On Wed, 24 Apr 91 16:35:38 +0200 you said:
>I'd say  it depends on the  size of the  file. If the gateway  imposes an
>unreasonably low limit,  like 20k, complain to the maintainer.  If on the
>other hand  the archive file is  really too large even  for normal BITNET
>users, complain  to the list owner  and suggest he split  it into smaller
>files. In any case, you can  use the database functions to retrieve parts
>of the archive files.
 
As I'm sure we have discussed before in the context of my local commands
in support of the Info-Mac archives, the problem with this approach is
varying needs of the intended audience.  The most common gateway limit
seems to be 100K, with 200K and 64K distant seconds.  One gateway even
has a 32K limit which is dictated by the architecture of the systems
behind it (Applelink, which deals in 32K "text-edit buffers").
 
Even if I could get all of the gateway owners to agree on 100K or more,
splitting up the files in the archive into 100K chunks would make a lot
of reassembly work for users not behind gateways, or not using email
for retrieval at all.  This is the argument the main Info-Mac moderator
has used against splitting the original files (since his clientel is
exclusively via FTP).
 
Sorry to beat a dead horse.
 
--Mark