Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!vsi1!wyse!mips!prls!philabs!ttidca!svirsky
From: svirsky@ttidca.TTI.COM (Bill Svirsky)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Requesting missing parts (was Re: v01i192: backmail, a background ...)
Keywords: help back mail backmail
Message-ID: <4123@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 23 Mar 89 20:31:35 GMT
References: <6022@bsu-cs.UUCP> <496@infohh.rmi.de> <4739@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> <4069@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Reply-To: svirsky@ttidcc.tti.com (Bill Svirsky)
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica
Lines: 53

In article <4069@ttidca.TTI.COM> svirsky@ttidcc.tti.com (Bill Svirsky) writes:
+In article <4739@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) writes:
++In article after article various posters write:
+++I'm missing partXX, partYY and partZZ of [some neat binary]
+++Wouple someone please send them to me?
+++Thanks,
+++	<poster's name+
++
++I would entreat such posters to PLEASE give an indication of their
++geographical location.
++ [stuff deleted]
+
+Also, to keep net traffic down, the requester should NOT ask for the
+missing parts directly but should instead ask that anyone who
+is willing to send the missing parts send a short note.  The requester
+can then pick the closest site and actually request the missing parts. 

After posting the above, a colleague sent me the following mail:
-----
Bill,

I just noticed your post to comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d.  There's a minor, but
fatal, flaw in the reasoning.  I don't normally read that news group, so
I'm mailing you direct.

My experience with the net is that physical location of a site has little
to do with the route mail takes to get from there to anywhere else.  I've
occasionally received e-mail from San Diego that crossed the country
twice, through 16 nodes, to get to me by way of Boston.  I've received e-
mail from sites in L.A. that came by way of San Francisco.  We're in Los
Angeles, but our main news feed is philabs, in New York.  A map of usenet
connectivity (UCLA CS Dept. had some) shows many direct lines that
leapfrog half-way or entirely across the continent.

In other words, restricting replies to people in the immediate
geographical area doesn't guarantee any savings to the net.

The idea of sending request notes is good, but they should go to the
responder with the shortest path, not necessarily the one who's physically
closest.

The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com)  Illegitimati Nil
Citicorp(+)TTI                                                 Carborundum
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (213) 452-9191, x2483
Santa Monica, CA  90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe
-----

Good advice.

-- 
Bill Svirsky, Citicorp+TTI, 3100 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Work phone: 213-450-9111 x2597
svirsky@ttidca.tti.com | ...!{csun,psivax,rdlvax,retix}!ttidca!svirsky