Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!bu-cs!tower From: tower@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: mail-based archive servers (was Re: GNU emacs....) Message-ID: <43426@bu-cs.BU.EDU> Date: 27 Nov 89 23:40:51 GMT References: <48698@bbn.COM> Reply-To: tower@bu-it.bu.edu (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) Followup-To: comp.emacs Organization: Information Technology, Boston University, 111 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA +1 (617) 353-2780 Lines: 38 In article bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield) writes: ... |A mail-based archive server (MBAS) is an impolite and destructive way to |distribute large amounts of information, and should be discouraged in |such applications. ... |But MBASs are so popular, and so useful to so many people, I often |feel like a voice crying out in the wilderness. Please, at least |provide and encourage other, more polite distribution means. I |wouldn't want such a good thing as your good intentions in |redistributing software to be a contributing cause to the dismantling |of open networks! I support Bob in this cry for MBASs to not allow transport of large Chunks of Stuff (CoS). I do not plan to list any MBASs distributing GNU software in GNU help files, messages or Bulletins. MBASs are best used for small files containing pointers to large CoS and summary information. The CSnet and DDN NIC servers are excellent examples of focused limited MBASs on the Internet. Another way to help is for administrators of sites on zero-incremental-cost-per-use networks (ZicPuNets ?-) to give local people guest accounts to allow them to use ftp-like programs to access archives sites on those ZicPuNets and then download the files locally. This is a natural thing to do for any UUCP/USENET administrator a ZicPuNet site passes mail and news to. With the Internet being in local calling range of most of the US population (and increasingly the world) it also goes a long way towards solving the problem. BTW, in my experience, admins using such guest accounts are very polite and careful of all resources involved! thanx -len Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com