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From: fair@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Chaosnet Problem (Disk Full?)
Message-ID: <22001@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 30-Nov-87 08:33:02 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.22001
Posted: Mon Nov 30 08:33:02 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Dec-87 03:44:27 EST
References: <140@tsdiag.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: USENET Protocol Police, Western Gateway Division
Lines: 24
Summary: bad gatewaying is the culprit

There are two problems here:

1. rec.ham-radio.packet is gatewayed to an ARPANET mailing list
	improperly, that is, the gatewayer's software doesn't hack
	the headers so that the people on USENET don't get errors
	from the mailing list. Errors from a mailing list should
	be going to the mailing list administrator, not to some
	powerless USENET reader. The particular error in question
	is certainly grounds to delete that mailbox from the list,
	if the list admin ever finds out about it...

2. TOPS-20's mailer has an incredible piece of brain-damage in it:
	it will tell you every 24 hours (until timeout) about a
	piece of mail that it can't deliver. I say, "deliver it,
	or bounce it, but SHUT UP, dammit!"

The solution in this case is to bitch at the parties responsible for
the gatewaying. If they fix their software, you need never see an
error from ARPANET again.

Of course, if you think that ARPANET is bad, you should see the crap
I've been getting from BITNET's LISTSERV distribution system...

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