Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!indri!aplcen!arrom
From: arrom@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Signature files (LONG)
Message-ID: <2689@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
Date: 16 Aug 89 17:27:11 GMT
References: <15046@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <549@buster.UUCP>
Reply-To: arrom@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee (600.429))
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Lines: 40

>...  The going rate for a hard disk is currently in the range
>of $10-20 per megabyte depending on speed.  
>     800 char * 4200 sites = 3,360,000 bytes 
>This is the amount of storage space wasted in the network while
>storing a single 10 line signature.  The cost of this storage is
>approximately $30 to $60.  Granted, the disk space will exist
>after the signature is gone, but there will always be a new user
>with another wild signature come along to replace it.

Let's calculate it as per-site cost.  This comes out to a maximum of 1.43
_cents_ per machine per signature.  It's easy to make figures large when
multiplying by the number of sites; nobody somehow ever multiplies the _total_
disk space by the number of sites (thus getting another large number) and
says "look, when you multiply the cost by the number of sites it seems large,
but the total cost compared to the total space on all the sites is just as
small as the cost on one machine compared to the space on one machine.  In
fact, mathematically, it has to be that way since you are multiplying both
by the same number".

This is a common misuse of statistics: if you want to make a figure look large,
you compare it against as large a base as possible ("there is a murder/rape/
child abuse/drunk driving accident/etc... somewhere in the US every ___
seconds") and if you want to make the figure look small, you use as small a
base as possible ("The space program could be supported with 5 cents a day per
person").

For that matter, since you have admitted a 4 line signature is valid, you really
should be counting the costs for the excess above 4 (6 lines).  This reduces
the figure to 0.86 cents per machine per signature.

>...  I FLAME anyone who has a signature over 10 lines.  ...

Hint: calculate how much money your flame costs people around the world.  Use
the same method as you used to calculate the cost for signatures.
--
"The fact is self evident from the text and requires no supporting argument."
  --Tim Maroney

Kenneth Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!ins_akaa; BITNET: g49i0188@jhuvm;
     INTERNET: arromdee@crabcake.cs.jhu.edu) (please, no mail to arrom@aplcen)