Text 2524, 168 rader
Skriven 2006-12-06 09:52:38 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
   Kommentar till text 2490 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: FidoNews Editor MIA?
============================
06 Dec 06 00:17, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Roy Witt:

 MvdV>>> What we have seen is the emergence of ION RCs and hosts.
 RW>> Yes. To the detriment of the network.
 MvdV> To the detriment of the network indeed. It started with ION nodes.
 MvdV> Then we got ION hosts and hubs and now we have ION RCs. The latter
 MvdV> still limited to Z1 and Z6. Yet...

ION nodes wasn't so bad, but ION hosts shouldn't be allowed without an
alternative, such as a POTS node taking the place of the host's duties.

 RW>> There are several RCs in Z1 listed that way with no POTS in their
 RW>> listings. There are 4 RCs listed with POTS vs 6 without POTS, plus
 RW>> there is no way to reach those without other than via their ION
 RW>> listing.

 MvdV> The majority of the nodes in FidoNet still depends on POTS for
 MvdV> their connectivity. Therefore ION *Cs should be strongly
 MvdV> discouraged. I have difficulty accepting that regions 10, 13, 15,
 MvdV> 18 and 19 can not come up with a suitable candidate that can
 MvdV> provide POTS connectivity. They are not one man regions....

Finding someone to replace them is probably not on any *C's mind.

 RW>> Even that is not a given. R10C was never online while I lived in
 RW>> that region

 MvdV> I *did* send her some mail a couple of years ago through her binkp
 MvdV> server....

Oh, haven't you heard? Right after I moved to Texas, Brenda Donovan, RC10
moved to a different region and is now RC15. She left a legacy behind her
by giving the job to Al Robres. He used to be the REC10, but never did his
job. Now he's RC10 and the region is status quo.

 RW>>  and for all I know, still isn't.

 MvdV> Then how did you get your mail? I recall you mentoning netmail to
 MvdV> you could be routed through her?

All ION RINs had to check in with the queen on a weekly basis via Binkp.
But you now know that there's a new and less competent RC in that region.

 MvdV>>> This however is a new developement that puts us further down on
 MvdV>>> thge slope. Terry Roati is not ION, he not reachable at all.
 MvdV>>> Not by POTS/ISDN and not by InterNet.

 RW>> He supposedly has a website, but I havn't been there in a very long
 RW>> time, so I don't know that it's still working.

 MvdV> He may have an e-mail and a snail mail address as well. Doesn't
 MvdV> matter, as far as FidoNet is concerned he is uncontactable.

As far as I know, he was never contactable via any Fidonet method.

 RW>>>> We can't expect Fidonet to grow with this happening.

 MvdV>>> What we can expect is it to quickly desintegrate this way.

 RW>> Had I been a newbie when trying to get listed in R19 when I moved
 RW>> here, I would have been out of luck, as the R19C's POTS never
 RW>> answered my calls. I had to route my netmail through 1:379/1 - who
 RW>> is in R18.

 MvdV> One can not expect newbies to find their way into the network under
 MvdV> those conditions.

In fact, they would give up after the first attempt.

 MvdV> ION RCs are a no-no, but titally unreachable RCs like we see in Z6
 MvdV> are worse. How can anyone possibly perfrom his duties RCs if he is
 MvdV> incommunicado?

He can't and as xxcarol has pointed out, he's absent most of the time.

 MvdV>>> The most optimistic count of zone 6 tells us there are eight
 MvdV>>> sysops left. A more realistic count says two or three. How hard
 MvdV>>> can it be to relocate them to another zone?

 RW>> xxcarol claimed that there's a lot of work involved.

 MvdV> It can't be more work than merging R28 and R29. That was done two
 MvdV> years ago and once it was decided, it took a week.

Then it shouldn't take more than a half hour in Z6.

 RW>> Move those who respond to netmail to a new zone and let the others
 RW>> know about the move when they get in touch.

 MvdV> And if they do not get in touch within a reasonable time frame,
 MvdV> just drop them.

Absolutely.

 MvdV> The latter is what should have been done anyway. Nodes that have
 MvdV> dropped over the light horizon, it serves no puprose to keep them
 MvdV> in the nodelist.

 CS>>>>> The ship (XO) wants me to extend onboard really bad and will
 CS>>>>> get it approved if i ask.  Something about me being able to
 CS>>>>> reliably handle 1.6M$ in training funds which isnt an easy
 CS>>>>> skill to find or learn.

 MvdV>>> The sad reality is that Z6 is too small to function as a zone.
 MvdV>>> Not enough manpower left to run the show.

 RW>> Not to mention that those who're left are listed as RCs with no nets
 RW>> in their regions.

 MvdV> Dead wood. Time to clean it out.

 MvdV>>> If the best they can come up with for ZC is someone who is away
 MvdV>>> from the system for 6 month of the year, and if they are
 MvdV>>> totally dependent on Z1 systems to move their mail, I think
 MvdV>>> enough is said.

 RW>> According to the person with that Z1 mail link, sometimes she
 RW>> doesn't get any mail while at sea, leaving the other 6 people in the
 RW>> zone without mail until she returns to port.

 MvdV> It is my understanding that the other 6 do *not* get their mail
 MvdV> from Carol. So where do they get it from? (If they get it at all)
 MvdV> Presumably from Bob S, or Janis. Demonstrating once more that they
 MvdV> totally depend on Z1 for their mail.

Since they're really ION nodes without contact info in the nodelist, they
can get thier mail from many of the telnet nodes. Todd Cochrane in Hawaii
has a dial up and a Telnet BBS. If asked, he'd probably provide them with
a feed, although he's probably busy in Afghanistan more than at home.

 MvdV>>> Sad, but those are the hard facts. Denying the facts and living
 MvdV>>> in a dream world has never gotten anyone anywhere.

 RW>> Well, it did get xxcarol a ZC position.

 MvdV> Sooner or later the navy will send her somewhere else. If she has
 MvdV> not taken care of things by then, things will take care of
 MvdV> themselves. She can choose between closing shop in an orderly
 MvdV> fashion or go down in FidoNet history as the first ZC to abandon
 MvdV> ship....

She did mention recently that she had an option to go to Germany on her
next tour. The end of her present tour is coming up soon and she has a
choice of staying in Japan or moving to Germany. You two could become beer
buddies.

 RW>>>> They don't seem to be too worried about whether or not they're
 RW>>>> available for Fidonet activity - time to cut them loose...

 MvdV>>> He, we agree! Let's not make a habit of it. ;-)

 RW>> We have to start agreeing sooner or later, Michiel. Or we won't have
 RW>> anything to do but argue when the rest of this crew are gone. :o)

 MvdV> Hmmm.. I see. If we end up the last two nodes left, we shall just
 MvdV> have to find a way to keep the mail flowing between the two of us.
 MvdV> So it might be a good idea to save some ammo for later....

I'm for that. BTW, I enjoyed your recent snooze article. I also agree with
it, but don't get a big head over it. :o)

               R\%/itt




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