OTA@S1-A@sri-unix (11/19/82)
From: Ted Anderson <OTA at S1-A> A problem has developed with this mailing list. Perhaps you've noticed. By way of introduction let me explain how I fit in. I am the moderator of the SPACE Digest. This is a mailing list that (at least originally) lives on the ARPANET. Incoming messages are queued and each night automatically compiled into digest form and sent out to the distribution list. I exercise (almost) no editorial control over the content of this list since it is compiled automatically. I do keep a fairly close eye on it, but I'm not usually logged in at 3AM when it gets sent out, so many messages go out without any human oversight. If this digest wasn't automatic I wouldn't have time to run it. The usenet connection to the space mailing list is fairly recent. Mail sent to SPACE@MC is forwarded to a file at S1-A for incorporation into that day's digest and also to an address at SRI-UNIX where it enters the unix network bulliten board system. They get the individual messages not complete digests. Unix messages sent to the space BBoard, are forwarded to the same file on S1-A for inclusion in the digest that the ARPANET people see. Yesterday's digest came to more than 1000 lines. This is very much longer than is optimal and something must be done to cut down on the volume. Few people can afford to spend the time required to pore through such a mass of material on a daily basis. If you've checked a recent digest you may have noticed that virtually all the message come from usenet people. One reason for this is probably that there are a lot of people out there. There are something like 1-2 hundred direct recipients of the ARPANET digest. Judging from the relative volumes of mail there must be many thousands of usenet readers. Another part of the explanation is that the bboard system encourages fast interaction. The once-a-day nature of the digest is itself an effective limiter of the volume of mail. Perhaps most people don't realize that every offhand comment sent to SPACE gets read by a thousand people. Some people have suggested that I shut off the usenet connection. If I did this the volume of SPACE mail would drop to almost nothing. Virtually all the mail comes from unix sites. Others have suggested that I try to restrict the subject matter. This is clearly appropriate in some cases, but much harder to guage in others. Another problem that agravates the situation is that most ARPANET people cannot reply directly to senders of messages from unix sites. It seems that the usenet-arpanet connection is substantially oneway. Thus people are tempted to send messages that could be personal replys via the whole digest. To make things still worse, there of often considerable delay in usenet messages arriving at the arpanet. Thus we get to see messages about the space walk days after the shuttle has landed. We also get several replies to questions or replys to questions we never saw since the large delay introduces appearent causality violations. Ideally, I would like to see the oneway problem fixed. Second I would like to make the unix people observe the once-a-day digest character of the arpanet digest. This might encourage more thoughtful and considered submissions and discourage offhand comments that don't contribute much of substance. Third, I would like to remove the hugely variable time delay between sending a message and its appearence in the digest. Sadly, NONE of these things are likely to come to pass, at least not soon. I solicit ideas for solutions to these problems, especially from knowledgable unix people. If the arpanet community shuts off this flood of unix mail the unix people will mostly fail to even notice. We must come to some sort of accomodation. One thing I can do is to try a discourage topics of discussion that stray too far afield. If I notice in time I can strike messages from the digest. When I do this I will try and send a message to the sender letting them know. But I usually can't reach senders on usenet, so their messages will just get deleted. Since I can't talk to those people such dicussions will rage on usenet without help from the arpanet community, and will inevitably overflow into the space digest anyway. I can send out public messages to everyone trying to discourage errant topics but I doubt the efficacy of this. Mostly I can only urge people to realize that they are talking to lots of other people when they send messages to SPACE and that brevity, precision and relevance are the key concepts.