Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.7.0.8 $; site ccvaxa Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece From: preece@ccvaxa.UUCP Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Re: mailing lists vs. newsgroups: facts Message-ID: <1300013@ccvaxa> Date: Tue, 10-Sep-85 18:23:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ccvaxa.1300013 Posted: Tue Sep 10 18:23:00 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 12-Sep-85 10:59:49 EDT References: <3221@nsc.UUCP> Lines: 45 Nf-ID: #R:nsc.UUCP:-322100:ccvaxa:1300013:000:2072 Nf-From: ccvaxa.UUCP!preece Sep 10 17:23:00 1985 > In article <3500005@ccvaxa> preece@ccvaxa.UUCP writes: > >In what sense does a mailing list do a better job? (1) It is less > >visible to new readers, since it isn't just there to be browsed on > >every site. (2) The traffic still has to be passed along the route > >to each reader, as mail. In some cases that will mean MORE net traffic > >than if the notes had been passed as news. > > >I wonder how significant that is. > chuqui@nsc replies: > Oh, I do so hate to put a damper on anargument, but lets try using > facts for once and see what happens... > ... detailed calculation showing that mailing lists are more > efficient up to a crossover point somewhere between 40 and 100... > Putting together this article I have finally figured out why so few > people bother with facts while arguing on the net. It took me about 2 > hours to put the math together and a lot of thinking (in other words, > work...) It is a lot easier to play with supposition and opinion, and I > guess we get lazy after a while... ---------- Thanks for the work. I didn't have the energy or the numbers to do it. On the other hand, it says just what I said, only in a little more detail: "In some cases [distribution as a mailing list] will mean MORE net traffic...". The assumptions used in the calculation seem pretty reasonable. On the other hand, a number of people have recently suggested that backbone sites should have more say in voting that leaf sites, and they are the sites whose traffic is more heavily affected by the changeover (if I ran a mailing list with 50 people getting it, the link from me through uiucdcs and ihnp4 would get all 50 copies of every distribution and every response, as opposed to one copy in news form). The assumptions specifically weight all sites evenly. Actually, I would have guessed the breakeven would be a little HIGHER than chuqui calculated it to be, but that's no big deal. It's hard for me to believe that anything doesn't get read by at least 40 people, net-wide. -- scott preece gould/csd - urbana ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece