Now is the time for sysops wanting to have EPubNet echoes on the
fidonet backbone to make your voices heard! The following echoes
have been added to the BACKSTAT.NA list for inclusion on fidonet.

EP-ANNOUNCE - EPubNet File Announcement Echo - Electronic Publishing
     Network File Announcement forum. Announcement of files released into
     EPubNet distribution. This echo will be especially useful to sysops
     and users who aren't in the automatic distribution system, so they can
     see when there are files of interest to download or freq. This area is
     currently read-only. Those systems wishing to contribute file
     announcements are encouraged to use the EP-SYSOP echo to place an
     initial request for permission to post file announcements.

EP-GENERAL - EPubNet General Chat Echo - General Chat/Discussion with a
     purpose toward electronic publishing. Authors and readers of
     electronic books and publications can discuss writing/reading
     electronic publications. General discussions and a place to meet
     others with similar interests. Of particular interst is writing for
     publication in the electronic media. Publishers of electronic
     publications are encouraged to take part in this forum, announcing
     their own publications as well as soliciting for new material.

EP-SYSOP - EPubNet Sysop Echo - Network Sysop Echo. To discuss the
     operation of the net within current policy. This is where problems
     with mail and file flow is discussed, and other issues of concern to
     the network. All sysops are encouraged to carry this echo, so we can
     keep an open line of communications for all. Sysops may open this
     forum to their participants and especially publishers for discussing
     file and electronic distribution matters.

The following echo, for some unknown reason, was not included with the
other echoes. I will make a new request that it be added.

EP-PUBLISH - EPubNet Electronic Publishing Echo - The Business of
     Electronic Publishing. The 5 W's are discussed here: Who, What, When,
     Where, Why, and How: to do electronic publications? to distribute? to
     charge or not? software? et al. All forms of electronic publishing may
     be discussed in this forum, including the use of multimedia tools,
     HTML, Java. Participants are encouraged to exchange ideas with respect
     to new tools, provide insight into the five W's of publishing.

All of the echoes follow the same general fidonet guidelines with
respect to rules. These are expressed by the axioms, "Thou shalt not
be excessively annoying," and, "Thou shalt not be easily annoyed." All
forums are currently moderated by Tom Huber (1:115/477), who also
serves the net as the FDN (File Distribution Network) headquarters.

For North American (Zone 1)

In the North American Zone (Zone 1), the following steps are used to
add a new echo to the BACKBONE.NA list (and are extracted from the
BACKSTAT.NA file. We have now complied with the first two steps.

1.   Moderator sends Netmail or Internet email to the Echolist as shown in
     the current month's version of ELMODnnn.ZIP, available from the
     Echolist Coordinator at 1:1/201 (magic name ELMOD) or
     http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/elist.htm, to get the echo information
     on the ELIST.

     NOTE: All EPubNet echoes have been Elisted for over a year.

 2.  Moderator posts a message using one of these choices:

          LOCATION            ADDRESSED TO        SUBJECT

      a. Z1_BACKBONE echo     Backbone                 -
      b. Netmail Backbone at  1:153/752                -
      c. Internet email       awalker@portal.ca   Backbone

     requesting addition of the echo to BACKBONE.NA. Included in this
     request must be an UNQUOTED, UNALTERED copy of the netmail or Internet
     email ELIST reply message.

     NOTE: As of this writing, the above has been completed.

     Acknowledgement will be a Fidonet Netmail or Internet email message
     (as applicable) from the Backstat software, and the listing in
     BACKSTAT.NA.

     Three echoes are now listed in BACKSTAT.NA: EP-ANNOUNCE, EP-GENERAL,
     and EP-SYSOP.

3.   All sysops interested in carrying the echoes should now put in a
     request to their REC (or NEC if the Region's procedure prefers it) 
     that they request the three echoes be added to the Backbone.

     We have until April 16 to complete this task.

     The following are the current RECs (Regional Echomail Coordinators).
     Please note your geographic location and address your sysop requests
     to the appropriate REC for your geographic location.

Region 10 - California (includes Hawaii) and Nevada - CA, HI, and NV
 - REC: Bob Kohl 1:102/861

Region 11 - Northern Central - IL, IN, KY, MI, OH, and WI
 - REC: Edward Georgen 1:2222/1

Region 12 - Eastern Canada - ON, PQ, NB, PE, NS, and NF
 - REC: Ken Wilson 1:12/12

Region 13 - Mid_Atlantic - DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, and WV
 - REC: Jim Balcom 1:109/7

Region 14 - Midwest - IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, and SD
 - REC: Marge Robbins 1:283/120

Region 15 - Mountain West - AZ, CO, NM, UT, and WY
 - REC: Brandon Carnahan 1:114/271

Region 16 - New England - CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, and VT
 - REC: Brian Bonfietti 1:141/1130

Region 17 - Northwest/Western Canada - AB, AK, BC, ID, MB, MT, OR,
NWT, SK, WA, and YT
 - REC: John Mudge 1:352/111

Region 18 - Southeast/Caribbean - AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN, and PR
 - REC: Dave Anderson 1:3619/25

Region 19 - South Central - TX, AR, OK, and LA
 - REC: Ben Hamilton 1:124/7008



