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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!vortex!lauren
From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: Re: proposed new structure for `fa' groups
Message-ID: <824@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 13:05:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.824
Posted: Fri Oct  4 13:05:19 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 07:34:19 EDT
References: <10523@ucbvax.ARPA>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 32

I must disagree with the proposal to change the fa.* groups to
mod.* groups, except as modified (or rather explained) below.

BECAUSE...

Many sites on Usenet are also linked to sites with other networks
(most notably ARPANET/MILNET [DDN]).  Users at sites with direct DDN
access (or whose sites are in close connection with DDN sites) save
a great deal of money for their sites AND THE SITES THAT FEED THEM
NETNEWS by taking the ARPA lists DIRECTLY via DDN, and not wasting the
time and money to take them in their news feeds.  By converting the
fa.* groups to mod.groups, you automatically invite additional
(Usenet-based) traffic which might not necessarily be gatewayed to the
DDN side.  This would force DDN users to start taking the entire mod
groups via netnews to make sure they got all the traffic from both
sides (including Usenet), not just from the DDN side.  The impact on
phone bills of forcing sites to take the voluminous fa.* traffic by
dialup instead of direct DDN could be enormous.

The only way I could see to support this proposal would be if
no fa.* group is converted to a mod.* group unless ALL Usenet-based
traffic in that mod group is going to reliably be gatewayed to DDN.
That is, a user receiving the matching list on DDN would see both DDN and
Usenet generated messages.  This may be an implicit assumption on some
users' parts--I'd like to see it made an explicit requirement.

Can the persons making the change proposals clarify this point, please?
Would we be assured that all Usenet postings to a mod.* group that was
formerly an fa.* group would appear on the DDN side as well as the
Usenet side?

--Lauren--