Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site alice.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!alice!alb
From: alb@alice.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: Re: net.music.jazz and subgroups in general
Message-ID: <2130@alice.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 21-Aug-83 10:58:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: alice.2130
Posted: Sun Aug 21 10:58:36 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Aug-83 16:00:23 EDT
References: <1994@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 24

I wish people would stop taking the attitude that newsgroups don't
produce any more overhead.  They do!  The more newsgroups you have,
the slower the news programs work, because each has to do a linear
search of the active file to do its job (granted, the process has
been greatly sped up in recent versions.)  Also, each newsgroup has
its own directory, which means i-node and file space used up (this
seems like a small thing, but on machines with small /usr/spool's,
it is certainly not to be overlooked.)  And there *IS* a limit to the
number of groups we can have; this is an indirect limit, as it is
linked to the maximum size of the .newsrc file (once you have as
many lines in .newsrc as you are allowed, you cannot make any new
groups.)

We (using alice's active file) now have 238 newsgroups, and the
number is growing steadily (I remember a couple years ago when
we had only 50 or so groups.)  The software currently allows for
512 (the .newsrc limit).  In a year or two (considering that the
rate of growth is also increasing steadily), we will reach this limit.
Then what?  If we don't start taking steps NOW to control newsgroup
proliferation (what a nastier sound than growth that carries!), we
will soon not have any more room left.  Then, when a group with a real
and true purpose comes along, it won't be able to fit it, because
there will be too many net.micro.atari.battlezone and net.tv.mash.hawkeye
type groups around.