
     Silver Xpress
       Door         5.4      O S Gary Petersen     1:290/111   FILES
       Reader       4.4      O S Gary Petersen     1:290/111   SXR44.ZIP
     Spitfire       3.51     B S Mike Weaver       1:3670/3    SPITFIRE
     Squish         1.11     T P Tech              1:249/106   SQUISH
     StealTag UK    1.c...   O F Fred Schenk       2:284/412   STEAL_UK
     StealTag NL    1.c...   O F Fred Schenk       2:284/412   STEAL_NL
     T-Mail         2.600    M S Ron Dwight        2:220/22    TMAIL
     Telegard       3.02     B F Tim Strike        1:259/423   TELEGARD
     Terminate      5.00     O S Bo Bendtsen       2:254/261   TERMINATE
     Tobruk         0.33     T G Paul Edwards      3:711/934   TOBRUK
     Tornado        1.50g    B F Konst Klyagin     2:461/22    TORNADO
     TosScan        1.01     T C JoHo              2:201/330   TSINFO
     TransNet       1.00     G S Marc S. Ressl     4:904/72    TN100ALL.ZIP
     TriBBS         11.0     B S Gary Price        1:3607/26   TRIBBS
     TriDog         11.0     T F Gary Price        1:3607/26   TRIDOG
     TriToss        11.0     T S Gary Price        1:3607/26   TRITOSS
     WaterGate      0.93     G S Robert Szarka     1:320/42    WTRGATE
     WWIV           4.24a    B S Craig Dooley      1:376/126   WWIV
     WWIVTOSS       1.36     T S Craig Dooley      1:376/126   WWIVTOSS
     xMail          2.00     T S Thorsten Franke   2:2448/53   XMAIL
     XRobot         3.01     O S JoHo              2:201/330   XRDOS

     OS/2:
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 21                  15 Dec 1997


     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     ALLFIX/2       5.00     T S Harald Harms      2:281/415   AFIXOS2
     BGFAX          1.60     O S B.J. Guillot      1:106/400   BGFAX
     Binkley Docs   2.60     M F Bob Juge          1:1/102     BDOC_260.ZIP
     BinkleyTerm    2.60     M F Bob Juge          1:1/102     BOS2_260.ZIP
     BinkleyTerm-XE XR5      M F Thomas Waldmann   2:2474/400  BTXE_OS2
     CFRoute        0.92     O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70    CFR
     FastEcho       1.46.1   T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400  FE2
     FastLst        1.36     N S Alberto Pasquale  2:332/504   FASTLST
     FleetStreet    1.21     O S Michael Hohner    2:2490/2520 FLEET
     FP-OS/2        97-03-21 O F Mike Bilow        323/107     FPOS2
     GEcho/Pro      1.20     T C Bob Seaborn       1:140/12    GECHO
     GIGO           07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler      1:1/141     INFO
     GoldED         2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEO
     GoldED Docs    2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEM
     GoldNODE       2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEN
     ImCrypt        1.04     O G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     IMCRYPT
     Maximus        3.01     B P Tech              1:249/106   MAXP
     Max User Ed.   0.18     O F Larry Cooke       1:300/53    MUEP
     Msged/2        4.10     O G Andrew Clarke     3:635/728   MSGED41O.ZIP
     NEF            2.38     O S Alberto Pasquale  2:332/504   NEF
     PcMerge        2.3      N G Michiel vd Vlist  2:500/9     PCMERGE
     RAR            2.01     C S Ron Dwight        2:220/22    RAR2
     Squish         1.11     T P Tech              1:249/106   SQUISHP
     T-Mail         2.600    M S Ron Dwight        2:220/22    TMAIL2
     Tobruk         0.33     T G Paul Edwards      3:711/934   TOBRUK
     Tornado        1.50g    B F Konst Klyagin     2:461/22    TORNADO2
     WaterGate      0.93     G S Robert Szarka     1:320/42    WTRGATE
     XRobot         3.01     O S JoHo              2:201/330   XROS2

     Windows (16-bit apps):
     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     BeeMail        1.0      M C Andrius Cepaitis  2:470/1     BEEMAIL
     FrontDoor APX  1.12     P S Mats Wallin       2:201/329   FDAPXW

