[fidotron]

Of course!

There was a time we were encouraged to be friendly with Russia, and many Russian devs were on Fidonet. This was actually how some I knew were recruited to work for western companies.

[wartywhoa23]

Greetings from a Russian, still friendly despite all the political shitshow :)

We spent so many nights with my friend (15 yo in 1996, the peak FidoNet) connecting to BBSes over phone modem, soaking up all the Fido lore, humour and lingo, dreaming of obtaining us a .point for ourselves somehow. To that end, we visited a number of local "sysopkas" and "pointovkas" (sysop/point parties), making friends with actual point owners who gathered in a local park to booze some and have fun.

What a blessed time it was! The future seemed spotless and bright...

[man8alexd]

The ex-USSR segment of FIDONET became the largest in the world around 1995-1996. Internet access was rare and very expensive until around 2000.

[tclancy]

Is your username an homage or your actual handle on fidonet?

[fidotron]

Homage. I really like the ideals of fidonet.

Edit to add, and as our friendly Russian here reminded us, it was a much more optimistic time.

[maratc]

actual fidonet addresses are numbers, not letters.