Xref: utzoo news.admin:7339 news.config:1448
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!apple!chuq
From: chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.config
Subject: Re: Disaster Planning
Keywords: doom naysayers death destruction
Message-ID: <35944@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 26 Oct 89 16:38:15 GMT
References: <103@farcomp.UUCP>
Distribution: news
Organization: Life is just a Fantasy novel played for keeps
Lines: 52

>I propose that there be an disaster plan for USENET that entails its being
>"turned off" in local areas during periods when utility services are
>suffering excessive loading.  

>Flame on, people.

No flames, but a counterpoint. I agree that it's silly to ship lots of
USENET data around during an emergency. But I think shutting off the nets
during emergencies is a bad idea.

One of the things the network has allowed us to do is reduce the amount of
panic-phoning that was going on. Case in point: One of the SFWA members on
the Outside immediately organized the various SFWA on-line contingents into
an information gathering unit. As people were found to be okay, this data
was passed to everyone involved and spread through the grapevine, reducing
by a large amount the number of phone calls necessary to get that
information out. It also allowed me to make a single phone call outside the
emergency area and pass along status information to someone who would then
use their phones to call people I wanted to know I was okay -- wtihout me
having to do it directly. End result: a lot less overall phone time.

Also, people on the Outside who were unable to contact people on the inside
would queue up messages, whcih would be picked up in a batch (single phone
call, maximize the efficiency). Being Inside, we'd have a better chance of
getting phone calls through while not utilizing the over-stretched
long-distance wires. Once we made contacts, we could queue that information
back out with another single phone call.

I know of a number of people and groups who did this. If you simply shut
down the nets for the duration, you've immediately cut off information flow
from Inside to Out (and in the other direction). A single message on USENET
saved me a hundred phone calls by letting me broadcast status information.
Seems like a good tradeoff. 

A reasonable analog would be what the Hams do during an emergency. We're
not nearly as well organized as they are, but nobody would consider telling
the hams to shut up until the emergency was over.

Better would be to consider how to properly use the network in times of
emergency. What we can do, what we should do and how to implement it. They
can be very useful and important -- if we choose to. 

It definitely makes sense cut out the flow of trivial information, but that
isn't as easy as it sounds. Worth looking into, though.

-- 

Chuq Von Rospach <+> Editor,OtherRealms <+> Member SFWA/ASFA
chuq@apple.com <+> CI$: 73317,635 <+> [This is myself speaking]

Trust Mama Nature to remind us just how important things like sci.aquaria's
name really is in the scheme of things.