[news.admin] problems with replying to articles

earley@modular.UUCP (Joe Earley) (12/10/87)

Hello World,

Chris Ott  lives at Internet  address  chris@spock.ame.arizona.edu and
UUCP address  (relative to me of course) arizona!amethyst!spock!chris.
When I reply to one of his articles the following  info is given to me
in my posting:

To: arizona!spock.ame.arizona.edu!chris
Subject: Re: Nethack source parts 2 and 12 wanted
In-reply-to: your article <545@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu>
News-Path: arizona!amethyst!spock!chris
~
~
~

I have the #define INTERNET set up in the defs.h  file.  Must I really
edit  the To: address in   order to  properly   mail to him  properly.
Because we are neighbors here in Tucson I really shouldn't care.  What
I'm trying to get around is editing the News-Path address into the To:
field  for  far away places.  And  I'ld rather let the Internet router
chose the best path anyway.  Am I  wrong in thinking that  the path an
article takes in getting here is not the best path to reply  to there?
I believe  I saw that  mentioned  in the documentation.  The mailpaths
file has the following entries which are correct:

backbone	arizona!%s
internet	arizona!%s

What have I  missed in setting  up news?

Also, we are not directly  connected to  the Internet.  Is there a way
to get at archive files at ARPA  sites?  I can't  FTP them and I don't
have login access to  a machine  that can.  Do I  need to rely  on the
good graces of users who can FTP them and mail  them to me?  That sort
of thing  would only clog up my  neighbors  machine  and I'ld like  to
avoid that.  As a last resort I would ask a  kind user at an ARPA site
to spin a tape for me.  I would of course supply the  tape and postage
both ways.

I  am new  to this sort  of thing.  We've  only  had a Unix  box since
August.  The excuses are out of  the way so  I'll say  thanks and that
all help is greatly appreciated.  Flames will only invite reprisals.
-- 
Joe Earley, Modular Mining Systems
USENET:     {ihnp4,allegra,cmcl2,noao}!arizona!modular!earley
INTERNET:   modular!earley@arizona.edu