Path: utzoo!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!well!jef
From: jef@well.UUCP (Jef Poskanzer)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Just how useful is crossposting?
Message-ID: <14675@well.UUCP>
Date: 21 Nov 89 11:31:45 GMT
References: <14934@bfmny0.UU.NET>
Reply-To: Jef Poskanzer <jef@well.sf.ca.us>
Organization: Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric, Ada Lovelace Cabal
Lines: 20

In the referenced message, tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET (Tom Neff) wrote:
}One thing to keep in mind when designing for reference trees is that
}ORDER of news delivery is not guaranteed, i.e., the followup may arrive
}before the parent.  That's one reason that the only-the-latest reference
}approach is risky.

Not really.  One of the points I have failed to get across to Brad is
that you have to do this anyway, even if you are using the supposedly
easier method of only indexing the "roots".  After all, what if a "root"
arrives after its first followup? As you say, you have to be prepared
at any moment to discover that what looks like the "root" is in fact
just a branch.

Brad's design is no easier to implement if it is implemented correctly;
it's only easier if implemented badly.  That makes it a bad design.
---
Jef
                                   
  Jef Poskanzer  jef@well.sf.ca.us  {ucbvax, apple, hplabs}!well!jef
 "He that plants trees loves others besides himself." -- Thomas Fuller