Two men wrote messages through a LAN.
One left seen-bies, the other left none.
One was a man that no man obeys;
The other a god from anarchic days.

"Look," said the man, "how my kind make war.
I summonned you here to ask what for."
"For traffic jumps," the god replies,
"For stable routing or some Cs lies."

CHORUS:
"GoldED is also a warrior.
Message can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest sane,
Preserve you from the flame.
Not all of wisdom brings joy."

"Two of those items," the first one said,
Are not enough to appease the dead.
To save Fido all this strife must cease,
So now I bid you to conjure peace."

The god said "Yes. Though it grieves me sore,
For I was also a god of war,
What you've deleted, I didn't yet,
Two of those three you may still regret."

CHORUS
"GoldED is also a warrior.
Message can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest sane,
Preserve you from the flame.
Not all of wisdom brings joy."

He took his keyboard, he raised his hand.
All strife stopped at the god's command.
No node ventured an angry word,
No key struck and no filter stirred.

In time, the man called the old god back.
"Look," he cried, "what my points lack!
RI-AAh rules over all the earth,
Every message is censored at birth."

CHORUS
"GoldED is also a warrior.
Message can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest sane,
Preserve you from the flame.
Not all of wisdom brings joy."

"Look, it owns all traffic, it owns all Cs,
We're limited under its command.
It dictates truth and imitates peace,
But all that I hope for is our release."

The old god said, "This is what you willed.
For only thus is your wish fulfilled.
Flame's three sources I took away,
Yet I will give two of them back today."

CHORUS
"GoldED is also a warrior.
Message can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest sane,
Preserve you from the flame.
Not all of wisdom brings joy."

He took his keyboard and voice once more,
And FidoNet overturned in war.
And when the last of those flames let fall,
There were no rules in the net at all.

"Go elect now," the old god said,
"List the living and filter the dead,
And remember this when you speak of war,
And think upon what is worth fighting for."

CHORUS
"GoldED is also a warrior.
Message can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest sane,
Preserve you from the flame.
Not all of wisdom brings joy."