ADMIN: sequencing problems

[Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu>]

Many have wondered why the mail comes out of order sometimes.  The
following comments are my surmise of the situation; I haven't done an
experimental confirmation of the situation.

The sequencing problem comes from the way that toad.com handles mail.
If it can't be delivered immediately upon arrival, it goes in the
queue.  If it can be sent out immediately, then it is sent out.  Now
toad.com routes to many sites through a relay at uunet; this relay
bogs down.  If toad.com can't connect to the relay, it queues the
mail.  The queue is processed only at intervals.  The next mail might
go out immediately, before the queue has been processed again.

I see the same thing at soda.  I'm not going to try to fix it.

Eric