A lot of Fidonet users have access to the internet, although
most of them got started with Fidonet. In most cases, they still use and
enjoy Fidonet, for a number of reasons:

Fidonet is Friendlier - much less "flaming" and more
patience seems to be a given in the various Fidoechoes,
unlike many of the internet rough equivalents - the Newsgroups.

Fidonet is Different - you are exposed to an entirely different
group of users with Fidonet. Not everyone is willing to put out
the 10 to 25 dollars a month for internet access, or has it
through their job. Thus in Fidonet you can meet a lot of people
you won't meet on the Internet.


Fidonet is * Spam - Free * - Fidonet is a hobby network, and one
of the few caveats is that there shall be no commercial content.
Anyone attempting to flood Fidonet with e-junk mail gets cut off at
the knees, and quickly so at that. Fidonet's hub-and-spoke system
of distributing the mail ensures control of such things. We may be
anarchists, but we agree on a lot of things, too, and this is one
of them.

Fidonet is Free to the User. Thus, if you have friends in your
area who don't really want to pay to use the internet, you can
still assist them to get connected by telling them about Fidonet.

Fidonet is Hardware-Friendly - you can use just about any computer

on Fidonet. The only software you really need is a terminal
program, running in DOS or Windoze, or Mac System 7, or just
about any other system or platform imaginable. And, for every
system, tons of shareware abound - for offline reading, for
instance.

WHY HAVEN'T YOU HEARD ABOUT FIDONET BEFORE NOW?

Because it's Free, that's why. No profit margin to dip into
for advertising money. And, like it or not, this world is driven by
advertising. But a fundamental part of Fidonet is its free access, and so
word to the users has always been by word-of-mouth. But remember: just as
you've found out by now that advertising doesn't necessarily mean good,
the reverse is also true!

HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FIDONET?

Hey! - I though you'd never ask! Here are a number of links to other
spots on the web with information on Fidonet:

The Official Fidonet Homepage
The Fidonet Newspaper
HTML Fidonews
The Fidonet Zone 1 (North America) Homepage
Jerry's Fidonet Home Page
The Fidonet Region Homepages

It seems everyone is getting on the Internet Bandwagon these days;
even Fidonet. Fidonet is divided into Regions within each Zone,
and many of these Regions have their own homepages. Here are some for
North America, (Zone 1:) The Region 10 Homepage Region 18 Zone 2 (Europe):
Europe Main Page The Zone 2 Echolist Zone 3 Zone5 Zone 6 China Region65

HOT NEWSFLASH!
Yes, Martha, there IS a way you can experience a Fidonet OSP
through the internet! (I knew the damn thing was good for
something!)

Anyway, here's how: Telnet to an internet BBS! Check http://www.thedirectory.org for a listing of Telnet BBS's.