chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg) (10/12/87)
>[...] why post the arbitron program EVERY month? It would be to >everyone's benefit if more sites ran pathalias and smail, but we >certainly wouldn't want these packages posted every month. > >p.s. I feel the same way about the the USENET maps. My machine cannot subscribe to comp.mail.maps because of its volume. But once every six months I could accept. I see two issues: 1. Should useful programs constantly be reposted? My opinion: Usually not. (At least arbitron is small.) 2. How often should updated UUCP maps be posted? My opinion: Every three to six months. -- Chip Salzenberg "chip@ateng.UUCP" or "{uunet,usfvax2}!ateng!chip" A.T. Engineering My employer's opinions are not mine, but these are. "Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding. I intend to recommend you all for promotion -- in whatever fleet we end up serving." - JTK
len@netsys.UUCP (Len Rose) (10/14/87)
It would be nice to see them once in awhile (the maps) ,most sites I know can't get the complete set because some site in their path to a backbone cannot handle the large amount of traffic they would generate. I , like many others end up getting them from archive sites. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a few sites in the country as uucp map archive centers,in which case the responsibility (and cost) for transferring this massive amount of data would fall upon the site that actually needed them.Then we could transport diffs on the net,or update packages designed in such a way as to facilitate easy maintenance of the net topography. Not only would this save the net in general alot of money,but it may make it easier for all sites to obtain the bloody maps.This would only be true if there were enough sites willing to perform this service.I am sure that many of the anonymous source archive sites are providing the maps already,but there will be alot gained by making it "Official" . Has this been discussed before? If so,then my apologies. Len Rose -* Netsys Public Access Network *- The East Coast Machine 301-540-3656,3657,3658,3659 3B2/Unix SV3.0 -- Len Rose -* Netsys Public Access Network *- The East Coast Machine 301-540-3656,3657,3658,3659 3B2/Unix SV3.0
mc68020@gilsys.UUCP (Thomas J Keller) (10/15/87)
In article <37@ateng.UUCP>, chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg) writes: > 1. Should useful programs constantly be reposted? > My opinion: Usually not. (At least arbitron is small.) > > 2. How often should updated UUCP maps be posted? > My opinion: Every three to six months. 1) so new sites on the net that don't know about important, useful software can just go without, right? All this archival is wonderful, but in many cases, the material needed, assuming the site admin KNOWS it's needed, is not readily available from a net neighbor. 2) This is a real screamer! Obviously Mr. Salzenberg is not bothered by large quantities of rejected and bounced mail. My current pathalias database is ~~3 months old. Nearly 50% of the mail I send is bounced back at me because some host in the path complains about an unknown hostname. I find it particularly irritating that the unknown hostname is frequently *NOT* one that was included in the path generated on my machine. Updating the map entries every 6 months will significantly affect this problem, making it much worse. -- Tom Keller VOICE : + 1 707 575 9493 UUCP : {ihnp4,ames,sun,amdahl,lll-crg,pyramid}!ptsfa!gilsys!mc68020
kyle@xanth.UUCP (Kyle Jones) (10/17/87)
[ This has turned into an issue for news admins, so followup to news.admin please. ] In article <1139@gilsys.UUCP>, mc68020@gilsys.UUCP (Thomas J Keller) writes: > In article <37@ateng.UUCP>, chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg) writes: > > 1. Should useful programs constantly be reposted? > > My opinion: Usually not. (At least arbitron is small.) > 1) so new sites on the net that don't know about important, useful > software can just go without, right? All this archival is wonderful, > but in many cases, the material needed, assuming the site admin > KNOWS it's needed, is not readily available from a net neighbor. Tom's right, but we still shouldn't flood the net with the same old software and maps every month because of this. A paper needs to be written that tells the administrators of new USENET sites about the software and other things they need to get. This paper should also tell them where they can get these things. Most of this information is scattered about in various newsgroups, but it needs to be organized into a single reference. This paper could be posted to news.announce.newusers with a suitably long expiration date, and reposted whenever the information in it is updated. Comments? kyle jones <kyle@odu.edu> old dominion university, norfolk, va usa