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

How to Submit an Article

If you wish to submit an article for inclusion in the Fidonews, here
are some guidelines, if you send it as an attached file; the preferred
method if you want reasonable control over how the published article
will appear in the Fidonews:

a) Plain text. If you could type it on your keyboard, it's probably
quite OK. TABs (ASCII 09) are not allowed -- there's no knowing
how long you've set your tab markings. No line may be longer
than 70 characters.

b) Put a title to the article. Put the title in two times. The first
time, on the first line, with an * before it. The second time, on
the second line, without the * and centered. This will help in the
format since the title with the * is removed and used in the index,
the second line will become the headline. On the third line, put
your name and FidoNet address, present or former. If former, you
may want to add some other address where you can be reached for
personal comments.

c) Deadline for article submission is Sunday, 22:00 UTC.


In case a) and b) above is not crystal clear, here's an excellent
summary by Ward Dossche, a major article contributor:

Piece of cake:

1) Ascii text
2) Line length of 70
3) Put this at the very top:

*The title of your text
The title of your text
Your Name - Your Nodenumber

The title is there twice, the line with the * is how it will be
visible in the table of content.


Help the Editor by following the above guides. Below are some subjects
and the file extension for the article as set in the configuration
file for the making of the Fidonews. Please help by putting the file
extension of the correct subject on the file name if known.

Ideas for Subject areas:

Subject File | Subject File ----------------------------------|----------------------------------
From the *C's *.css | Rebuttals to articles *.reb
Fidonet Regional News *.reg | Fidonet Net News *.net
Retractions *.rtx | General Fidonet Articles *.art
Guest Editorial *.gue | Fidonet Current Events *.cur
Fidonet Interviews *.inv | Fidonet Software Reviews *.rev
Fidonet Web Page Reviews *.web | Fidonet Notices *.not
Getting Fidonet Technical *.ftc | Question Of The Week *.que
Humor in a Fido Vein *.hfv | Comix in ASCII *.cmx
Fidonet's Int. Kitchen *.rec | Poet's Corner *.poe
Clean Humor & Jokes *.jok | Other Stuff *.oth
Fidonet Classified Ads *.ads | Corrections *.cor
Best of Fidonet *.bof | Letters to the Editor *.let

If you don't know or are not sure, send the article anyway. Put a .TXT
on it and I'll try to figure out where it should be in the Fidonews.

If you follow these simple guidelines, there should be little problem
in getting your article published. If your submission is too far out
of specs for the Fidonews, it will be returned to you and/or a message
sent informing you of the problem. This DOES NOT mean that your
article is not accepted. It means that there is something in it that I
can not fix and I need your help on it.

Send articles via e-mail or netmail, file attach or message to:

Bj”rn Felten
Fidonet 2:2/2 or 2:203/0
E-Mail b @ felten dot se
Skype file bfelten

IMPORTANT! If you send the article via e-mail, make sure you put the
word "fidonews" somewhere in the subject line! That way it
will always pass the spam filter, ending up in the proper
folder.

Please include a message, telling me that you have sent an article.
That way I will know to look for it.


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Credits, Legal Information, Availability

+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
| |
| Editor: Bj”rn Felten, 2:2/2 |
| |
| The IPv6 list: Michiel van der Vlist, 2:280/5555 |
| The S/W list: Andrew Leary, 1:320/219 |
| |
+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +

+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
| |
| Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince |
| Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, |
| Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, |
| Doug Meyers, Warren D. Bonner, Frank L. Vest |
| |
+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +

Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet.
There is no copyright attached to Fidonews, though authors
retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinions expressed
by the authors are strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication
and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are
encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to the Editor
at one of the addresses above.

The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file
area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS.

The different articles are distributed in the file area SNOOZE.
A service to various projects for making Fidonews available on
the web with a more pleasing lay-out.

These sources are normally available through your Network
Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from
the following sources:

+ -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- +
| |
| File request from 2:2/2 or 2:203/0: |
| current issue FIDONEWS |
| back issue, volume v, issue ii FNEWSvii.ZIP |
| or FNEWTvii.ZIP |
| articles, vol.no nn, issue ii INPUnnii.ZIP |
| |
| On the web: |
| http://eljaco.se/FILES/fnews/ |
| |
| The FIDONEWS echo in your newsreader: |
| news://eljaco.se/FIDONEWS |
| |
+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +

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--- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
* Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)

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

Don't get keyboard crazy
By Bj”rn Felten
First published 21 Jan 2002

When on the streets in a car, you've probably encountered what's often
referred to as street crazy. This is what people so easily get, when
something happens. Someone bumps into your car, and suddenly you can
find yourself in a highly animated discussion with the other driver,
that often can develop into a nasty situation with violent, and, even,
in countries where there's a handgun in every glove compartment, fatal
results.

How come then, that if you bump into that same person, walking on
the pavement (that's sidewalk to some of you), there almost never
develops a case of pavement craziness? In just a split second both
parties resolve the potential conflict, and all is well.

The simple explanation is body language. When you accidentally bump
into someone, you know exactly what to do with your face, shoulders,
arms and the rest of the body, to immediately apologise. And the
amazing thing is, that this language seems to be highly universal. It
works in London, Paris and Berlin as well as in Tokyo, New York and
Rio de Janeiro.

But when you sit tucked away in a car, with only your face showing,
and sometimes not even that, behind shining or even dark windscreens,
you don't have access to this powerful language. At best, all you have
is the finger, and that's not the best way to start a discussion...

Now take our means of communication, here in Fidonet, the written
word. Ask any good actor to read a couple of lines, taken out of a
greater context, and he'll tell you it's impossible to know how to
read them. They can be read in a thousand different ways, giving them
a thousand different meanings.

This is what we're up against, when we read mail, echo- as well as
netmail. We see the written words, but without the proper body
language to go with those words, and without being able to hear the
writer saying them in the way they were intended (high, low, funny,
serious, fast, slow etc.) we lack probably 90% of the information
needed to fully understand the message.

So why are we then so fast to reply to those words, in the way many
do: with invectives, insults and other bashings? Well, to the best
of my experience, it's often people with the most incredible
experience of participating in mostly sysop echoes (I think those
echoes are the worst ones in this respect) that are the worst
offenders. Maybe they are so used to almost every message being an
attack on them personally, that they automatically jump to the worst conclusion?

The remedy is of course, to try to have sysops meeting in person,
where they can make full use of their body language and voices. After
such a SupCon or whatever, things have always cooled down considerably
among the participants. That's a proven fact. So let's all join in on
a wish for more SupCon's to the people!


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** Prepared for FIDONEWS by Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
(c) Copyright 1996-1999 Peter Karlsson

--- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
* Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)