Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!ncar!noao!mcdsun!mcdchg!heiby
From: heiby@mcdchg.UUCP (Ron Heiby)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: How to eliminate the cost of over 1/5 (or more) of net traffic
Message-ID: <7869@mcdchg.UUCP>
Date: 16 May 88 22:51:58 GMT
References: <1616@looking.UUCP> <719@fig.bbn.com> <196@ssbn.WLK.COM> <52918@sun.uucp> <6556@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Reply-To: heiby@mcdchg.UUCP (Ron Heiby)
Distribution: na
Organization: Motorola Microcomputer, Schaumburg, IL
Lines: 28

Don Speck (mangler@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu) writes:
> I had to throttle one of my outgoing newsfeeds.  First in, first out.
> A backlog accumulates during the week, and clears on the weekends.

I have a similar throttle on my outgoing feeds.

> I propose that batches be sorted in shortest-first order.  This will hold
> the problem postings for the weekend, and, if done widely, will encourage
> more succinct postings (and speed the propagation of cancel messages).
> The st_mtime of the article file would be a good tie-breaker.
> 
> (I wonder if it would help the compression ratio.  I already sort batches
> by article filename in pursuit of higher compression).

Don has an interesting idea.  My guess is that it would help the compression
ratio a great deal on short messages, where the header takes up a larger
percentage of the total being compressed.  It would also encourage the other
good things Don mentions.  Unfortunately, it would also mean that we would
lose all semblance of discussion order.  If person A posted a 150 line article
and person B posted a 10 line rebuttle, the rebuttle would appear on systems
before the original article.  (Often, it would not be much sooner, but it
would be at least a little earlier.)  The other problem I see with the idea
is that moving all the big stuff on the weekends means that it's happening
when there is no one (or almost no one) around to keep an eye on the system.
-- 
Ron Heiby, heiby@mcdchg.UUCP	Moderator: comp.newprod & comp.unix
"I believe in the Tooth Fairy."  "I believe in Santa Claus."
	"I believe in the future of the Space Program."