response 35 of 176:

Apr 21 03:47 UTC 2001

I just think it'd be a major expense for Grex to replace the current 
hardware with something that'd be both faster and more reliable.  A lot 
of PC hardware (especially hard disk drives) is cheaply made for the 
desktop market and would fail quickly under the kind of load Grex would 
put on it.  You're talking server-class multiprocessor stuff, 
realistically, I would think, and that doesn't come cheap.

response 37 of 176:

Apr 21 08:36 UTC 2001

resp:34

(I wouldn't go so far as to say that you're that much aware of what's
going on re: M-Net than I am.  having kept myself abreast of the system
ever since the Salcedo incident, I'm one of the few people you *can't*
accuse of not being familiar with both M-Net and Grex.  plus, I've held
a "position of responsibility" on M-Net more recently than you have.)

(if you think my comment about M-Net not having much worth reading was 
meant to offend you, so be it.  the fact is that M-Net has newer 
hardware, a faster net connection, and more disk space, all for naught.
it's ready for a big boom that isn't likely to happen.)

(seriously, why bother pointing out M-Net?  *Chinet* [which has been
around even longer than any permutation of M-Net has] has newer hardware
than M-Net does, will have its own T-1 in a matter of days, and has
unreasonable amounts of disk space [mostly used for games].  it also has
maybe 12 users.  I can post an item or enter a response there very
quickly; the wait is in a response from someone else.)

(here's my theory:  newer hardware, faster net connections, and oodles of
disk space have *zilch* to do with building a community.  all that speed
is only good for allowing inane users to post inane responses insanely
fast.  seriously, what's the speed supposed to be used for?  people can
only read and type so fast.  whether you're connected to Grex by phone or
by port, it's usually at the speed of type or faster.  the only difference
is when using Backtalk, and that's mostly in retrieval, and *still* as
fast as any database I use on the internet.  ever tried to do a search on
cnnsi.com?)

(I'm reminded of janc's comments on why he doesn't speed when he travels:
at some point, the increase in speed isn't worth the time gained.  think
of it as diminishing returns.)

(you're patently wrong about the ease of replacing hardware.  last I
checked, Grex had plenty of spare CPUs laying around the Pumpkin, ready 
to go.  M-Net, as last summer showed, obviously doesn't.  which would
be cheaper to replace, again?)

(I'd also be curious to see how well M-Net's current set-up might handle
the sort of traffic Grex sees on a regular basis.  I'm unlikely to see
that experiment anytime soon, as M-Net has pissed away its userbase and
seems xenophobic about expanding it.  [*cough*allocatedtelnetports*cough]
that's fine by me.  while M-Net continues to attract users that detract
from the system, I'm happy to suffer through a few thousand script-kiddies
if it means I'll see a few more users on a regular basis.  it weren't for
Chinet, M-Net could be the fastest system no one uses.) 

(I'm all for a discussion of expenses and cost-saving measures, but I'd
hate to see it focus on "improving" a resource that won't necessarily
produce a benefit.)

response 41 of 176:

Apr 21 23:53 UTC 2001

Grex's network connectivity shouldn't be measurably worse than M-Net's.  DSL
connections are pretty low latency, and WWNet and Voyager both have
connectivity to the rest of the Net that's decent but could use some
improvement.  I think Voyager's is somewhat better than WWNet's at the moment.
Traceroutes from M-Net to Grex currently go through New York, so neither of
them is buying connectivity from providers that have very good peering with
eachother.  If M-Net's connectivity is considerably better than Grex, it's
more likely because Grex's DSL line is filling up than anything else.

response 43 of 176:

Apr 26 14:02 UTC 2001

Using Backtalk, it does take a very long time (30-60 seconds) to go from 
one item to the next, or to post a response or a new item.  Resp #37 
refers to diminishing returns for speed.  I start doing something on 
Grex every day which takes too long, and so I go to do something else, 
and then the thing I was doing doesn't get done.  This isn't a trivial 
problem, and I don't think it's an unsolvable one.

response 45 of 176:

Apr 27 00:32 UTC 2001

resp:44

(you're joking, right?)

response 47 of 176:

Apr 27 02:38 UTC 2001

It doesn't normally take 30 seconds for me to move from one item to 
another in Backtalk.  The speed of web browsing on Grex is about what 
I've come to expect from other sites.  Maybe I'm just too used to my 
28.8 modem connection, and when I've had more bandwidth for a while I'll 
start to get annoyed with sites that don't load instantaneously.

response 49 of 176:

Apr 27 12:55 UTC 2001

resp:46

(from Arbornet's "support" command):


                           Patron       Member       Guest

Inbound telnet ports        64           56     48 from Michigan,
                                                  28 otherwise


(again, you're joking, right?)

response 51 of 176:

Apr 27 15:06 UTC 2001

resp:50

("As a current Board member and former staff member, I am pretty 
convinced I know more about what is going on that you do?"  that's 
just *too* easy.)  :P

(again, you're joking, right?  I haven't even addressed site-bans 
yet.)  ;)

response 53 of 176:

Apr 27 15:33 UTC 2001

Site-bans are also "normal": grex uses them as well..
Any admin uses them.
Only an idiot would NOT use them.
(For what and why is your issue).

response 55 of 176:

Apr 27 16:32 UTC 2001

resp:52

(so you admit that such limitations had been implemented?  I'll 
grant that the text I cited was revised only as recently as March 18, 
2000, so if Arbornet has moved away from limiting tty allocations 
based on donor status [of which I was aware] and IP address [of which 
I was not aware] since that time because of the actions of a script 
kiddie from Brighton and a rogue staff member, then cheers to them.  
that doesn't explain away the xenophobic attitude apparently supported 
by most of Arbornet.)

(then again, you seem to think that Chinet moved to NT along with 
CBBS.  ;P  you might want to look at the finger output from 
chinet.chinet.com again.)  

resp:53

(in the interest of clarifying the misinformation you seem to provide 
so willingly, I'll note that Grex used a site ban once, as previously 
posted in the Coop conference, when contact with a particular site's 
sysadmins failed to yield productive results.  it was a big deal then,
and was lifted fairly shortly thereafter.  if you're aware of any 
other time Grex has used a site ban, feel free to point it out.)  :P

---

(frankly, if the only things people can pick out about resp:37 are
the mentions of port allocations and Backtalk, then I'm pribly very
much on the mark.)

(jep, out of curiosity, what sort of net connection are you using?  
I'm currently using a cable modem, and never have to wait more than 
a minute for a page to load, even with a full 20 responses.  I had
similar response times while in Québec, using whatever connection
Université Laval had at the time.  have you considered that perhaps
the delays in Backtalk aren't necessarily on Grex's end?)

response 59 of 176:

Apr 30 01:42 UTC 2001

Grex does "block sites" (using tcpd) with some frequency.  Usually these
attract no notice and generate no complaints because they involve sites
*only* used by a vandal.  The most recent case involved a mail bomber
from Poland who liked to running a mail based DOS attack involving us
and about 2-3 other "free" Unix sites.