Scotch-Irish-L Archives

From: linda Merle <>
Subject: Netiquette and life on the internet
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 19:39:31 -0800

Hi, the list owners were having a discussion regarding the consequences
of an act which many newcomers may not realize is very very costly. In
the hopes of educating ourselves (so we do not inadvertantly do the
same) here is the tale:

A person has been "locked out" of rootsweb by the owners. Rootsweb
is the genealogical collective which is our "home".

The discussion was about why she was locked out. The owner, Brian,
said....
>
> To get the facts straight, we have locked *** out of RootsWeb. The
> reason we did that, though, may be different than you think.
>
> Posting lost child notices, virus warnings, FCC scares, etc., is not
> OK. Why? Because those offtopic posts tend to resonate across all
> the lists, and it really beats up the servers. Karen and I just
> spent $5,200 on memory upgrades largely necessitated by the recent
> FCC hoax postings.
>
> That's $5,200 straight out of Karen and Brian's pockets, because
> RootsWeb doesn't even cover its ordinary costs.
>
> But usually we pretty much ignore inappropriate posts. Folks make
> mistakes, and it's easy to forget that list operations cost real
> money when you're living off the generosity of the other folks who
> have chosen to support RootsWeb (*** hasn't).
>
> ###
>
> So why did we lock *** out?
>
> First, you need to understand that cross-posting to many lists via a
> CC: line is very hard on the servers. Why? Because CCed mail all
> hits the server simultaneously and launches delivery to multiple
> lists simultaneously, thus defeating the software we use to keep the
> load balanced on the servers.
>
> *** *cross-posted* to many lists, and included in many of the posts
> the line "All private flames will be published." It appeared that
> there was a real possibility she would start a flame war and, very
> frighteningly, a flame war that might have simultaneously spanned
> many lists.
>
> That would have downed the server. No RootsWeb. Dead.
>
> The best way we could see to prevent a cross-list flame war was to
> guarantee that *** could not possibly provide additional impetus to
> get one started.
>
> BTW, *** isn't permanently banished from RootsWeb. We've asked her
> to confirm that she'll do no further missing child posts and, much
> more importantly, that she won't post private e-mail to the lists or
> do anything else that might senselessly provoke a flame war.
> Assuming she feels comfortable with those conditions, we'll
> reinstate her after things settle down a bit. Cheers, B.

So please, no voluminous cross postings to 20 lists (we do cross post
here the Irish and Scottish lists, no big deal. We're talking here
LOTS of lists). No threats. Do not appear to be starting
a flamewar. It's bad form to post private email to a public list.
If you see a provocative post, please, please, please: DO NOT respond
on the list. If 800 people start posting responses -- we may ALL
be thrown off rootsweb <grin>. (I can see the headlines:
'Nortorious List evicted from internet for restarting several wars --
Congressional investigation underway in USA; Tony Blair has meeting
with Queen on Teusday....'

And feel free to send some money to Rootsweb.

Regards,

Linda Merle

This thread:

• Netiquette and life on the internet by linda Merle <>