jice@echo.esd.sgi.com (John Eisenman) (02/16/90)
Before asking a question on a news group, I would like to look through the old news to see if it has been answered before. How can I access older news articles that have expired at my site? -- John Eisenman (jice) phone x1551 mail 1L-920
ckd@bu-pub.bu.edu (Christopher Davis) (02/19/90)
>>>>> On 16 Feb 90 06:03:59 GMT, jice@echo.esd.sgi.com (John Eisenman) said: > Before asking a question on a news group, I would like to look through the > old news to see if it has been answered before. How can I access older news > articles that have expired at my site? Well, first you get a DeLorean. Then you build a time machine out of it... :-) Unfortunately, there really isn't a way to look through expired articles on *most* groups. Many moderated groups (for example, comp.risks) have archives of all the back articles available for ftp somewhere, or you can ask someone on a site with a longer expire time (if you know someone who's willing to help out). I'd recommend looking through the postings that *haven't* expired and, if you don't see it discussed there (but are fairly sure that you're in the right group for your topic) either ask on the net, or ask someone who is one of the "authorities" on that group. Now, I'd like to thank you for being concerned enough to want to know if something's been discussed before before you post asking about it. --Chris -- Christopher Davis, BU SMG '90 <ckd@bu-pub.bu.edu> <smghy6c@buacca.bitnet> NETWORK PLANNING CONSTRAINT OF THE MONTH: "You can't send bits over a non-existent link." --Valdis Kletnieks <valdis@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu>
jskelly@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jim Kelly) (02/19/90)
John Eisenman: >How can I access older news articles that have expired at my site? Christopher Davis: >There isn't a way to look through expired articles on most groups. I've wondered about this question for two years, and this is the answer I was expecting. Why does the news take pains to give articles unique ID numbers and keep a "References:" line if the articles can't be retrieved? -- | jskelly@phoenix.princeton.edu gr.kelly%pupcyc@princeton.edu | | "A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew | | the facts of the case." --Finley Peter Dunne |
steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) (02/19/90)
[In article <13956@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>,
jskelly@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jim Kelly) writes ... ]
> John Eisenman:
>>How can I access older news articles that have expired at my site?
>
> Christopher Davis:
>>There isn't a way to look through expired articles on most groups.
>
> I've wondered about this question for two years, and this is the
> answer I was expecting.
Of course. You can't drink a Coca-Cola after the can's been recycled.
> Why does the news take pains to give articles
> unique ID numbers and keep a "References:" line if the articles can't
> be retrieved?
The time it takes for a message to expire on any given system depends on
how the system is set up. Some keep messages longer than others.
In addition to providing data for the References: field, the unique
Message-ID enables rnews to throw away duplicate messages. Duplicates
sometimes show up if there are loops in the network or if crossposted
messages arrive from two directions.
For example, a friend of mine gets a graphics newsgroup from
midgard.mn.org and comp.sys.atari.st from stag.UUCP. If a message is
posted to both groups, he may receive it from stag on Wednesday and from
midgard on Thursday. Since the message bears a unique serial number, rnews
can recognize this (by keeping a history file) and throw out the
duplicate.
--
Steve Yelvington at the (thin ice today*) lake in Minnesota
UUCP path: ... umn-cs.cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve
*16 cars through the ice so far this year! Yes, you, too, can
have that sinking feeling....tale@cs.rpi.edu (David C Lawrence) (02/19/90)
In <13956@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> jskelly@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jim Kelly): > Why does the news take pains to give articles unique ID numbers So sites don't get multiple copies of the same article. Any site that is fed by more than one other would run the risk otherwise. > and keep a "References:" line if the articles can't be retrieved? They can be, just not forever. We expire most news articles after they have been around here for two weeks. The three articles in the References: line of this message are still quite fresh on our system and I can get to them very easily through my newsreader.
darcy@druid.uucp (D'Arcy J.M. Cain) (02/20/90)
In article <13956@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> (Jim Kelly) writes: >John Eisenman: >>How can I access older news articles that have expired at my site? > >Christopher Davis: >>There isn't a way to look through expired articles on most groups. > >I've wondered about this question for two years, and this is the >answer I was expecting. Why does the news take pains to give articles >unique ID numbers and keep a "References:" line if the articles can't >be retrieved? > Actually you can generally archive them yourself on your own system but better have plenty of disk space. Those messages have to be kept somewhere if you are going to retrieve them. News programs are specifically written to allow expiry of articles so that you don't choke your memory. Consider that news is sending 3 to 8 megabytes a day to your system. Do you really want to store that forever? If you have 500 megabytes to spare you can keep a few months worth of news. The purpose of unique numbers is to prevent having the same message show up more than once on your system and be presented as a new message. Many sites get multiple feeds to guarantee a full, uninterruptable news feed and without unique numbers each copy of an article would be added to the news data base. -- D'Arcy J.M. Cain (darcy@druid) | Thank goodness we don't get all D'Arcy Cain Consulting | the government we pay for. West Hill, Ontario, Canada | (416) 281-6094 |
tbetz@upaya.lilink.COM (Tom Betz) (02/22/90)
Quoth darcy@druid.UUCP (D'Arcy J.M. Cain) in <1990Feb19.160606.9002@druid.uucp>: |In article <13956@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> (Jim Kelly) writes: |>John Eisenman: |>>How can I access older news articles that have expired at my site? |> |>Christopher Davis: |>>There isn't a way to look through expired articles on most groups. |> |>I've wondered about this question for two years, and this is the |>answer I was expecting. Why does the news take pains to give articles |>unique ID numbers and keep a "References:" line if the articles can't |>be retrieved? |> |Actually you can generally archive them yourself on your own system but |better have plenty of disk space. Those messages have to be kept somewhere |if you are going to retrieve them. News programs are specifically written |to allow expiry of articles so that you don't choke your memory. Consider |that news is sending 3 to 8 megabytes a day to your system. This leads me to ask a question I've been wondering about for some time. What site participating in the Usenet has the longest expiration / biggest /usr/spool/news disk? Could those who think they might be contenders please email me with the appropriate statistics and I'll compile a list of the top ten or twenty or so and post it here... or if someone (like uunet) has such a list already compiled, could you please mail it to me? I'd be very interested to see if anyone is keeping messages longer than the Expires: field calls for. It I have infinite space someday, I'd like to keep several years' worth of news around. Just for the heck of it... -- "I don't run - I tend to black my eyes." - D.Parton | hombre!marob!upaya!tbetz ----------------------------------------------------| tbetz@upaya.lilink.com "One minute I'm in the pasture porkin' ponies, | Tom Betz - GBS the next I'm a can of Mighty Dog!" - Secretariat | (914) 375-1510