Message-ID: <199701100107.UAA14850@shell.monmouth.com> Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 20:07:27 -0500 From: Wilbur Streett <mailto:wstreett@MONMOUTH.COM> Subject: Bandwidth, discussion, et al.. To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Since this is a technology list, might I suggest a technological solution for the people that are having to put out a lot of cost for this discussion list?While I don't have the time to implement this solution myself, it seems to me that a simple collection and compression process would alleviate a great deal of the cost of being subscribed to this list for some people.
Toward that end, I suggest that someone take the archive from time to time and compress it so that people can retrieve say a week of conversation via email in order to get a compressed data version of the discussion.
I'm not sure where and if this list is archived, but it would be a rather simple shell script to compress the messages weekly and make them available to any of the EMail based FTP front ends. The premise of those systems is that you don't have FTP capabilities but you have email, so they will get a file and email it to you if you provide the server with the URL of the file that you want to get.
I'd really like to hear from anyone on this list that is paying for the bandwidth and considers the expense to be significant. If there are enough voices, perhaps someone will be moved enough to set up the very simple system that I outlined above to to alleviate the burden of the cost of involvement with this list.
In short, I don't agree with the idea that we should limit the conversation because it might cost someone else some money, do something about the cost, don't constrain the discussion. I also don't know that anyone other than Dr. Lisse has said anything directly about the cost of this list. I enjoy Dr. Lisse's contributions, and I hope that this discussion doesn't cost him to much. But I'd like to ask if anyone really is spending more than they feel they should for this list in any developing country? If Internet connections cost too much in a given country then maybe we should be subsidizing some peoples involvement in this list, prefferably through the appropriate application of technology, (or direct funding if necessary).
Wilbur ----------------------------------------- Putting a Human Face On Technology ;-) -----------------------------------------