ggr@pyuxbb.UUCP (07/06/83)
Here is another problem with the distribution mechanism (or how everyone's sys file is set up now): Suppose I want to submit an article about, for example, "New Dr. Who Episodes now on WHYY, Philadelphia", and want to submit it to newgroups "net.sf-lovers,net.tv" but only with distribution "nj,pa". Now the article will make its way around NJ but won't get to PA because I doubt that the sys file for the mhux?-alux? link mentions the names of the groups local to the other end of the link (i.e. the alux? line in the mhux? file doesn't mention "pa"). This could be done with a little trouble if all netnews administrators took the time to do it. Of course if the distribution contains multiple "communities of interest" that don't intersect or even touch (with the way the network connections are configured), there is no hope of getting the message to the right places. Then, of course, it won't work right to ARPA sites. And also the whole scheme falls apart when the message hits the first A news site which strips off the Distribution line and ships it back out to every site in the network. === Guy Riddle == BTL Piscataway ===