     Windows (32-bit apps):
     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     Argus 95/IP    2.704    M S Max Masyutin      2:469/77    A9I
     Argus NT/IP    2.704    M S Max Masyutin      2:469/77    ANI
     BeeMail        1.0      M C Andrius Cepaitis  2:470/1     BEEMAIL
     Binkley Docs   2.60     M F Bob Juge          1:1/102     BDOC_260.ZIP
     BinkleyTerm    2.60     M F Bob Juge          1:1/102     BW32_260.ZIP
     BinkleyTerm-XE XR5      M F Thomas Waldmann   2:2474/400  BTXE_W32
     CFRoute        0.92     O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70    CFR
     FastLst        1.36     N S Alberto Pasquale  2:332/504   FASTLSTW
     GoldED         2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEO
     GoldED Docs    2.50     O S Len Morgan        1:203/730   GEM
     Maximus        3.01     B P Tech              1:249/106   MAXN
     Msged/NT       4.10     O G Andrew Clarke     3:635/728   MSGED41W.ZIP
     NEF            2.38     O S Alberto Pasquale  2:332/504   NEFW
     PlatinumXpress 2.00     M C Gary Petersen     1:290/111   PXW-INFO
     Searchlight    5.02     B C Paul Casey        1:343/117   SLBBS50.TXT
     T-Mail         2.600    M S Ron Dwight        2:220/22    TMAILNT
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 22                  15 Dec 1997


     WinFOSSIL/95   1.12 r4  F S Bryan Woodruff    1:343/294   WNFOSSIL.ZIP
     WinFOSSIL/NT   1.0 beta F S Bryan Woodruff    1:343/294   NTFOSSIL.ZIP

     Unix:
     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     ifmail         2.12     M G Eugene Crosser    2:293/2219  IFMAIL
     ifmail-tx      ...tx8.6 M G Pablo Saratxaga   2:293/2219  IFMAILTX
     ifmail-tx.rpm  ...tx8.6 M G Pablo Saratxaga   2:293/2219  IFMAILTX.RPM
     Msged          4.00     O G Paul Edwards      3:711/934   MSGED
     Tobruk         0.33     T G Paul Edwards      3:711/934   TOBRUK

     Amiga:
     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     CrashMail      1.31     T X Rene Laederach    2:301/133   CRASHMAIL
     CrashTick      1.2      O F Rene Laederach    2:301/133   CRASHTICK
     DLG Pro BBOS   1.15     B C Holly Sullivan    1:202/720   DLGDEMO
     GMS            1.1.85   M S Mirko Viviani     2:331/213   GMS
     Msged          4.00     O G Paul Edwards      3:711/934   MSGED
     Tobruk         0.33     T G Paul Edwards      3:711/934   TOBRUK
     TrapDoor       1.86.b2  M S Maximilian Hantsch
                                                   2:310/6     TRAPDOOR
     TrapToss       1.50     T S Rene Hexel        2:310/6     TRAPTOSS

     Atari:
     Program Name   Version  F C Contact Name      Node        Magic Name
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     ApplyList      1.00     N F Daniel Roesen     2:2432/1101 APLST100.LZH
     BinkleyTerm/ST 3.18pl2  M F Bill Scull        1:363/112   BINKLEY
     BTNC           2.00     N G Daniel Roesen     2:2432/1101 BTNC
     JetMail        0.99beta T S Joerg Spilker     2:2432/1101 JETMAIL
     Semper         0.80beta M S Jan Kriesten      2:2490/1624 SMP-BETA

     Function: B-BBS, P-Point, M-Mailer, N-Nodelist, G-Gateway, T-Tosser,
               C-Compression, F-Fossil, O-Other. Note: Multifunction will
               be listed by the first match.

     Cost: P-Free for personal use, F-Freeware, S-Shareware, C-Commercial,
           X-Crippleware, D-Demoware, G-Free w/ Source

     Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 23                  15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                            FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY
     =================================================================


     [this must be copied out to a file starting at column 1 or
      it won't process under PGP as a valid public-key]


     -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
     Version: 2.6.2
     Comment: Clear-signing is Electronic Digital Authenticity!

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     =61OQ
     -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----


     File-request FNEWSKEY from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] or download it from the
     Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 anytime except 0100-0130 ET and Zone
     1 ZMH at 1200-9600+ HST/V32B. The FidoNews key is also available on
     the FidoNews homepage listed in the Masthead information.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 24                  15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                            FIDONET BY INTERNET
     =================================================================

     This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the Editor as
     of this appearance.

     ============

     FidoNet:

       Homepage     http://www.fidonet.org
       FidoNews     http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html
       HTML FNews   http://www.fidonews.org
       WWW sources  http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/students/cs_yr94/lk/fido.html
       FTSC page    http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/ftsc/ftscmirr.htm
       Echomail     http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/index.html
       WebRing      http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fnetring.html

     ============

     Zone 1:       http://www.z1.fidonet.org

       Region 10:  http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html

       Region 11:  http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/

       Region 13:  http://www.smalltalkband.com/st01000.htm

       Region 14:  [disappeared?]

       Region 15:  [disappeared?]

