Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!sco!davidbe
From: davidbe@sco.COM (The Cat in the Hat)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: The death of USENET
Message-ID: <641@scovert.sco.COM>
Date: 13 Jun 88 23:41:14 GMT
References: <7475@swan.ulowell.edu> <2645@rpp386.UUCP> <56228@sun.uucp> <8545@netsys.UUCP>
Reply-To: davidbe@sco.COM (The Cat in the Hat)
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.  (Scovert Operations)
Lines: 69

A long long time ago in an article far far away (<8545@netsys.UUCP> to be exact) len@netsys.UUCP (Len Rose) said:

-AT&T's decision to withdraw from Usenet participation is unfortunate
-but not a "death blow" to the net. I believe the net still fulfills
-it's main purpose (dissemination of information), and will continue to
-do so as long as it is kept UNIX oriented.
-

	You're right, it's not a deathblow.  RTFM.  To quote from the 
	original article (original article marked with ='s):

=From: attnews@ihnp4.att.com (Harold Jackson)
=Subject: third party email through AT&T machines to be discontinued
=Message-ID: <1316@cblpf.ATT.COM>
=Date: Fri, 03 Jun 88 07:32:01 PDT
=
=Many of you know ihnp4 as one of the best connected machines on the
=UUCP network.  Because it is so well connected, well run, and has smart
=routing software, many people have chosen to send much of their
=electronic mail through ihnp4.  This use of ihnp4 as a free mail
=forwarder has reached the point where it is being unfairly overloaded.
=This overload has to be rectified.  Management has decided to
=discontinue passing third party email through AT&T machines.  

	Note what is said here.  Third-party email.  Not news.
	For that matter the announcement doesn't even mention news.

=While we are phasing out third party pass-through as much as possible,
=we will continue to accept email for AT&T machines, and to
=pass outgoing email from AT&T to other systems.  cbosgd and ihnp4 will
=go away soon anyway, as they are being replaced by official gateways.

	See those last two words?  "official gateways."  This implies that
	to get mail into AT&T you will send to one of these gateways.
	Presumably, the same can be done for news.  And for many newsgroups,
	probably will be.

=Beginning July 1, 1988, all external links to cbosgd and ihnp4 will be
=severed.  If you have a connection to ihnp4 or cbosgd, or there is a
=business need to talk to AT&T, you can contact att!postmaster about
=setting up a link to att.  Such a link would not allow pass-through
=email.
=

	And, in case you missed it above, it's mentioned again.  The point
	of all this is to reduce pass-through email.  Not to say that 
	they're having problems with news, but what's prompting this 
	change is the fact that everyone and their brother is using
	ihnp4 and cbosgd as routing sites.  All they want is to be able
	to have only AT&T mail go through AT&T machines.  Nothing about
	news.

	So what does all this mean?  It means that uunet, rutgers and other
	sites will play a much larger role in distributing and maintaining
	newsgroups.  And it means you won't be able to go:
	mail ihnp4!twilight.zone and expect it to get to wherever you want.

	But it's not a deathblow to the net, and there's no reason to do
	anything drastic.  So take a deep breath, calm down, and start
	trying to figure out new paths to non AT&T machines.


-- 
David Bedno (aka The Cat in the Hat) Now appearing at: davidbe@sco.COM -OR-
...!{uunet,ihnp4,decvax!microsoft,ucbvax!ucscc}!sco!davidbe -OR- 
At home: 408-425-5266 At work: 408-425-7222 x5123 (I'm probably here...)
Disclaimer:  Not SCO's opinions.  At least not that they've told me.

"Kill the wabbit!  Kill the wabbit!  Kill the wabbit!"