      F I D O N E W S         Volume 16, Number 25             21 June 1999 
     +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
     |  The newsletter of the     |   ISSN 1198-4589 Published by:        |
     |    FidoNet community       |   "FidoNews"                          |
     |          _                 |        +27-41-581-5913   [5:5/23]     |
     |         /  \               |   June Publication:     1:270/720     |
     |        /|oo \              |                                       |
     |       (_|  /_)             |                                       |
     |        _`@/_ \    _        |                                       |
     |       |     | \   \\       |   Editor:                             |
     |       | (*) |  \   ))      |        Henk Wolsink    5:7104/2       |
     |       |__U__| /  \//       |   Editor Pro Tem (June 99)            |
     |        _//|| _\   /        |        Douglas Myers   1:270/720      |
     |       (_/(_|(____/         |                                       |
     |             (jm)           |   Newspapers should have no friends.  |
     |                            |                    -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
     +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
     |             Submission address: Douglas Myers 1:270/720            |
     +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
     |  MORE addresses:                                                   |
     |                                                                    |
     |    submissions for June: doug@mdtnbbs.com                          |
     |                                                                    |
     +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
     |    For  information,   copyrights,   article   submissions,        |
     |    obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ        |
     |    please refer to the end of this file.                           |
     +--------------------------------------------------------------------+


                        Table of Contents
     1. EDITORIAL  ................................................  1
        Candidate Evaluations  ....................................  1
     2. GUEST EDITORIAL  ..........................................  3
        Moderator Rights - The Super-Bitches  .....................  3
     3. ARTICLES  .................................................  5
        Small Article - Ray Brown, R14C  ..........................  5
        Zone 1 Coordinator, Election Information  .................  5
     4. NET HUMOR  ................................................  7
        God Speaks in one-liners  .................................  7
     5. COMIX IN ASCII  ...........................................  8
        Cows in the Election  .....................................  8
     6. ADVERTISE YOUR FREE SERVICE/EVENT  ........................  9
        Editor Pro Tem Special  ...................................  9
     7. NOTICES  .................................................. 10
        Future History  ........................................... 10
        Change in FILE_ID.DIZ  .................................... 10
     8. FIDONEWS INFORMATION  ..................................... 11
     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 1                   21 Jun 1999


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


                          Z1C Candidate Evaluations
                                Douglas Myers

     This is an attempt at an objective evaluation of the candidates for
     Zone 1 Coordinator in the election currently in progress.  Readers
     may question the objectivity of one of the candidates offering
     evaluations of himself and others.  Offhand, I'd say this is a
     healthy suspicion... you be the judge.  Candidates are discussed in
     the order the Election Coordinator processed their nomination.

     Douglas Myers - Doug was initially nominated by a group discontent
     with the closed elections by the RCs in the past.  This issue,
     however, has become less prominent because of the willingness of the
     RCs to conduct this election in an open format.  He is the only
     candidate who is not currently an NC or RC with Fidonet, but offers
     ZC experience with a small FTSC network.  Doug's suitability was
     questioned early in the campaign by suspicions that he was directing
     a mudslinging campaign employing some contraversial supporters, the
     SUPER-BITCHES.  At this point, however, those suspicions seem to be
     discredited and there is no noticable effect on his candidacy.  The
     theme of Doug's campaign is to open the zone political process to
     all sysops.

     Dallas Hinton - Dallas is the candidate most identified as an
     insider in political circles, and suffered early criticism based on
     this perception.  However, he has handled such criticism with grace
     and charm, and has been responsive to questions asked of the
     candidates.  His campaign is helped considerably by the fading of RC
     resentment over closed elections, and it appears that his insider
     image will not be the detriment some had predicted.  Dallas campaign
     emphasizes his experience as RC.

     David Moufarrege - David, though a sitting RC, seems to have avoided
     the insider image.  In fact, David's campaign is characterized by a
     lack of contraversy.  He has been personable and eloquent in his
     interaction with sysops throughout the zone.  David emphasizes his
     accomplishments in integrating Internet nodes with the more
     traditional Fido nodes, and points to the tranquilly of his region
     as a harbinger of a non-contraversial term as Z1C.

