Rules for using the Internet<->Fidonet Gateway at 1:13/10 ========================================================= *** This is a PRIVATE, REGISTERED-ONLY Gateway *** Your SYSTEM *must* be REGISTERED to use it! ***************************************************************** * All gateway mail is subject to inspection by the postmaster. * * There is no such thing as completely private mail. The * * postmaster will never reveal the contents of a message to any * * third party unless forced to by legal authorities or to file * * a network or legal complaint involving rules violations. * * Anyone violating the rules of this gateway, FidoNet, or * * Internet, will be cut off without notice and may be subject * * to an official policy complaint. * ***************************************************************** The Internet can NOT be used for profit. Mail sent via this system cannot contain advertisements, sales literature, or other profit-making "things" unless in a direct reply to a query from an Internet site. FidoNet and this gateway also have restrictions on commercial messages. Do NOT send commercial messages via this gateway. You may not send any copyrighted material through the gateway. Any hint of an illegal activity in any message may result in one or more of the following: 1. Immediate termination of gateway access. 2. Official complaint to the proper network authorities. 3. A report to the proper legal authorities. There are no charges for using the gateway and Fidonet systems may *NOT* charge others for doing so (except for out of pocket phone costs). Any system that charges users for access to that system may *NOT* charge users for Gateway access. All Sysops are *REQUIRED* to make sure that their users read these rules prior to using the Gateway. Sysops may be held responsible for rules violations by their users. The gateway exists to provide a communications link between people that would otherwise be unable to communicate. It is NOT here as a way to avoid spending FidoNet NetMail charges. Outgoing messages with a destination address within Fidonet will be REJECTED and bounced by the gateway software. (ie: Any traffic with a destination address which ends in ".z#.fidonet.org" will automatically be BOUNCED by the gateway.) If you have mail accounts on both Fidonet and Internet, you are *NOT* permitted to use the gateway for communication between the two. Do NOT set up a ".forward" on your Internet account which forwards to your FidoNet address. Messages can take between 5 minutes and several weeks to be delivered! You can not count on how long things will take. There may be vast time differences in delivery times between two messages sent to the same address on 2 consecutive days. Messages with bad addresses will usually (but not always) be returned to the sender, provided that the sending system is listed in the FidoNet Nodelist. If you have addressing questions, please read the FAQ files for the gateway *first* before contacting the 'postmaster'. You may obtain the FAQ documents via FidoNet as follows: 1) Simply File-Request the FileName or Magic-Name 2) Send a dummy message to the 'alias' name at this system and it will be send back to you in the body of a message. FileName Magic-Name/Alias Description -------- ---------------- ----------- uucphelp.txt uucphelp Instructions for sending E-mail via this gateway infogate.txt infogate Info on the operation of this gateway *** This system accepts Mail from REGISTERED SYSTEMS ONLY *** Do NOT use a name which contains a PERIOD in the name, as it will NOT be translated correctly coming back in and you may not be able to read it. Addressing OUTGOING Mail (to the Internet): ------------------------------------------ Messages must be addressed to 1:13/10 and either have the UserName "Uucp" in the FidoNet-Header with the Internet destination in a "To: address" line as the very FIRST line of the message; * OR * have the Internet destination as the UserName field, complete with the '@' sign. (Do not mix the two methods; your recipient will get TWO copies if you do so!) You may not send files thru the gateway via File-Attach. However, you MAY send UUENCODED text through the gateway. (I'm working on the ability to send File-Attaches thru the gateway.) (For more specific details, see the UUCPHELP document as per above) (If you are using an off-line reader, consult your SYSOP, not the postmaster.) INCOMING Mail (from the Internet): --------------------------------- Mail coming inbound from the Internet is put on *HOLD* for pickup by DIRECT polling by your system. All mail at this gateway are ARCmailed using ARC level-5 compression and ARCmail v.0.60 file-naming conventions. Please do NOT ask for any other compression method, nor ask for any session passwords. Messages coming in thru the gateway from the Internet are SPLIT automatically by the gateway into 10k chunks. Mailing-List Traffic -------------------- I do NOT place any restriction on mailing-list traffic (It's YOUR nickel to pick it up!) However ... keep in mind that ... Automated Internet mailing lists can generate a lot of messages on a daily basis. Many people sign up for lists, read them for a few weeks, and then don't pay much attention to them after that, but they keep coming thru the gateway. If mail piles up for several weeks without being picked up, your node's "registered" status will be terminated. How to Register for your Node to use this Gateway ------------------------------------------------- To register your system to use the gateway services at 1:13/10, simply send a File-Request for REGISTER to 1:13/10. (The confirmation will be put on HOLD and you will receive it on a *subsequent* Poll [not the same call].) This will pass your Primary address into a function process that will dynamically re-configure the related configuration files and routing during the next hourly update process. After that, you should be able to use the gateway and any E-Mail coming INbound from the Internet will be packed on *HOLD* at 1:13/10 for your system to pickup. Point systems may *NOT* register and may *NOT* use this gateway. Note that your system is assigned a special address, which is *NOT* in the old 'f###.n###.z#.fidonet.org' syntax. [After March 1st, any addresses of that format which do NOT have a specific MX-record assigned for that Net's traffic to send it to another gateway will NO LONGER BE VALID and will BOUNCE on the Internet side.] When you send mail to the Internet, REGISTERed systems *will* have the correct return-address in the headers. Also, a standard ".signature" block will be added to the end of your messages showing your Full Name and FidoNet address and your correct Internet return-address. At this time, I do NOT want to mass-advertise what the format of the NEW addresses are because of the recent actions of certain individuals. The confirmation message you will pickup on a subsequent poll after File-Requesting REGISTER will give you the format of your address. Mail TO or FROM *UnListed* Nodes -------------------------------- All Mail either FROM or TO an UnListed FidoNet address is simply *DELETED*. Since we cannot return it, nor route any replies to it, they are considered garbage in accordance with Policy-4. The gateways were NOT designed to be an alternate route for FidoNet to FidoNet traffic. Destination addresses of the format 'user.name@f###.n###.z#.fidonet.org' *will* be *BOUNCED*!!! Such traffic should be sent via FidoNet NETMAIL.