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                           GENERAL ARTICLES   
   =================================================================   
      
   FTSC Election / Reminder   
   Ward Dossche - 2:2/1000   
      
   This is for all you RCs who haven't voted yet... there is an   
   election going on for FTSC Standing Members. Your are   
   eligible to participate.   
      
   All RCs are entitled to vote. Each voter may cast one "yes"   
   or one "no" vote for each candidate. Voters need not vote for all can-   
   didates, a non vote will be regarded as "abstain" for that candidate.   
   Candidates must receive more "yes" than "no" votes to be elected.   
      
   The voting started Sunday, 27 February, 2022 and will conclude   
   Sunday, 20 March 2022, 20:00 UTC. That's less than a week to go.   
      
   If you were listed as an RC in your zone's version of the world   
   nodelist.028 for 2022 then please vote.   
      
   These are the nominees.   
      
     Candidate             Node nr.      Nmntd by    Accepted   
     Rob Swindell          1:103/705      ZCC(NC)       Yes   
     James Coyle           1:129/215      ZCC(NC)       Yes   
     Tim Schattkowsky      2:2/29         ZCC(NC)       Yes   
      
   Voters are requested to copy and paste the form below, mark a   
   cross for each candidate in the "yes" or the "no" column for all   
   candidates they wish to cast a vote for and post it in FTSC_PUBLIC   
   addressed to "Election Coordinator with a subject of "Vote".   
      
   Voters need not vote for all candidates.   
      
     ----------------------------------------------   
    | Name                 |  Node nr    | Yes| No |   
    |----------------------|-------------|----|----|   
    |                      |             |    |    |   
    | Rob Swindell         | 1:103/705   |    |    |   
    | James Coyle          | 1:129/215   |    |    |   
    | Tim Schattkowsky     | 2:2/29      |    |    |   
     ----------------------------------------------   
      
   Ward Dossche   
      IC   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
   The story of the very first Krautfunding   
   Ward Dossche -- 2:292/854   
      
      
   Krautfunding these days seems to be very normal but it has   
   escaped many people how it all started and how influential   
   Fidonet in it has been ...   
      
   It was in 2000 sometime when a German sysop by the name of Helmut   
   Hullen was excommunicated by his NC, re-listed by his RC24, again   
   excommunicated by the next RC24, before he was finally removed the   
   Z2C. In the process of this both RC24 and ZC2 were threatened   
   with lawsuits if Helmut wasn't re-listed.   
      
   RC24 gave in but Z2C didn't crumble and Helmut Hullen took him to   
   court, in Belgium. Helmut Hullen hired the services of one of the   
   most famous criminal attorneys (Sven Mary), how he could afford   
   that for such a silly thing is a mistery to me. To make a long   
   story short, after a year and a half of proceedings and 4 sessions   
   he lost the case, had to pay his lawyer, had to pay a law firm in   
   Germany and had to pay the cost of the procedure.   
      
   My costs, as I was that ZC, were the fees of the lawyer. Pretty big   
   amount for a mere hobby of an insignificant network.   
      
   So here's this incredible sysop by the name of Udo Zaydowicz who   
   left the network in the meantime, coming up with the idea to start   
   a collection in R24 because the Z2C was not taken to court for some   
   private dispute. He was taken to court for a FidoNet matter based   
   upon Policy 4.07 and was representing FidoNet in court (not my   
   words).   
      
   Michiel van der Vlist, who started a collection in R28, wrote in   
   ENET.SYSOP: "Well I guess all of FidoNet has won. So   
   co[n]gratulations to us all."   
      
   The costs were slightly more than 1000 Euro and 30 nodes/points   
   in R24 plus the R28-contribution pledged more than 1500 Euro. Udo   
   managed the R24-portion by generally requesting about 2/3 of the   
   pledged amounts and upon delivery of the final invoice, that was   
   transferred to the Z2C. I don't remember anymore how the   
   R28-portion was handled.   
      
   There is an aftermath to this story ...   
      
   Helmut Hullen remained out of the nodelist but some years later   
   he approached the Z2C to be relisted. After consulting with the   
   then RC24 he was told that could happen but only if he refunded   
   the money my lawyer charged me ... To my surprise he did ... And a   
   word is a word ... Helmut became back a node after spending some   
   months in purgatory (i.e. as a zone-independent node 2:2/530   
   under my immediate view) to see if after 5 years of absence   
   things would remain calm.   
      
   They did and Helmut Hullen became listed as 2:2480/530 and later   
   as 2:2437/530.   
   He passed away Sept.19th 2016 and his obituary in Fidonews was   
   written by ... me ...   
      
   The money which he refunded to me ... I contacted all donors and   
   asked them what they wanted me to do ... there were a lot of small   
   amounts that really didn't make sense in view of the international   
   money-transfer rates in 2005. So I asked if it would be OK to make   
   a donation to a worthy cause. Some wanted the money back and were   
   refunded, some not plus there were people that had left my line of   
   sight in the meantime ... for the last 2 cases whatever money was   
   left was donated to "Doctors Without Borders" and proof of the   
   donation was sent to the people concerned. Not a remark was   
   received.   
      
   Hence ends the story of Helmut Hullen and the first Krautfunding in   
   history.   
      
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   --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0   
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