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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!floyd!whuxlb!pyuxll!eisx!npoiv!npois!hogpc!houxm!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!CSvax:Pucc-H:acg
From: CSvax:Pucc-H:acg@pur-ee.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Statistics are only useful if...
Message-ID: <261@pucc-h>
Date: Wed, 31-Aug-83 22:59:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: pucc-h.261
Posted: Wed Aug 31 22:59:13 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Sep-83 19:58:36 EDT
References: <247@pucc-h>, <1068@rlgvax.UUCP>
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Lines: 27

Rick -
	I thought my request was a reasonable one and did not in the
	wildest blue expect the rather vitrolic reply you sent.
	Somehow, I hadn't considered that it would be my fault that
	some site between mine and yours alters the headers.  You are
	in effect suggesting that I force every site between us to upgrade
	their news programs whether they have the resources or not.  Well,
	I hate to mention this to you friend, but no one person controls this
	net.  Not even you.  If the people between us want to run old versions
	of news, nobody is going to stop them.  MOST IMPORTANTLY, there are
	no doubt other sites between you and other innocent users that also
	run older versions of news.  Without a doubt, we are not the only
	site that you have libeled.

	Now, I don't know what background you have, but my introductory
	programming teacher always told us that if the program gets
	inconsistent results on known data, it's not the data you change.

	To reiterate the subject of my initial posting, statistics are only
	useful if they are believable.  At this point, yours are not.  If
	you intend to continue posting them, I would strongly urge you to
	upgrade your programs to handle the net software as it is, not as
	you would like it to be.

				- Jeff Schwab
				  Purdue University Computing Center
				  <pur-ee!pucc-h:acg>