Xref: utzoo alt.folklore.computers:10497 comp.misc:11816
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!bfmny0!tneff
From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.misc
Subject: Re: The Jargon File v2.8.1, 22 MAR 1991, part 4 of 19
Message-ID: <21072495@bfmny0.BFM.COM>
Date: 25 Mar 91 03:01:20 GMT
References: <1ZsDxg#9O5HWP2XZR7Z07gXlz3DwJvC=eric@snark.thyrsus.com> <3586@polari.UUCP> <1991Mar25.144858.29011@supernet.dallas.haus.com>
Reply-To: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers
Lines: 37

In article <1991Mar25.144858.29011@supernet.dallas.haus.com> gtoye@supernet.dallas.haus.com (Gene Toye) writes:
>I have been following the Jargon file debate for some time and am now
>wondering what people like Mr. King think we should be posting.  

How about: New Stuff, Not Recently Posted.  That's what Netnews is for.
Repeatedly reposting the same file with minor changes fails this test
big-time.

>                                                                  If 
>everyone stops and says "Well, this will eat a percent or two of bandwidth,
>so I better not post it" what will end up being posted?

Everything consumes bandwidth.  Not everything wastes it.

>I am at a USENET site so ftp-ing a file still results in somebody 
>stuffing the file through a modem connection to me via the courtesy of bitftp
>(thanks Princeton!!!).  

Usenet is just the collection of machines that receive Netnews.  This includes
sites with every different kind of access to FTP, or lack thereof,
imaginable.  If Gene has access to mail servers but not FTP, then he may
have meant "UUCP site" rather than "USENET site" above.  Understanding
this distinction may not be necessary for every newsreader, but I don't
think it's asking too much for people who post policy recommendations to
have it down.

>                        Same for mail servers.  I am wondering how many
>people are saving the file as posted.  If enough are doing so, it seems that
>a single posing is more net-effecient than mutiple copied being mailed out
>to fulfill individual requests for the file.

Absolutely not.  With Netnews, *everyone* gets it whether they want it
or not.  This includes 1200bps leaf sites in the boondocks as well as
mighty megabit/second backbone links.  Many sites try to control their
newsfeed intelligently to conserve telco and disk resource utilization.
Posting half a megabyte of the same file at frequent intervals, including
crossposts to relatively sane groups like comp.misc, is unjust.