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From: jeh@cmkrnl.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.uucp,news.admin
Subject: Re: BITFTP grief!
Message-ID: <1991Jun2.151614.65@cmkrnl.uucp>
Date: 2 Jun 91 22:16:14 GMT
References: <1991May16.224338.286@crom2.uucp> <VJmw32w164w@qed.tcc.com>
Organization: Kernel Mode Consulting, San Diego CA
Lines: 44

In article <VJmw32w164w@qed.tcc.com>, tim@qed.tcc.com (Tim Capps) writes:
> jim@crom2.uucp (James P. H. Fuller) writes:
> 
>>       Can you say "0% reliability?"  FTP to uucp-only sites doesn't work
>> AT ALL.  What's your advice for them?  "Screw you, Jack, I've got mine?"
>> Harrumph!
>>                                                  Jim
>>  
> Hear, hear!  I for one am really tired of seeing "oh, you can just get
> this via anonymous FTP".  Pah.  There is nothing more annoying than
> finding all about what you CAN'T get.

Of course you can get it.  All you need to do is to do exactly what all the
existing Internet sites have done:  Pay for some form of tcp/ip link to the
Internet.  

It may be that your budget does not allow for this.  (Mine doesn't.)  Fine, 
you can sign up with uunet, but use them ONLY for uucp'ing stuff that you ask 
them to grab for you via ftp.  The cost for this is not all that high.  

Oh, you wanted to get at that stuff for free!  Well... perhaps you wil feel
better if you realize that THE PEOPLE WITH REAL INTERNET LINKS ARE NOT GETTING
IT FOR FREE EITHER.  They pay big bucks for their leased lines, 56K or T1
modems, router boxes, etc., etc., not to mention competent technical people to
keep the stuff running.  

And when they got on the Internet they never signed anything that said "we
agree to free and unlimited use of these facilities by uucp sites who want
access to worldwide anon ftp archives for the cost of a local phone call". 

You get what you pay for.  There are mechanisms by which a uucp-only site can
access anon ftp archives, for a fair price that covers their hosts' costs of
Internet access.  

All that has happened with the demise of bitftp, is that there are now fewer
mechanisms by which a uucp-only site can access such archives while others
(sometimes unknowingly) foot the bill for their fun.  

I don't see this as a major tragedy. 

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Consulting, San Diego CA
Chair, VMS Internals Working Group, U.S. DECUS VAX Systems SIG 
Internet:  jeh@dcs.simpact.com, hanrahan@eisner.decus.org, or jeh@crash.cts.com
Uucp:  ...{crash,scubed,decwrl}!simpact!cmkrnl!jeh