We Found the Limits of the Unix Alias

The e-mail discussions backfired almost immediately due to the overwhelming number of registrants. An alias had been created for the registrants and as David Lassner, Information Technology Services at the University of Hawaii Manoa remarked . . . I think we found our limits to alias.

In *Hackerese,* we pushed the system as far as it would go and then we *broke* it at about 850 email addresses going out through a Unix mailer system from one Alias address.

A scramble and redesigning of the emailing facility occurred the weekend prior to the conference due to the mailing system at UHM breaking. While we are not sure what caused the *break* we wonder if the extraordinary increase in load coming from an 800 body signup for the conference might have had something to do with this. The messages out from Shimabukuro spooled and cued and began going out sometimes hours after he'd sent them. Duplicates and triplicates were sent, mailboxes filled up, and participants began to try to unsubscribe, but that doesn't work with an alias. Tempers were tested.

In other words, a scramble to a more moderated posting and a drifting to a voluntary listserve that only took effect into the 2nd day of the conference took away some key discussion time from the three day time spread.

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Please send comments or additions/corrections to: kirkpatr@hawaii.edu