domo@tsa.co.uk (Dominic Dunlop) (07/19/90)
Some questions for you to ponder. I recently followed up a posting I
saw in comp.lang.perl. As the poster had raised a question related to
standards, I put comp.std.unix as the first group in the Newsgroups
header, and as the Followup-To group. I also named comp.lang.perl and
comp.sys.apollo on the Newsgroups line.
Seeing that comp.std.unix is moderated, relaynews (patchdate
16-Apr-1990) correctly mailed the posting to the moderator. It did not
cross-post to the unmoderated groups. The moderator duly made the
posting to comp.std.unix but did not cross-post: the additional
newsgroups and Followup-To did not appear in the header of the
published article. I had to simulate cross-posting on seeing my piece
published in the moderated group by reposting to the unmoderated
groups. As a result, some readers will be annoyed by seeing the
posting twice, references won't tie up on any further comments, and my
note in the posting about observing the Followup-To line in the header
will make no sense to readers of the moderated group.
So:
1. Should the ``news agent'' (relaynews, in my case) on the originating
system perform cross-postings immediately on receipt of an article
directed to several groups, one of which is moderated (in which case
followups may appear before it has even been published by the
moderator)?
2. Should the moderator (or, rather, the moderator's news agent) perform
any cross-posting specified in postings received (assuming that the
originator's news agent has passed on sufficient header lines -- I'm
afraid I have not checked to see whether it does)?
3. Should posters refrain from mixing moderated and unmoderated groups
when making postings?
If there's a FM which I should have R'd to clear up this point, I'm not
aware of it. Pointers welcome.
(Just in case it's the least relevant, my system is an Apple Mac running
A/UX 1.1, my mail agent is sendmail 5.59, and mail transport is provided by
uux.)
--
Dominic Dunlopeps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) (07/20/90)
In article <1990Jul19.100442.27174@tsa.co.uk> domo@tsa.co.uk (Dominic Dunlop) writes: >1. Should the ``news agent'' (relaynews, in my case) on the originating > system perform cross-postings immediately on receipt of an article > directed to several groups, one of which is moderated (in which case > followups may appear before it has even been published by the > moderator)? No. If any of the groups are moderated, there is no immediate posting. >2. Should the moderator (or, rather, the moderator's news agent) perform > any cross-posting specified in postings received (assuming that the > originator's news agent has passed on sufficient header lines -- I'm > afraid I have not checked to see whether it does)? Yes, but. There is a problem if the article is crossposted to a moderated newsgroup and a regional hierarchy (or distribution) inaccessible to the moderator. >3. Should posters refrain from mixing moderated and unmoderated groups > when making postings? No, but you're asking for trouble if your crossposting includes more than one moderated newsgroup. >If there's a FM which I should have R'd to clear up this point, I'm not >aware of it. Pointers welcome. See attached. -=EPS=- ------- From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (Updated: 15 Apr 1990) Message-ID: <10382@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Date: 17 Apr 90 14:34:42 GMT ... 27. Isn't the posting mechanism broken? When I post an article to both a moderated group and unmoderated groups, it gets mailed to the moderator and not posted to the unmoderated groups. This is a question that is debated every few months. The answer is "No, it was designed to work that way." The software is designed so that the moderator can crosspost the article so it appears in the regular groups as well as the moderated group, if appropriate. If the article were to be posted immediately to the unmoderated groups, the moderated group name would have to be deleted from the header and you would lose the crossposting. Whether or not this is correct behavior is a matter of opinion. If you want your article to go out immediately to the unmoderated groups, post it twice -- once to the unmoderated groups and once to the moderated groups.