Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!hp4nl!star.cs.vu.nl!ast
From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: comp.os.minix splitup
Message-ID: <9510@star.cs.vu.nl>
Date: 30 Mar 91 22:45:57 GMT
References: <49233@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1991Mar29.143439.2027@escom.com>
Sender: news@cs.vu.nl
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Lines: 12

In article <1991Mar29.143439.2027@escom.com> al@escom.com (Al Donaldson) writes:
>And, all too often, instead of cross-posting, the user separately posts 
>the message, once to group A and a second time to group B.  Two distinct
>messages with the same content.  The result is (a) that the net carries 
>the message twice to all sites and (b) we have to read the message twice.  

It's a lot worse than that.  Sometimes when you actually crosspost, the
message hits some node that is running old software and the crosspost
is exploded into separate messages.  Once this happens, they don't get
put back together again (ask Humpty Dumpty).  

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)