silvert@dalcs.UUCP (02/17/87)
I can sympathize with those who were frustrated in trying to get
Uniterm 1.6g, since Simon spent a lot of time sending me duplicate
uuencoded versions which arrived in damaged form, before finally one of
my BBS users got hold of a working version. However, when this morning
I found TWO complete postings, I had to sympathize even more with Simon
Poole's angry response. And it looks like these postings will delay
the arrival of 1.7a, so we all lose. On top of the recent uemail
fiasco (with all the duplicates that went out I think I received about
20 large installments), it is clear that we need to try to agree on
policy to cut down on net traffic.
Keep in mind that one of the prices we are paying is that a lot of net
contributors are posting binaries without source code, presumably to cut
down on traffic. I would personally rather see a lot of small programs
however then a few really big ones. Granted, the multiplicity of
languages is a problem, but I would really like to see some of the
source code for Braner's programs and that sort of thing than massive
posting of code suitable only for those who have a specific compiler and
want to add their own touches.
I suggest that we adopt a strict policy of NOT posting material written
by someone else IF that person is on the net and has not given explicit
permission (I asked Simon if he wanted me to handle N. American posting
of Uniterm, and since he didn't, I didn't). Also, can we clean up the
various versions of uuencode that are out there? I do all my uuencoding
on a Unix system, and I recognize that my program needs improvement --
adding a check character at the end of each line is a desirable
improvement, for example, and avoids problems associated with the loss
of terminal blanks. If we identify the uuencodes that work best and
distribute them, it would help.
If we do find ourselves under pressure, perhaps a compromise might save
the day -- an agreement to restrict this group to single-part listings,
with a moderated group for multipart listings and large source postings.
We might also get some feedback on what kinds of source code are
appropriate. For example, I've posted some Modula-2 source code and
gotten a number of replies, but I really have no idea of how many
Modula-2 users there are out there.
One possibility we should look into is setting up formal distribution
networks, perhaps by smail. Several notices have already appeared about
distribution centres. If Simon sent a couple of disks to N. American
contacts who immediately started mailing out copies to "subscribers" we
could probably clean up the Uniterm distribution problem quite
efficiently, for example.
--
Bill Silvert
Marine Ecology Laboratory, Dartmouth, NS, Canada
CDN or BITNET: silvert@cs.dal.cdn -- UUCP: ..!{seismo|utai}!dalcs!silvert
ARPA: silvert%dalcs.uucp@seismo.CSS.GOV -- CSNET: silvert%cs.dal.cdn@ubc.csnet