jj (07/07/82)
The gentleman from pur-ee had a point. I withdraw my support from the idea that there should be an automatic reply to net.test. For sure someone who misuses it now will build an automatic reply replier just to show he can. that would end the net in one night.
wagner (07/07/82)
The solution to automatic reply repliers and the resultant loops is to build a delay into the legitimate reply generators, so that the system can not go into high frequency oscillations. The ability to automatically get mechanical confirmation from all sites who got a message is very useful, and should not be hindered by the fact that there is potential for people to mess it up. Remember, right now I could mess up the net by submitting a message a minute out of cron. While that isnt exponential, it is certainly still enough to fill everyones disks. Perhaps the correct solution is to disallow access to net.test except for system administrators? I dont like that one either, I must admit, since it cuts out a valid (although expensive) way of determining all reachable nodes. Michael Wagner, UTCS
nrh (07/11/82)
What's all this trouble with net.test? Surely testing the net is a legitimate use of netnews. Not to imply anything about the appropriateness of net.movies, but I have current 13 net.test articles and 85 net.movies articles. Surely net.test is not such a big problem?