Etiquette
Not every site that supports FTP permits anonymous tranfers. It is wrong to try to get files from systems that have not advertised the availability of such a service.
Remember that Internet site administrators for archive sites have made their systems available out of a sense of community. Rarely are they fully compensated for the time and effort it takes to administer such a site. There are some things users can do to make their jobs somewhat easier, such as checking with local support personnel first if problems occur before asking the archive administrator for help.
Most archive machines perform other functions as well. Please respect the needs of their primary users and restrict your FTP access to non-prime hours (generally between 1900 and 0600 hours local time for that site) whenever possible. It is especially important to remember this for sites located on another continent or across a significant body of water because most such links are relatively slow and heavily loaded.
In addition, some sites offering anonymous FTP limit the number of concurrent anonymous FTP logins. If your attempt to log onto such a site results in an error message to the effect that too many anonymous FTP users are online, you should wait a while before attempting another connection rather than retrying immediately.
To reduce redundant storage, you should find out how to make useful the files you fetch using FTP available to your entire organization. If you retrieve and test a program that turns out to be useful, you should probably ask your administrator to consider making the program generally available, which will reduce the redundant effort and disk space resulting from multiple individuals installing the same package in their personal directories.
If you find an interesting file or program on an archive site, tell others about it. You should not copy the file or program to your own archive unless you are willing to keep your copy current.
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