Follow Up...

Last month my diatribe was on the Ontario New Democratic Party and the leaders of organized labour. I'm pleased to forward to you the news that others apparently feel the same way. As well as the email I received (none of which was negative, I might add), The Toronto Transit Commission has launched a $1,500,000 lawsuit -- not against the union -- but against Sid Ryan (the union leader) personally. All I can say is DAMN GOOD SHOW!

What's New...

Well, it has been an eventful month here at TFN. We have a couple of new writers joining the staff shortly, and maybe even a couple of new contests. On a sour note (see "Beef" below), we had extreme problems with our Internet Service Provider, and so have moved the site to a new place, Northern Link in Mississauga, Ontario. So if you're also looking at a change for your pages, give them a call at (905) 305-7099, or check out their web-page at www.fifo.com.

Our forums crashed (not our, nor Max's nor the software's fault) due to a big crash of MCI's system a couple of weeks ago, but we're working feverishly to get them re-installed by Dec. 13th at the latest. And this time they will be the TFN Forums with TFN Graphics and proper button control!

This Issue...

With this issue, we're making an attempt to concentrate on specific areas of fishing, beginning with ice-fishing, which will be covered in depth over the next two issues. Of course, we'll also have our regular non-ice fishing columns as well.

Beef of the Month...

Here we go, and this one's a doosie! About a year ago, TFN moved to it's own domain and a new Internet Service Provider (ISP). A handshake arrangement was made with the president of the new ISP that they would house TFN for free in return for TFN using and marketing a "directory" they were developing that would provide you, the TFN reader, with a one-stop place to find out about every fly-in camp, lodge, charter or guide service, bait and tackle shop, hotel and travel service in all Canada. Since the president of the ISP is an honourable man, there were no problems with the setup, even though the directory was contiuously being pushed back for delivery.

Well, to make a long story short, the ISP never did get their directory together. When the president left the company, the dis-honourable management team that took over unilaterally decided that the arrangement was null and void, and that TFN would now have to pay for the enormous amount of Internet traffic generated each week. At this point we went back to them and were supposed to put together a proposal explaining why and how we would be able to re-work the previous arrangement so that TFN would not have to pay and the ISP would receive full value for housing the site.

Two weeks ago, an MCI crash caused the ISP's servers to go down, and it was then that we learned that they were not backing up the TFN Forums with everything else. Of course, when they tried to re-install an old backup of the data files, the whole system came to a crashing halt and was destroyed.

We asked them to re-install the software so that we might, at least, start over from scratch. They responded by telling us that they required a minimum of $1,000 up front and back payments of an additional $6,000 (later reduced to $3,000) to continue supporting the site! In addition, we would have to pay a minimum of $200 per month to continue operating TFN.

So we had no alternative but to make other arrangements, which we have now completed, but not before we found out about one instance of the ISP lying to us in the past, and then proceeding to try and prevent our move.

When we originally set up the forums, we were specifically instructed that we could not alter the look or feel of the software because it was a self-contained, off-the-shelf package. BS! When we contacted the manufacturer, we were told in no uncertain terms that WebBoard is designed specifically to be VERY customizable! And when we get it back up in the next few weeks or so you'll see there's a big difference!

Then, when we had our new ISP contact the old one to change their system so that it now pointed to the new location of "www.the-fishing-network.com", they refused. Of course we were not advised of this until we tried to find out why the site was unreachable for two days this past week. It is not only accepted 'Net etiquette to automatically make the switch, it is ILLEGAL to prevent a legitimate company from carrying on business by the Internet equivalent of "locking the doors"; especially when no moneys, products or services are owed under any agreement.

Suffice it to say that our lawyers are currently assessing the damages done to TFN, and are contemplating our legal alternatives.

Because all of the above is 100% fact that is witnessed, recorded and can easily be put before the scrutiny of any court, we state herewith that:

1. We will never have any future dealings with any of Enterprise Online, Terraport Online or Canscape, or with any other company dealing with them.
2. We will boycott the products and services of all organizations who have their Internet accounts and/or web-pages placed with any of the Enterprise group of companies.
3. We suggest those of you who are upset that The Fishing Network was placed in such a situation by a management group that knows less only about operating a 'service' company than they do about the conventions governing the operation of an ISP, to join us in our protest and boycott.

Until next month...
(tight lines, get it wet, good fishin', see you on the water (ice?), etc., etc.).

Scott M. Binnie, Managing Editor