Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:8240 news.admin:1783 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!bbn!bbn.com!rsalz From: rsalz@bbn.com (Rich Salz) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,news.admin Subject: Re: Undelivered mail Message-ID: <524@fig.bbn.com> Date: 16 Mar 88 17:04:40 GMT References: <12311@brl-adm.ARPA> <328@goofy.megatest.UUCP> Followup-To: poster Organization: BBN Laboratories, Cambridge MA Lines: 40 Dave Jones, djones@megatest.UUCP (Dave Jones) asks why comp.lang.c is getting filled up with messages like: > > Subject: Re: Why NULL is 0 > > [Non-Deliverable: User does not exist or has never logged on] > > Reply-To: Info-C@BRL.ARPA > > Received: From UWAVM(MAILER) by ALASKA with Jnet id 8001 > for SXJVK@ALASKA; Sat, 12 Mar 88 10:50 AST > Received: by UWAVM (Mailer X1.25) id 5338; Sat, 12 Mar 88 11:49:55 PST > Date: Fri, 11 Mar 88 21:56:46 GMT > Reply-To: Info-C@BRL.ARPA > Sender: Info-C List > From: Doug Gwyn > Subject: Re: Why NULL is 0 > Comments: To: info-c@brl-smoke.arpa > To: Vic Kapella The answer is that the comp.lang.c newsgroup is gatewayed into an Internet mailing list, info-C. One of the recipients is at BITNET site. And when BITNET mail has problems it tends to do, unh, things that are anti-social to Usenet (if not the rest of the Internet world :-). The person in charge, a postmaster at one of the BITNET sites, found out and shut things off within a day or two, but that was still too late to prevent about 75 of these messages from costing Usenet thousands of dollars to transmit. Yet another argument against unmoderated bidirectional gateways. The most interesting question, tho, still remains unanswered: if the user does not exist, or has never logged in, how did the subscribe to the INFO-C mailing list? Speculations, flames, and follow-ups should probably be sent to me. At any rate, keep them out of the comp.lang.c newsgroup. /r$ -- Please send comp.sources.unix-related mail to rsalz@uunet.uu.net.