Autzoo.1338
gripes
utzoo!henry
Thu Feb  4 14:57:45 1982
locked-up news...
Contrary to andy's assumption, we do not normally poll decvax during
working hours, and it is unlikely that the lockups he's hit were due
to incoming news at all.  The news program is unfortunately built so
that almost any action it takes requires locking, and in particular
it must lock itself when it updates its record of when user X has
read news last -- a record which is updated at the end of every news-
reading session, and which unfortunately can take a while to update.

I am exploring possible solutions to this problem.  The locking can't
just be taken out:  it is a fundamental necessity, given the way the
news system's information is stored.  There is some possibility for
reducing it;  improvements in this direction are imminent.  The whole
issue may also become moot if the upcoming B version of news is decent.

Also, a PS to phyllis's reply to andy's previous news flame:  network
news is received because of its steady flow of bug reports, useful
software, and other things valuable for running the system.  The various
"human interest" newsgroups are basically freeloaders;  the degree of
interest they may hold for either a few people or a lot of people is
not an issue unless said people feel like paying part of the phone bill.