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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: ont.general,ont.uucp,can.general
Subject: storm arrives -- impending newsgroup cuts
Message-ID: <6046@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Oct-85 12:23:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6046
Posted: Fri Oct 11 12:23:07 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Oct-85 12:23:07 EDT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 44
Effective one week from today, i.e. Friday 18 Oct 1985, unless I am given
some really good arguments to the contrary, utzoo will cease to accept or
forward the following newsgroups and their subgroups:
net.philosophy
net.politics
net.religion
net.bizarre
net.flame
In addition, there is a significant probability that some or all of the
following will also get the axe shortly:
net.music
net.audio
net.abortion
net.auto
net.movies
net.women
net.sf-lovers
The reason for all this is simple: our phone bills are reaching the
danger point. The last monthly bill was over $1000. The cost-sharing
agreement with various local sites helps, but not enough. The general
trends in overall traffic, traffic per newsgroup, and phone bills are
upward. That first list of newsgroups, with their subgroups, constitutes
25% of recent traffic. The second list adds another 15-20%.
When I say "really good arguments", please note that I do not mean telling
me that you just love net.X and would be driven to the depths of despair
(or homicidal rage) if it vanished. What I mean is telling me why the group
in question is worth enough to you that WE should pay $200+/year for it.
Our expenditures on the network are justified in terms of the technical
information flow. None of the above groups can be defended in this way.
Note that I have picked only the indisputably non-technical groups with
heavy traffic. I regard things like net.sources.mac with a very jaundiced
eye, and their day may come, but right now I'm willing to consider them
legitimate.
I deeply regret having to do this, but I see no other solution.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: ont.general,ont.uucp,can.general
Subject: Re: storm arrives -- Q&A
Message-ID: <6052@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Oct-85 17:45:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6052
Posted: Thu Oct 17 17:45:14 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 17:45:14 EDT
References: <6046@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 51
As might be expected, there's been quite a bit of mail in response to word of
the impending cutbacks. I've generally sent individual replies, but thought
that the audience at large might be interested in my answers to some specific
questions people ask.
Q. What about more effective cost-sharing?
A. What about it? Can you find four or five local sites that are willing to
take 1/N share (N == number of sites) with *NO* upper limit? Most of our
current cost-sharing partners set upper limits, which is sensible for them
because 1/N of the bill is almost always larger than said upper limits. Note
that utzoo absorbs the rest, which means that *we* are taking >1/N share with
no upper limit except that set by our management's patience... which we are
dangerously close to exceeding.
Q. Can we arrange individual contributions to keep net.xxx alive?
A. Can you arrange enough of them? What do we do if contributions fall short?
Cut off the group? How in the world do we administer such a thing? Note that
I do not personally object to *having* the "doomed" groups, just to paying Long
Distance bills for them. If somebody else wants to bring them in from outside,
I'm willing (for now, at least) to redistribute them locally. Caveat: other
site administrators may not share my views on this; the recent newsgroup cuts
at utcs were motivated by other considerations.
Q. Could some wealthier Toronto-area site take over utzoo's role?
A. Any volunteers? [long silence] I thought not.
Q. I'll buy cutting net.xxx, but can we save the net.xxx.yyy subgroup, which
is relatively small and maybe more relevant?
A. Maybe. It is possible to get a subgroup without getting the parent group,
but it is cumbersome. There is also the unpleasant possibility that traffic
from the parent group will migrate into the child. I may be willing to make
the effort to save some subgroups, but I'm not making any blanket promises.
Q. What about X.25 or some other cheaper transmission path?
A. Name one that doesn't require any extra investment for equipment. As at
many other sites, at utzoo Usenet is implemented using equipment whose official
primary purpose is other things. Perhaps I could manage an equipment purchase
specifically for Usenet if it was going to solve the problems permanently --
but most of the proposed alternatives are very temporary indeed, at the current
growth rate. Again, if *you* feel like buying the stuff, fine by me.
