problems with the list

[Edi Weitz <weitz@math.uni-hannover.de>]

Hi Group!

I have a little problem with our list. Or, maybe it's just something that's inherent in the Internet: [Although there's a "math" in my e-mail address I'm not a computer wizard. I'm just a logician who doesn't know much more about his PC than about his TV set or his washing-machine...] 

It often happens that I get messages from the list which themselves are replies to older messages _before_ I get the original message they're refering to. The difference in time usually lies between 10 minutes and 1 hour. Today it got even worse - at about 10 a.m. I got Eric's message where he's citing the following...

>From economical standpoint, it cost at least $0.20-0.40 per exposure for
>film and developing/proof printing alone. That's about $20,000-40,000 for
>the 100,000 exposures. An average Leica is about $2000, still a relatively
>small portion of expenses for a pro. And even if some parts do fail after
>extensive use, replacing them would cost only a fraction of a camera. The
>lenses will last much longer of course.

...and now it's 1.30 p.m. and the orginal message still hasn't appeared in my mail-box! I'm beginning to wonder if I only see a small part of what's really happening in our group.

I always thought these automatic mailing list servers work in the following way: If one of us posts a message to the group this message is sent to one central computer, let's call him HAL, and HAL sends copies of it to all participants of the group. But maybe this is not exactly what happens. Another hypothesis of mine would be: HAL sends copies of the message to certain special points in Cyberspace where they are forwarded to us by his servants Little-HAL1, Little-HAL2, ..., Little-HALn. And maybe Little-HAL37, who is responsible for me, is kind of a lazybone.

Could somebody enlighten me please? [If this message finds its way to you.]

Thanks, Edi.