I  spent  the last  4  days  finishing  SCRIPTing  an URGENT  and  IMPORTANT
compte-rendu for my "!%$$!+  school. My friends had left me  about 10 pages of
illegible manuscript  (tiny writing,  light lead  pen) to  type in  during the
weekend, and then  had "forgotten" to prepare an  introduction and conclusion.
But then I cannot complain since they  had done all the work alone, leaving me
only the  SCRIPTing and  GDDMing work to  do (which was  what we  had mutually
agreed on  -- the only  one that could  SCRIPT the stuff  was me, and  it will
probably  raise the  mark by  40%). And  as  you might  know I  am wasting  an
important amount of time on the go-learn-COBOL-in-Rennes-next-year problem.
 
  I will reply when I have finished processing my reader, cleaning up my mind,
and  when I  will be  sure that  there  is no  more LSTSRV-L  mail waiting  on
BITNIC-EARNET --  I want to take  all objections and criticisms  into account.
But - I have not been hit by  a truck. I have also started some paper-thinking
on the topic: an important move will have  to be made, and it must be done the
right way with the protocols designed in the morning with a clear mind, not at
11pm as I usually do. I will try to find a way to keep this backbone living, a
RELIABLE and SURE way  (not just a short-term fix), even  if it means apparent
stasis of the backbone  during a few weeks (or maybe even  a little more). The
backbone is presently working more or  less acceptably, and can remain in this
state for a little while if needed.
 
  As for those people who sent me notes  of the kind Jeff was referring to (eg
"When will you stop  playing with your toy (* LISTSERV *)  and start some real
productive work  on the  backbone????" -- this  was from a  user of  course, a
postmaster uttering these words would have  received a nuclear network bomb of
course)... NO, they are  not the cause of the 'crisis'. But  YES, they made me
realize that I  was maybe devoting too much  of my time to people  who did not
deserve it and were not even grateful.  When I was in Heidelberg with Berthold
he often told me "Why don't you drop  support for this node?" - "If I were you
I would  not allow them  to run LISTSERV at  all unless (insert  here whatever
'duty'  they failed  to  abide  by)", etc.  The  NETSERV  backbone is  working
perfectly, and the  LISTSERV one is not. Because NETSERV  is maintained by the
author himself, on  a regular basis, remotely. And because  all NETSERV owners
have a far deeper commitment to  the backbone than the average LISTSERV owner.
Now I must say  that I *hate* 'dropping' people and leaving  them in deep sh*t
when they need help,  even if they DO deserve it. I prefer  not to provide any
service  than to  have to  provide it  only  to the  "good guys  who do  their
homework correctly and in  time". I am afraid I will have  to change my ethics
and become more intolerant towards the "bad  guys" who find time to write me a
3-pages note  describing the 293  reasons why  they could not  update LISTSERV
yet, maybe next week, which takes obviously at least 5 times the time it would
take them to perform a CARD LOAD.
 
  Now please stop  the "Eric we all  love you" bullsh*t. It makes  me feel the
same way I felt  when I left our Studies Director's  office after pleading for
my cause during  1 hour. And that's  not a feeling I will  have forgotten next
week.
 
  Eric