Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!buster!rli
From: rli@buster.UUCP (Buster Irby)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Signature files (LONG)
Message-ID: <549@buster.UUCP>
Date: 16 Aug 89 07:17:55 GMT
References: <15046@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Organization: Public Access Unix, Stafford, Tx
Lines: 77

jarvis@northstar.dartmouth.edu (Mark (Ninjabutler) Robinson) writes:

>I hope I am not being obnoxious by asking this question.  Why are signature
>files of line lengths greater than four bad 'news etiquette' ?

Lets backup a few steps here.  The purpose for the signature
files in the first place is to allow the user to attach his/her
REAL NAME and REAL ADDRESS to the bottom of the posting.  It was
not implemented as a place to show off artistic or literary
talents.  As such, 4 lines should be more than adequate.

Let me point out that the net standard on signatures has been 4
lines for a long time.  While there continues to be a few
abusers, most people on the network abide by this guideline.  The
reason that abuse of this guideline is so annoying to someone
like myself is that I actually pay money to get the news on my
system as do a lot of other people on this network.  I am
interested in the news, not in someones very artistic multiline
signature.  For this reason, even an artistic signature has no
particular appeal to me, especially after I have seen it once,
much less multiple times a week/month!  I am not connected to a
university or a large corporation and I do not pass my network
cost on to the taxpaying general public.  Instead, I support my
system out of my personal pocket as do a lot of other hard
working people on this net.  Those extra lines which you would
like abuse in your signature cost all of us time and money on an
already busy network.

Let me put this in real terms.  Assume that a signature contains
10 lines of 80 characters each (some artistic sigs contain more)
for a total of 800 characters.  Yes, spaces count as characters!
That signature will take 1 second to transmit between two TB+
modems, 5+ seconds between two 2400 baud modems and 10+ seconds
between two 1200 baud modems.  Assuming a long distance cost of
$0.13/min (late night) that means a single signature will cost
$0.0022 per TB+ site, $0.011 per 2400 baud site and $0.022 per
1200 baud site.  There are approximately 4200+ UUCP sites
according to the latest usenet maps.  If we assume that only 25%
of the network actually has to make a long distance connection
and if we also assume that all of those connections are of the
TB+ variety, that still means that one 10 line signature will
cost the network a total of $2.20 (1000 sites * $0.0022).  How
many of those do *you* think we should tolerate?

In the above example, I only speculated as to the domestic
telephone cost of the signature.  There are many sites outside of
the USA that also get usenet news.  DON'T FORGET, after the news
shows up on these 4200+ sites whether via long distance or not,
each and every one of them has to store that signature on a hard
disk.  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.

The final cost is the hardest to nail down, but to me is the most
obnoxious cost of all.  The cost to me in time wasted waiting on
a large signature to go by on the tube.  Although I must admit
that NN has helped there.  I KILL all articles posted by anyone
who has a signature over 4 lines.  I FLAME anyone who has a
signature over 10 lines.  If these signature abusers want me to
read their postings, then they had better start abiding by the
net guidelines.

[ dismount soapbox ]

     Let the flames begin.
-- 
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