Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 alpha 4/15/85; site elsie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!elsie!ado From: ado@elsie.UUCP (Arthur David Olson) Newsgroups: net.news.b,net.news.group Subject: Re: How to deal with net.general Message-ID: <5209@elsie.UUCP> Date: Sat, 24-Aug-85 13:43:10 EDT Article-I.D.: elsie.5209 Posted: Sat Aug 24 13:43:10 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 26-Aug-85 00:42:02 EDT References: <5204@elsie.UUCP> <491@klipper.UUCP> <641@cyb-eng.UUCP> <406@baylor.UUCP> <403@phri.UUCP> <360@ttrdc.UUCP> Organization: NIH-LEC, Bethesda, MD Lines: 48 Xref: watmath net.news.b:1179 net.news.group:3512 The proposal on the floor: allow anyone to cancel any article posted to "net.general." > . . .some users would enjoy cancelling articles just for the fun of it. > But restricting this to the news suser() could make this a useful function. > Comments? > Sounds like a good idea... I wouldn't mind having that power, however > terrified I would be about using it. Sorry. . .if you want only responsible users to cancel articles, limiting the power to suser()s doesn't work. Some suser()s are irresponsible; some responsible users aren't suser()s. > Takes just one crackpot (any volunteers? I will... (-:) to kill net.general > articles this way. 1. Crackpots can already kill net.general articles (using forgery techniques). 2. It's also true that crackpots can currently POST articles; should we therefore not allow anyone at all to post articles? 3. Currently, the bulk of the energy of network crackpots goes into posting articles; the effects of the crackpots' work is to increase both phone bills and the amount of time it takes folks to get through news groups. I for one would be happy to channel crackpot energies into article cancellation, since this would REDUCE phone bills and junk news. > If you added a "Cancel-Votes:" header (just what we need, more > per-article overhead, right?), everytime somebody tried to cancel the > article, you just bump up the vote count; when it reaches a threshold, you > blow the article away all-together. Nah. . .some crackpot would simply post multiple cancellations. > Brilliant! I second!! Well. . .finally an opinion I can agree with 100%. :-) Given the reluctance to give "anyone" the power to cancel articles, perhaps each site might maintain a list of "wise guys" whose cancellations of "net.general" articles would be heeded. A back-door way to do this would be to have an entry in the "/usr/lib/news/sys" file of the form: wiseguys:!all::mark@cbosgd.UUCP,root@all,!all@all.ARPA The poster of the cancellation of a "net.general" article could be "ngmatch"ed against the "wiseguys" list to determine whether or not to accept the cancellation. Cleaner implementations are, of course, possible. -- UUCP: ..decvax!seismo!elsie!ado ARPA: elsie!ado@seismo.ARPA DEC, VAX and Elsie are Digital Equipment and Borden trademarks