Category : BASIC Source Code
Archive   : BASNET6.ZIP
Filename : CALLERS.INF

This document is for the callers who elect to be part of this network:

First off, welcome! Glad you are here.

Second off, a bit of the nets philosophy. There are many networks around
that have a hierarchy that determines how all good, little users should
act. That all well and good for the Law and Order crowd, but does tend
to stifle the creative side. This network will run with a limited set
of formal rules. And, while those rules may be revised or even expanded
from time to time; the driving force in such change will be the users.

As a sysop and NetHub, I have one vote. As a user you have one vote.
The same goes for your local sysop. Each of us has a single option;
to participate or not participate. On our local system we can tell
a user just how he must act. In these echos, we still have that right
with our own callers. On the network, we have no such rights. However,
we are sworn to support the conference hosts and hubs request to remove
a disruptive users access. That's about it for sysop control.

So, how does the network function? In a democratic manner or more
accurately as a confederation of folks interested in a single topic
The BASIC language.

Each conference could be considered a state. The conference host will
be it's "Governor" and be elected by the constituents on an annual
basis. Voting will occur within the conference and "poll watchers" from
within the conference shell tabulate the votes and report the results.

The Hubs could be considered a "treed" Senate. The Hub is responsible
for the nodes he's supporting. Hubs can much better track the traffic
and support from his nodes than can network officers. And, seeing that
the nodes reflect on him, as a hub, he should be the interested party to
resolve the more local problems.

The Regional Hubs provide the same responsibility for their member hubs
and echoing bbs's. They aren't going to be quite as locally oriented
or have the knowledge to be. They will communicate with their hubs
via a conference local to their hub so that they can work out any
problems that occur in their area with the hubs from that area.

The Network Hub will be the collecting point for network decisions and
that will be a "local" conference that the Regional's will have access
to and who may or may not provide access to a "lower" hub who wishes to
address a problem.

All that "background" stuff should be available to any users who wishes
to see how a decision was reached and will be available as a viewable
conference on the Regional or Net hubs that they may call and access
upon request.

If the members of a conference wish to remove the host, they must petition
the regional group for that privilege. If granted, an interim vote takes
place for the remaining term of the Host. All conference hosting is on
a calendar basis.

So, what it all boils down to is the network is run by the network. There
are no lofty titles and no chances for petty dictators, pocket vetoes,
or decision that don't reflect the net's real feelings.

Net Rules are pretty simple:
KEEP QUOTING TO A MINIMUM
Quoting is old news and doesn't expand on the nets knowledge. Instead
it to serve only as a memory jogger to bypass the need for the caller
to scan back up the message base. Overquoting cost the sysops in time
and time is truly money for the sysop who must call Long-distance to
provide you with the conferences. And, callers pay in the aggravation
of having to separate the wheat from the chaff. Please! remember!
"Less is More" when it comes to quoting
NO ANSI or Macro Expanders allowed
The network is based on text and content. ANSI detracts. A conference
may change this rule if a sufficient reason exists--such as a screen
design conference.
NO PERSONAL ATTACK
You can "dis" "slam" or whatever someone's code, philosophy of programming
etc. You cannot denigrate or attack any person. Think of that Pencil-
Necked Geek as being a body building black belt who lives next door and
give him that same respect. Don't hide behind the electrons of the
communication medium. Remember, it takes pretty small individual to
succeed in hiding behind an electron. 🙂

There's only one response to make when/if you fail and are called down--
an immediate, complete apology.

So, that the flavor of BASNET. I hope you profit from the echos and that
others profit and enjoy your participation. And, if you're only a lurker
its the nets loss. There are conference for all skill levels so you CAN
contribute.

Take a look at CONFEREN.TXT for the currently available conferences.