Subj : RE: Tiers
To   : Frank Vest
From : Andrea Santos
Date : Mon Jul 16 2001 10:02 am

On Jul 16, 2001 03:59am, FRANK VEST wrote to ANDREA SANTOS:

 FV> Fidonet is, to the best of my understanding, a peer to peer network.

Correct.

 FV> such, there is really no one distribution system since all can connect
 FV> to each other on an equal basis. In the same vein, each Node in
 FV> Fidonet's peer to peer is a distribution system.

It's a matter of topology but you are right, at the basics.

 FV> What I am saying is... All that is being done here is to play a game
 FV> of "Title, Title... Who's got the title?!?". Remove the title and
 FV> there will still be distribution systems. Just no title to argue over.

I won't go to the point of saying this is all that's being done, but there are
conflicting personalities preventing a merger.

 AS>> Minus any service contracts folks have with providers who charge a
 AS>> fee. If you're getting your mail free, not much you can complain
 AS>> about, other than to move to another free provider.

 FV> If you have that choice. For those that feed from their Net, that
 FV> might not be the case. I feed from my Net. I'm POTS connected to the
 FV> Net. I could go outside for a feed, but that would mean finding a feed
 FV> and trying to get connected and a lot of other stuff.

You still have the choice.  It would take work on your part and perhaps to the
point that you wouldn't bother to do it, but you can connect to whomever is
willing to provide you a feed.

 FV> In bygone days,
 FV> there was less choice. Most were feed from their Net via some "agreed
 FV> to" system. Some are probably still in that boat from choice. They
 FV> would drop Fidonet if they had to go outside their Net for a feed as
 FV> they may not have the ability, knowledge or desire to feed from some
 FV> other source. Maybe that is not our problem, but it is  "our problem".

Understood, and agreed.

 FV> Maybe what is needed here is a way to distribute all the echos in
 FV> Fidonet and show which are alive, dead, multi-language, and other
 FV> factors. Maybe that is really all that is needed. Maybe the current
 FV> system(s) could do that?

 FV> Fat chance. That would take cooperation and guts. :-))

Various hubs do post stats per echo traffic.  You can view those if interested
to see which echos are alive or no.  As far as the hubs doing this, and
factoring in multi-lingual, Perhaps a few are willing.
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