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Ärende: FidoNews 29:33 [02/05]: General Articles
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GENERAL ARTICLES
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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
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