crum@lipari.usc.edu (Gary L. Crum) (12/17/89)
I attempted to post an article to comp.sys.sun around 15-Nov, and about one month later (11-Dec) the article appeared in USC's comp.sys.sun news spool. Worse than the delay is the fact that the "Date:" line on the message lists 5-Dec, not the day I composed the message. In this case, it's no big deal, but this is yet another reason that topics like Suns should not be left to moderated newsgroups only. The message I'm talking about had the subject "YP passwd map capacity", and it was in fact posted to this group (alt.sys.sun) on 5-Dec in a modified form (not the same as the message that appeared in comp.sys.sun on 11-Dec). I posted it to alt.sys.sun after "timing out". Maybe the reason it as approved by the moderator was the fact that I posted it here, but unless my attempt to post to comp.sys.sun didn't get the message to the moderator, it seems that comp.sys.sun moderation is susceptible to corruption like that of communist governments. (Okay, more like the ordinary mis-quoting and bias of all news media except unmoderated newsgroups.) Just for your information, Gary
allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery) (12/18/89)
As quoted from <CRUM.89Dec16164428@lipari.usc.edu> by crum@lipari.usc.edu (Gary L. Crum): +--------------- | I attempted to post an article to comp.sys.sun around 15-Nov, and about | one month later (11-Dec) the article appeared in USC's comp.sys.sun news | spool. Worse than the delay is the fact that the "Date:" line on the | message lists 5-Dec, not the day I composed the message. In this case, | it's no big deal, but this is yet another reason that topics like Suns | should not be left to moderated newsgroups only. +--------------- I hate to tell you, but this is SOP for moderated groups. In particular, updating the Date: header is *required*. I used to leave the Date: alone in comp.sources.misc; even with the minimal delay I hold to, articles had a tendency to be junked because they were too old according to receiving machines' expiration periods. For a longer-latency moderated group like comp.sys.sun, *every* article would be rejected as too old if the date weren't changed. And moderation delays are a fact of life, especially in sources newsgroups. The moderator in most newsgroups (comp.sources.misc is a special case, I'm just a noise filter ;-) is expected to test the software and make sure that it works properly, and try to trap any trojan horses or etc. hiding in the source. Not to mention little things like detecting problems caused by antisocial news or mail systems that decide to munch on the submission.... You'd probably hate comp.sources.misc even more, because articles go out with *my* name on them. There's a good reason for that, too: if something has to be canceled for some reason (it has happened a few times, once because someone accidentally let AT&T trade-secret source creep into his submission) I need to be the article's "owner" or I can't cancel it. And while I was able to fudge around that when c.s.m was run from ncoast, Rick Adams would take a rather dim view of my forging cancel messages on uunet. So I *have* to be the poster-of- record. (The actual submitter is always listed in the "Submitted-by:" auxiliary header.) You'd be amazed how much of a moderator's job is constrained by the capabilities, or lack thereof, of the Usenet news system. You're overreacting. There are good reasons for both of the things you complained about; don't assume the moderator is censoring postings for "ideological correctness". ++Brandon -- Brandon S. Allbery allbery@NCoast.ORG, BALLBERY (MCI Mail), ALLBERY (Delphi) uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery ncoast!allbery@hal.cwru.edu bsa@telotech.uucp *(comp.sources.misc mail to comp-sources-misc[-request]@backbone.site, please)* *Third party vote-collection service: send mail to allbery@uunet.uu.net (ONLY)* expnet.all: Experiments in *net management and organization. Mail me for info.