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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!pyrnj!romain
From: romain@pyrnj.uucp (Romain Kang)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: A few Questions...
Message-ID: <632@pyrnj.uucp>
Date: Mon, 13-Jul-87 00:10:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyrnj.632
Posted: Mon Jul 13 00:10:40 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jul-87 05:37:53 EDT
References: <1036@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP> <955@maynard.BSW.COM>
Reply-To: romain@pyrnj.UUCP (Romain Kang)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp, Woodbridge, NJ
Lines: 55
Keywords: Usenet site responsibility
Summary: mild diatribe

In article <1036@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP> berlin@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP
(David K. Fickes) writes:
>(5) What obligations are going to be expected of us once we are 
>    given a newsfeed?
a. Run your node reliably.
   Several times in the past, there have been very small sites
   requesting news feeds from my machine.  These have tended to be
   poorly run.  It is extremely annoying to have 3 MB of news queued up
   for sites that never call to pick up their news, or tie up phone
   lines during the day because they either don't call frequently
   enough to keep the calls short, or don't pick the stuff up during
   low demand periods.  (It is telling when one turns off such feeds
   and the downstream people never notice.)

   Do not use the name of a previously established node.
   (phoenix.princeton.edu, are you listening?  Of course not...)  Among
   other things, this disrupts news propagation in other parts of
   the net.

   It is also antisocial to flood the net with junk articles from
   broken software at your site.  To borrow Henry Spencer's pungent
   phrase, you may piss in your own soup but not mine.  (Thanks for
   fixing your gateway, Dave.)

b. Be willing to feed other sites in your area.
   Every few months, I see a request for a news feed in the greater
   Trenton, NJ area.  Every time, the same pattern repeats itself: The
   people who respond are already feeding at full capacity (princeton)
   or intolerably distant for the phone bills (rutgers).  (Hey, no
   one's going to pat *me* on the back for feeding sites down there and
   blowing away phone money.  Sorry, Gary...)  Obviously, there is feed
   capacity somewhere in that area, but someone's not pulling their
   weight if the same names always come up.

   Also, I consider it unhealthy when just one site is doing all the
   work.  Just wait and see what happens when seismo drops off the net
   this fall.  Or ask the people in Atlanta how things were when akgua
   fell off the net.  Or even consider the minor netnews disruption
   that just took place here in central Jersey when rutgers was
   uncommunicative over the past two days.  The Bay Area around San
   Francisco appears much better prepared for such newsquakes, since
   some thought and planning has gone into network topology and load
   balance.  If decwrl were to go out, things would still keep moving,
   if perhaps somewhat impaired.

Anyhow, that's my perspective from running a small relay for the past
two years.  I'm sure the oldtimers have their own ideas of what good
site behavior is.  A handful of irresponsible or unreliable sites can
cause widespread havoc (and multiplied expense), while a few good sites
make things easier for the Usenet community at large.
--
Romain Kang		{allegra,cmcl2,mirror,pyramid,rutgers}!pyrnj!romain
Pyramid Technology Corp. / 10 Woodbridge Center Dr. / Woodbridge, NJ  07095

"Eggheads unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks!" -Adlai Stevenson