> However, I am going to say that I find Ms. Maynor's comments about the
> gazelle and the sloth highly inflamatory and indicitive of the rather
> uneducated banter that gets tossed about the net regarding my favorite
 
I guess I should clarify and apologize for propagating uneducated banter,
which I did not see as in any way inflammatory.  Apology:  I'm not a
subscriber to this list (I saw the discussion while cruising usenet
yesterday); since I'm not a techy and know nothing of the deep structure
of what's being discussed, I should not have posted; I will perhaps glance
at bit.listserv.lstsrv-l again someday but will not respond to anything.
Clarification:  I did not think what I was saying was inflammatory.  If
it was considered an attack on the person who wrote Unix Listproc, that
was not my intention.  In addition to possible technical obstacles that
I know nothing about, one obvious reason that Listproc might be inferior
to LISTSERV at this point is the length of time it's been in existence
and undergoing improvements.  My comparison of the two programs is from
the point of view of what I do as listowner.  I have no know knowledge of
anything else about the programs.  From my point of view as a non-techy
English teacher who wouldn't recognize an SMTP or RSCF if one walked
through the door, I can say that the difference between LISTSERV and
Unix Listproc *appears to me* like the difference between a gazelle and
a crippled sloth.
 
> For one thing, nobody in either camp has any type of meaningful benchmark
> from which to measure such a comparison.  Yet each side seems to enjoy
> deriding the other to such a great degree that there is really little
> meaningful dialogue about what such a benchmark would entail.
 
My basis for comparison is what I do in the everyday running of my lists.
Because I'm not among those listowners who believe that all subscribers,
including novices, should be forced to take care of everything themselves,
I help them.  With LISTSERV lists, doing things like adding or deleting
subscribers is no trouble at all.  It takes seconds to send the command
'del words-l [log in to unmask] to [log in to unmask]
That's far easier than sending a message to listproc saying 'system
smoke-free password [log in to unmask] #unsubscribe' and then
waiting for ages for the request to be acted on since listproc has been
busy distributing mail and is tired.
 
> etc.; and software -- Ultrix, SunOS, AIX, SCO unix, etc.).  Making
> comparisons of Unix-Listprocessor performance from one machine to the
> next is difficult, comparing it to the largely VM/NJE/RSCS LISTSERV
> is nuts.
 
Not nuts to somebody like me.  If somebody asks me which of the two
programs I prefer dealing with as listowner or as subscriber, I have
no trouble at all answering.  Am I not making a comparison of the two
programs when I do that?  Is it nuts for me to say which one I prefer?
Should I instead reply, "I'm sorry, but I can't answer that question.
There are no benchmarks for comparison.  Just roll your dice and pick
one."
 
>    Craig A. Summerhill, Systems Coordinator and Program Officer
>    Coalition for Networked Information
>    21 Dupont Circle, N.W., Washington, D.C.   20036
>    Internet: [log in to unmask]   AT&Tnet (202) 296-5098
 
Natalie Maynor, Professor of English, Mississippi State University
Disclaimer:  I have no official connection with the MSU Computing Center.
Please do not let the ignorance of people like me make you think less of
the excellent people in our Computing Center.  Fortunately, they feel
secure enough not to be threatened by allowing us non-techies to babble
on the net.