REPLY: 2:221/1.58@fidonet f83b6a3c   
   MSGID: 1:3634/12.73 61dad023   
   PID: GED+LNX 1.1.5-b20180707   
   CHRS: CP437 2   
   TZUTC: -0500   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 17-02-17   
    On 2022 Jan 08 23:17:00, you wrote to me:   
      
    ml>> ..i can think of several reasons to have an echotag listed   
    ml>> in the echolist without it being distributed... if you   
    ml>> can't think of any reasons, perhaps you need to review the   
    ml>> last 30+ years of exactly why the echolist existed and   
    ml>> what it was used for?   
      
    AA> What precludes another listing with a matching echotag to be   
    AA> listed?   
      
   because there can be only one entry with the same echotag...   
      
    AA> Basically, the ELIST can be used as a way to broadcast the   
    AA> existence of local echos specific to one BBS?   
      
   so, let's start at the beginning, ok? from fidonews319...   
      
      
        Fidonews                     Page 13                  12 May 1986   
      
      
        =================================================================   
                                     WANTED   
        =================================================================   
      
        Thomas Kenny, 107/316   
      
        I'm very interested in ECHOMAIL networking.  I know this is a can   
        of worms,  since some (many?) think  ECHOMAIL  may  (will?)  ruin   
        FidoNet. Well I'm open minded and think it just might work out.   
      
        Now  to  finally  get to the point.  I've been on a few different   
        FIDOs across the country and have  discovered  that  the  use  of   
        ECHOMAIL is much more widespread then I originally thought!  I've   
        seen  several interesting topics being networked,  but would have   
        never known about them.  Since there is nobody (as far as I know)   
        acting as an ECHOMAIL coordinator  I'd  like  to  volunteer.  I'd   
        like  to  do  two  things.  1  Find  out which Sysops are running   
        ECHOMAIL and for what topic.  2 Create a wishlist registry.  This   
        way  if  a  Sysop  wants to network an ECHOMAIL topic or generate   
        interest in a new ECHOMAIL topic there will be a  clearing  house   
        for such an activity!   
      
        I  ask  everybody  that is reading this to please send me FidoNet   
        mail if you:   
      
        1  Are a sysop running ECHOMAIL (what topic & routing),   
      
        2  know of a system running ECHOMAIL (what net/node & topic),   
      
        3  wish there was somebody else that  shared  a  common  interest   
           (what topic).   
      
        Thank you very much, Thomas Kenny, Metatek FIDO, 107/316.   
      
        -----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
      
      
   and this article by mike fuchs from fidonews533...   
      
      
        FidoNews 5-33                Page 7                   15 Aug 1988   
      
      
        Mike Fuchs   
        1:1/201   
      
                  EchoList - The EchoMail Conference List   
                           (It's bAAAAaaaack...)   
      
        Ever wonder what all those EchoMail conferences are about?   
        Ever wonder if there was already a conference on some   
        specific topic?  Well that's why the EchoList was originally   
        created.  And that's why I've resurrected it.   
      
        For those of you who might not be familiar with it, a little   
        history...   
      
        The EchoList is an informal listing of EchoMail conferences,   
        as described by each conference's moderator.  It is now a   
        monthly publication which attempts to document certain   
        interesting information about EchoMail Conferences;   
        "interesting" to people who would like to participate,   
        interesting to EchoMail Coordinators and those who route the   
        conference traffic, and potentially interesting to the   
        Conference Moderator.  The base product of the EchoList   
        database is the detailed Conference listing.  But, as needs   
        are identified which can be satisfied with the available   
        information, additional reports and analyses can be   
        developed.   
      
        The EchoList was originated by Thomas Kenny, who maintained   
        it as a text file completely manually.  It was a time   
        consuming effort, and was updated on a very sporadic and   
        infrequent basis.  The last edition published this way was   
        December 1987.   
      
        Several people (myself included) were working with Thomas on   
        developing ways to automate the maintenance, and provide a   
        structured database that could be used for things other than   
        a simple conference listing.  As a result, he assembled a   
        specification for submitting messages that would be used for   
        updating the list.  Unfortunately, Thomas decided to drop   
        out of FidoNet before any of the code was completed.  He   
        continues to have my gratitude for all he put in to getting   
        the EchoList as far as he did.   
      