     Todd Cochrane - As much as David repels contraversy like a duck's
     back repels water, Todd seems to attract it.  He came out of the
     nomination gate promising a fight, and immediatly drew attacks from
     several quarters.  However, the contraversy seems to have died down.
     Todd's campaign emphasizes strong, authorative leadership with an
     agressive approach to technology growth in Fido.

     Bobby Queen - Bobby was the last candidate to be nominated, and is
     still establishing his campaign.  He has been responsive to all
     questions and appears to be a credible candidate.  His campaign
     emphasizes his personal time available to serve as Z1C.
     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 2                   21 Jun 1999


     It's difficult to rank the candidates at this point due to the
     representative nature of the voting.  Probably, there will be no
     definitive perception of the front runners until all the regions
     have reported in.  It's clear that no one candidate has established
     himself as front runner, and no candidate is definately out of the
     race.

     Another difficulty in ranking the candidates is a lack of
     distinguishing issues.  So far, all candidates have favored further
     integration of Internet nodes into Fidonet, and all candidates have
     indicated a need for Policy 4 revisions.


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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 3                   21 Jun 1999


     =================================================================
                              GUEST EDITORIAL
     =================================================================


          MODERATOR RIGHTS, SUPER-BITCHES AND THE ZONE ONE ELECTION
                Lesley-Dee Dylan, Lynn Gipson, and Ruth Argust

     Last week, Joe Jared published an article in Fidonews which
     described what he feels is a political conspiracy in the SUPER-BITCH
     echo.  As moderator of the Z1_POLITICAL echo, he further issued
     warnings to all the participants of SUPER-BITCH and requested a zone
     level feed cut of Ruth Argust based on posts in SUPER-BITCH.

     The SUPER-BITCH echo is moderated by the Super-Bitches (Lynn Gipson,
     Ruth Argust and Lesley-Dee Dylan).  Any attempt to moderate this
     message echo, by moderators of other echoes in their echoes, is an
     infringement of our rights and unacceptable to us.

     From some of the comments in other areas about us, it would seem
     that the lurkers/visiting moderators have not read back far enough
     in the echo to get a true picture of our activities.  If they had,
     they would have seen that we started off the election campaign with
     speculating about how interesting it could be if Tom Cole were
     nominated.  Then Todd Cochrane stuck his foot in it - again and
     again and again.

     As for any "conspiracy" of "henchmen" working to support the Douglas
     Myers campaign by attacking Todd Cochrane - Todd Cochrane is NOT
     Douglas's main competition.  If you were reading this echo, you
     would know that we do not even consider Todd to have a viable
     campaign.  Douglas's competition is from David Moufarrege and Dallas
     Hinton.  There is very little interest in harrassing Dallas, and
     absolutely none in harrassing David.

     Despite Joe Jared's claim that we "intended" to disrupt the Official
     Election Echo, there is not a single post where one person tells
     another to say anything in the Election Echo.  There are discussions
     in the nature of "look at what idiocy Todd posted this time - what a
     dolt."

     Our actions have taken place in the open.  We are not "backroom"
     conspirators. Our echotag description tells everyone what we are up
     to. Our echo is backboned and available to anyone except Net 163,
     whose NEC refuses to carry it.

     Joe has also placed all participants in the SUPER-BITCH echo on
     notice just because they associated with the so-called "guilty"
     parties.

     Super-Bitch is a fun echo.  We play in there.  PLAY, not plot.
     Playing leads to a bonding, a friendship, a caring for each other,
     and an understanding of each other.  We are not trying to overpower
     the democratic process.  We do support Douglas Myer in his
     candidacy, because we have grown to like and understand him, despite
     his blue balls.  If we were plotting and conspiring to do something
     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 4                   21 Jun 1999


     unethical, we would have been doing so by mailing lists or crashed
     netmail.

     Also, there is one other problem with the goings on in this
     election. Actions have been taken and warnings given, and one
     suspension, based on an anonymous accusation.  It is a basic
     principle of British justice (on which the American justice system
     is based) that defendants have a right to face their accuser(s). We
     have not seen the accusation.  We do not know, fully, what was in
     the accusation against us, or who accused us.  We also know that the
     accusation was doctored up in such a way as to make it look like
     Jack Yates had said words that I had typed.  The initials LD> were
     on the message Jack posted showing where he quoted me.  These
     initials seem to have been deleted when these lines were put into
     the complaint.  It also appears, from the small bits of the message
     that were cross-posted, that Jack's response to me was deleted,
     totally changing the perception of Jack's behaviour, and the
     perception of the nature of the entire echo.  And Jack never said
     anything about Joe being Ross's puppet. I don't think anyone did,
     except the accuser.