Q. How about lobbying for government financial support?
A. Sounds interesting; go ahead. If I thought it was going to be easy and was
reasonably assured of success, I would probably participate. In fact I think
it would be a lot of work and would almost certainly end in failure, and there
aren't enough hours in my day as it is. I admit to a mild case of "volunteer
burnout": I have been changing Usenet's diapers for four years now, and I'm
a bit tired of it.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: ont.general,ont.uucp,can.general
Subject: Re: storm arrives -- impending newsgroup cuts
Message-ID: <6073@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 17:02:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6073
Posted: Wed Oct 23 17:02:31 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Oct-85 17:02:31 EDT
References: <6046@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 19
I have requested our Long-Distance news feeds to shut off transmission
of:
net.religion
net.flame
net.bizarre
net.philosophy
net.politics
and all subgroups thereof, as prophesied earlier. The folks at lsuc are
bringing net.politics and net.religion.jewish in from outside, and are
feeding them to us for local redistribution (although site "utcs" is not
redistributing them, so people whose feed from us went through utcs will
need to find a new path if they want those groups).
I am still cogitating on the second list of "possible later cuts". Stay
tuned for further news on this.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: ont.general,ont.uucp,can.general
Subject: Re: storm arrives -- impending newsgroup cuts
Message-ID: <6080@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Oct-85 17:14:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6080
Posted: Thu Oct 24 17:14:32 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Oct-85 17:14:32 EDT
References: <6046@utzoo.UUCP>, <6073@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 28
The slightly-revised list of further potential cuts in newsgroups is
as follows:
net.music except net.music.synth
net.audio
net.abortion
net.movies
net.women
net.sf-lovers
net.origins
The changes are the addition of net.origins, the stay of execution on
net.auto (which has dropped off seismo's top-25 chart), and the exception
for net.music.synth (which can be argued to have technical relevance to
the computer-music people). Together these groups approach 20% of the
network traffic. Unless coherent arguments are advanced as to why we
should continue paying for them, utzoo will cease transmitting these
groups Long Distance on Friday 1 Nov 1985. We are willing to continue
redistributing them locally, but this will depend on somebody else
bringing them up from the US.
I am starting to feel really hostile towards net.sources.mac, especially
since it's now #1 in volume, but there have been enough anguished screams
about the possibility of losing it that I'm not going to act on my feelings
about it... yet.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
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Path: utzoo!utcs!geoff
From: geoff@utcs.uucp (Geoff Collyer)
Newsgroups: ont.general,ont.uucp,can.general
Subject: Re: storm arrives -- impending newsgroup cuts
Message-ID: <941@utcs.uucp>
Date: Fri, 25-Oct-85 05:01:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcs.941
Posted: Fri Oct 25 05:01:56 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Oct-85 05:51:41 EDT
References: <6046@utzoo.UUCP>, <6073@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: University of Toronto - General Purpose UNIX
Lines: 6
Xref: utcs ont.general:183 ont.uucp:167 can.general:365
Effective Tuesday, October 29th, utcs will be making the cuts
Henry has proposed (net.music except net.music.synth, net.audio,
net.abortion, net.movies, net.women, net.sf-lovers, net.origins).
News resource consumption is coming under intense scrutiny here;
otherwise I would have just waited until utzoo cut them.
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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: ont.general,ont.uucp,can.general
Subject: more cuts, slightly late
Message-ID: <6123@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Nov-85 17:04:43 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6123
Posted: Tue Nov 5 17:04:43 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Nov-85 17:04:43 EST
References: <6046@utzoo.UUCP>, <6073@utzoo.UUCP>, <6080@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 14
As warned of earlier, we no longer pass the following over Long Distance
links, and have requested our Long Distance feeds to stop sending them
to us.
net.music except net.music.synth
net.audio
net.abortion
net.movies
net.women
net.sf-lovers
net.origins
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry