Subj : Re: It seems there are various different
To   : Nick Andre
From : John Dovey
Date : Thu May 27 2021 07:53 pm

  Re: Re: It seems there are various different
  By: Nick Andre to John Dovey on Thu May 27 2021 15:20:37

 NA> The nodelist is specifically designed for mailers to talk to other
 NA> mailers. 

To be more specific, the Nodelist was desinged to essentially provide mailers 
with the phone numbers of nodes and the capabilities of their modems. I'm 
perfectly aware of that.

Seeing as this is "Future4Fido" though, one of the fundamental concepts about 
conceptulising the future is to evaluate the present and considering what we 
are doing and why, and think about how or why we should do that in the future. 

I am simply suggesting that every aspect needs to be looked at and considered 
in the light of new directions, new technology an long term future prospects. 

The Nodelist has done sterling serviece thus far, but if I am remembering my 
hiistory correctly, it was initially a kludge to get around the inherent 
limitations (about 250 nodes I think) in the first implementation of the 
FidoNet.

Rethinking it now makes sense. If the requirement is best served by retaining 
the nodelist, the so be it. 

Let me suggest however, that most new sysops don't need to ever look at the 
nodelist, and their boards can run quite well without doing so. They simply 
need to know what their upstream hub's address is and route everything through 
that hub not so?

One of the features of the FTN network is that in spite of everything else, it 
was designed by an anarchist to work in an anarhic way. Practically, this means 
if someone sitting in their basement goes and writes a piece of software that 
does all the things it needs to do, and makes that software available, then 
those who choose to use it can do so freely. There is no hard and fast reason 
that messages have to be stored in a particular format or that there is any 
reason to not to build a new mailer.

That aside, let's say for the sake of argument that I wanted to revitalise the 
nodelist. How about setting up a hatch on a regular basis of a small file which 
contains the basics required for the nodelist (current or redesigned) and sends 
it up the line. Each system which receives that TIC file uses it to 
update/insert into their local "nodelist". Downward links are also possible. In 
that way, you have a distributed database that is self maintaining and no 
pinging required.. just a small datapacket along with the mail when you poll. 

Please undersstand this is completely off the cuff and is in no way a 
suggestion as such, just an attempt to think through what is possible and what 
is useful. 

All the best
John 

John Dovey
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