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From notes@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 11 03:08:29 1996 Received: from igc5.igc.apc.org (192.82.108.36) by MediaFilter.org with SMTP (MailShare 1.0b10); Mon, 11 Mar 1996 03:08:30 -0500 Received: from cdp.igc.apc.org (cdp.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.1]) by igc5.igc.apc.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id XAA27776; Sun, 10 Mar 1996 23:51:33 -0800 (PST) Date: 10 Mar 1996 16:09:00 Reply-To: Conference "zamir.chat"From: COSYSOP@ZAMIR-BG.comlink.apc.org Subject: ZAMIR-BG situation report To: Recipients of zamir-chat-l Message-ID: <64gNw7j1krB@pb-eric.zamir-bg.ztn> X-Gateway: conf2mail@igc.apc.org Errors-To: owner-zamir-chat-l@igc.apc.org Precedence: bulk Lines: 166 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Eric Bachman 11.03.96 ============= The following letter was translated and sent to all ZAMIR-BG users. It sums up the situation here. As I wrote a few days ago, we now again have the system running again. Within the newt weeks we must begin to find some more long-term solutions to the problem. In addition to finding a new NGO partner here in Belgrade it will be necessary to find some financial support to upgrade the equipment and get additional telephone lines here. Although it is not the best situation here, I am sure that we will find a way to continue and become more reliable. Any help that you can offer will be most welcome. Yours, Eric ==================================================================== 8.03.96 From: Eric Bachman, coordinator Zamir Transnational Net Dear ZAMIR-BG users, I have received many complaints from people all over the world that ZAMIR-BG was down. Since I could not get accurate information via email, I came for a quick visit to Belgrade to find out what was happening. This is what I discovered. CAA and ZAMIR-BG The CAA is not able to continue to keep the system ZAMIR-BG running. I was told that there were two reasons for this. 1. The local costs are not being covered by the fees that users are paying. The local costs for the past year (to pay system operators, telephone costs within Yugoslavia, computer repairs and improvements) were 12,968 Dinar , and the income from users was 3,040 Dinar. That leaves an amount of 9,928 Dinar that was covered by general CAA this past year. Additionally the CAA did covered the costs of rent, local telephone, electricity, fotocopies and other office materials for the ZAMIR-BG. You should also know that the international data transfer costs which vary from about 2000 to 4000 DEM a month are not included included in the above because they were being covered by donations from other sources. I talked with a number of users and some did not know that the users of ZAMIR-BG were required to pay a fee. Others did know that it should cost something, but never received an invoice and therefore did not pay. Some had paid something once or twice but did not know if they should pay more. It seems to me that the users need to be more clearly informed about the costs of using the system. 2. The CAA does not have enough money to continue to pay staff carry out the necessary tasks to keep the system running and to enable it to grow to become a more reliable system. The staff is too limited to be able to invest time and energy in the work needed to find, for example additional telephone lines and a new office space for the ZAMIR-BG. For the ZAMIR-BG to be able to offer reliable, regular email and electronic conferences, we will need at least one if not two or three more telephone lines. The one line that we now have is overloaded by the many users who want to use it. The offices which we now use are not a long term solution. More staff persons are needed to offer regular hot-line support to new and old users. The present support team are working only a few hours a day and this time is needed for the daily maintenance of the system. I also observed that the CAA has its own email connection without using ZAMIR-BG. I would like to clearly point out that in the past the CAA has covered the local running costs and is therefore the to be praised for keeping this line of international access open in very difficult times. Now since the CAA no longer wants to administer the system, a new administrative structure needs to be developed. Until this is done, the CAA will continue to provide that salary for the sysops to keep the system up and running. But beginning in 1996 the entire local costs for the system need to be covered by the users. On the SYSOPS and ZAMIR-BG The system operators put in a