Original Message Date: 28 Jul 92  08:04:27
From: Mark Lynch on 1:11/0
To: Tom Jennings on 1:1/1
Subj: Format Changes
^AMSGID: 1:11/0 6907d508
Tom,

    Since you seemed to anticipate this kind of feedback, it probably 
won't carry much weight, but I was irritated enough this time to be 
motivated anyway.

    How about settling down on the FidoNews distribution format?  Fun is 
fun and all, but I'm really tired of being forced to change my 
configuration, however trivially, every time some new fashionable archiver 
strikes you.  This last transition back to LHARC further shows me that you 
aren't interested in the latest chic archivers so much as your own 
convenience.  Whatever the reasoning, it all strikes me as very fickle and 
very amateur.

    Yes, I know my installation could be more robust and flexible and then 
I wouldn't be impacted at all by your instability, but that's not the 
point.  Professional data processing has long known the value of "If it 
ain't broke, don't fix it".  That philosophy can also be carried to 
inappropriate extremes, but I think there's a lesson there for _you_ 
specifically.

    Choose a format and stick to it.  "Stick to it" means _years_, not 
weeks or months.  And then next time you do change, I think you should 
have a better reason than your own convenience (no CTTY on LHARC?  WHO 
CARES?  Get some _real_ remote control software).  In my opinion, the 
convenience of over 10,000 operators outweighs your own so quit jerking us 
around.

                                     MDLYNCH

Original Message Date: 29 Jul 92  11:40:41
From: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
To: Mark Lynch on 1:11/0
Subj: re: Format Changes
^AINTL 1:11/0 1:125/111
>     How about settling down on the FidoNews distribution 
> format?  Fun is fun and all, but I'm really tired of being 
> forced to change my configuration, however trivially, every 
> time some new fashionable archiver strikes you.  This last 
 
If you had been reading FidoNews, you would have found it was not a 
joke, or trivial. It was due to software problems. Believe me, I 
didn't do it for fun.

>     Yes, I know my installation could be more robust and 
> flexible and then I wouldn't be impacted at all by your 
> instability, but that's not the point.  Professional data 
 
Well, there's your solution, right?!

>     Choose a format and stick to it.  "Stick to it" means 
> _years_, not weeks or months.  And then next time you do 
> change, I think you should have a better reason than your 
> own convenience (no CTTY on LHARC?  WHO CARES?  Get some 
> _real_ remote control software).  In my opinion, the 
> convenience of over 10,000 operators outweighs your own so 
> quit jerking us around.
 
"years"?! FidoNet is hardly "years" old. Compression method was 
dictated *to me* nto vice versa -- the method available on nearlyall 
machines, in a non-proprietary format. Only LZH and ZIP are available 
on IBM, Macs, Atari, CP/M, etc...

"get some _real_ software"... Gimme a break!
 
I irritate you, you irritate me... we're even.
 
FidoNet is filled with whiners who do nothing and offer no 
solutions... thanks for sharing.


