xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (03/30/91)
gwu@tcs.com (George Wu) writes in news.admin: > I came across the included article in rec.skiing. I notice that the > distribution line is reasonable, so why did I get it out here in > California? Could someone notify the "proper" authorities, or send me > their addresses? I just thought I'd help reduce someone's phone bill . > Distribution: nj Distribution as a mechanism is poorly designed for a network full of antique software and poorly maintained sites. It depends on every single site in the desired distribution area reliably respecting and copying the Distribution line. If as few as one site doesn't copy the line, or doesn't respect it, the article leaks out of the area desired and is seen on the net. Since your example shows an intact distribution line, _every_ site on the path to you outside New Jersey failed to respect the distribution, and kept forwarding the article rather than junking it or whatever the proper action might be. As long as one such path of sites exists between the originator and you, a frequent occurrence on a heavily cross-connected net, you get to see articles meant for narrower distribution. The only places where distribution provides some certainty of not leaking by is at the highly bandwidth cost sensitive sites, such as the ocean crossing gateways, which do tend to have software designed and maintained to cull out articles not meant to cross the water. The working way to limit distribution is to post to a group that only _exists_ on local sites, perhaps an "nj.wanted" or some such. Distribution as designed is just too broken to fix. It would be best if the "Distribution" mechanism were either removed as misleading, or redesigned so that it works in the real world. A first step toward a _much_ superior design would make the default distribution "local" rather than "world", so that a lost distribution line would halt distribution of that clone of the original article, while copies with intact distribution lines continued to propagate within the desired region. The same choice would stop sites that incorrectly parsed the distribution line from passing it on, one is allowed to hope. When the net began, a default distribution of "everywhere" made sense; with the current traffic levels, it is an active canker in worsening the cost of operating the net, since a big part of material posted could happily see only a limited part of the net. Similarly, Pnews or whatever should be modified to make "local" the default distribution. Actually having to type in a wider distribution for each posting might encourage authors to think a little harder about just who needs to see each article, saving bandwidth everywhere. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>
tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) (04/02/91)
gwu@tcs.com (George Wu) writes in news.admin: > I came across the included article in rec.skiing. I notice that the > distribution line is reasonable, so why did I get it out here in > California? Could someone notify the "proper" authorities, or send me > their addresses? I just thought I'd help reduce someone's phone bill . > > Distribution: nj Well, first of all, the straight-out answer to George's question is that he got it because *all* of the sites in the article's Path: header decided to pass it on. If George doesn't want to receive nj.* articles, he can and should start with his nearest newsfeed site and ask THEM why they feed him nj.*, then work over towards the originator site if necessary. The point is that this is not some mystery question. Every article contains the clues you need to find out how you got it. In article <1991Mar30.130202.25811@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >Distribution as a mechanism is poorly designed for a network full of >antique software and poorly maintained sites. It depends on every single >site in the desired distribution area reliably respecting and copying >the Distribution line. If as few as one site doesn't copy the line, or >doesn't respect it, the article leaks out of the area desired and is >seen on the net. There's even more to it than that. Regional distributions can be seen in one of two ways: as a restrictive "quarantine" mechanism or as a selective *courtesy* to your news neighbors. Posting something distributed to nj.* says: If you DON'T want to know about New Jersey stuff, here's a way to block it. If someone wants to use distribution as a quarantine, as for an in-house corporate news net that might carry sensitive info, then it's their responsibility on the OUTGOING side to make sure nobody feeds company.* to Slobber State U. or Joe's Basement Fidonet #15. But if it's just a matter of discovering that 'Announcing Santa Cruz Renaissance Faire' or 'Help Fight Sandy Hook Beach Closings' is being broadcast to unexpected parts of the country, I counsel all net.nannies to take their proverbial stress pill and go worry about something else. Remember there are legitimate reasons why people might want to keep track of stuff happening elsewhere in the world, even if the people writing the stuff THINK nobody else cares! There are such things as: bicoastal marriages, six month sabbaticals, fond childhood memories, special projects, even simple curiosity. The Distribution field is useful information; it should not be treated as a Soviet-style internal passport.