Subj : NHL Echo To : Michael Grant From : Ross Cassell Date : Fri Oct 24 2008 09:18 am Hello Michael! 23 Oct 08 13:52, you wrote to me: MG> about. Will I need to re-request that it be carried every October? MG> In the CANPOL echo. which was apparantly dropped, the inactivity gap MG> was 10 months. What exactly is your cutoff? Is it 1 year, or is it MG> shorter than that? It was a generalization in reference to the bulk of the echoes in BACKBONE.DST. Many of which actually went beyond 1, 2 or more years of any or meaningful activity. Some actually dealt with now defunct TV shows or other genre. (By meaningful traffic, I mean traffic that relates to the echo, like topical posts, moderator postings of rules or echo updates.. Knock Knock messages I ignore unless someone responded, mostly unmeaningful traffic I have seen consisted what would be analagous to spam) I try to do a full backbone review every 6 months, but it is not a hard and fast set in stone timeline. Here is the process.. I look at the echoes in BACKBONE.NA and check for traffic, if none or mostly them spam squatting messages, I will them remove the echo from BACKBONE.NA and then flag it to be placed in BACKBONE.NO, the echo is still is still distributable at this point. Then I look at the existing BACKBONE.NO (as it was before review of BACKBONE.NA), I check those echoes for traffic. If a echo regained traffic, it will get flagged to be moved back to BACKBONE.NA, else it will then be flagged to be moved to BACKBONE.DST. I then make the physical moves between the 3 text files and publish them. Echoes listed in BACKBONE.NO are still distributable, they are just listed separately, those systems wishing to have mostly or fully active echoes can more accurately rely on BACKBONE.NA. Echoes listed in BACKBONE.DST are removed from distribution, but you will note that this deviates from the past by keeping them rostered. This system deviates from the past practices by not using the echolist as a means to justify the removal of an echo because a listing lapsed or insist on minimum message counts. Getting an echo out of BACKBONE.DST is as simple as making a request to do so, as was done with CANPOL and now NHL. What I would suggest for you is to in the NHL off season, post stats and news of teams personnel moves, trades and drafts, which teams are on the up and up etc, in addition to maybe an automated monthly post to outline the echoes purpose and decorum. As for CANPOL... I realize Canadian politics isnt as mucky as it is down here, but you probably have politicians doing smart or stupid stuff year round, regardless if there is a National or Provincial election taking place? Report on that.. == Ross Fidonet Feeds Or Fidonet In Your Newsreader: http://www.easternstar.info E-mail: ross(at)cassell(dot)us | Blogs/Other Places: http://links.cassell.us .... President Obama will teach all of us on how to be on welfare. --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20060121 * Origin: The Eastern Star - Spartanburg, SC USA (1:123/456) .