Aucbvax.2385
fa.works
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!works
Tue Jul 21 13:28:59 1981
WorkS problems
>From DREIFU@WHARTON-10 Tue Jul 21 13:11:26 1981
WorkS has now grown to include roughly 750 people on 50 sites
across the ARPAnet.  The number of topics being discussed at
any one time has increased from 1-2 to 4-5.  Somewhere between
12-15 messages are submitted to the list each day.  Each day's
submissions comprise approximately 15,000 characters of material.
The result is that WorkS is beginning to suffer from severe
problems.  Problems which many people have begun to note.

It takes roughly 30 minutes (real time) of processing by the
mail server to redistribute one, 1000 character to everyone on
the WorkS mailing list.  The amount of time required depends on
several factors.  The most important factor is simply the total
number of individual message transmissions that the mail server
must do.

For example, consider the difference between distributing one
20,000 character message and 10 2,000 character messages to
WorkS.  The 20,000 character message will require around 100
minutes (real time) of processing by the mail server.  The 10
2,000 character messages will require 300 minutes (real time)
of processing by the mail server.  Here you see the advantage
in redistributing the messages oriented around a single topic
as a collection of messages rather than as individual messages.
However, that expedient is proving inadequate to deal with
WorkS problems.


This means in all probability that WorkS will have to become
another digest mailing list.  Over the next few days we'll
explain what this change entails.  In the meantime we will
continue with redistributing the incoming messages in topical
collections where appropriate.


Comments/opinions/questions to WorkS-REQUEST at MIT-AI.

Hank Dreifus



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