netiquette

[Ed Allen]

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie
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References: <8E37DE349lizardmrlizardcom at enews.newsguy.com> 
<MPG.12402aa21e90ccc6989690 at news.bctel.ca> <slrn7td7q4.eq.mawa at audrey.my.box> 
<MPG.1242a601a399269b989696 at news.bctel.ca>
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In article <MPG.1242a601a399269b989696 at news.bctel.ca>,
K. Bjarnason  <kelseyb at bc.sympatico.no.spam.ca> wrote:
>In article <slrn7td7q4.eq.mawa at audrey.my.box>, mawa at iname.com says...
>> It was the Wed, 8 Sep 1999 09:11:54 -0700...
>> ..and K. Bjarnason <kelseyb at bc.sympatico.no.spam.ca> wrote:
>> > > Leeching fractals is worse, because you could simply fetch the data
>> > > and generate the graphics yourself.
>> > > 
>> > > In fact, leeching fractals could be one of the dumbest-yet ways of
>> > > replacing computational power by bandwidth.
>> > 
>> > 
>> > I'll remember that.  I've run several fractals which, even at 1024x768 
	
	You should.  It is good advice.

>> > have taken several days to generate.  Compared to (for my setup, at any 
>> > rate) about a second and a half to download the .gif, this makes my mind 
>> > boggle.
>> > 
>> > Assuming 3 days and 3 seconds, your method is 86,400 times less 
>> > efficient.  Let me guess; you're an advocate of single-user, single-
>> > tasking OSen, too. :)
>> 
>> This is not about efficiency, but about being considerate towards
>> other people. *You*'re the one with the single-user mentality here.
>> Computational power is yours alone, if your computer computes, no load
>> is put on other people's machines. However, the bandwidth you waste
>> downloading a 1024x768 image from the Net is shared with other people.
>
>And I should care why?

	Because your inconciderate attitude leads to the "tragedy of the
	commons".

	That phrase refers to small farming communities where fields of
	crops are large enough that they need to be a small distance
	from their owners' house but each farmer also kept some cows or
	sheep which needed to be watched so they did not break into and
	consume the field crops of somebody.

	Watching cattle was a job easily done by children too small for
	field work.  So an area, the commons, was set aside, close to
	the houses, where cattle could graze.

	The tragedy came when the village became larger and some users
	of the commons would graze larger herds of cattle.  Their attitude
	was "This grass is free, I will feed my cattle on it until it
	is exhausted before moving them to my own fields."

	"As to other users of the commons, why should I care ?"

>
>Put it this way: I download a handful of fractals a week; total traffic 
>on the order of 5-10Mb per week.  Dr. Porn on the other hand, typically 
>downloads 1-2Mb a minute, when he's on.

	A believer in "Two wrongs make a right", I see.

	Or perhaps, "The grass is almost exhausted, I better send more
	cows tomorrow or I won't get *my share*."

	Good plan.

>
>Assuming 500Kb/minute for him, and 10Mb/week for me, and assuming he 
>spends 2 hours a day doing it, his total usage is 420Mb - compared to my 
>10.  You're complaining that I'm having 42 times less impact on things 
>than Dr. Porn?  And your answer to this is to use an approach which is 
>86,000 times less efficient, in my terms?
	
	And of course, since we all live only to gratify your every whim,
	the *best* solution is the one which makes *your* life easier.

>
>Usability isn't a big issue for you, is it? :)
>
	Not so much 'Usability' as not spoiling something needlessly.

	Nobody cares how you use your own resources.  Send images back
	and forth across your LAN all you want.  Help the SETI at home
	folks with every cycle you want.

	But when you reach out to the rest of us please *think* about
	whether what use you make of shared resources benefits all of
	us or only conveniences yourself.

	I apologise to the rest of you for using bandwidth in a probably
	useless diatribe but how will "the children" ever learn if we
	don't occasionally explain why these rules make sense.