werner@molokai.sw.mcc.com (Werner Uhrig) (06/01/89)
something like Brian Reid's archive-server by mail would, probably, be
preferable for everyone involved.
1) these days there are a lot more sites which are not able or do not
allow general FTP-capabilities (BITnet, USEnet, many more ..)
2) you want to control the load inflicted to your machine due to public
service. you can schedule email file service to your off-hours,
prioritize by msg-size, break files into chunks <60k, guaranteed
not to get tossed by gateways; make it possible to request only
"chunks" rather than whole files when you get something corrupted;
treat mail differently depending where it goes (include a CRC for
instant sanity checking in "chunks")
you can keep a log of requests and requestors, bundle requests from
the same site or corner of Worldnet and send one copy only to one
requestor with instructions to redistribute locally to the others
(you also send a note to the others indicating who got the goods,
of course :-) you can also keep a log who "got the goods" last
week and send only a note, pointing either to someone who has "it",
or to a local archive-site, or a local BBS, or a local Users Group,
or a local dealer, or ... remember, that when we are talking about
serving Worldnet, we have to take care of such "remote" places as
FidoNet, etc, where we can't simply mail the stack of Tech Notes
or other many-hundreds-k of files, as it would burden a lot of
intermediate sites in an unacceptable way.
for more ideas and options let's have a private discussion.
I'm willing to set up a mailing-list forum to promote and support
such an effort if interest exists.
Cheers, ---Werner (super-rascal)
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