response 51 of 194:

Oct 7 22:55 UTC 1997

 Like the "phones" command?  Sounds easy enough.  We (staff) really need 
to be badgered about doing regular backups.

response 55 of 194:

Oct 8 03:53 UTC 1997

Or maybe not...is it possible that the October 5 backup was done with a backup
script that predated our changeover to the hierarchical home?  Such a script
wouldn't back up /a, because /a didn't exist then.

response 59 of 194:

Oct 10 20:34 UTC 1997

#58...so even when Grex gets ISDN connections, it *still* wont seem 
particularly faster until when/if Grex gets on the new computer?  
*depression*

response 61 of 194:

Oct 11 13:27 UTC 1997

Another thanks.  (Disclaimer:  i normally dial in.)  When Grex is really
slow, i spend a lot of my time logged on just waiting for it to respond.
If most other users experience this, then fewer people on the system should
*reduce* the length of the line (since many people can get through their
.cflist, e-mail, or whatever and get back off).

response 63 of 194:

Oct 11 22:09 UTC 1997

What M-Net does may (or may not) be of some help.  We have 64 ptys.
We reserve the first 16 of them (p0-pf) for people who pay
(patrons/members).  The next 16 (q0-qf) are for people who don't pay,
but who telnet in from Michigan.  The final 32 (r0-sf) are for those
outside Michigan and who don't pay.  These trunk down, of course.
The result is that while the final 32 are almost always jammed tight,
the first 32 are not, so that people who pay and those from inside
Michigan get on with no problem, and the reduced load means that M-Net
is downright sprightly!
        Grex doesn't want to make distinctions between payers and
non-payers (members and non-members).  However, it *might* be worth
distinguishing between those in Michigan and those who are not.
If Grex reserved the first 32 ptys for those inside Michigan, we
might be able to kiss our lag problems good-bye!

response 65 of 194:

Oct 12 20:17 UTC 1997

But do we really want to discriminate thusly against non-Michiganders?  I kind
of like having people telnetting in from all over the place.  It adds flavour.

response 67 of 194:

Oct 13 02:43 UTC 1997

Reads like a line from "Mein Kampf" ;-)

Seriously, I think M-Net can afford that type of distinction because I
guess "M-Net" stands for "Michigan Net". I take grex to be a more global
concept -- a global meeting place. And I would think the real fun comes
from meeting so many people from all around the world. 

response 69 of 194:

Oct 13 03:27 UTC 1997

I don't like the idea of placing that kinds of restrictions on Grex either.
That sort of thing is one of many reasons why I often think the M-Net people
have their heads on backwards.

response 71 of 194:

Oct 13 05:24 UTC 1997

Grex and M-net are like different states in the Federalist model of 
American government; they should be free to explore different approches
to managing themselves.

scg in #69: I can't agree that the favoritism policies of M-net
show that "the M-Net people have their heads on backwards."
With these policies in place, M-net has staunched the financial 
hemmorage; more importantly, dpc has reported some real gains in 
the number of financial contributors over the last year.
 
M-net has a long tradition of offering better access to its 
contributors; Grex has a founding principle of offering the same access
to everyone.
 
It's been fascinating watching everyone's reaction to the Indian 
community that has come to be Grex and M-net users; I include myself
in this, of course!   Individually I really enjoy the interactions
with the Indian grexers who chat in party, and especially the ones 
who get involved in the conferences.  But collectively, I worry 
that the Indian community -- and looking beyond India, to when the 
Chinese get liberal network access -- has the potential to swamp 
Grex's resources: in CPU, network bandwidth, and staff.
I don't believe that approximately 100 financial contributors, 
and about 10 staffers, can provide free e-mail service to the world, 
forever.
 
I'm selfish; I'm not willing to contribute funds to a system which gets 
so swamped that I can't use it.
But I also know that my perspective is a minority one among Grex
voting members, and I'm not inclined to lead any campaigns here.
The upcoming 128K Internet link and the new fast Sun machine will 
buy Grex time for a lot of non-swamped growth.

response 73 of 194:

Oct 13 19:44 UTC 1997

"M-Net" probably doesn't stand for "Michigan Net".  Mike Myers named "M-Net."
He was non-committal when I asked him once what the "M" stood for.  But he
originally used the name for a small one-line bbs system running on an Atari
800 back around 1982 or 1983.  He obviously didn't expect it to be serving
the University of Michigan or the whole state of Michigan, much less the
whole world.  My belief is that it started out as a small personal project -
his own little BBS - so he named it after himself.  As it got bigger, the
name seemed a little immodest.  It wasn't by any means just his system
anymore, so he let the meaning of the "M" be vague.