Subj : World nodelist
To   : Andrew Leary
From : Michiel van der Vlist
Date : Sat Jun 18 2022 13:24:38

Hello Andrew,

On Saturday June 18 2022 00:30, you wrote to me:

 MV>> Unfortunately there is still some delay between the zones...

 AL> I would say that a single day between a change being made in Z1 and
 AL> that change being reflected in Z2 is about the best that you can
 AL> expect.

Some notes:

1) If it is indeed just one day, it is not bad. I can live with it.

2) For the submitters participating in the daily nodelist project, there is a chance of one in seven that a change in Z2 will not appear in the weekly statistics that are based on the Z2 weekly nodelist

3) For those not participating in the daily nodelist project, the delay could add up to a week.

 AL>   By virtue of geography, Z1 nodelists for a given julian day
 AL> are produced a few hours after the Z2 nodelist for that day.

4) It need not be. There is no formal rule that ZCs MUST issue "their" nodelist at or shortly after 00:00 local time.

5) If the ZCs would coordinate and synchronise their efforts there need not be delays. For examples ZCs couls agree to issue nodelists at 00:15 UTC. The ZCs could agree to exchangee zone segments with each other between 23:45 and 00:00 UTC. Segments submitted by RCs bedore 23:30 UTC would be guaranteed to make it into the next nodelist.
With Fido over IP there is no need for the old system of exchanging zone segments on Wednesday to make it into Friday's nodelist. With nodelist segments being transfered in seconds at virtually no cost, there is no need for such delays.

6) But why do we still have different nodelists for each zone in the first place?

In the POTS age, there were reasons for it. Those reasons no longer apply. There is no reason why in Z2 the Z2 part must be the first zone in the list. This is a remnant of first ZC2 Henk Wervers' Dutchie that did a lineair nodelist search when hunting for a node. Most mail was exchanged between the own zone, so in the time of slow computers it made sense. Computers are no longer slow, lineair nodelist searches are no longer standard procedure and the nodelist is not as big as it once was. No reason any more to not have the zones in nummerical order in the nodelist.

Fidonet was without an International Coordinator for a decade or so. Not much of poblem... But a couple of years ago the ZCs in their wisdom decided they needed an IC and so one was selected and appointed.

IMNSHO we don't really need an IC. But now that we have on, why not allow him to do what P4 says is his primary job: issue the world nodelist! Or the "master nodelist" as it is called in P4.

There is no need for zone specific nodelists any more. The ZCs in their wisdom elected and appointed an IC. Now let them take the next step and let the IC to do his job!


Cheers, Michiel

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