Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!pyramid!uccba!hal!ncoast!allbery From: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) Newsgroups: soc.women,news.admin Subject: Re: Berkeley news Message-ID: <4761@ncoast.UUCP> Date: Sun, 27-Sep-87 21:16:48 EDT Article-I.D.: ncoast.4761 Posted: Sun Sep 27 21:16:48 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 29-Sep-87 04:29:35 EDT References: <5170@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <1591@killer.UUCP> Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) Followup-To: soc.women Distribution: na Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh Lines: 59 Xref: mnetor soc.women:7459 news.admin:1042 As quoted from <1591@killer.UUCP> by billw@killer.UUCP (Bill Wisner): +--------------- | Mark Ethan Smith: | | > If I were an educated computer science major at a prestigious school | > like Berkeley, perhaps I could be conned into believe that the software | > degenerate all by itself. Since I am a simple, self-educated person, | > I tend to believe that software operates the way those with root | > privileges set it up to operate. Certainly if software can degenerate | > all by itslf, it could self-repair also. | | You, an "educated person," have never heard of the laws of thermodynamics? | Grab your Webster's, look up "entropy.." +--------------- As former news admin for ncoast, I can state definitively that news software DOES degenerate if not CONSTANTLY maintained. Because it did on ncoast -- I was spread far too thin, and *finally* someone noticed and rearranged things. (Inews started barfing all over /usr/lib/news/active, to be exact about the symptoms hereabouts. Our newsfeeds were treated to many uux error returns as a result.) Keep in mind that Usenet news is a COMPLEX system -- you don't *really* think that a system which manages a network of over 10000 sites (our pathalias file suggests such, at least) runs by itself with zero maintenance, do you? Believe me -- entropy hits hard and fast, especially with a heavily over- loaded network and lots of ignorant jack*sses doing their d*mnedest to screw it over royally, not to mention simple mistakes (consider the two sites which didn't mark comp.mail.elm as unmoderated when they were supposed to, or the problems when hplabs got their notesfiles gateway screwed up). Ergo: it's quite possible that if nobody's administering news on Berkeley.edu (I thought that was the domain, btw, NOT a machine), it's degenerating rapidly. As to your snide comments about people not administering it ("poverty- stricken... all they can do to produce kegs for frat parties", I believe you said, Mark): There is no legal agreement between you and UCB which states that they must provide netnews access or insure that you have such access and that it will function correctly. I _guarantee_ this... because UCB is not a netnews provider, it is a university. So they don't have a legal responsibility to insure that you can post news, and you don't have a legal right to a working netnews system just because you're at UCB and using one of their machines. If you doubt me, ask a lawyer. USENET NEWS IS NOT A RIGHT; IT IS A PRIVILEGE. NEVER FORGET THIS. And finally: if you feel you have a grievance with someone at UCB, talk to _them_, not us. Here in Cleveland, I have 0.0000000000 interest in what your grievances with a California university are. If you were talking CWRU, that might be another thing. And I daresay that people at Harvard, CMU, Oklahoma State, etc. agree with this. Now, can we please get on with the REAL news? -- Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc {{harvard,mit-eddie}!necntc,well!hoptoad,sun!mandrill!hal}!ncoast!allbery ARPA: necntc!ncoast!allbery@harvard.harvard.edu Fido: 157/502 MCI: BALLBERY <> "Mummy, what's an opinion?"