The Federation News Network, or FNN, was another of the one-hit-wonders that appeared and disappeared around the election of Bob Spurlin. Published by just-returned-from-AWOL Randy McCullick, FNN’s one short issue was a sort of “SNN UPDATE-lite”, mixing gossip with short satirical news.
FNN’s primary contribution to STF Media history, actually, was its scandal. At the time, SNN had the informal agreement of the various Fleet Commanders to post announcements of new issues of WeBBsights in an SNN-designated section of each fleet’s MOTD. McCullick, however, chose to announce FNN’s first issue on fleet MOTDs as well without the permission of the Fleet Commanders, which incensed several of them. The resulting complaints, arguments, and debates led to the creation of the Media MOTD, a new section on the login page just below the “Main MOTD”.
While the Main MOTD is only editable by those with direct shell access and was generally used for major system announcements, the Media MOTD, while visually not distinguishable, was editable from the WeBB by a select few with hard-coded access in effWeBB itself. Any media organization could get a section in the Media MOTD to announce its new issues by request. Ironically, the need for the Media MOTD to support actual media fell by the wayside very quickly as most of the new media outlets folded and it became the new location for SNN announcements as well as seasonal content such as the Election Toteboard, which was also managed by SNN.
Years later, after most STF news media had died off, the Media MOTD would be co-opted by the government as an easier and more verbose way to make club announcements than the Main MOTD. The name, however, and the hacky-sloppy coding to support it, remained.
Links
- Federation News Network
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