req@warwick.UUCP (06/12/86)
> For several days now, I've been trying to get ahold of Russell Quin at the >listed address given in the .newnews announcment for his mailfrp. The problem >is that no matter how I phrase the line, even with several substitutions I fail >to get through. I'm posting this because it's of general relevance. The 1st point is that ``several days'' is often not long enough for mail to reach sites in Europe from America. There is a long chain of intermediate uucp links, and some of them only talk to each other overnight. It turns out to be a good idea to allow a week or so each way, assuming that the recipient reads mail daily and replies promptly. As I only deal with mail.frplist in the evenings or at weekends, it sometimes takes three weeks! The 2nd point is that there's a .signature at the end of this message which contains mail routes for me for both UUCP and ARPA sites. I was unable to tell from Glenn's original mail (yes, I did get it) whether he was at magic.DEC.COM or at decwrl.ARPA. By the time I get to see mail, the headers have been irretrievably mangled, so I have to rely on explicit info quite often. I often can't reply at all, because I don't know where the mail came from. In this case, Glenn sent me some mail which arrived two days ago including "thain@decwrl.DEC.COM", so I could reply. As we're not an ARPA site, though, the reply will still take a while to reach him. > How often are the mail pathways updated? Can one of the SA's at the >backbone let him know I can't reach him, ( I don't believe this is a problem >as my SA on site says the paths should work....), and have him send me mail? I send updates to the appropriate person whenever the information changes. (Including today, as I now have a shorter path from many sites. But the old routes still work.) Thankyou to the people who sent me copies of Glenn's posting. I have sent mail, but it's always possible that I'm not getting through. > Can someone tell me where to post inquiries like this in the future, (i.e. >how do I find this person?) so I can become more efficent with the USnet? I believe that net.net-people is the place for this. Although your choice of net.news.sa was certainly effective! [:-)] And learn to spell! [:-) :-) :-)] > > Glenn >thain@decwrl.DEC.COM Russell Quin -- ARPA req%uu.warwick.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa EARN/BITNET req%UK.AC.WARWICK.UU@AC.UK JANET req@uk.ac.warwick.uu UUCP seismo!mcvax!ukc!warwick!req (req@warwick.UUCP) For FRPList (mail.frplist), use "frplist" instead of "req" in the above. The BITNET path only works from sites that have AC.UK in their tables. Sorry.