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Ärende: FidoNews 28:32 [03/09]: Articles
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                                 ARTICLES
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     * gentlemens' agreements

     Richard WEbb 1:116/901

     First, let's dispense with any thought of political incorrectness.
     For those who might assume otherwise, this is shorthand for gentle
     ladies too. With that out of the way, we can get on with it.

     A decade or so ago an author penned a regular column in FIdonews that
     he called "first principles" which dealt with just that, first or
     overarching principles that make Fidonet work.  I recall three of
     them in his series before he quit. If you were to read that series
     today you'd still find his discussion relevant, but there was one
     important aspect of the guiding principles of Fidonet he barely
     touched.

     We hear talk about what isn't defined in Fidonet policy, i.e. no
     coherent standard echomail policy ever developed, etc.  The
     founders of fidonet, and those developing its operating policies
     showed some wisdom here in not setting down a policy for every
     occasion.  Even though at times this makes for some interesting
     arguments, if you like that sort of thing that is.  Before you
     formulate your argument telling me I'm wrong dear reader, please read
     on.

     The basic Fidonet transfer method was developed by an anarchist. That
     doesn't mean he was all about making bombs with container of gasoline
     and chucking them through windows.  IT means that our founder was one
     who believed in maximum individual autonomy, and responsibility.  WE
     all know that those two go hand in hand.

     Fidonet largely governs itself on the principle of gentlemens'
     agreements.  IN those early days the rules were simple, have your
     mailer up during mail events to answer the phone, generate
     technically compliant mail bundles and messages, otherwise do what
     you like, run your system as you see fit.  Don't like the style of
     the moderator in an echo?  Start your own on the same topic, the best
     echo wins users and contributors.  The other withers.

     Gentlemens' agreements are with us in all walks of life.    IF you
     share a driveway with your neighbor chances are you've come to some
     sort of gentlemens' agreement.  Ham radio operators work under many
     of them, i.e. don't transmit bandwidth hogging modes in the portion
     of a band where folks will be using narrow bandwidth modes and
     sensitive receivers to look for weak signals, etc.

     Gentlemens' agreements work best when they are understood by those
     they apply to.  IN large organizations such as the ham radio or
     community they often take time to propagate to all the members.  IN
     fidonet however, they were built into the guiding principles and
     policies.  IN fact, it's these gentlemens' agreements that caused us
     to never go beyond policy 4.07 to 5.0, or develop worldwide echomail
     policy.  During the '90's when the main fight in "fight-o- net" was
     about this or that policy those gentlemens' agreements meant that no
     policy would be conceived and ratified in haste. After all, what we
     have works.

     Anarcho-libertarian principles were hard at work in the Fidonet of
     those halcyon days, as they are today.  IN other words, your freedom
     to swing your fist around ends at my nose.   Badly formed policies on
     the rest of us, because those voting would look them over carefully,
     and unless they saw an improvement in the usual gentlemens'
     agreements they were given a prompt thumbs down. Still, gentlemens'
     agreements break down sometimes.  When that happens it's our nature
     to complain loudly about how "there ought to be a law ... " or in our
     case a rule or policy dealing with the agreement that can't be
     enforced, because it isn't written down anywhere.  IT's good to
     revisit these tacit agreements every now and then to see if they
     would actually benefit Fidonet by being codified in one policy or
     another.  IT's a good idea as we do this to think long and hard
     before we vote yes to implementing the new rule or policy however.
     For most of a quarter of a century we've lived and worked under these
     agreements, and the proof of their viability is that we're still
     here.

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