Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!scs!spl1!ll1a!cej
From: cej@ll1a.UUCP (Jones)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Monitoring site output (formerly portal bashing)
Message-ID: <2398@ll1a.UUCP>
Date: 3 Jun 88 03:25:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: ll1a.2398
References: <2134@rtech.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T, Lisle, Il.
Lines: 44

In article <2134@rtech.UUCP>, daveb@llama.rtech.UUCP) writes:
> There is discussion of site responsibility for postings, particularly
> from commercial USENET service providers like Portal and the Well.  Many
> people would agree that these sites have a greater moral obligation to
> the net because of the perceived lack of skill/knowledge of their user
> base.
> 
> One way to handle this would be to have a news administration option
> that in effect moderated all outgoing articles from a site.  That is,
> the site news administrator would be required to read and approve an
> outgoing article before it was spooled off site.


	There is an *easy* way with the current news software for
a copy of all postings originating at a site to be mailed to an
administrator.  Just add a line like:


	newsadm:all,!to.all.ctl:L:/bin/mail news


	Of course *all* this does is mail a copy of the posting to
"news".

	While this doesn't provide any "approval" mechanism, at
least you always know just what your users are posting.  It
appeared that portal had absolutely no idea what JJ had posted until
net-ers at other sites brought it to their attention.  *That* should
not have had to be the case.

	I would like to suggest that the news administrators of
*all* sites, not to mention public sites, should know what their
posters are putting out on the net.  (Potential censorship flamers -
if a poster at my site is posting something for the whole world to
see, there can't be any harm in me reading it also.)  I would rather
that I help a confused poster at my site, than have you have to do
it because I don't subscribe to the group he posted to.  And I would
rather tell them about distribution than you.  And if someone at my
site does ever get abusive, I would rather know first.

	Why be the last to know?


...ihnp4!ihlpf!ll1a!cej     [Just me, not AT&T]      Llewellyn Jones