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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-lcc!unisoft!hoptoad!academ!killer!elg
From: elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: news.misc,news.software.b
Subject: Re: Bogus loud warning messages
Message-ID: <966@killer.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 7-Jun-87 17:31:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: killer.966
Posted: Sun Jun  7 17:31:25 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Jun-87 01:45:50 EDT
References: <1216@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Organization: The Unix(tm) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 28
Xref: mnetor news.misc:563 news.software.b:665

In article <1216@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> garry@oak.cadif.cornell.edu writes:
> From a recent version of Pnews:
> 
> > This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire
> > civilized world.  You message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of
> > dollars to send everywhere.  Please be sure you know what you are doing.
> 
> Does this mean that someone is spending millions if not tens of millions
> of dollars per year to support 'soc.singles'?  
> 
> (Is it unethical to program in false warning messages?)
> 
> garry wiegand   (garry@oak.cadif.cornell.edu - ARPA)
> 		(garry@crnlthry - BITNET)

Consider that the average USENET site, before the advent of PC Pursuit and
UUNET, paid over $12,000/year for the phone bill for recieving netnews..... if
I recall right, soc.singles is about 5% of total volume, so each site is
spending at least $600/year on soc.singles. Multiply by 10,000 sites. You then
have $6,000,000/year being spent on soc.singles! And that's not even counting
the CPU time, disk storage, etc. necessary, just the actual cost paid to Ma
Bell.... 

--
Eric Green   elg%usl.CSNET     CS student, University of SW Louisiana
{cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg      Apprentice Haquer, Bayou Telecommunications
Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191      BBS phone #: 318-984-3854  300/1200 baud
Lafayette, LA 70509            I disclaim my existence, and yours, too.