> > thats how www.sendmail.org is currently done..
> > thats how my GNU mirror site is done..
>  .. and who deals with the help requests?

Me.. and others involved with their respective sites.. I cant recall the
last time I had someone contact me about the things I mirror.. Perhaps
this is because they are run by large-clue people so the service runs
smoothly.. The kind of people who dont need to spend $100k to get a box
that stays up..

> Scott, .org.au and aunic are a little more than "come here to read webpages
> and download some source code" pages.

The aunic database is incredibly simple as far as databases go.. I have
never had a problem keeping backend databases running properly.. and
apart from the database it is simply a "read pages" site..

> I'm one of the squid guys and I also run the .nl mirror. *I* personally
> get asked by users for squid help (including one rather irate IT manager

As was my point above.. For each bad example you give, I can find a good
example.. I believe that I could do the job without leaving people
complaining, and without requiring me to be constantly answering peoples
questions about it.. And I have the knowledge and experience to think that
my thoughts on the matter are just as valid as anyone else thinking that
they can do it, including the people who tendered for it..

> AUNIC has a lot more riding on it. If it went down or was unreachable,
> I'm sure a few people would complain.

Who complained while Geoff had it sitting under his desk (before it
started recently to have problems?) I used it for many years and it ran
great.. It was fast, required no staff to answer questions (which Auda
would be doing anyway now, since they supposedly have control over the
content and are therefore the only ones authorised to answer them), and I
never had any idea where it was.. If, at the first sign of age, Geoff had
stuck it in a modern-day box, I doubt that anyone would have noticed or
be saying that it needs dual-redundnant mega-blah for it to run
correctly..

Scott..