[comp.sys.next] USENET DUPLICATE ARTICLES APPEARING: comp.sys.next

casey@COGNET.UCLA.EDU (11/08/88)

  I've been noticing a lot of duplicate articles in the group
comp.sys.next.  (Actually I've noticed them in other groups too, but no
where near the extent found in comp.sys.next.)  Often in the past when
I've noticed this, I've found that the two articles had different article
IDs (most often a different number indicating that the author probably
resent the article, but sometimes the system name changed from foo.UUCP
to foo.foo-domain).  Here I have a much more interesting header:

Article 729 of comp.sys.next:
Path: ucla-cs!sm.unisys.com!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6
	!uwvax!tank!nic.MR.NET!shamash!nis!ems!amdahl!uunet!csdev!ll1a
	!spl1!laidbak!att!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!accelerator
	!baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu!abali
From: abali@baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu (Bulent Abali)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT Memory - No Error Checking or
Message-ID: <8548@spl1.UUCP>
Date: 2 Nov 88 17:54:23 GMT
References: <549@gt-eedsp.UUCP> <207400001@inmet>
Sender: news@spl1.UUCP
Reply-To: abali@baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu (Bulent Abali)
Organization: Ohio State Univ, College of Engineering
Lines: 20

  Note that tut.cis.ohio-state.edu shows up twice.  There are several
other messages with this loop, and many of the other duplicate messages
also have tut in their path.  Could it be that tut's inews is broken?

  If not tut, maybe someone else?  Note that this is *NOT* an attack on
tut's administrators, Ohio State, etc., etc.  I know that software
breaks.  This is just a note of the problem.  I've sent a separate copy
of this to postmaster@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu, but am also posting it just
in case it's some other site.

Casey

karl@triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste) (11/08/88)

Thanx to Casey for pointing out this problem to us.  As near as I can
see, however, the problem is not with us, but with a system called
`spl1' elsewhere.  I found a couple of sample duplicated articles in
comp.sys.next and diff'd the originals against the weird-looking
duplicates.  Take a look at this:

[86] [8:40am] tut:/usr/spool/news/comp/sys/next> diff 583 705
1c1
< Path: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!accelerator!baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu!abali
---
> Path: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!uwvax!tank!nic.MR.NET!shamash!nis!ems!amdahl!uunet!csdev!ll1a!spl1!laidbak!att!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!accelerator!baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu!abali
5c5
< Message-ID: <956@accelerator>
---
> Message-ID: <8548@spl1.UUCP>
8c8
< Sender: news@accelerator
---
> Sender: news@spl1.UUCP
[87] [8:41am] tut:/usr/spool/news/comp/sys/next> diff 617 711
1c1
< Path: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!accelerator!baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu!abali
---
> Path: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!uwvax!tank!nic.MR.NET!shamash!nis!ems!amdahl!uunet!csdev!ll1a!spl1!laidbak!att!rutgers!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!accelerator!baloo.eng.ohio-state.edu!abali
5c5
< Message-ID: <967@accelerator>
---
> Message-ID: <8735@spl1.UUCP>
8c8
< Sender: news@accelerator
---
> Sender: news@spl1.UUCP

It appears to me that site spl1 has taken the article in, chewed on it
a while, and then reposted it to the network again.

This is Bad.  Naughty boy.

As to why it got back here and went out yet again, I don't know.
Normal Path: audit trails should have kept husc6 from handing it back
to us since we already appeared in that list.  Regardless, it was
re-accepted for what were evidently legitimate reasons: a unique
Message-ID.

My map files show spl1 as the Software Public Library in Chicago.
Could the admin of this site please take a look?

Thanx,
--Karl