        Since I was interested (for purely personal desire) in   
        having an EchoList, I picked-up that last 1987 EchoList,   
        built an R:base database and application, and keyed the   
        whole thing in.  The result is a semi-automated update   
        application, and some nice report generation facilities.   
        There's a lot more to be done.  It's still a VERY labor-   
        intensive task.  But, I'm happy to say I've been able to   
        publish all updates received for the last 3 months on-time.   
        Now, I'm going to try and ruin that by inviting more   
        updates...   
      
        HISTORY LESSON OVER...   
        That's why I wrote this article.  It has been pointed out to   
      
        FidoNews 5-33                Page 8                   15 Aug 1988   
      
      
        me that there are a lot of people who don't realize the   
        EchoList is available.  Most importantly, there are a lot of   
        Conference Moderators who don't know, and as a result their   
        conferences aren't in, or will soon be dropped from, that   
        list.   
      
        You see, one of things that seems to be widely agreed upon   
        is that, in order to be really useful, an EchoList needs   
        some control criteria.  Hating bureaucracy as I do, I've   
        only implemented two (at this point).  First, in order to be   
        listed, a conference must have a responsible party to whom   
        questions can be directed; that person is the Moderator.   
        Second, since reference information is only valuable if it's   
        up-to-date, an EchoList conference entry must be updated via   
        message to me on a regular basis.   
      
        So there's the reason for the article.  A number of   
        conferences have already been dropped because they had no   
        moderator identified.  (How anybody's supposed to join a   
        conference when there's no one identified to contact, I'll   
        never know, but so be it.)  The other thing is that most of   
        the entries' last-update dates are VERY old.  Starting with   
        this next EchoList, I will start enforcing a purge criteria.   
        An awful lot of conferences will be dropped as a result.   
        Many are dead wood anyway.  But there are many such   
        conferences I know are alive and well, and I hope this   
        article gets the message to those moderators.  If you   
        frequent a conference important to you, how about letting   
        the moderator know about the EchoList?   
      
        Oh yeah, I lied.  There is one more control, but it is for   
        the Moderators themselves.  A Moderator can submit an entry   
        that becomes password protected.  From then-on, the   
        moderator has some feeling of control over the information   
        listed in the EchoList for their conference.   
      
        [...]   
      
      
   i'll stop there for now as these two articles provide the basics and they are   
   also easily found so one can read them for themselves... how did i find these   
   articles? i used grep and searched my fidonews archives for "echolist" and   
   then for "thomas kenny" to find the original article(s) and motivations...   
      
   here is a list of all fidonews editions up to Vol 9 Num 52 that contain the   
   above mentioned search terms...   
      
   grep -EiH -e "(thomas kenny|echolist)" fido???.nws | cut -d":" -f1 | sort -u   
      
   fido319.nws   
   fido339.nws   
   fido407.nws   
   fido410.nws   
   fido422.nws   
   fido423.nws   
   fido425.nws   
   fido426.nws   
   fido429.nws   
   fido432.nws   
   fido433.nws   
   fido439.nws   
   fido446.nws   
   fido447.nws   
   fido507.nws   
   fido508.nws   
   fido514.nws   
   fido533.nws   
   fido534.nws   
   fido541.nws   
   fido626.nws   
   fido739.nws   
   fido741.nws   
   fido817.nws   
   fido823.nws   
   fido826.nws   
   fido829.nws   
   fido837.nws   
   fido903.nws   
   fido904.nws   
   fido911.nws   
   fido912.nws   
   fido930.nws   
   fido931.nws   
   fido942.nws   
   fido950.nws   
   fido952.nws   
      
   i stopped there for a couple of reasons... one was just because... another was   
   at some point, every issue contains "echolist" in it... these above are the   
   most important, though, when it comes to the history of the echolist... there   
   are a few more, as well, but these are the best place to start...   
      
   fido410 speaks of the format of the echolist... it even mentions one reason   
   why a non-distributed echotag may be listed... somewhere around here i have   
   other documents that speak of maintaining echolist entries of echotags for the   
   purposes of showing ownership and maintaining that ownership... i'm just the   
   messenger so please don't anyone start on me about that... it is what it is...   
   the support areas for WORDSTAR, WORDPERFECT, NOVELL, and others come to mind...   
      
   in any case, there's a bit of reading on the origins and use(s) of the   
   echolist for everyone to enjoy for a little bit...   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   "The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my   
   majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a   
   shiny thing!"   
   ... Five word horror story: Three Billion Devices Run Java   
   ---   
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