Editing FidoNet (section)

===Other extensions===
FidoNet supported file attachments from even the earliest standards. File attachments followed the normal mail routing through multiple systems and could back up transfers all along the line as the files were copied.
Additionally, users could send files to other users and rack up long-distance charges on host systems.
For these reasons, file transfers were normally turned off for most users, and only available to the system operators and tosser/scanners.

A solution was offered in the form of ''file requests''. This reversed the flow of information, instead of being driven by the sending systems, these were driven by the calling system. This meant it was the receiver, the user trying to get the file, that paid for the connection. Additionally, requests were directly routed using one-time point-to-point connections instead of the traditional routing, so they did not cause the file to be copied multiple times. Two such standards became common, "WaZOO" and "Bark", which saw varying support among different mailers. Both worked similarly, with the mailer calling the remote system and sending a new handshake packet to request the files.<ref>Philip Becker [http://www.rxn.com/services/fts/fts-0008.txt "An Enhanced FidoNet Technical Standard Extending FTS-0001 to include Bark requests"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520144219/http://www.rxn.com/services/fts/fts-0008.txt |date=2013-05-20 }}, 15 October 1990</ref><ref>Vince Perriello, [http://ftsc.org/docs/fts-0006.002 "YOOHOO and YOOHOO/2U2"], 30 November 1991</ref>

Although FidoNet was, by far, the best known BBS-based network, it was by no means the only one. From 1988 on, [[PCBoard]] systems were able to host similar functionality known as [[RelayNet]], while other popular networks included [[RBBSNet]] from the [[Commodore 64]] world, and [[AlterNet]]. Late in the evolution of the FidoNet system, there was a proposal to allow mail (but not forum messages) from these systems to switch into the FidoNet structure.<ref>Steve Gove, [http://ftsc.org/docs/fsc-0076.001 "A Proposal for NetMail AreaTags"], 3 December 1993</ref> This was not adopted, and the rapid rise of the internet made this superfluous as these networks rapidly added internet exchange, which acted as a [[lingua franca]].

[[File:Fidonodes (en).svg|thumb|Rapid rise, 1996 peak, and slower decline in number of Fidonodes]]