[14797] in Athena Bugs
Re: sgi 8.0I: bogus README file when logged in with temporary directory
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Hawkinson)
Sun Nov 3 04:50:21 1996
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 1996 04:50:17 -0500
To: hoffmann@MIT.EDU
Cc: bugs@MIT.EDU, postmaster@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: "[14796] in Athena Bugs"
From: John Hawkinson <jhawk@MIT.EDU>
> What's wrong:
> The file called README in that directory includes instructions
> for users to save files by mailing same to themselves.
>
> What should have happened:
> This recommendation should be removed and users should be
> instructed that their work will not be saved for that session.
I'm very confused here.
Are you saying:
1. Something has changed and a user's mailspool on a PO server
is no longer preserved in the event of an outage of their home
directory? I don't see how this could be...
2. The load added to the mailhubs by users mailing themselves
large files reflecting their work is so great as to cause a serious
operational problem such that users should be instructed not to do so?
3. The instructions, while strictly correct, create confusion
and serve to confuse and perplex more users than they actually
help?
I certainly don't think (1) and (2) are true (??), and while (3) might be,
I think the solution would be to reword the text, not eliminate it.
Re-reading the message myself, there are 2 things I would note as
lacking:
1. The message states "Your files are still ok -- you are just
not able to access them at this time, that's all." This may be
a rather creative usage of the word "ok". I think a number of
users would certainly think that having their lockers reset to
Ancient History of Tuesday is not "ok".
2. The message fails to admonish you that many files are not
text files, nor does it provide instructions on mailing yourself
non-text files.
Could you clarify what you meant here, because I don't think I'm seeing
the big picture and would like to.
--jhawk
