on Thu, Apr 12, 2001 at 10:16:51PM -0400, Jaldhar H. Vyas ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > On Thu, 12 Apr 2001, Karsten M. Self wrote: > > > *Using* GNU/Linux isn't going to prevent anyone else from using it -- > > you're not using anything that another user can't access because of your > > presence. > > > > Communications bandwidth is another issue. Network communications grow > > according to Metcalfe's law: the square of the nodes. Fortunately, > > mailing lists are pretty resilient to such effects -- most of the > > conversation is node-to-node, without effecting other nodes or a central > > chokepoint (other than the listserver). Usenet, being even more > > decentralized, is even more scalable (weblogs, incidentally, are poorly > > scalable because of the centralized load). > > > > I was in the middle of preparing a long reply to John but I see the thread > has gotten ahead of me. I agree that Linux software is infinitely > replicable but software (with the exception of worms) cannot exist by > itself. It needs humans to maintain and support it. Their time and > energy is the scarce resource. Thus I submit to you Linux as a whole is > susceptible to the tragedy of the commons. The sole advantage open source > gives in this regard is to ease (but not guarantee) the resurrection of > dead or forgotten code -- again if someone makes the effort to do so.
Development isn't rivalrous in consumption. Support and bandwidth are. I'm repeating myself. > > So you need effective means of managing the rivalrous resource. In the > > case of a list, it's large topic-scanning -- I flip through new posts, > > looking for responses (or references) to me, then scan for topics of > > interest, then look for unanswered, non-response, posts. I'll typically > > delete deeply nested threads (such as this one)....unless I'm one of the > > provocateurs. They've generally drifted off-topic. > > Try this idea on for size. Subject line editors. They would have the > power to change subject lines but not the text of the posts themselves. > This would give the benefits of moderation without the drawbacks such as > censorship, feedback loops etc. Sorry? I've been known, dumb, lazy person that I am, to change subject lines ;-) > > At some point, mailing lists grow to a size that's no longer manageable. > > Depending on the topic, this may be several hundred to several tens of > > thousands of users. At this point, some form of subsetting of the list > > becomes essential. > > > > One of my side interests is in developing the filtering tools and > > algorithms to aid in sifting through such data. Kuro5hin (see sig) is a > > partial implementation of same, MeatballWiki is a site at which some > > related discussion is occurring. > > > > Have you seen the Everything engine? That might be promising. Interesting, yes. But a closed circle -- I don't believe it allows external links, at least in default config, and this is a Bad Thing®. PerlMonks is Everthing2 based, IIRC. Wiki is very similar. Strengths of Everything2 are in some of its internal cross-referencing systems. Yes, quite interesting. Also a bit of topic drift (hell, we start talking about ssh and end up talking about everythign....). Cheers. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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