🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9p0ld3$1qvg$1@machaut.medieval.org>, 
mccomb@medieval.org says...
> In article <9p0031$29vc$1@nntp1.ba.best.com>,
> Malcolm Hoar <malch@malch.com> wrote:
> >But even though I'm very anti-censorship, I think there's a good
> >case for eliminating the binaries altogether now.
> 
> That's what I tried to tell this bozo.  It has nothing to do with
> censorship, and everything to do with using the right tool for the
> job.  But, as you suggest, I imagine he was mainly worried about
> subsidizing his illegal activities.  The Internet is full of
> lowlifes; it's embarrasing to be associated with it sometimes.
> 
---

If you're going to call someone a 'bozo,' then you first need to 
correctly understand the point he made. 

In this case, what I originally posted apparently went right over 
your head. Let me try again:

If I subscribe to SuperNews and receive 90% +\- of all daily 
Usenet messages, I *still* won't be able to carry on 
conversations with other Usenet users who connect to Usenet via 
ISPs that carry 50% +/- of the daily message load. Those other 
people will miss too many of my posts and/or replies to be able 
to carry on a conversation with me via Usenet -- or even know 
that I've posted in the first place. 

EXAMPLE: You sign up with a private phone company that tells you 
they give you National access. After your service starts, you 
discover they are only connected to fifteen or twenty numbers per 
city in the US.  My point is that this is not only misleading  
advertising, it also does not constitute a viable phone system 
because it doesn't connect enough people together, who need to 
call each other.  Usenet ceases to be viable in the same way when 
ISPs do not carry some minimum fraction of the daily message load 
on a reliable basis.  


I posted nothing about censorship OR binaries, but since you 
brought it up: 

*) I don't care if Best/Verio peels off binary groups. Perhaps 
they could charge a slight premium to access them, or to download 
message bodies from them. I am really concerned with the regular 
groups, which I informally check regularly.  If Best/Verio peels 
off binary groups, then they better carry a much higher 
percentage of non-binary group messages on a daily basis. 

*) Censorship works in lots of ways -- some accidental; some 
intentional. In the end, simply not providing messages to readers 
has the same effect for Usenet posters and readers, no matter 
what it's called or why it happens. Usenet readers do not receive 
information, threads die, and newsgroups die. 

*****

By the way, for WebFolks here; do you have any idea how often the 
Best servers disconnect your potential customers from your web 
sites?  I regularly use about six computers around the South Bay.  
None of those computers stay connected to Best/Verio for longer 
than fifteen or twenty minutes before I get an error message. 
... just asking. 

milt b