The Sticky Bit

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meter@bmerhbfc

Colin Kemp 7K76 BNR

Author

Colin Kemp 7K76 BNR

Summary

For your information:


---forwarded-message---->


 Aug 10 16:25:00 1995

 To:          '[email protected]'                                 (INTERNET)

 From:        Colin (C.W.)  Kemp                 (BNR)      Dept 7X85   SKY

 Subject:     Good Joke for you...

Mike,

I read this and howled. I thought that you of all people would
appreciate this...

Colin
--
[email protected]


Newsgroups: rec.humor.funny
From: [email protected] (Pete Hickey)
Subject: Why do USENET articles disappear?
Keywords: original, smirk, computers
Organization: Communication Services, University of Ottawa
Approved: [email protected]
Path: bmerhc5e.bnr.ca!bcarh8ac.bnr.ca!corpgate!news.utdallas.edu!news.starnet.net!wupost!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!hookup!nic.wat.hookup.net!metrics.com!news.maplesoft.on.ca!dogmead!looking!funny-request
Message-ID: 
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 4:30:06 EDT
Lines: 29


In article <[email protected]>,
foo  wrote:
>
>I have noticed that some postings are disappearing faster than others. Why
>is that and who decides? 
>

Its the size of the  article.  You see, the articles are stored on
disk.  An article is encoded in things known as 'bits' which are
written on the disk.  A disk is a rotating platter.  As anyone knows
centrifugal force will force anything off of a rotating surface.

As time goes on, the article moves closer and closer to the edge
of the disk, and finally, it flies right off.  Of course, the larger
articles (more bits == more weight) tend to fly off faster.

Unix systems have something known as a "sticky bit" which can
help articles remain longer if it is set.  Remember, USENET was
originally set up by Unix people, and they knew what they were doing.

On the other hand, some systems have their own rules, and you might
get a better (or at least more correct) answer by asking the
people who administer your machine.

--
Selected by Jim Griffith.  MAIL your joke (jokes ONLY) to [email protected].
If you see a problem with an RHF posting, reply to the poster please,
not to us.  Ask the poster to forward comments back to us if this is necessary.