Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!sky!brian
From: brian@sky.COM (Brian Pelletier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.marketplace
Subject: Re: What to do when it's sold
Summary: I don't get it.
Message-ID: <765@sky.COM>
Date: 6 Feb 91 16:22:45 GMT
References: <8322@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Reply-To: brian@sky.COM (Brian Pelletier)
Organization: SKY Computers, Chelmsford MA
Lines: 33

In article <8322@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) writes:
>If you advertise something here, you stand a good chance of selling
>it.
>
>If this happens, do NOT post a message saying "item such-and-such is
>sold, stop bothering me."
>
>Instead, simply cancel your original message.  Most newsreader
>programs have a built-in command to do this, usually "C".  This uses
>less bandwidth, and is more effective, since it keeps people from
>seeing your message in the first place.
>
How does this solve anything?  The problem with for_sale messages posted on
the Net is that some sites receive the message faster than others, sometimes
by several days.  Cancelling the original message is useless in that case, 
since the 'cancel' message travels via the same path, and will arrive after 
the first message by the difference in time that you sent the original and
cancel messages originally.  The only thing a cancel message prevents is 
someone reading the original message a LONG while after it gets to a site, and
*then* trying to respond to it.  This is pretty silly anyhow, IMHO.  

Also, if you've sold *some* of the things you were selling, you have the 
choice of (1) sending out an updated list or (2) sending a cancel message 
*and* sending a new list of the remaining items.  Now who's using less 
bandwidth? :-)

>           Dan Zerkle  zerkle@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu  (916) 754-0240
>           Amiga...  Because life is too short for boring computers.


Brian Pelletier, Hardware guy | Disclaimer: These are MY opinions, not SKY's.
Sky Computer  Chelmsford, MA  | Amiga!  UUCP: pelletier@grove.uucp (home) 
UUCP: brian@sky.com (work)    | Plink: TACK