linking sports conference between M-Net and Grex

Nov 14 13:42 UTC 2011

Would it be difficult to link a conference between M-Net and Grex?  If 
not, would there be interest in doing so?

I am the fw of the sports conference on both systems.

The conference on Grex hasn't been used in many years.  I made an effort a 
few years ago to generate activity there, but it didn't attract anyone but 
myself.  There was, however, some recent activity because M-Net was down 
for a couple of weeks.

I'm not sure what the mechanism would be for linking a conference.  It 
seems like both a political and technical question, so I decided I'd start 
here.  I'll add a similar item to the policy conference on M-Net.

Thanks!

response 2 of 21:

Nov 14 19:36 UTC 2011

There's been a sports conference on Grex since the beginning, but it's not 
usually very active.

response 4 of 21:

Nov 15 02:45 UTC 2011

Why couldn't it be done using a mounted file system?  Is it a security
hazard?  (I know little about network security.)

Really, I'm just asking.  It seemed worth asking the question.

response 6 of 21:

Nov 15 02:51 UTC 2011

resp:4 It's a security hazzard, for sure.  NFS (the easiest distributed
filesystem to use between Grex and M-Net) doesn't work well across a wide-
area network, and then, neither YAPP nor backtalk really expects to run
on NFS.

response 8 of 21:

Nov 15 03:39 UTC 2011

Just put the conference files on dropbox and share between the two systems.

(just kidding)

I thought the conference systems had database backends? Is it really
just flat files? Eww.

response 12 of 21:

Nov 15 19:19 UTC 2011

There would be the issue of two different people using the same login,
one on Grex and the other on M-Net.

Oh hell, just combine the two systems and get it over with. :)

response 14 of 21:

Nov 16 04:30 UTC 2011

I might support that, but there are things I'd want to see happen as
part of it.  I couldn't bear to see the M-Net name vanish.  I couldn't
bear to have the name "Cyberspace Communications" continue, either.

I didn't start this item to promote combining M-Net and Grex.

I've said for years I think it would be a good thing to combine
operations but there is some very firm opposition to the idea over on
the M-Net side of the world.  There's no organization left for Arbornet.
 It would be easy to take it over for the purpose of merging with Grex.
 I wouldn't be willing to force the issue against those who hate the
idea so much.  I don't see it would be worth doing.  Those who most
against it are some of the longest standing users left on M-Net.

I hope both systems can continue to limp along for a while longer. 
They've been doing it for 20 years, gradually fading a little more each
year, but never quite vanishing completely.

response 16 of 21:

Nov 16 17:31 UTC 2011

It's been discussed in the past.  Given that you and tonster are the 
active sysadmins for both systems, it seems like it would make sense from 
a technical perspective.  Also a financial perspective (though M-Net 
currently has no expenses at all, which is good because it also has no 
income).

There's much political flak for any collaboration from a minority of vocal 
users on M-Net.  That's what I was referring to yesterday.  I can think of 
ways to force the issue, but not without offending that minority.

response 18 of 21:

Dec 14 00:34 UTC 2011

grex and mnet *sharing* a conference?  might be a good idea, but dave 
cahill would probably say, 'over my dead body' and scare the others on 
mnet from agreeing.