(Elm...) getting patches for those w/out ftp access

[Jess Anderson]

In article <1991Feb14.160948.5434 at wolves.uucp> ggw%wolves at cs.duke.edu (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes:

>I started to respond to this request by posting the patches files that I
>have here on the anon uucp site to this group and alt.sources  but I
>have received no less than 4 mailings complaining that "there is no need
>to clog the net with this because there are plenty of servers and
>archives already" and/or (paraphrased) 'posting the patches isn't adequate 
>since the news software may mung the lines and create problems in the Configure
>script' or something like that.

More that "something like that," corruption of patches during
propagation over Usenet has bitten me twice in the course of
the 11 patches to Elm 2.3.  Since (at least for me) it is so
easy to ftp from wherever, I've adopted the practice of waiting
until Syd Weinstein has had the time to put up the latest and
greatest on dsinc.dsi.com and getting it from there.  What Usenet
is useful for, in my case, is the notice that something new exists.

As for mail servers, fortunately I don't have to be expert in
their use, but I've never one fail when I tried it.  Mail servers
are (how could they not be) fairly picky about the queries they
can process correctly, but otherwise they are usually pretty
reliable.

Doubtless some few people who would be dedicated Elm users will
always find themselves out in the cold for one or another reason.
But how far the net as a whole should go to meet the needs of
those few is an arguable point.  I was astounded that you posted
the patches to *two* newsgroups, when announcement to both groups
followed by posting to one would have made much more sense, if
indeed any such posting was needed.

<> The incessant witless repetition of advertisers'
<> moron-fodder has become so much a part of life that if we
<> are not careful, we forget to be insulted by it.
<> -- "The Times" (London)
--
Jess Anderson <> Madison Academic Computing Center <> University of Wisconsin
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