It was  suggested to me  (in private  mail) that the  default GET quota  of 20
files & 256kb a  day is too low. I cannot resend the  original mail since it's
in  french and  I've never  particularly  enjoyed translations,  but the  main
arguments are:
 
- With a  limit of 256k/day,  it becomes  impossible to retrieve  notebooks of
  lists like PHYSICS, where the smallest notebook is 300k.
 
- With a  limit of 20  files a day,  it may  take up to  1 week to  retrieve a
  complete discussion or program from a list like MINIX-L.
 
My comments are the following:
 
- A list where  the smallest notebook is  300k in size is  being archived with
  the  WRONG options  (EARNTECH  LOG8801  is 3600  lines  totalling 128k).  Of
  course, the end user has no control on this; but I think that if users start
  complaining to the  list owners, they will eventually change  the setting of
  the list for the greater benefit of the whole community.
 
- People tend to retrieve (large) notebooks just to find a particular piece of
  information that they  know has been discussed in the  list. That's what the
  database functions  are for, and  they are not  subjected to the  GET quota.
  Furthermore, a DATABASE output is usually  pretty small since you order only
  what you really need.
 
- A list where  each posting is archived  in a separate file  of 20-30 records
  is, again, improperly configured. By dint  of bitching the list owner, users
  will eventually get him to  use sensible archiving options. Furthermore, you
  can get yourself one week worth of notebook with a simple database job, even
  though this would represents 50 individual files of 30 records.
 
- Users don't need to be able to order more data a day than they'll be able to
  read.
 
I personally  think that the default  options will force both  list owners and
end-users to behave more intelligently, by using sensible "Notebook=" keywords
and by  making more  extensive use  of the  database functions,  which usually
allow you  to avoid retrieving 1M  of notebooks to locate  just one particular
item  you're interested  in. Of  course, retrieving  the 1M  of data  might be
legitimate if you've just  signed up to a list and what to  know what has been
said in the previous months, but then you can order one notebook a day, or ask
the postmaster to GIVE everything to you.
 
It was suggested to change the default  values to roughly double what they now
are (say, 50 files - 512k). I'd be interested in hearing your comments.
 
  Eric