Subject: IT's NOT A BBS (was: Re: What happened to my posting??)

From: [email-masked] (CONT Reginald Beardsley)
Date: 28 Jul 1995 17:40:20 GMT

Since it's clear that many people in this group don't understand how
new works, I'll provide a brief explanation:

Usenet (aka Netnews) copies articles from one system to another using
a "flooding" algorithm.  When an article is posted it gets a unique
ID showing it's origin.  This ID is used to prevent producing multiple
copies of the article.

The normal lifespan of a post is about 1-2 weeks ON A SINGLE SYSTEM,
although it can be much longer or as short as 3 days.  It depends on
how much disk the news administrator has available.  The lifespan on the 
net as a whole is much longer.  Many sites are several UUCP hops off
the main network backbone.  UUCP copies files from one system to another
using dial up modems. Usenet was originated using UUCP.  Some sites may
only pick up news every few days, so it might be several weeks old by
the time it reaches the last machine.

Why it "disappears":

Most newsreader programs keep a list of articles you've seen using the
local article number (not the ID #).  The next time you read news, you 
ONLY SEE THE ONES YOU HAVEN'T READ.  Normally they're still there.  You
just don't see them unless you request a list of old news (if that feature
actually works in your reader :-)  It will only disappear from the disk 
being full if it gets deliberately deleted by the news admin or it expires
(i.e. it's older than the allowed retention period.)

Hope this helps.  Have fun!

-- 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reginald H. Beardsley                                      [email-masked]

                 Contract Consultant/Programmer 

    Mobil Exploration and Production Technology, Dallas, Texas

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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From: [email-masked] (CAPE FORGE)
Date: 27 Jul 1995 09:59:55 -0400

I posted a request for plans for a 3 1/2 gauge loco that I'm machining.
The post was listed for a few hours - then disapeared. What happened?
Regards,
Mike de Punte

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From: [email-masked] (Jonathan M. Elson)
Date: 27 Jul 1995 22:30:41 GMT

CAPE FORGE ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I posted a request for plans for a 3 1/2 gauge loco that I'm machining.
: The post was listed for a few hours - then disapeared. What happened?

The server you were READING from probably has its disk full.  We have a
similar problem here.  We have gotten your message here.

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From: [email-masked] (J. Kimberlin)
Date: 27 Jul 1995 17:08:31 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>,
>The post was listed for a few hours - then disapeared. What happened?

Can't answer the question but was the request for Britannia plans from 
Reeves in England?  I suggested asking Reeves and gave the address, phone 
etc.  It is also in the FAQ, I'm sure.  If this was your post, then I saw 
it at CRL in the SF Bay Area.

JerryK