EGK%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU ("Edjik") (10/14/86)
Is anyone else besides me getting sick of getting many masgs of tens of kilo chars in size of what looks like a drunk writing teco macros? My poor mail file blows up and chokes MM more frequently with such stuff. why cant people just send a pointer to their program and let those who want it get it or request it individualy. It used to be considered anti-social to send such masssive files unsolicited. People on usenet who have to pay phone charges will appreciate your courtesy. My mailbox will love you too. thank you for your support. --E+ -------
ram-ashwin@YALE.ARPA (Ashwin Ram) (10/15/86)
Is anyone else besides me getting sick of getting many masgs of
tens of kilo chars in size of what looks like a drunk writing
teco macros?
I don't know --- I kind of like getting free software (and you must admit
that most of the stuff that has been coming over the net recently is both
good and useful -- thanx, guys). I find it a trivial flex of my right finger
to hit "n" if I don't want to read a particular note, and most people are
pretty good about warning us about large files coming up in following
messages. "Shareware" is a great concept, and I for one would vote for its
continuation.
My poor mail file blows up and chokes MM more frequently with such
stuff. why cant people just send a pointer to their program and let
those who want it get it or request it individualy. It used to be
considered anti-social to send such masssive files unsolicited.
--E+
One problem with sending it to everyone who wants it individually is that
that generates a *lot* of net traffic when a lot of people want something
large like uEmacs (which a lot of people *do* want). Many sites are set up
such that USENET notesfiles are transmitted *once* to the site, and then
either (a) individually transmitted to local users (not expensive) or (b)
posted on a publicly readable bulletin board or notesfile which individual
readers can read using rn/readnews/notes/... (not expensive either). The
situation is complex. You may have a point regarding large pieces of
software that is interesting to very few people, but it isn't as simple as
"don't post shareware, period". For obvious reasons, "getting it yourself"
(i.e., FTP, etc.) isn't a practical solution either.
The right way to cut down costs, in my opinion, is to (a) encourage sites to
provide a single mailing address for mailing lists in cases when there are
several users at that site interested in the mailing list, rather than each
user being on the mailing list individually, and (b) reduce the number of
bouncebacks (which generate a *lot* of net traffic). Marshall has already
taken some positive steps in the latter direction.
-- Ashwin.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@yale
UUCP: ...!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecs
-------
-------rb@cci632.UUCP (Rex Ballard) (10/16/86)
It's beginning to look like it might be time to get a net.sources.atari16. There are already net.sources.mac and net.sources.amiga, along with some general 'C' type source groups. We might also be able to get a "bin" group as well? Our "peculiar" format, unlike binhex or S-record formats can be decoded on either the Unix host or an ST. Sources have been posted for BASIC, C, Pascal, and Modula 2 versions. One of them seems to be incompatible with the Unix version. There are also versions of uuencode and uudecode available for VMS, IBM PC's, and Amiga's. In other words, unpacking should not be too difficult. One concern is the net.sources.XX vs. the net.XX.sources issue. Many S.A.'s do not want people putting net.sources files in their personal accounts, but don't mind them transferring files to their micro. The typical method of stopping access is to make the directory (net/sources) executable and readable only by the owning demeon. This effectively shuts of access to all sources. On the flip side, many sites archive net.sources.* to tape, which makes this alternative attractive to sites with no sources restrictions. Since the newer news programs link rather than send multiple copies, it might not be a bad idea to have both groups with implied or explicit cross-posting. One possible solution is to change net.sources to net.sources.general and/or some further specific groups, so that there is no net.sources group. Feel free to forward this suggestion to any appropriate group. Rex B.