[MUD-Dev] Wild west (was Guilds & Politics)

[JC Lawrence]

On Wed, 31 Dec 1997 10:10:05 PST8PDT Ola wrote:
> JC Lawrence <claw at under.Eng.Sun.COM> wrote:
>> On Sat, 27 Dec 1997 15:50:15 PST8PDT stad <Ola> wrote:
>>> JC Lawrence <claw at under.Eng.Sun.COM> wrote:

>>>> Which is one point I intend to make expressly plain: it will be
>>>> technically impossible to remove data from the logs without
...
>>> Let me be difficult.  I have this X-windows system, with this
>>> global clipbuffer, pasting is attached to that button in the
>>> middle...
>>
>>> Which makes this a funny signature: # rm -rf $HOME
> [...]
>> That, along with the fact that the native platform for the server
>> is OS/2 means that `rm` and cronies aren't going to help you much.

> ???

'Fraid so.

> No, that is not what I meant.  What I mean is that humans make
> slips.  Some systems make those slips more likely.  That makes "rm
> -rf" such a funny and impolite and hated email signature.

To the same extent I can't protect the MUD from nuclear missile
strikes, acts of god(s), meteors falling on the server from the
heavens, or other forms of less interesting hardware failure, I can't
stop the admin from doing silly things at the command line of his
machine.  Sure, I can install tight file permissions (ACLs actually),
but when you get down to it, if the admin gets silly enough to
physically delete the entire game DB (ie the entire game world (which
is what would be necessary to lose data)), then I'm not going to raise
a fuss about his ability to do that.

> A good design will strive towards providing recovery features.
> Humans make slips.  A good (HCI) designer will acknowledge that in
> the design process.  So I guess, what I am saying is that you have
> made a lousy design choice for the average user, although it
> probably is a reasonable design for an experimental avantgarde
> MUD. :^)

The general design attempt is to ensure that data will never be lost
without gross stupidity on the Admin's part (eg no backups, physically
deleting the data files, etc).  Outside of the week depth of the
rollback feature, the attempt is to guarantee that the server itself
never loses data.

Now, if you should happen to want certain data lost, that is a
different matter that I don't address.

>>>> People time travelling cannot affect the past.  They are the
>>>> proverbial flies on the wall -- they can only receive IO.
>>
>>> I guess you mean O.
>>
>>  No, both.  They can see everything the watched object originated,
>> and everything it received.

> Hmm... Maybe you could explain a bit.  Are you watching from a
> spatial position or are you watching the interface of an object?

Either.  If you are watching from the interface of an object that
processed such IO, then you will see that IO.  If you are watching
from the interface of an object that didn't, then you shan't.  Rocks
can't hear, and can't originate IO in the general case, so you won't
see anything they hear, or read anything they said.  Other bodies can,
and in those cases you will..

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
                                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
----------(*)                        Internet: jc.lawrence at sun.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...