chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (12/23/84)
Usenet administrators: If your site is not receiving newsgroups such
as mod.newslists, mod.map.news, mod.sources, and na.forsale, your sys
file (or the sys file of the site feeding you news) is probably wrong.
While poring through the returns of the sendsys control message I sent
out a few weeks ago, I've found many re-occuring problems with sys
files all over the network. We've been having trouble with "black
holes" in the network where messages simply seem to disappear without a
trace. Most, if not all, of these can be tracked down to problems in
the news sys files of sites upstream of the holes.
The biggest problem I've seen is missing distributions. Every site in the
U.S. should have the following distributions for their site and any site
they feed news to:
ME:net,fa,mod,usa,na,to::
THEM:net,fa,mod,usa,na,to::
Many sites are missing the "usa", "na", and "mod" distributions,
crippling the ability of everyone to use these. "usa" should go
everywhere in the United States, "na" should go everywhere in North
America, and "net", "fa", and "mod" should go everywhere in the world.
A related problem is with sites that are passing specific topics to
some other place. This example is WRONG and will not properly forward
all messages:
ME:net,fa,mod,usa,na,to::
THEM:net.unix-wizards::
The reason this is wrong is that 2.10.2 now requires the "Distribution:"
line in headers of messages being posted. If you send out a message with
the headers:
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Distribution: net
your sys file with match the "Newsgroups:" line but it will NOT match
the line for the "Distribution:". Because of this, large numbers of
articles are not being sent when (or where) they should be. The correct
way of handling this in the sys file is:
ME:net,fa,mod,usa,na,to::
THEM:net,net.unix-wizards::
Please, PLEASE update your sys file! If your sys file is incorrect you are
not seeing all the articles you should be, and neither are any of the sites
you feed news to. This is especially critical if you are feeding news to
others -- you have taken on the responsibility of getting them
information and you may not be. There is nothing they can do to fix this -- the
responsibility is yours. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to work
on your sys file -- do it! There are areas of the net that are having
significant problems, especially with mod, usa, and na distributions, and
they can be tracked down to some sites that have let their sys files get
out of date. If you have any questions, please contact me at ..!nsc!chuqui
and I'll help you fix your file. It is VERY important to everyone on the
net that all of the information gets to every person possible. Don't be the
site that keeps that critical piece of knowledge from the person that needs
it -- fix your sys file.
In a few weeks I'll be sending out another sendsys message. I plan on
contacting sites that are still errant personally at that time. Depending
on the problems I see I may also post a list of the errant sites so that
administrators being fed by them will at least know they aren't getting
everything. I don't want your site on that list -- I hope you don't, either.
chuq