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FTSC                             FIDONET TECHNICAL STANDARDS COMMITTEE
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Publication:    FSP-1003
Revision:       1
Title:          Suggested use of Nodelist Fields
Author:         Lee Kindness
Revision Date:  15 May 1997
Expiry Date:    15 May 1999
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Contents:
                1. Field 3, Node Name
                2. Field 4, Location
                3. Field 5, Sysop Name
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Status of this document
-----------------------

  This document is a Fidonet Standards Proposal (FSP).

  This document specifies an optional Fidonet standard protocol for
  the Fidonet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
  improvements.

  This document is released to the public domain, and may be used,
  copied or modified for any purpose whatever.


Introduction
------------

  This document makes recommendations on the use of various fields in
  the distribution nodelist (St. Louis nodelist format", fts-0005).
  Naturally it is the choice of the *C's if they want to use them.
  Remember the fts-0005 requirements should still be adhered to.


1. Field 3, Node Name
---------------------

  The node name field should be no more than 20 characters long. For
  comparison in nodelist.122'1997 the minimum entry was 1, maximum 51!
  and the average was 14.

  For zone entries this field should contain a description of the
  zones area, (eg North America, Europe). For region entries it should
  contain the country/state, for host entries the local area name and
  for hub entries a description of the area the hub serves.


2. Field 4, Location
--------------------

  This field contains the location of the node. It should usually be
  expressed as the primary local location (town, suburb, city, etc.)
  plus an identifier of the regional geopolitical administrative
  district (state, province, department, county, etc.). Wherever
  possible, standard postal abbreviations for the major regional
  district should be used (IL, BC, NSW, UK, etc.).

  For zone and region entries this field should also have the julian
  day of segment creation appended to it (eg "Somearea_(122)") to aid
  checks on the validity of the nodelist.


3. Field 5, Sysop Name
----------------------

  This field contains the name of the system operator. Entries such as
  "postmaster" and "uucp" should not be used. Aliases should not be
  permitted in this field (as they give Fidonet a 'less respectable'
  image).


A. Author contact data
----------------------

  Lee Kindness
  Fidonet: n/a
  E-mail:  wangi@earthling.net
  WWW:     http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/students/cs_yr94/lk/fido.html


B. History
----------

  Rev.1, 971101: First release as FSP, based on the Fidonews 14/20
                 article. Transformed into FSP document by Odinn
                 Sorensen.


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