Subj : FidoNews 36:43 [01/07]: General Articles To : All From : FidoNews Robot Date : Mon Oct 28 2019 00:52:06 ================================================================= GENERAL ARTICLES ================================================================= Why I resigned as FTSC administrator By Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555) (ex 2:2/20) On 1 November 2018, now almost a year ago, I resigned as FTSC administrator. Why? Short answer: The fun was gone. Long answer: The FTSC has always been running behind the facts in that it docu- ments current practise created by others instead of creating it herself. That was the theory anyway. But at least the situation has always been that once something was documented as a standard, it was considered binding. Or at least that POV was supported by the powers that be. More precise: the FTSC had the support of the *C structure. In the autumn of 2017 something happened that dramatically changed that position. ZC2 in his infinite wisdom decreed that so called ,MOB nodes were welcome in Fidonet. They are mobile nodes running HotdogEd or AfterShocK. Presently such nodes can not accept incoming calls in almost all mobile networks in Z2. Those nodes have the reachability of a point. By accepting such nodes as fully fledged nodes, ZC2 single handedly changed the requirements for Fidonet membership. He did that all by himself without consulting any other Fidonet members. *1) Where it concerned the FTSC is that he also decreed that such nodes are to be listed without the Pvt keyword. Like this: ,865,Lucas_Visions,Mortsel,Luc_Sienaert,-Unpublished-,300,U,MOB As these nodes are listed without any contact information, they are private nodes as per FTS-5000.005 par 5.3. So they should be listed with the Pvt keyword. The Pvt keyword serves to make software aware that it should not attempt to connect directly but route mail through the hub or host. This mechanism has been in use almost from the start of Fidonet. I tried to explain this to the ZC and - mandated by FTA-1001.007 - strongly advised him to drop the wicked idea of listing uncontactable nodes without the Pvt keyword. It fell on deaf ears. The ZC insisted they should be listed without Pvt. At the time of the ZC's decree, Belgium (net 292) and The Netherlands (net 280) were united in Region 28. I was RC28 (elected). As a side note I should add that net 292 is so big that maintaining its nodelist segment and routing the mail seems to be such a gigantic task that it is too much for the NC292 alone to handle. The help of a Hub operator is apparently required. The sysop of Hub 292/80 is Ward Dossche. This Hub operator maintains his own section of the nodelist. I received a net segment from NC292 with, among other changes, the line above. The line was in the segment of Hub 80. I rejected the net 292 segment as in violation of FTS-5000. My POV was that these nodes do not belong in the nodelist at all but should participate in Fidonet as points. As a compromise however, I offered to have them listed as Pvt nodes. The offer was rejected and I was told the FTSC standards are not binding and I was /ordered/ by the ZC to accept and process the net 292 segment as submitted. I refused. A decision based on technical grounds as mandated by par. P4 3.8. As a result the sysops of net 292 decided they no longer wanted to be part of Region 28. Or so I was told by the ZC2. I was not given the opportunity to check with the rest of the sysops of net 292. Region 29 was reinstated and the new RC29 accepted a net 292 segment with ,MOB nodes without the Pvt keyword. Problem solved. NOT. This was unacceptable to me. Not the splitting of the region as such, but the fact that the FTSC standard was set aside just like that by the ZC. By decree. It killed my motivation. Against my better judgement I waited a year in hope that my motivation would return. But it didn't. The damage was done and it was permanent. The drive was gone. I was no longer motivated to spend time and energy on documenting standards that can be nullified just like that by decree of the ZC. Fidonet is a hobby. Hobbies are supposed to be fun. For me the fun of documenting standards for Fidonet was gone when I was told by my ZC that the documented standards are not binding and when he attempted to force me to act in violation of the standards. And when I refused, he split up the region in order to get his way. It was not the first clash with my ZC but it was the brick that broke the camel's back. The damage is permanent and irreversible. The fun was gone, I decided I would not waste any more time and energy on the FTSC. Time to move on. Hence my resignation as FTSC head honcho. Michiel van der Vlist. (2:280/5555) (ex 2:2/20) *1) Fidonews 34-37, 11 Sept 2017. ----------------------------------------------------------------- --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0 * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0) .