Everyone should read this:

Original Date: 2016-08-22 00:10:36
FidoNews 33:34 [03/09]: Guest Editorial (Part 1)
FidoNews 33:34 [04/09]: Guest Editorial (Part 2)

Title/Header:
=================================================================
GUEST EDITORIAL =================================================================

Barking up the (wrong) Tree
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308.1
(2002-01-16) =================================================================

No point duplicating it in its entirety here, but best looked up from the archives. Frank repeats himself in places, but that only reemphasizes his passion and vision. He describes the problem plaguing Fidonet, recognizes what
Fidonet *really* is, and provides a solution.

--- Thunderbird 2.0.0.24 (Windows/20100228)
* Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)

Everyone should read this:

Original Date: 2016-08-22 00:10:36

Huh? ...

Title/Header: =================================================================
GUEST EDITORIAL =================================================================

Barking up the (wrong) Tree
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308.1
(2002-01-16) =================================================================

No point duplicating it in its entirety here, but best looked up from the archives. Frank repeats himself in places, but that only reemphasizes
his passion and vision. He describes the problem plaguing Fidonet, recognizes what Fidonet *really* is, and provides a solution.

He's also dealing with a Fidonet of 17+ years ago, a totally different Fidonet.

Despite what some will claim, Fidonet has re-invented itself more than once over the years and "Thank You" to the Russians for that.

Take care,

\%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.99 SR41
* Origin: Ceci n'est pas un courriel (2:292/854)

Ward Dossche : August Abolins wrote:

Everyone should read this:
Original Date: 2016-08-22 00:10:36

Huh? ...

:) Don't look at ME! It is your "if it ain't broke don't fix it"
program that did it. And that was just 3 years ago.

I looks like it is just a repost in 2016 of the true original from 2002.
And maybe that was done with manual technology. ;)

Barking up the (wrong) Tree
By Frank Vest
1:124/6308.1
(2002-01-16)

He's also dealing with a Fidonet of 17+ years ago, a totally different Fidonet.

I think you miss the heart of his message. He was expounding his
thoughts on the reasons for Fidonet members decline. It was a people's
fault, not necessarily a technology fault. There sure was a lot of
apathy or barking up the wrong tree going on imho and that did not help.

Around 2002 that is when the drop-out rate from fidonet was quite
dramatic. (I too dropped out, around 2006, but for different reasons, primarily because I had a hdd crash.) AOL promotion seemed to succeeded
in my area. People preferred to call a number, hardly ever get a busy
signal, and spend all the time they wanted online. Very shortly after,
local ISP dialups started emerging and competing for the subscriber.

Prior to that, I had quite a few users (a mail only system) that
featured gated email. Very popular. I helped people to configure point software and demonstrated the addressing rules to construct a netmail
message destined to the internet as email. If anyone was interested, I demonstrated access to the Fidonet echoes. Calls were quick, short, and
done within a few seconds or minutes. I had 2 landlines. I had 2 more
lines ready for another pc. Even my userbase was declining, a bit, in
2005. I could not sustain the cost of 4 landlines. I had to encourage
users to be patient if they encountered a busy signal. But I digress..

Despite what some will claim, Fidonet has re-invented itself more than
once over the years and "Thank You" to the Russians for that.

Yes. So there *is* room for even more and better things.

I miss Frank V.

His contributions to the newsletter and echoes were fun to read.

.../|ug

--- Thunderbird 2.0.0.24 (Windows/20100228)
* Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)