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   Hello Greg,   
      
   [..]   
      
    LL>> Jason Scott is a technological historian. While his history of   
    LL>> Fidonet is an excellent weblog, it does not address the issue under   
    LL>> discussion - the idea of zones in Fidonet.   
      
    GD> Weblog? It's a video documentary there are 8 chapters.   
      
   Weblog is terminology for video documentary.   
   All 8 chapters are online, free to watch.   
      
    GD> Chapter 4 covers fidonet, it is available on youtube.com   
    GD> As the documentary states the zones within U.S. and North America   
    GD> were based on NCAA Basketball brackets.   
      
   There were no zones in Fidonet until Tom Jennings decided to have   
   them included in Fidonet P4, without stating any rhyme or reason as   
   to why they were needed.   
      
   The NCAA Basketball brackets idea is total nonsense.   
      
   John Wooden, the famous basketball coach who won an ungodly number   
   of NCAA championships for UCLA, told the whole world the tournament   
   was unfair and that every college team should be included, without   
   exception. The NCAA tournament was invitation only, set at 8 teams   
   the first time Wooden and UCLA won the tournament. Now it is set   
   at 68 teams. Even though there is no reason as to why any team in   
   the land should be excluded.   
      
    GD> Ben Baker explains in the documentary that they tried to make it so these   
    GD> new zones (that they were carving out via a Map of the U.S.)   
      
   No mention of zones ever came up until Tom Jennings had them   
   included in P4 - without stating any reason as to why any zones   
   were needed or as to why he chose that particular number.   
      
    GD> They tried to make it to be equal population, proportional to each other.   
      
   Bullshit. Tom Jennings could have cared less. Look at the populations   
   of each of TJ's original six zones. Hardly equal at all. Not even the   
   current structure of four zones have anything close to what one would   
   call equal populations.   
      
   Who wrote P4? Who signed it, claiming credit? Nobody. Who ratified P4?   
   The only vote taken was by European sysops at a convention in Europe,   
   who all voted unanimously against. IOW, not a single sysop anywhere in   
   the world voted in favor of P4. So how can anybody say, or even suggest,   
   that such a document has any validity?   
      
    GD> I find this history really interesting for many reasons as I am the   
   fidonet   
    GD> hub here for all of New York State.   
      
   It is good to find folks who remain interested in fidonet, and with   
   luck others will join and make it even more fun for everyone to enjoy.   
      
    LL>> No mention of zones was ever made until Tom Jennings brought it   
    LL>> up for inclusion in Fidonet Policy 4.01 - with no explanation given   
    LL>> as to why.   
      
    LL>> So tell me. Why are zones necessary for Fidonet?   
      
    GD> before the -switchover- to fidonet, it was fido and this had a 250 node   
    GD> limit, as indicated by Ben Baker within the BBS documentary chapter 4   
    GD> covering fidonet.   
      
   Fidonet as acceptable terminology for entire history from day 1.   
   There is no limit as to how many sysops there can be in any given   
   zone, therefore there is no need for any zone. Same as there is   
   no limit as to how many names there can be in a telephone directory.   
      
    GD>     A few years ago   
    LL>> I brought up this very subject. There used to be six zones in   
    GD> Fidonet,   
    LL>> and then it was decided by whatever powers that be that only four   
    GD> zones   
    LL>> were needed. After that was done, another question was raised. Why   
    GD> not   
    LL>> go to three zones? Oh, could not do that. Would have to change all   
    GD> the   
    LL>> zone numbers and would be far too much trouble ...   
      
    GD> I have no what your talking about or where you get your information.   
      
   When Tom Jennings & Friends started playing around with Fidonet,   
   there were no zones. And then, one day, Tom Jennings had a wild hair   
   up his arse and decided Fidonet needed zones. Exactly six of them.   
   So he told his minions to write up a document called P4 and have   
   them include a rule to have six zones.   
      
   And then, a few years later, after Tom Jennings had left the building,   
   a group of sysops decided there was no need for six zones. Without ever   
   asking whoever was in charge of those two zones what they thought of   
   the idea. And so those two zones were dropped. Without a vote.   
      
   Now there are four zones. But nobody knows why.   
      
    LL>> Bottom Line -   
      
    LL>> There is no sound reason for having zones or zone numbers in Fidonet.   
      
    GD> You are aware that Fidonet spans around the entire globe right, for this   
    GD> reason zones were and continue to be very much necessary.   
      
   There are players from 45 different countries (plus the USA) who   
   play in the NBA. Games are played in many different time zones,   
   depending on location. But nobody is from any particular "zone"   
   on this planet. The same can be said about the NFL. And MLB.   
      
   Fidonet is a community of sysops (and non-sysops) from around the   
   world. Not zones, or segments. It's about people. And communication.   
      
   For Life,   
   Lee   
      
   --    
   It Ain't Payday If It Ain't Nuts In Your Mouth   
      
   --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb   
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