Subj : Leaving the Z1B!
To   : ALL
From : TODD COCHRANE
Date : Wed Oct 22 2003 02:44 pm

There comes a time when a person must make hard choices. That time for
me is now effective 29 October 2003 I will resign from the Z1B. I have
decided to become an independent mail hub once again. This choice has
not come lightly as I have been contemplating this decision for a long
time.

My original goal when joining the Z1B was to work with a group of
individuals who worked together towards a common goal. That goal was to
move mail with integrity. I wanted to assure that my downlinks and those
that logged on to my BBS where treated to conferences with activity in
them instead of carrying echos in which no significant content had moved
them for years. In most cases the Z1B was and has been successful in
reducing dead weight from there echolist. 

Since the events of 9-11 my BBS System and my mailing operations have
run on autopilot. I have been engaging the real enemy of America in a
real conflict in which real lives where lost before my very eyes.
Conflict has a very sobering effect on a person.

The BBS that I have enjoyed so much over the years was put completely on
the back burner. Few of you may have even realized but I have deployed
no less than 250 days every year for the past 5 years. So when I was
home I had a significant amount of Husband and Dad work to do. Our
mission is not finished and I am not scheduled to leave my current
position for at least another year. But for a short time I have been
able to breathe a sigh of relief and take a break.

As I write this note I am sitting in a hotel in Bloomington Indiana
where I have just wrapped up 2 days of meetings and will be headed for 2
more meetings before returning home to a wife how is expecting our third
child in December. 

I have been very fortunate these busy times in that we have had no major
outages and that the operating system stayed stable. I will be honest if
the system would have died and the wife could not have revived it via
the reset key BBS Networks would no longer exist. 

There are not many people today besides Shannon Talley that move mail
today that can say that they have virtually walked away from a BBS
system for 2 years and had it still be running and moving mail I have to
take my hate off to Hector Santos at Santronics.com for building such a
fine and stable mail moving system utilizing Wildcat and the Platinum
Express.

The BBS has operated up to 137 days without a reboot or human
intervention which was a small personal victory in that we broke a
previous record of 97 days. Meanwhile during the short times that I was
home I would try to do a little house cleaning to keep the system
running at peak performance. 

I have never ever claimed to be the perfect mail mover but as others do
we have always done our best. Over the past several months my schedule
has relented and I have been able to catch up in the echos and noticed
that after a full 2 year hiatus that some things continued to occur that
disturbed me. People are still in-fighting and up to silly little games
that are so absolutely ridiculous that I wish that those of you acting
this way could have walked in my shoes and have seen what I have. This
is part of the reason I may be somewhat less tolerant than I have been
in the past.

I have rambled on and have these final thoughts. Fido is a Hobby it is
generally made up of very good people from all walks of life. Some are
more mature than others and some play the political games better than
others. I have no regrets in being a member of the Z1B I am just sad
that I could not have been more effective. 

There is no longer room in Fidonet for individual ideology neither's is
there room for child-like behavior. If Fido is ever to again become a
viable network then its sysops must take ownership of the organization
and have pride and showcase the network. People are tired of being Spam
and they are looking for a sense of community we used to have that sense
of community and we all worked hard to make sure that the trash was
ignored and that the echos where productive.  I think it is time for all
of us to get back to work and re-build the foundation of a crumbling
organization.

I wish the Z1B luck to sort out its internal issues. There is no need
for Dale Ross to worry I will not disconnect him and leave his downlinks
hanging he can continue to be a downlink of mine or as I suspect he will
disconnect and get his mail elsewhere as is his right. 

I do want to leave a few remarks. The people who make up the Tiers in
the Z1B have not been served well by some in the organization. There
voices are often ignored and gang like mentality does not serve well for
binding relationships. The dogs where turned loose on my as soon as I
voiced my concern and attempted to call out what I considered to be a
terrible injustice.

The meddling with echo mail is very serious; I take offense to the libel
and slander that has resulted from the impersonation of another Sysop.
It is a disgrace to be doing this and then passing that information off
as real to unsuspecting downlinks. For an individual who takes moving
mail as if it is the holly grail is a serious transgression and the
guilty would do well to admit that he was wrong and apologize. 

My leaving the Z1b is primarily based upon the actions of one and the
inaction of many.

A Leader must be accountable for all his or her actions, for a leader to
think he or she is above contempt will ruin the trust of those that
support him.  To be associated and support someone who demonstrates no
accountability will bring in to the question the moral character of
those that surround him.

I can no longer support someone that I cannot trust who refuses to admit
to doing the wrong thing.

Todd Cochrane
 

















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