Oh, gremlins aren't specific viruses or anything like that, but rather like
the "bugs" bothering computer programmers. A kind of syncretic reference to
everything that can go wrong with distribution over the Net -- found an old
reference by Mike (see below) and then we started using it more generally
after the Big Brownout last year. (see
http://cite.ped.gu.se/gremlins/brownout.html) I don't know how widespread
it is outside of "here".
"gremlin" euphemistically blackboxes people and things together (diverting
blame to a fantastic entity). As far as I understand it the thing is that
the local technical underpinnings of the xmca at the weber server are
getting more and more rickety -- the unix code of the mailserver and
listserver getting more and more of a tangled sedimentation of procedures
that do not always agree. I think the address problems stem from that
source. This also makes it more and more likely that when computer services
staff go in to do something with files or or commands on the server they
make mistakes or do something that has unintended effects, like the cutoff
episode this summer or parts of the Brownout episode. Another name for
"gremlin" might also be "lack of funding".
cordially
Eva
>Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 08:54:40 -0700
>From: Mike Cole <mcole who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
>Subject: Literacy Front
>To: xedu who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
<snip>
>A lot of people, upwards of 100, are on xedu which
>includes literacy in its range of topics. For reasons known only
>to the gremlins which control life in the internet, since we combined
>the different lists and switches over to xedu and a list server
>as mediator, xedu has been very quiet.
> What usually happens is that someone raises an issue or asks a question
>and other recruit themselves to elaborate on the topic. We are getting
>into summer time which is usually a pretty quiet period, but if you
>ask some questions are bring us some news and ask for comments, a
>conversation might grow.
<snip>