Fragments from a 1992 FAQ. LOL
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM:
There are many reasons, mostly technical, why FidoNet uses a single list containing all member nodes. However the single most important reason is that it gives each and every FidoNet node the information and ability to contact any other FidoNet node directly, without relying on any other system. No external authority can prevent any other site from communicating freely.
Freedom costs. Efficiency is for machinery, not people. A line of text per FidoNet node is a small price to pay for self-defense and the ability to talk with whoever you wish. It is almost never needed, and when it is, it is too late -- you find yourself cutoff.
...
WHAT IT IS (OVERALL AND SOCIALLY):
The FidoNet is a large, fully functional anarchism. It is a communications system built with personal computers, modems, phone lines, and many thousands of crazy and interesting people. It is run in a profoundly casual manner. It is amazingly reliable and efficient. There is no central repository for information, no fixed structure to rely on. Last year's monolithic infrastructure has been thoroughly forgotten and completely replaced with today's seemingly endless monstrosity, which will be gone and forgotten next year. It is not possible to tell you how to join it, because by the time you read this
it will have changed (I know, I've tried before). Neither is it possible to tell you where to go to find some particular item. I'm not kidding.
https://www.sensitiveresearch.com/Archive/FidoNet/source/Fido-FidoNet/Fido-pre-12/what.faq.TXT
tom jennings
npub1qd…674he
2026-10-08 20:32:13 UTC
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2026-10-08 20:32:13 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Fragments from a 1992 FAQ. LOL\n\nTHE PRICE OF FREEDOM:\n\nThere are many reasons, mostly technical, why FidoNet uses a single list containing all member nodes. However the single most important reason is that it gives each and every FidoNet node the information and ability to contact any other FidoNet node directly, without relying on any other system. No external authority can prevent any other site from communicating freely. \n\nFreedom costs. Efficiency is for machinery, not people. A line of text per FidoNet node is a small price to pay for self-defense and the ability to talk with whoever you wish. It is almost never needed, and when it is, it is too late -- you find yourself cutoff. \n\n...\n\nWHAT IT IS (OVERALL AND SOCIALLY):\n\nThe FidoNet is a large, fully functional anarchism. It is a communications system built with personal computers, modems, phone lines, and many thousands of crazy and interesting people. It is run in a profoundly casual manner. It is amazingly reliable and efficient. There is no central repository for information, no fixed structure to rely on. Last year's monolithic infrastructure has been thoroughly forgotten and completely replaced with today's seemingly endless monstrosity, which will be gone and forgotten next year. It is not possible to tell you how to join it, because by the time you read this\nit will have changed (I know, I've tried before). Neither is it possible to tell you where to go to find some particular item. I'm not kidding.\n\nhttps://www.sensitiveresearch.com/Archive/FidoNet/source/Fido-FidoNet/Fido-pre-12/what.faq.TXT",
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