     I think Joe is looking in the wrong place for the conspiracies and
     dirty politics. He should be looking at whoever doctored up Jack's
     message and sent in the complaint.  He should be looking at whoever
     it was who lied to him about Jack saying that Joe was Ross Cassell's
     puppet.

     The rules allowing moderators unfettered rights to toss someone from
     their echos should be different for moderators of echos used for
     official FidoNet business, whether at the level of a net, region, or
     zone.  Perhaps now is the time to start discussions of placing
     limits on the moderatorship of these official FidoNet echos.

     Feed cuts on these official echos should never be issued unless the
     offender refuses to cooperate on read-only status.  Even when a feed
     cut is issued, there should be no objection to a volunteer
     forwarding all posts in the echo to netmail so the offender can
     still read the echo.

     When there are objections to the actions against an offender in an
     official echo, then there should be a review.  Perhaps all
     moderators of backboned echos who are active participants in the
     echo could be asked to consult and make a decision on the validity
     of the action.  This would be a one-warm-body, one vote review,
     rather than weighted by number of conferences moderated - i.e. Bob
     Moravsik would not get 350 votes to my one-third vote.


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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 5                   21 Jun 1999


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


                                Small Article
                            Ray Brown, 1:286/1701

       A brief introduction...

       Greetings and salutations! This is Ray Brown, 1:286/1701. I have
     been a member (SysOp) of FidoNet for almost 10 years, starting out
     as a node in Florida, then for a year in Oklahoma, and for the past
     5 years, here in Missouri. For the past year, I have been NC / NEC
     of Net 286, and just last week I was elected Regional Coordinator
     for Region 14. (Condolences graciously accepted. :-)

       I would like to go on record as saying, and I believe my Region
     will agree, my vote for the next Z1C will be for somebody that will
     start taking a proactive roll in revitalizing FidoNet, including but
     not limited to work on a new Policy to replace our 10-year-old
     Policy4.

       Members of Region 14, get involved NOW. Make your opinions known
     NOW. We're already in Phase 2 of the Z1C Election, and I hate
     debating in a vacumn. If you don't participate in 14_REC, then
     NetMail me and I'll see what we can do.

       Thank you!

                                                             _Ray_
                                                             R14C

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


                             ELECTION INFORMATION
                              Zone 1 Coordinator

     The information below has been summarized from the official posts in
     Z1_ELECTION by Ross Cassell, Election Coordinator.

     Z1C Candidate         Node Number  Region  *C Position If Any
     =============         ===========  ======  ==================
     Douglas Myers         1:270/720      13
     Dallas Hinton         1:153/715      17           RC
     David Moufarrege      1:2313/404     13           RC
     Todd Cochrane         1:345/2        10           NC
     Bobby Queen           1:3667/5       18           NC

     Official Election Echoes
     ========================
       Z1_ELECTION  - discussion with candidates
       Z1_POLITICAL - side chatter

     Election Timetable
     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 6                   21 Jun 1999


     ==================
     Phase 1: Nomination               - completed
     Phase 2: Discussion               - in progress until 6/26
       Sysops discuss issues with the candidates in Z1_ELECTION.
     Phase 3: Regional Discussions     - 6/27 to 7/3
       Sysops vote with their NC who will vote based on their input with
       the RC.
     Phase 4: Voting By RCC            - 7/4 to 7/10
       The RCs will vote for the candidates based on input from their
       NCs.  A candidate is elected with 50% + 1 vote; if no candidate
       achieves sufficient votes, a runoff election will be conducted
       between the two candidates with the most votes.
     Phase 5: Installation of new ZC1  - after orientation


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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 7                   21 Jun 1999


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


                           God Speaks in one-liners

     An advertising agency in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida launced this unique
     advertising and billboard campaign that even splashed the insides
     and outsides of buses, and the bus stop shelters, and which included
     a total of 17 different messages from the Big Guy himself, God. This
     non-denominational campaign was sponsored by an anonymous client who
     forked out literally thousands of dollars.

