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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!hookup!news.kei.com!news.byu.edu!cwis.isu.edu!u.cc.utah.edu!cs.weber.edu!terry From: terry@cs.weber.edu (Terry Lambert) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: *BSD counter: 571 registered users of free BSD versions Date: 3 May 1994 22:21:53 GMT Organization: Weber State University, Ogden, UT Lines: 41 Message-ID: <2q6iq1$c93@u.cc.utah.edu> References: <2pgd66$be0@trane.uninett.no> <2pmhea$2n1@u.cc.utah.edu> <2pn8be$1nl@GRAPEVINE.LCS.MIT.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.weber.edu In article <2pn8be$1nl@GRAPEVINE.LCS.MIT.EDU> wollman@ginger.lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) writes: ]>I have a big problem (can you tell?) with counters that supposedly ]>count the number of users of something, but which in fact the ]>majority of users are completely unable to be counted. ] ]If the administrators of those sites can't be bothered to install, ]six years after the fact, a properly-working mail transfer agent, or ]if their vendors can't be bothered to ship one, then they deserve to ]lose. ] ]If people registering are doing the right thing to begin with and ]sending their messages from their BSD machine, then they won't have ]this problem because all values of *BSD come with a 1990's-style ]mailer. ] ]Sorry, Terry, but your argument is just plain bogus. Well, this implies that either you believe all BSD users send their mail from BSD systems (as opposed to Suns either the default configuration or VAXen with the same, etc.), or that you believe the counter to be accurate. Some things (besides the dependence on MX knowledgable mailers being installed on systems) which might impact the accuracy are the group of people being polled via the net being non-net-connected (I am sure the Linux counter is in the same boat here) and the fact that not responding to the counter is not enforced by men in trenchcoats. Seriously, I do not believe either counter to be accurate. The WC CDROM BSD disk customer list or disk production run number would be a vastly more accurate measure. If all I have done is provide a non-aliased address to the BSD and Linux users alike, then the message has had the intended effect. Lighten up. Terry Lambert terry@cs.weber.edu --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.