[from Gary Cziko 950121.0240 GMT]
Several netters over the last few days have complained of long CSGnet
delays. There could be a number of reasons for this:
1. Listserv at VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU shut down. This can happen if disk space
becomes tight. Can usually be remedied if a CSGnet angel or archangel
sends FREE CSG-L to LISTSERV2VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU. This was not the trouble
this time.
2. A link in the chain of mail forwarders that links you to VMD can be out
or slow. I think that this was the problem since the slowdown didn't seem
to affect everyone. Sitting next to VMD here in Illinois I noticed no
slowdown whatsoever (another reason to move to central Illinois, in
addition to the marvelous climate, breathtaking scenery, and enlightened
state government).
Unfortunately, there is probably little we can do about the latter and
waiting will probably clear up the problem. If a link in the chain is
slow, I would guess that all the people who use that machine locally will
be affected and that the local computer gurus know about it.
As Bruce Nevin brought to my attention, the headers (with timestamps) to
your received CSGnet posts may give an indication of where the trouble is
(you may have to "turn headers on" to see them if using a sophisticated
mail program like Eudora). His analysis suggested that a lazy Princeton
machine might have been the major culprit (and Yes Rick, it is possible
that Princeton lies between Illinois and California in cyperspace).
I wil try to make sure that VMD is not causing the problem, but there is
little that I can do about other sites. If you suspect a lazy link from
your heading analysis, you might write to postmaster @ the suspected site.
See more about CSGnet and VMD on the following post.--Gar