       Region 16:  http://www.tiac.net/users/satins/region16.htm

       Region 17:  http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/region17.htm
           REC17:  http://www.westsound.com/ptmudge/

       Region 18:  http://www.citicom.com/fido.html

       Region 19:  http://www.compconn.net

     ============

     Zone 2:       http://www.z2.fidonet.org

     ZEC2:         http://www.proteus.demon.co.uk/zec.htm
     Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fbone.ch/z2_elist/

       Region 20:  http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish)

       Region 24:  http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (in German)

       Region 25:
                   http://www.trak-one.co.uk/net254

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 25                  15 Dec 1997


       Region 27:  http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm

       Region 29:  http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/  (in French)

       Region 30:  http://www.fidonet.ch  (in Swiss)

       Region 33:  http://www.fidoitalia.net (in Italian)

       Region 34:  http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm  (in Spanish)
           REC34:  http://pobox.com/~chr

       Region 36:  http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/

       Region 38:  http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html

       Region 41:  http://www.fidonet.gr (in Greek and English)

       Region 48:  http://www.fidonet.org.pl

     ============

     Zone 3:       http://www.z3.fidonet.org

     ============

     Zone 4:       (not yet listed)

       Region 90:
         Net 904:  http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (in Spanish)

     ============

     Zone 5:       http://w3.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/index.htm

     ============

     Zone 6:       http://www.z6.fidonet.org

       Region 65:  http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (China)

     ============

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 26                  15 Dec 1997


     =================================================================
                           FIDONEWS INFORMATION
     =================================================================

     ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION -------

     Editor: Christopher Baker

     Editors Emeritii: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
                       Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell,
                       Donald Tees

     "FidoNews Editor"
         FidoNet  1:1/23
         BBS  1-904-409-7040,  300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(ds)

      more addresses:
         Christopher Baker -- 1:18/14, cbaker84@digital.net
                                       cbaker84@fidonews.org
                                       cbaker84@aol.com
                                       cbaker84@msn.com

     (Postal Service mailing address)
         FidoNews Editor
         P.O. Box 471
         Edgewater, FL 32132-0471
         U.S.A.


     voice:  1-904-409-3040 [1400-2100 ET only, please]
                            [1800-0100 UTC/GMT]

     ------------------------------------------------------

     FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
     INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system.  It is a compilation
     of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
     authorized agents.  The contribution of articles to this compilation
     does not diminish the rights of the authors.  OPINIONS EXPRESSED in
     these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of
     FidoNews.

     Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
     Copyright 1997 Christopher Baker.  All rights reserved.  Duplication
     and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only.  For
     use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or
     the Editor.

                            =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

     OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
     form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or
     file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
     PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal
     address.  File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue.  File-request
     FNEWS for the current month in one archive.  Or file-request specific
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 27                  15 Dec 1997


     back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSEnn.ZIP] for a
     particular Issue.  Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP
     where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the
     current year [7], i.e., FNWSAUG7.ZIP for all the Issues from Aug 97.

     Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number
     1 - 14 for 1984 - 1997, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in
     size from 48K to 1.4M.


     INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via:

                          http://www.fidonews.org
                          http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm
                          ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/
                          ftp://ftp.aminet.org/pub/aminet/comm/fido/

                                      *=*=*

     You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to:

                          jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net

     with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist

     and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the email
     distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist with no
     message to the same address above.

                                        *

     You may retrieve current and previous Issues of FidoNews via FTPMail
     by sending email to:

                          ftpmail@fidonews.org

     with a Subject line of: help

     and FTPMail will immediately send a reply containing details and
     instructions. When you actually make a file request, FTPMail will
     respond in three stages. You find a link for this process on
     www.fidonews.org.

                                      *=*=*

     You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at:

                          http://www.fidonews.org

     STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request -
     Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from:

                          ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/

     Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents
     for that year's issues.  The total set is currently about 11 Megs.
     FIDONEWS 14-50               Page 28                  15 Dec 1997


                                 =*=*=*=

     The current week's FidoNews and the FidoNews public-key are now also
     available almost immediately after publication on the Editor's new
     homepage on the World Wide Web at:

                  http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html

     There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and
     to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an email
     link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over.

                            =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

     A PGP generated public-key is available for the FidoNews Editor from
     1:1/23 [1:18/14] by file-request for FNEWSKEY or by download from
     Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 as FIDONEWS.ASC in File Area 18.  It
     is also posted twice a month into the PKEY_DROP Echo available on the
     Zone 1 Echomail Backbone.

                                *=*=*=*=*

     SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
     FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
     ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable
     from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC".  ALL Zone Coordinators
     also have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it.

     "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
     trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141,
     and are used with permission.

             "Disagreement is actually necessary,
              or we'd all have to get in fights
              or something to amuse ourselves
              and create the requisite chaos."
                                -Tom Jennings

      -30-

     -----------------------------------------------------------------



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