     1. Let's Meet At My House Sunday Before the Game - God
     2. C'mon Over And Bring The Kids - God
     3. What Part of "Thou Shalt Not..." Didn't You Understand? -  God
     4. We Need To Talk - God
     5. Keep Using My Name in Vain And I'll Make Rush Hour Longer - God
     6. Loved The Wedding, Invite Me To The Marriage - God
     7. That "Love Thy Neighbor" Thing, I Meant It. - God
     8. I Love You...I Love You...I Love You... - God
     9. Will The Road You're On Get You To My Place? - God
     10. Follow Me. - God
     11. Big Bang Theory, You've Got To Be Kidding. - God
     12. My Way Is The Highway. - God
     13. Need Directions? - God
     14. You Think It's Hot Here? - God
     15. Tell The Kids I Love Them. - God
     16. Need a Marriage Counselor? I'm Available. - God
     17. Have You Read My #1 Best Seller? There Will Be A Test. - God


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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 8                   21 Jun 1999


     =================================================================
                              COMIX IN ASCII
     =================================================================

                             Cows in the Election

          \\                                    \\
           \\                                    \\
           / \                                   / \
          /   \                                 /   \
          \    \                                \    \
           \    \(__)                            \    \(__)
         *-->    (oo)                          *-->    (oo)
           /    / \/                           o /    / \/
          /    /                                /    /
          \   /                             o   \   /
           \ /                                   \ /
           //                                    //
          //                               o    //

      Stealth Bomber cow              Stealth cow on bombing run


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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 9                   21 Jun 1999


     =================================================================
                     ADVERTISE YOUR FREE SERVICE/EVENT
     =================================================================


                            Editor Pro Tem Special

     Maybe you've wanted to publish your own Fidonews article, but
     weren't sure how to go about it.  Or perhaps you found the
     instructions in ARTSPEC.DOC, but they were daunting.

     Well, it's time to speak up!  During the month of June, I'm running
     an "Editor Pro Tem" special.  Concentrate on what you have to say
     and get it to me in some kind of readable ASCII, and I'll do the
     necessary formatting for publication.  You can send articles netmail
     to Douglas Myers at 1:379/720, or email to doug@mdtnbbs.com.


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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 10                  21 Jun 1999


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

                       Future History

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

       10 Sep 1999
          10th anniversary of Zone 5 operations.

       26 Oct 1999
          Thirty years from release Abbey Road album by the Beatles.

       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.

       21 Sep 2000
          10 years of FidoNet in +7 (xUSSR)

        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.

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

     NOTICE:  The FILE_ID.DIZ included with this issue now includes a
     brief summary of the contents of Fidonews.

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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 11                  21 Jun 1999


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

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

       During the month of June, 1999, the Fidonews Editor is on
       vacation.  Editor Pro Tem during this period is Douglas Myers,
       1:270/720, doug@mdtnbbs.com.  Please address correspondence,
       article submissions, etc to the above addresses during this time.

       Editor: Henk Wolsink

       Editors Emeriti: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
                        Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell,
                        Donald Tees, Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg

       "FidoNews Editor"
           FidoNet  5:5/23
           BBS  +27-41-581-5913,  2400/9600/V34

        more addresses:
           Henk Wolsink -- 5:7104/2,    hwolsink@catpe.alt.za

        (Postal Service mailing address)
           FidoNews Editor
           P.O. Box 12325
           Port Elizabeth,
           6006
           South Africa

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

     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 and/or the Editor.

     Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
     Copyright (C) 1999 Henk Wolsink.  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 FidoNet and the 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
     back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSGnn.ZIP] for a
     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 12                  21 Jun 1999


     particular Issue.  Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP
     where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the
     current year [9], i.e., FNWSJAN9.ZIP for all the Issues from Jan 99.

     Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number
     1 - 16 for 1984 - 1999, 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.irvbbs.com/fidonews/
                        ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/Fidonet/Fidonews

        And in non-English formats via:

                **      http://www.hvc.ee/pats/fidonews (Estonian)
                        http://www.fidonet.pp.se/sfnews (Swedish)

       **  LINK HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED

                                   *=*=*

     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

     FIDONEWS 16-25               Page 13                  21 Jun 1999


     and    http://www.fidonet.dynip.com/public/fidonews/default.htm

     and in the FIDONEWS echo.

     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 13 Megs.

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

     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 5:5/23 [5:7104/2] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC".  ALL Zone Coordinators
     should 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

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

