News transport software is in a much better position to handle this than the
FAQ poster; with many different types of links, it's impossible for the FAQ
poster to split their postings to a size which is optimal for every link type.
It's up to the transport protocol to make a reliable link out of an unreliable
one. Splitting an FAQ doesn't reduce the amount of traffic that needs to
flow over that 300 baud modem link, and it's easier for a computer to segment
and reassemble packets than for a human to do it.
> [ Sorry if this seems somewhat harsh, but a lot of people seem to be saying
> (basically) "I've got a T1 connection and 21" monitor, so up yours with
> a wire brush Mr VT100 UUCP". I can remember what it's like to have a
> 24 line terminal and a 9600 baud UUCP connection, and the inconsiderate
> attitude of some people on this mailing list really grates. Frankly,
> I expect better from FAQ maintainers. Spitting on an 8K limit is
> fair enough, but a lot of systems out there are unhappy with
> individual articles bigger than 64K. ]
How easy it is to manipulate multi-part FAQs will depend on your newsreader,
but it's certainly easier to do a text search on a single article than it is
on a multi-part one. Especially on a slow 24 line terminal. FAQ's should be
split only for user convenience; news needs to lose arbitrary limits if it's
going to serve us well into the next century.
regards,
Graham
-- Graham Stoney, Hardware/Software Engineer Canon Information Systems Research Australia Ph: + 61 2 805 2909 Fax: + 61 2 805 2929
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