[mod.computers.vax] More notes on BULLETIN & its distribution

info-vax@ucbvax.UUCP (02/12/86)

Distribution first:
	o I have not forgotten any of you who have requested. I am
	  just trying to catch up.

	o I cannot distribute bulletin thru USENET. It is of no interest
	  to UN*X people, and usenet is 99% UN*X. If it was a small piece
	  of software, that would be fine, but it is not.

	o Many people requested that I send bulletin thru e-mail. That
	  can be done, but under exceptional circumstances, such as
	  australia. If you have ARPA access, than one site already
	  made the sources available thru anonymous ftp. That would be
	  easier to get at.

	o I do not seem to be able to get it across a gataway to send
	  to DEC. The requester from DEC should try ARPA also.

	o Tape distribution is time consuming, but can be handled.
	  If you have ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER WAY of getting it, send me
	  a tape at:
			Ozan S. Yigit
			Dept. of Computer Science
			York University
			4700 Keele St. North York
			Ontario, Canada
			M3J 1P3

	  I would (rather, the department would) appreciate if the
	  requester includes some suitable amount to cover surface 
	  postage costs.

Now for the current/future plans on BULLETIN:

	o We are busy including a change so that you can configure
	  the bulletin where the default display will be in cronological
	  order, instead of reverse-cronological order. For a continuous
	  stream of bulletins, that mode is more useful than the reverse
	  mode. We find reverse-cronological display most useful for
	  discontinuous, non-discussion type bulletin posting.

	o We are considering an implementation (again configurable) of
	  bulletin where bulletin libraries are subdirectories instead
	  of text libraries. This would be most useful on a site with
	  a very high volume of bulletins (probably due to cross-posting
	  from arpa, or usenet..) Any suggestions on this issue is welcome.

	o We are looking for a more efficient way of storing the user-related
	  bulletin information (1-n read, 3-6 never-read etc..). Again,
	  any suggestions would be most useful.

	o Bulletin sources are being revised cosmetically so that you
	  can read it in an ordinary terminal :-). (I.e. you would not
	  need 132-column display mode) 

	I have been building a mailing list for those who received
	the bulletin thru me, using BITNET. When the next release
	comes about, it will be sent to those in the list. 

Oz
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