Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!pasteur!ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU!fair
From: fair@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Erik E. Fair)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Too much for the reader?
Message-ID: <4278@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>
Date: 6 Jul 88 10:52:02 GMT
References:  <397@teletron.UUCP>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu
Organization: USENET Protocol Police, Western Gateway Division
Lines: 64

In the referenced article, andrew@teletron.UUCP (Andrew Scott) writes:

	Most importantly, the net *will* continue to grow unless
	we do something.  Some people have said "if you don't want
	it, don't carry it." This is a non-solution. [...] Because
	I'm *obligated* to carry those groups.

Whoa! Please show me the obligation that I signed that forces me
to commit the resources of my system for your benefit?

Sure, the network will grow. There's no limit on the users because,
by & large, they don't pay for it directly.

But there is a limit to disk space, CPU cycles, and communication
bandwidth. They are instanteously finite at each and every site,
although each site has different upper bounds for each resource.

The USENET as a whole has been fortunate in the past that continually
improving technology has outpaced our demands on these resources.
Cheap 1200 baud modems, the public domain Lempel-Ziv Compress
program, cheap 2400 baud modems, Internet/NNTP, and now cheap
9600/19200 baud modems are making the continued growth of the
network possible. Disk space and CPU power get cheaper every year
too.

Unfortunately, any site's limits are not likely to change all that
quickly, and sometimes new technology doesn't fall within the
purchasing range of a particular site quickly enough.  When that
happens, there is only one thing they can do: cut back on the news
they get to strictly those newsgroup hierarchies or individual
newsgroups that they're interested in.

If they happen to have downstream feeds, those systems have three
options:

	1. chip in to buy more of whatever the scarce resource at
		their feed is.

	2. get the news that *they're* interested in from elsewhere.

	3. bitch at their feed for not fulfilling their "obligation."

Of course, trying option three is likely to get you some self-centered
S.O.B. like me who'll ask you what the hell you're talking about.

What's really going on is that every site on USENET (with some
exceptions) is doing every other site on USENET a big favor, and
occasionally some of them can't afford the favor any more. If you
were trained properly by your parents, you'll thank them nicely
for the favor you got, and offer to return it some day. I see this
happen a lot more often than I see system admins screaming about
being cut off.

Where does this ultimately lead when we all can't afford the big
favor?  Balkanization of the USENET:  some sites carry "comp".
Some carry "rec".  Some carry "alt".  Some carry "gnu".  Some carry
"bionet".  und so weiter.

And you get to play diner at the smorgasboard. Be careful - take
too much and you'll get indigestion.

	good eating,

	Erik E. Fair	ucbvax!fair	fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu