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Skriven 2012-08-05 17:47:44 av Nick Kill (1:261/1406)
Ärende: Fidonews Vol 29 No 32 August 06, 2012 Page: 3
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A R T I C L E S
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Reorganization of Fidonet Echos in Region 24 (Germany) in 2012
[July, 2012] In view of the lack of a current echo list and an increasing
number of 'dead' (no-traffic) echos, we decided to use the recent change of
RC24 as a starting position to initiate a reorganization of all *.GER echos in
region 24. In the following discussion, the word 'echo' is meant to refer to a
*.GER conference, i.e. only German echomail areas were considered.
In an initial step, a discussion was launched in NODES.024 to determine the
majority opinion on the subject, and to find a solution that would satisfy most
points and nodes.
In June, an analysis of the present status of the echos was carried out. The
FeKill lists of REC24 were quite helpful in this work, since they show when an
echo last received mail. We discovered that about 80% of all available echos
had no traffic at all, and were quite simply 'dead'. Many of the remaining 20%
echos had very little traffic.
[Fig1]
During the initial discussion, we defined some constraints for the
reorganization:
1. No new echos.
2. Echos with traffic in 2012 should be retained.
3. The subjects of 'dead' echos should be migrated into existing
echos with traffic.
About 200 echos were identified as being 'dead' or only used by automatic
posting robots. Only 37 viable echos remained. Some of them had low traffic
volumes, but all 37 echos were to be used to
'collect' the topics of the 'dead' echos.
Replacement Recommendations
===========================
Since 80% of all echos were scheduled to be deleted, some nodes suggested that
users be provided with information on where to post messages relating to a
topic formerly covered by one of the 'dead' echos. This would naturally
represent a rare case, since most 'dead' echos had been without traffic for
several years.
Thus, we created a list of recommended replacement echos for each of the 'dead'
ones to be deleted. For example the recommended replacement for the 'dead'
echo AUTO.GER (topic: cars) is SPORT.GER (old topic: sports), although the
topic of cars does not include racing alone. If a user believes a different
echo would be a better match for a message, he/she may certainly post the
message to that echo.
NODES.024, the Echo for All and Everything
==========================================
The echo reorganization also had to deal with administrative echos, some of
which offered write access to points. Therefore, we selected NODES.024 to
replace all other administrative echos, and have offered write access to
points. That echo serves as a communication channel for all administrative
tasks and as a meta guide for users ("Where should I post about such and such a
topic?").
Schedule
========
The reorganization process was initiated on July 1st, and will proceed until
August 31st. During this period, the old echos scheduled for deletion will
remain active, but will be removed from the backbone on September 1st. This
schedule provides adequate time for any necessary changeover work even when a
sysop has little time or may be on vacation.
The Eumel/2 Tool
================
At least two nodes in region 24 run the Eumel/2 tool [1] developed by Dieter
Schauf (2:2452/250) and distributed in the GFD.FTN.MISC fileecho, which
monitors the 'dead' echos, and in case someone posts in such an echo, sends a
netmail to the author to inform him/her of the reorganization. The netmail also
recommends a replacement echo. However, we expect little traffic in such echos
because the 'dead' echos really _are_ dead :-)
Eumel/2 does even more. If an echomail for a 'dead' echo is received from a
direct downlink, it also connects the downlink with the recommended replacement
echo, and forwards the original echomail to that replacement echo.
Best Approach
=============
Nodes should connect to all remaining 37 echos immediately, without waiting for
a downlink to request one of those. The 37 active echos remaining are few in
number, and it will be relatively simple to add them, if necessary, at one go.
Those who act quickly to do this can also offer the advantage of providing a
rescan when and if a downlink links to the replacement echo.
Points should disconnect from all 'dead' echos and connect to the replacement
echos.
Users may obtain the list of remaining active echos (echolist.ger) and the list
of 'dead' echos to be deleted (echo_old.ger) in the archive R24AREAS.ZIP [2] in
the RECLISTE fileecho. The ZIP archive also includes a list of the replacement
echo recommendations (freqstop.na). Another list (echoarea.ger) provides the
user with a description of each viable echo, including a note of which old echo
it replaces.
Any node supporting CDP should update echo0002.lst in the echo0002.zip file
with echolist.ger and offer the new ZIP file for downloading [3]. Please do not
forget to rename echolist.ger to echo0002.lst when installing the new file :-)
That should gradually update all CDP points to support the new echo list.
Communication
=============
In addition to use of the Eumel/2 tool, messages informing users of the
reorganization have been posted to all echos that are to be deleted. These
messages naturally also stated the recommended replacement echo.
Traffic Statistics (July 1-24)
Sorted by traffic:
Area | Number of Mails | Number of Posters
--------------------------+-----------------+-----------------
FIDOCON.BLEICHENBACH.1996 | 1262 | 13
NODES.024 | 269 | 18
WISSEN.GER | 199 | 23
..........................+.................+.................
URTEILE.GER | 70 | 3
OS2.GER | 52 | 6
ANNOUNCE.024 | 51 | 6
EBBAUSER.GER | 32 | 10
PINBALL.GER | 28 | 9
FIDOSOFT.GER | 22 | 11
KOCHEN.GER | 17 | 2
BBACH.CON.INFO | 14 | 8
JOKES.GER | 14 | 2
LINUX.GER | 13 | 6
COMP_OLD.GER | 12 | 5
..........................+.................+.................
MOVIE.GER | 9 | 4
PGMRS.GER | 8 | 4
INTERNET.GER | 6 | 5
RECHT.GER | 6 | 4
VERKEHR.OEPNV.GER | 5 | 4
FLEA.GER | 5 | 3
KONTAKT.GER | 4 | 4
MUSIK.GER | 4 | 3
..........................+.................+.................
FUTURE4FIDO.GER | 3 | 3
KULTUR.GER | 3 | 1
24000.GER | 2 | 2
DFUE.GER | 2 | 2
HARDWARE.GER | 2 | 2
SPIELE.GER | 2 | 2
TEENS.GER | 2 | 2
..........................+.................+.................
CCC.GER | 1 | 1
EURO.GER | 1 | 1
SEX.GER | 1 | 1
SPORT.GER | 1 | 1
SPRACHE.GER | 1 | 1
TIERE.ALLGEMEIN.GER | 1 | 1
UNIX.GER | 1 | 1
WIN32.GER | 1 | 1
..........................+.................+.................
Totals | 2126 | 54
Outlook
=======
Current statistics indicate that only three echos carry high traffic volumes.
Another 11 echos are medium-traffic areas. Otherwise, there are eight echos
with sporadic traffic and seven with low traffic. The remaining eight echos
only carry rules postings by robots.
Comparing the current traffic with that of the previous months, we note a
slight increase of echomail traffic. The ratio of inactive to active echos
changed from 80:20 to 22:78. Searching for active echos, one finds, on
average, every fifth echo to be inactive. As is apparent, inactive echos made
up the majority before the reorganization, whereas the ratio has since
reversed. We are thus confident that we have met the goal of bundling traffic
in active echos.
Hopefully, we will see further improvement resulting from the echo
reorganization within a few months. And we sincerely hope that this work will
attract more users, and keep current users active.
[Fig2]
References
[1] ftp://ambrosia60.dnsalias.net/GFD/FTN/MISC/EUMEL2G.ZIP [2]
ftp://ambrosia60.dnsalias.net/DIV3/RECLISTE/R24AREAS.ZIP [3]
ftp://ambrosia60.dnsalias.net/DIV3/RECLISTE/ECHO0002.ZIP
[Fig1] http://ambrosia60.dnsalias.net/
images/fidonet-r24-echo-maint-2012.jpg
[Fig2] http://ambrosia60.dnsalias.net/
images/fidonet-r24-echo-maint-2012-traffic07.jpg
Robert Bashe, 2:2448/44
Markus Reschke, 2:244/1661
Ulrich Schroeter, 2:244/1120
Andreas Weiss, 2:2437/224
FIDONEWS Vol 29 No 32 Page 3 August 06, 2012
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* Origin: Amachat - Utica NY (1:261/1406)
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