On Mon, 15 Nov 93 10:04:22 PST you said:
>
>Good point. It is *inevitable* that removing just ONE site from the
>"backbone" will cause an increasing load on the remaining sites,
>if the volume stays the same.  Of course, when sites "leave" BITNET,
>the volume will go down, since there are fewer subscribers to be served.
 
Why does the fact that sites  are dropping their BITnet connections mean that
Listserv use  will go  down? In fact,  many sites have  been going  away from
BITnet for the past few years, yet  I have not noticed much difference in the
number of  postings that  pass through  Temple's Listserv,  which I  run. The
busiest list  that I  personally run is  Help-Net. Many  Help-Net subscribers
read it from  from non-BITnet addresses. I frequently get  mail from Help-Net
subscribers who ask me to change a  BITnet address to an Internet address. As
such, I don't  see why sites dropping off BITnet  means fewer Listserv users.
At  one point  in  time, I  felt  that Listserv  was  antiquated compared  to
Usenet. I no  longer feel that way. I  now think that even if  BITnet were to
close up shop completely, there would still  be a large demand for a Listserv
like the robust one that Eric has designed for VM systems.
 
BTW, last  week a friend  showed me a  copy of a  memo about BITnet  III. The
menu was very interesting, but for the sake of brevity and since I don't have
it  in front  of  me,  I won't  discuss  its details.  The  reason  why I  am
mentioning it  now is  because the  authors of  the proposal,  who may  be on
CREN's executive board,  published an Internet address to  send them comments
via E-mail.  The authors  did not give  a BITnet address.  This gives  me the
impression that not even CREN's VIPs use BITnet anymore.
 
 
  Stan  Horwitz  Internet: [log in to unmask]  Bitnet:  STAN@TEMPLEVM
  Temple University  -- Senior  Consultant (My  views are  all mine!)
  Manager of the Help-Net and Suggest lists and Listserv Postmaster.
 
 
  Stan  Horwitz  Internet: [log in to unmask]  Bitnet:  STAN@TEMPLEVM
  Temple University  -- Senior  Consultant (My  views are  all mine!)
  Manager of the Help-Net and Suggest lists and Listserv Postmaster.