Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mstar!karl
From: karl@MorningStar.COM (Karl Fox)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: cancel propagation (was Re: Supersedes problems with rapid-fire articles)
Message-ID: <1989Sep1.203656.4306@MorningStar.COM>
Date: 1 Sep 89 20:36:56 GMT
References: <5200@looking.on.ca> <...> <6233@looking.on.ca> <1989Sep1.004629.17171@utstat.uucp> <2852@splut.conmicro.com>
Reply-To: karl@MorningStar.COM (Karl Fox)
Organization: Morning Star Technologies, Columbus, Ohio
Lines: 14

Usenet's flooding propagation method allows sites to increase the
"reliability" of their connection with the net by receiving multiple
feeds.  If an article gets destroyed at some link or site, it is likely
to flow back around from the opposite direction if such a path is
available.

If a cancel is not forwarded, then this reliability feature is lost.
Not forwarding the cancel will certainly put less of a load on the
network when it catches its prey near to home, but failing to forward
it can stop the tidal wave from lapping around a corner to overcome a
transmission failure.

P.S.  Sorry about the long article ID; I haven't yet gotten around to
whacking inews to be less gratuitously verbose.