8/2     jw stop butchering the motd
        \_ I'm serious.  Stop it.  The motd is not that anonymous.  Let it be.
           \_ how long of a motd (# of lines, # of topics) are you comfortable
              with, before it becomes noise?
                --jw, who does not want the motd to be soda's slashdot
                \_ I think a more resonable strategy for motd curbing ought
                   involve how active a thread is.  If people are still
                   posting to a given thread, then clobbering cuz it's
                   'too long' is lame.  If you don't have a good or reliable
                   metric to determine which threads are active, then perhaps
                   you might conisder the possibility that it's not
                   appropriate for you to be assigning truncation
                   responsibilities to yourself.  Perhaps an easier solution
                   is to let a given thread last at least a day or two before
                   nazi'ing it.
                   \_ we can arrange for the motd to be nazified completely
                      forever.
                      \_ So?  Shit or get off the pot.  No one NEEDS
                         motd.public.  Why waste time with this sort of
                         statement?
                   \_ having followed the motd for over 5 years, i do believe
                      i have a solid truncation metric. it considers the
                      factors you mentioned, in addition to whether the
                      latest additions/comments are still relevant, or if
                      the topic has been hijacked and rendered useless.
                      i don't know if the OP actually paid attention to
                      what i have excised, or if he is simply over-reacting
                      to a perceived censorship. --jw
                      \_ Granted on most of your points.  But some of the
                         points about hijacking and off-topic seem a little
                         bit subjective to me.  If people are interested in
                         a thread (even if it has wandered far afield) it
                         seems a touch too close to censorship to nuke because
                         some third party has abritrarily deemed it
                         inappropriate.
              \_ Becomes?