lot of energy and time to keep the system running. In their hope to provide better access and make changes they unfortunately did not consider the needs of the users for continuous reliable connectivity and switched of the system for two weeks for testing new connections and new software. To enable you to to have an immediate return of access the existing system has been turned on again. Your existing online passwords and CrossPoint access will again work as before. I am very sorry that your needs for continuous and reliable communication were neglected for the past weeks. I must say that I am very happy that the system operators are willing to continue to run the system and expect them to be more responsive to the users needs. Steps for the future Even though we have found a way to keep the system running for a few months, we will need to develop a real plan for the future. A new administration of the system must be set up. Either an non-governmental organization (NGO) or a group of NGO's. The costs for these developments must be carried by the users of the system. It may also be possible to look for sponsors and donations for the system. We will only be able to provide reliable service and regular user support if we can pay for more staff and if we can buy additional telephone lines. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has some ideas about overcoming this crisis. Yours, Eric ******************************************************************** E.BACHMAN@BIONIC.ZERBERUS.DE COSYSOP on the Zamir Transnational Net ZAMIR-BG, ZAMIR-LJ, ZAMIR-PK, ZANA-PR, ZAMIR-SA, ZAMIR-TZ, ZAMIR-ZG .ztn.apc.org ## CrossPoint v3.02 R ## From notes@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 11 03:08:51 1996 Received: from igc5.igc.apc.org (192.82.108.36) by MediaFilter.org with SMTP (MailShare 1.0b10); Mon, 11 Mar 1996 03:08:52 -0500 Received: from cdp.igc.apc.org (cdp.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.1]) by igc5.igc.apc.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id XAA27803; Sun, 10 Mar 1996 23:52:00 -0800 (PST) Date: 10 Mar 1996 16:44:00 Reply-To: Conference "zamir.chat" From: e.bachman@bionic.zerberus.de Subject: HELP for the Zamir Transnational Net To: Recipients of zamir-chat-l Message-ID: <64gODW-mrLB@pb-eric.zamir-bg.ztn> X-Gateway: conf2mail@igc.apc.org Errors-To: owner-zamir-chat-l@igc.apc.org Precedence: bulk Lines: 85 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Eric Bachman 11.03.96 ============= Dear Friends of the Zamir Transnational Net, We are in great need of support. Funding for our international data transfers, which we had expected did not yet come through. At the moment we do not have any more money for our international data transfers. For the whole network we need about 10 to 12 thousand (10,000 - 12,000) Deutsch Marks (approximately 7 to 8,000 US$) for each month. Of this sum, about 2,000-3,000 DEM (US$ 1-2,000) is covered. About 6,000-8,000 DM (US$ 4,000-6,000) is needed. Very quickly, we need some additional funding to be able to continue with our network. Can you help us? Donations can be sent to the account below. As you know, since 1992 we have been providing free Internet email and electronic conferencing for NGO's, human rights, anti-war, women's, environmental, humanitarian aid groups and also for individuals in the post-Yugoslavian countries. We have about 2,500 users. Many of whom also send and receive mail for others who do not have access to computers. Our communication network here has enabled many people to regularly connect up with friends, relatives, co-workers, partners all over the world. Only recently (1995) did we begin to take user fees from users in te systems in Zagreb and Belgrade. The other systems still offer free access. Especially in Bosnia, where the economy was destroyed by the war, the users do not have enough funds to cover the real costs and depend upon the subsidized systems for communication. Although we are working to get cheaper international connections, we will still be dependent upon expensive dial-up connections for a while. Thank you for your support, Eric Donations for Zamir Transnational Net can be sent to: FoeBuD e.V., Mark for: ZaMir Transnational Network (ZTN) Account number 2138113 Sparkasse Bielefeld Bank identification number 480 501 61 email to: e.bachman@zamir-zg.ztn.apc.org e.bachman@zamir-bg.ztn.apc.org ******************************************************************** E.BACHMAN@BIONIC.ZERBERUS.DE COSYSOP on the Zamir Transnational Net ZAMIR-BG, ZAMIR-LJ, ZAMIR-PK, ZANA-PR, ZAMIR-SA, ZAMIR-TZ, ZAMIR-ZG .ztn.apc.org ## CrossPoint v3.02 R ##